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In one of my older posts “Are Digital Natives Digitally Literate?“, I questioned the assumption that all “digital natives” are by definition tech savvy. As I reflected on the term, as well as my experience in teaching digital natives, I came to a conclusion that it is not about being a “digital native” at all (i.e., being born past a certain year and having exposure to a device from birth). Just as it is with being a native speaker of a language, being simply born into a society and having exposure to the language does not mean one won’t have to learn how to be literate in that language. Finally, my conclusion that the key is not being “native” but being “literate” pushed me to think further and search for types of literacies we (both natives and immigrants) have to develop to successfully function in the digital era.
My goal, however, was not to simply challenge this status quo. Rather, it was to identify the assumptions that create a “blind spot” which, in turn, puts us all in danger of missing the key point: a device in a student’s hand does not mean he or she knows how to use it most effectively to achieve academic or professional goals.
Via Miloš Bajčetić
