WEEK 9 red. Prensky and CofP

How might Wenger's notions on practice communities relate to Prensky's on education?

A brief summary of both ideas:

Prensky made a divide between those who have grown up with digital technologies and those who have learnt to use them at a later stage in life. He argues that growing up with these technologies (Digital natives) effects the way the minds of the users work compared to those who have learnt at a later stage (digital natives) as brains develop differently depending on the type of stimulation they receive. He discusses the implications of this divide in terms of teaching and the problem that teachers are Dig immigrants while pupils are Dig natives.

Wenger’s notion of a CofP is that of a community brought together by a ‘joint enterprise’ with joint group goals and aims. A CofP is separate from official organisations and this reinforces the idea that the members of the community possess the desire to be part of it and improve at the joint enterprise themselves rather than being pushed by someone else.


So...According to Prensky’s ideas, the issue with education may arise when Educators do not understand the learner’s ways of learning ;Not understanding the ways their minds work (small chunks of non-linear information being preferred etc). In combating this issue, it is likely that they may form some sort of study group where they can study in the ways which suit them best- a CofP. This would be separate from the official organisation (school, uni etc), and the people in the group would have the shared aim of understanding work and succeeding in it. There would be no hierarchy as in traditional education, instead the CofP would be bound and motivated by their joint interest of understanding work in a way which suits them. Perhaps, as Prensky suggests, video games may be a part of this joint enterprise. New technologies allow gamers to connect via the internet and if playing the sort of educational games Prensky had in mind, a CofP could be formed in a way that both suits and encourages the learning of natives which is arguable poorly catered for by immigrant teachers.