Marc Prensky is an American writer and speaker on education. He is best known as the creator of the terms "Digital native" and "digital immigrant" which he described in a 2001 article in "On the Horizon". Prensky holds degrees from Oberlin College, Middlebury College, Yale University and the Harvard Business School. He is the author of seven books: Digital Game-Based Learning, Don't Bother Me Mom – I'm Learning, Teaching Digital Natives, From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom: Hopeful Essays for 21st Century Learning, Brain Gain: Technology and the Quest for Digital Wisdom, The World Needs a New Curriculum, Education To Better Their World: Unleashing the power of 21st century kids and 100 essays on learning and education. Prensky also designed the first first-person-shooter game for corporate training and a suite of eight learning game templates Prensky began his career as a teacher in Harlem, New York. He has taught in elementary school,, high school, and college and in the mid-1970s he also earned money playing his lute in a classical music restaurant/bar. He worked for six years as a corporate strategist and product development director with the Boston Consulting Group, and six years for Bankers Trust on Wall St., where he created game-based training for financial traders, and started an internal division, Corporate Gameware, later spun out as games2train.
Focus and research
Prensky's professional focus is on K-12 education reform. His books address tools, pedagogy, curriculum and the entire k-12 system Prensky is a strong advocate for listening more carefully to what students say about their own education. In his speaking engagements he has conducted approximately 100 student panels in 40 countries. He has been named a "guiding star of the new parenting movement" by Parental Intelligence Newsletter.
Criticism
Bax has written that Prensky's views are simplistic, that his terminology is open to challenge and that his claim that educators should simply alter their approach to suit young people who are 'digital natives' ignores essential elements of the nature of learning and good pedagogy. The Economist questioned whether the designation of the 'digital native' has any real-world usefulness. Prensky responds that: ”The distinction between digital natives and digital immigrants is important because it is more cultural than technology-knowledge-based. ‘Digital Immigrants’ grew up in a non-digital, pre-Internet culture before they experienced the digital one. ‘Digital Natives’ know only the digital culture.” Prensky further argues that “the fields of education and pedagogy have today become needlessly and painfully over-complicated, ignoring our students’ real needs. It is time to reassess what good and effective teaching means in a digital age and how to combine what is important from the past with the tools of the future." Prensky argues that “despite recent influxes of technology into schools, not enough attention is being paid to the full implications of all the important recent changes in our educational environment and context”.
