Teaching digital natives: Partnering for real learning

Prensky introduced us to the "digital natives" in 2001, claiming that the generation of students born in the 1980s and the 1990s are so steeped in the use of digital technologies that they think, act and are motivated differently to older generations. Digital natives have been also described as "millenials" (Howe and Strauss, 2003) and members of the "net-generation"(Tapscott, 1998). These labels, along with their technological determinism, have polarised debates in education about adapting teaching approaches to different learning styles and 'new' media technologies. Those critical of Prensky highlight his "weak empirical and theoretical foundations" (Bennett, Maton & Kervin, 2008, p.777) and similar…