Digital Native Skills

Having spent many years in the Computer Science classroom, I developed a pretty good understanding of how digital natives interact with technology.

The biggest thing I noticed is that their tech device is a part of them like a wallet is to an older generation, or a car to another generation. It’s not something they necessarily appreciate, it just IS. Just like you and I jump in the car to drive to TacoBell, we don’t even think of the decades of work that went into car technology. Some of us love our cars and have chosen to get really good at “under the hood.” Same thing with digital natives, some of them are really good at “under the hood” such as coding , electronics, or cybersecurity. And some of us are just power “users” of our cars , meaning we don’t necessarily know how the engine works, but we can drive the heck out of the car, onroad or offroad. And some digital natives are especially good at using and exploring the functionality of the technology

Sometimes we assume simply because students grew up with technology, that students are wizzes at every aspect of that technology. So, this is really no different than any other subject area or industry, if you want to be a power user of technology, then you master Excel, PPT,Word, Movie Maker, Photo Editing, Tik Tik, and the settings screen on your IPhone. If you want to explore technology as a career, then you master the skills of Computer Science, I.T. or Cybersecurity. Or if you just want to use it minimally, then that is ok as well. There are digital natives who fit into each of those categories. #digitalnative