IT'S OFFICIAL... I'M OLD SCHOOL!

As I sit in my room, I hear small giggles come from the family room where the computer is. I peek in to see my daughter's eye toggling from the computer screen to the calculator and back and realize she is completing a math assignment. But what could be so funny? I then notice her giggle again and say "Yep, I know what you mean?" Confused I thought "Has my daughter contracted some computer virus that has turned her mad?" As I come closer to check on the poor girl, I notice that in the right corner of the same screen her homework is on, is another window opened, with her best friend face on it. The girl was on OOVOO (similar to Skype). Being a parent from the old school, I thought that she couldn't possibly be concentrating on her homewok! As I walked closer and tell her to get off OOVOO and concentrate on her work, she types in the answer in and the computer tells her she is correct. She pulls the earplugs out of her ear, music wailing away and says "Hi Mom." I say hi as I redirect my course to the kitchen. How could she possibly be concentrating on schoolwork with all the other distractions?

Our week 2 discussion focus on the learning styles of people like me to be considered a Digital Immigrant and people like my daughter who is considered a Digital Native. Originally I thought that there wasn't a huge gap between how I learn and how she learn until I tried to "help" her with homework. The way teacher teach today is different from my past and it was evident when we I tried to show her my method to solve and equation. Her way had about 15 less steps. Digital Natives are individuals who were born into this high tech world and are immersed into it quickly. My son is a native through and through. His first experience with technology was at birth when they placed a tiny tracking device on his ankle so they can identify him and make sure no one walked away with him until we checked out



While I love technology and all it has done to make my life a little easier, I must admit that I was nervous about being an online student where we communicated and did everything through cyberspace.Would I keep up? Is there a "tecky" book out there for dummies like me? I was so use to a brick and mortar school that the thought of not seeing my teacher and classmate made me second guess completing this degree. But after my first class, I felt at home. I think the desire to finish out weighed my fear.

As far as my learning style, I am a little old school... okay alotta old school. I have to concentrate on one task. I have to have concrete evidence based reading. If I search the web the works that I pull from has got to be credible sources. While some of our professor at Walden University give us a variety of learning mediums such as videos and interactive links,sometimes I prefer a plain ole' book in hand. I guess I don't have a Millennial Learning Style just yet. But I have a feeling the further I get into my degree courses, the more my style will change... I guess I'll hold on to my Technology for Dummies book just in case it does.