Prensky's Engage or Enrage

1. What is your belief and understanding of the nature of today's learners? Is there substance to the "engage or enrage" argument?

Prensky begins his article by indentifying 3 types of learners: Self motivated, 'go through the motions' and 'tune us out'. As a future Learning Manage, I can see the truth in these descriptions. You will always get the Learners who are: truly keen to learn-because they want to, going through the motions because they have little choice and uninterested entirely in what we have to say. I guess the question is, do these types of learners exist because we are not teaching them the way they need to be? Is this our fault?

The previous readings about learning styles and multiple intelligences suggest that every student is an individual and should be taught as such. However, Prenksy seem to say that all students are Digital learners and that us 'oldies' should adapt to that if we want to find success in the classroom. Is that so?

In Thrupps paper, it suggests that the involvement of ICT's in the classroom can cause more problems than solutions to the engagement issue. According to the paper, there are different types of ICT learners and that not all learners will benefit from an wholly ICT classroom. So, it basicly suggests that Prenskys claim that Native Born ICT users should be taught through the use of ICT's isn't entirely true.

So how do we teach our learners?

I do believe that if you do not engage a student in the learning process-you are wasting your time. Which is generally what Prenksy was saying.