Higher Learning Through The Use Of Digital Technologies †Free Samples

Question: Expanse To Which Digital Natives Have Exploited The Available Opportunities For Higher Learning Through The Use Of Digital Technologies. Answer: Introduction There are numerous labels that can be attributed to young men and women who are currently learning in the colleges and universities. Some of the labels that have resulted include digital natives, and the net generation. All these terms can be used to explain the importance of digital technology in the lives of the young men and women who are undertaking their studies in colleges and universities. As per Anderson, (2008), it is an open secret that the digital technology has changes the way students in higher institutions socialize, communicate and more importantly how they learn. Authorities in the field of education and also in technology have reiterated that the utilization of digital technology by students in a higher institution have positively changed the quality of education offered in higher institutions (Fry, Ketteridge and Marshall, 2003). It is evident that the extent of the use of digital technologies by digital natives is in tandem with the period in which one was born. Mohd, Watson, andEdwards, (2010) suggest that the digital generation where digital natives have thrived in, have influenced the way they think, their preferences and also their skills in some areas related to education, specifically higher education. It has been established that it is momentous for the new technologies to be utilized as part and parcel in the education because they have extensive knowledge of the use of these technologies and have already mastered their use (Helsper and Eynon, 2010). With the current knowledge of many tutors that digital natives tend to prefer to receive information quickly, have extremely low tolerance to lectures, and they have heavy reliance on information and communication technology in accessing information, the use of digital technologies in higher learning is inevitable (Kerawalla and Crook, 2002). Digital natives have however shown their dismay on the side of the educators, digital migrants lack of interest in enhancing the use of digital tec hnologies in learning (Jones and Czerniewicz, 2010). This may be because most of the educations are the millennial generation where they grew up not knowing the importance of technology in higher education. This paper identifies, and critically analyzes the expanse to which digital natives have exploited the available opportunities for higher learning through the use of digital technologies. How digital natives have exploited the available opportunities for higher learning through the use of digital technologies Digital technology has helped digital natives to positively transform the quality of education standards in higher institutions. Case in point, digital natives make use of digital technology from avoiding plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as the act in which one passes someone elses work as own. Plagiarism is one of the major offenses that any higher education student can commit. At present, digital natives use plagiarism detection software to assist them in ensuring that their work is clean in that it does not mimic any ones work. It is imperative to note that the use of plagiarism detection was notably first used in 2001 at the University of Virginia. This was when a physics professor created a custom of code that accumulated a series of past papers in the field the professor taught. This was because, with the current era of an explosion of information, most students have a hard time in creating their content since almost everything has already been published. Digital natives use d igital technologies such plagiarism detection in ensuring that they can shun away from using other peoples ideas as own. However, digital immigrants believe that tools such as plagiarism detection software are making digital natives not to be innovative and have critical thinking. They believe that digital natives are not able to think for themselves hence not innovative. Digital natives have ensured that the productivity of higher learning is realized. This is because the use of digital technology has provided an opportunity for digital natives to have a wide search (Palfrey and Gasser, 2011). With the use of the internet, a student can be able to access any book or journals in any format at ones convenient time. This means a digital native can access information while not at school and at the right time. This means one does not have to visit the library for one to be able to gain access to ones academic rights. Researchers have pointed out that an individual is most productive when one undertakes a task at one convenient time. As pointed out by Prensky, (2001), digital natives tend to be more productive when they use digital technology to access learning material at their own convenient time and place. On the other hand, digital migrants, believe that it is impossible for one to be productive when to listening to music and surfing and still conduct learning effectively (Rennie and Morrison, 2013). However, they should note that they did not grow up with digital technologies that is why they cannot do it but digital natives can. Access to digital technology by digital natives With all the focus on the extent of the use of digital technology by digital natives vis--vis the reaction from digital migrants, the access of digital technology by digital natives play a huge role in the extent of use (Lichy, Khvatova, and Pon, 2014). Access and utilization should be a matter that is strictly scrutinized to identify whether digital natives are using digital technology wisely regarding realizing opportunities in higher learning. Digital natives have a wide range of technology hardware that they use in accessing the internet for learning purposes. According to research conducted by (Kennedy et al., 2008), the below table depicts the digital native access to technology while at a campus. Figure 1: Number of students in percentage who have unrestricted, limited, or completely no access to internet and hardware The table 1 above clearly shows that digital natives have unrestricted access to almost all of the digital technology hardware that can be used to access the internet. Almost ninety percent of the students have access to a computer while 70.5% have access to both a laptop and a desktop. The research shows that 96% of students have access to mobile phones where access to the mobile phone is currently viewed as a universal access in most academic institutions. Seventy-three percent of the students showed that they have no access to a gaming console. According to (Kougias, Seremeti, andKalogeras, 2013) most digital natives are using digital technology to improve their academics thus advancing the opportunities for higher learning brought forth by use of digital technologies. Conclusion In conclusion, digital immigrants assume that learners are always the same and are never changing. They believe that the same method that worked for students in higher learning few decades ago would still work with the present higher learning students who are dubbed as digital natives. Since a lot of digital natives have more than seventy percent access to digital technology, digital immigrants should brace themselves since learners will never be the same. Most of the digital natives used digital technology to improve the quality of their work such as the use of plagiarism software to check the authenticity of their work. Recommendation It is recommended that digital immigrants should be aware that future learning in higher institutions will be more digital and technological. Consequently, digital natives should take note of the wide range of ethical concerns that around the extensive utilization of digital technology in their learning. For educators, who are majorly digital immigrants, they should learn new ways to be us digital technology so as to be in tandem with digital natives during the exchange of knowledge. As much as such attempts have failed in the past, more ways of incorporating technology in teaching should be formulated because the era of digital natives will never end so is technology. Glossary Digital native- Someone born and grew up in the era of digital technology Digital immigrant- Someone born long before the advent and eruption of digital technology but experience technology at a later age. References Anderson, T. (2008).The Theory and Practice of Online Learning. 1st ed. Athabasca University Press, p.27. Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. and Marshall, S. (2003).A Handbook for teaching and learning in higher education. 1st ed. London: Kogan Page, p.97. Helsper, E. and Eynon, R. (2010). Digital natives: where is the evidence?.British Educational Research Journal, 36(3), pp.503-520. Jones, C. and Czerniewicz, L. (2010). Describing or debunking? The net generation and digital natives.Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(5), pp.317-320. Kennedy, G., Judd, T., Churchward, A., Gray, K. and Krause, K. (2008). First year students' experiences with technology: Are they really digital natives?.Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24(1), p.112. Kerawalla, L. and Crook, C. (2002). Children's Computer Use at Home and at School: Context and continuity.British Educational Research Journal, 28(6), pp.751-771. Kougias, I., Seremeti, L. Kalogeras, D. 2013, "Mobility of Eastern European citizens: training and development",European Journal of Training and Development,vol. 37, no. 8, pp. 766-778. Lichy, J., Khvatova, T. Pon, K. 2014, "Engaging in digital technology: one size fits all?",The Journal of Management Development,vol. 33, no. 7, pp. 638-661. Mohd, H.Z., Watson, J. Edwards, S.L. 2010, "Investigating the use of Web 2.0 technology by Malaysian students",Multicultural Education Technology Journal,vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 17-29. Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2011).Born digital. 1st ed. [Sydney]: Read How You Want. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1.On the Horizon, 9(5), pp.1-6. Rennie, F. and Morrison, T. (2013).E-learning and social networking handbook. 1st ed. London: Routledge, p.74.