Born Digital

You see them everywhere.  The teenage girl with the ipod…the whiz kid summer intern in your office who knows what to do when your email client crashes…the eight-year-old who can beat you at any video game…and types faster than you.

All of them are “Digital Natives.” They were all born after 1980…major aspects of their lives – social interactions, friendships, civic activities – are mediated by digital technologies.  And they’ve never known any other way of life.

Born Digital

John Palfrey & Urs Gasser

Recently 21^st Century Parent presented a keynote address to a large audience of parents.  The topic was parent involvement in public education.  The reality is that as our learners are changing, parent involvement will also need to change.  Maybe you recognize your kids in the quote above.  Some of you will recognize yourselves (the first generation of children born to digital natives is now in elementary school), but for most of us – we are still “digital immigrants”.  So what does this mean for our kids?  What does this mean for parent involvement?

This is Part 1 of a series about what is unique and wonderful (and sometime scary and concerning) about the world of digital natives.  21^st Century Learning is an opportunity to change education for the future – to make it more appropriate for those born digital.  We believe parent involvement is crucial in the development of this new education model.  But in order to be involved, we need to understand the unique, wonderful (and sometimes scary and concerning) complexities of raising this digital generation.

But this is more than a one-way information opportunity.  As parents we need to have continued dialogue about what this means for us, for our kids, and for our schools.  21^st Century Parent looks forward to dialogue (digital and otherwise) as we explore what it means to be “Born Digital”.