There is talk about the “Digital Divide” in our classrooms. Digital immigrants are defined as those people who did not grow up with computers. Considering the IBM Personal Computer came into being August 12, 1981 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC), digital natives would need to have been born after that time. And it was some time after that as the technology needed to be integrated into everyday lives. Digital natives grew up with technology (specifically computers) in their classrooms and in their homes. They are very comfortable with it. Digital immigrants had to take the initiative to learn about computers on their own or through their jobs.
I have coined a new phrase, the Digital Pioneer! In high school, I took the only computer class available to us. It was an independent study course where we met in a closet to access the computers! From there, I studied computer programming and have been in some computer career ever since. So I am continuously learning about computer technology from mainframes, to PCs, Mac – Windows, networking, computer graphics, and virtual worlds. I am old enough to be classified as a digital immigrant, but instead of being a labeled computer-geek, I think I prefer a Digital Pioneer!