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Digital Natives

Page history last edited by Phil Johnson 12 years, 7 months ago

This section seeks to promote reflection on attitudes to digital learning, research findings and institutional approaches. The highlighted sources illustrate the extent of the topic but hopefully you will be able to contribute to the discussions on the questions below.  

 

 

A new breed of student?

 

The generation of people who have been brought up in the ‘internet age’ have been described in various ways, such as Generation Y, the Millennial Generation (or Millennials), Generation Next, Net Generation and Echo Boomers. In addition to receiving a plethora of labels this group of people has been described as the most ‘Technologically savvy generation yet’

 

A belief in the power of technology has led to the framing of the ‘digital natives/digital immigrants’ debate:

 

“Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.” (Prensky, 2001)

 

According to Prensky students born between 1980 and 1994 grew up in a digital world and therefore had changed dramatically compared to their predecessors. He referred to these people as ‘Digital Natives’ and termed the older generations ‘Digital Immigrants’.

 

It is now clear that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.” (Prensky, 2001, original emphasis)

 

This belief acquired many supporters:   

 

Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants

 

Education Today and Tomorrow

 

and its construction was supported by a range of peer reviewed publications and has been applied to many disciplines:

 

Chiropractic Education in an era of Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

 

For students interested in moral panics the debate can provide a personal situation to apply their learning:  

 

The debate over digital natives is thus based on two key claims: (1) that a distinct generation of ‘digital natives’ exists; and (2) that education must fundamentally change to meet the needs of these ‘digital natives’. These in turn are based on fundamental assumptions with weak empirical and theoretical foundations

 

Several different pages from the Observer (7/8/11) reveal the conflicting views on internet usage that still persist:

 

p14: Fury as scientists suggests autism link to internet

 

p17: Internet's social networks and access to information bring people together and keep us sociable, not lonely

 

p29: We middle-aged tweeters are the real addicts

 

A small sample of the debate’s rebuttals illustrate further dissatisfaction with the 'native v immigrant' position:

 

Digital Natives: The Myth and the Reality

 

‘Google Generation’ is a myth, says new research

 

Opinion, assumption and anecdotal evidence

 

Residents and Visitors theory

 

The natives are revolting

 

See the JISC Digital Literacy Workshop materials for a helpful place to review the debate.

 

 

Q1 How do your students fit into this debate?

 

 

Digital competence

 

In 2006 the European Parliament and the European Council published a recommendation on eight key competences for lifelong learning and one of these was referred to as digital competence:

 

"Digital competence involves the confident and critical use of information Society technology (IST) for work, leisure, learning and communication. It is underpinned by basic skills in ICT: the use of computers to retrieve, access, store, produce, present and exchange information, and to communicate and participate in collaborative networks via the Internet."

 

Whilst the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, digital literacy can be said to comprise of the requisite skills that enable digital competence to develop:

 

By digital literacy we mean those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society. For example, the use of digital tools to undertake academic research, writing and critical thinking; digital professionalism; the use of specialist digital tools and data sets; communicating ideas effectively in a range of media; producing, sharing and critically evaluating information; collaborating in virtual networks; using digital technologies to support reflection and PDP; managing digital reputation and showcasing achievements.

 

The research following the Digital Britain reports and initiatives such as Race Online 2012 seeks to increase the number of people in Britain who have accessed the internet from a current level of 82.2 per cent of the population. In 2011 almost three quarters of UK households were believed to have access to the internet and 60 per cent of adults used it almost every day (Office for National Statistics, 2011).

 

In 2010, 30.1 million adults in the UK (60 per cent) accessed the Internet every day or almost every day. This is nearly double the estimate in 2006 of 16.5 million.

 

There were 19.2 million households with an Internet connection in 2010, representing 73 per cent of households.

 

According to the NUS/HSBC Student Experience Report 96% of students use the internet to acquire information with 69% using it daily for their studies. (NUS/HSBC Student Experience Report: Teaching and Learning (2009). Given these kinds of figures it is not surprising that ‘digitalness’ pervades virtually all levels of education:

 

Children need digital confidence, not just digital competence

 

 

Q2 What digital needs do your students have? How does your institution meet the LLiDA (Learning Literacies for a Digital Age) recommendations?

 

 

JISC have produced a range of materials that will help you to consider the digital abilities of your students: JISC Digital Literacy Workshop materials

 

 

Successful strategies for all types of learner?

 

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.

 

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning

 

 

Who’s cheating who?

 

How confident would you be in your students’ attitudes towards an open approach to their educational resources?

 

Digital Natives and OERs 

 

The increased use of digital material may mean that ‘cheating’ means more than missing out on potentially powerful sources and systems:

Cheating is on the rise in universities. Is it because students aren't learning the material? Or is it because their learning and work ethic are so different from their professors that working together to solve a problem is no longer that serious an infraction?

 

Why I will never pursue cheating again

 

[For an OER that engages students with the Prisoner's Dilemma see Lessons from the Prisoner's Dilemma]

 

 

Q3 As Nearly a third of our leisure time is spent online - can education fit into this space? Will your conceptions of digital learning influence the production of your OER?

 

 

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