Digital Immigrants teaching Digital Natives

A "bring your own device" policy is a huge leap into the future of education.  Teachers and schools who allow students to bring their own devices to their classrooms allow students to become more comfortable using technology devices to complete their school work, rather than paper and pencil assignments.  In addition, they are preparing their students for distance learning courses.  Most colleges students will take at least one if not many of their courses online.  Students are ready for this.  But are the teachers?  

According to Marc Prensky, Digital Immigrants are those "who were not born in the digital world", Digital Natives are those who were born in the digital world (a.k.a. our students)  I actually consider myself a digital immigrant as the digital world is something I was not exposed to until college.  Through college courses, professional development opportunities  help and suggestions from other teachers, and my own research I can say that I feel comfortable allowing my students to bring their own devices to my classroom.  I also feel I would be able to set up a distance learning classroom.  

So, how do digital immigrants become comfortable creating a hybrid or distance learning classroom for digital natives?  Professional Development!  Schools need to devote a large amount of professional development to technology so educators feel more comfortable.  Educators also need support.  A technology coach that is there just to support the teachers with their transition to a hybrid or completely online classroom would be an excellent idea. 

Not all of our students will be completely tech savvy.  In fact, a large portion of our students do not have computers or internet access at home.  Educators will need to adjust and modify their time and resources to guide those individuals who need assistance.  One suggestion I would make to an educator would be to provide tutorials for students.  YouTube video tutorials have helped me understand programs I knew nothing about. The video tutorials can be links to already existing "how to" videos or can be made by the educator themselves. Other ideas would include a pre-class overview of programs and skills that will be required, and offering as many examples of good work as you can find.  Students can benefit tremendously by seeing what good work looks like.