Blog Journal 2

As far as I can recall, Microsoft Word was one of the first online programs I learned to use. My teachers in elementary school used it to create worksheets, flyers, and other important papers. I didn't learn to use Word probably until I was in fourth grade, and once I went to middle school I started using it regularly for writing assignments. In high school, I took a technology class where we learned about Word's user interface and how to use it for more than just writing documents. In that course, I took and passed an exam to become certified in using Word. Now that I am a university student, I use Word every day to plan and write essays and discussion boards. It is one of the software I use the most in my life, following Google Search and Canvas. I would say that I prefer Word over Google Docs because I think Word's user interface is simpler.

Out of the listed ISTE standards for educators, I would say the one that is most important for me is to be a collaborator. Learning from others is a crucial part of educators developing their teaching style and also redefining the way that students learn. For instance, students should learn from early on to apply the values and skills that they learn in school to the real world. Including digital resources in a more traditional curriculum can also promote digital literacy among students who are growing up in a modern world. 

I agree with the term  "digital native" and think it is a good way to describe the people who were born into a world with technology. These are the individuals who cannot imagine a world without technology because they likely have known about technology for as long as they can remember. Due to this long-time familiarity with technology, digital natives tend to quickly adjust to using technology. Besides adapting easily to technology, being a digital native could describe someone who prefers to use technology for its convenience. The opposite of digital natives are known as "digital immigrants"; digital immigrants lived in a world before technology took over, and therefore had to learn to accustom to the technological changes over the years. I have seen with some of my teachers who were digital immigrants that they are bound to make mistakes when introduced to new technology. However, I don't think this has affected the actual quality of education; I knew many students who mostly learned the basic controls of educational technologies they used and were able to function well in the class with them. However, there were some times when the teacher learned something about a technology used in class that not even the students knew. This is an example of how even students, the supposed digital natives, may not know everything about the technology they use regularly. I think that it's inevitable that when I start teaching, my students are going to be more tech-savvy than me because technology could advance even further than what I am used to right now. It's crazy to think about how much more advanced technology could become for the next generation of digital natives.