Digital Upbringing Summary

Fifty years ago, technology in the classroom was almost non-existent. Calculators did not come in popular use in the classrooms until 1970, with the handheld graphing calculator not coming onto the scene until 1985. Technology in the classroom has come a long way, but is it enough? As the use of students using technology outside of school increases, it is inevitable that schools are going to need to adapt, but rather or not this enhances education is still out in the open. Marc Prensky, writer of Education for the Millennial Generation Should Reflect Its Digital Upbringing, is an advocate for an increase of technology used in the classroom. He says that in the past, schools were meant to bring students out of intellectual darkness; today children, though, are bathed in the light prior to school (95). Without the use of technology, the children are bored and unmotivated to do …show more content…
I believe there are many benefits with incorporating internet classes in undergraduate courses. As a student who is not only taking online courses in my undergraduate studies, but also took them as a high schooler, I have experienced the positive and negative aspects of the course. As a positive, it is very useful to be able to access the course whenever I needed without the need to attend a lecture. The author did not discuss, however, the negatives of online learning. I am taking a foreign language via online this semester, and it has been one of the most difficult courses I have taken. The professor uses online materials instead of posting lectures, which makes it difficult to understand spoken French, but also how to speak French. Additionally, I have found, especially in the summer, that the professors not necessarily respond back to emails as quickly as the NBEA alluded to. In conclusion, online courses can be immensely useful as long as the professor is prepared for the