It’s tempting to think of classroom technology projects as wars between “digital natives” — students who grew up using high-tech media — and “digital immigrants” — professors who aren’t nearly so comfortable with those tools. But that dichotomy may be an oversimplification, according to Henry Jenkins, director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“We know that even among college age students there are a range of different experiences and accesses to new media technologies and practices,” said Mr. Jenkins, an expert on media and technology, during a Chronicle chat today. “This is what I call the participation gap, and it can have a very real impact on how young people learn. We can’t take for granted that every young person already knows how to use this technology.”
A complete transcript of the chat is now available.



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