Digital immigrant teachers and digital native students: What happens to teaching?

The majority of university professors and older teachers were educated without the personal computer, smartphone and/ or tablet. The majority of current students regularly use these devices in school and university. Does this gap make a difference to learning? In order to address this question, we have analysed data from two interactive workshops in Australia and a third in the USA. In the workshops, educators brainstormed and presented answers to technology-related questions in groups of their same age peers. Presentations were scored by a multi-generation panel.

Many educational theorists argue that people who have grown-up with personal computersand the internet (digital natives) function and think differently from people who had to adjust to and learn new technologies and approaches (digital immigrants). Some authors suggest that regularly using technologies changes the physical structure of the brain.