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Review of research and claims about digital natives, recommending critical research and real discussion rather than "dismissive scepticism [or] uncritical advocacy."
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The claim that there is a distinctive new generation of students in possession of sophisticated technology skills and with learning preferences for which education is not equipped to support has excited much recent attention. Proponents arguing that education must change dramatically to cater for the needs of these digital natives have sparked an academic form of a ‘moral panic’ using extreme arguments that have lacked empirical evidence.
The picture beginning to emerge from research on young people's relationships with technology is much more complex than the digital native characterisation suggests. While technology is embedded in their lives, young people's use and skills are not uniform. There is no evidence of widespread and universal disaffection, or of a distinctly different learning style the like of which has never been seen before.
The authors argue that Net Gen students are used to hyperlinked, nonlinear content, so they don't necessarily approach learning with the same kind of linear approach most of their professors do. The premise here focuses on how this affects writing, organizing information, and sense-making. They argue that multimedia projects can demonstrate the same depth of thinking as a traditional linear text. Registration required.
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As a result, while N-Gens interact with the world through multimedia, online social networking, and routine multitasking, their professors tend to approach learning linearly, one task at a time, and as an individual activity that is centered largely around printed text (Hartman, Dzubian, and Brophy-Ellison 2007).
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However, these digital texts do not necessarily lack style, coherence, or organization; they simply present meaning in ways unfamiliar to the instructor. For example, a collection of images on Flickr with authorial comments and tags certainly does not resemble the traditional essay, but the time spent on such a project, the motivation for undertaking it, and its ability to communicate meaning can certainly be equal to the investment and motivation required by the traditional essay—and the photos may actually provide more meaningful communication for their intended audience.
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2002 summary of research on how diversity affects online learning, focusing especially on Hispanics. Includes differences in communication due to culture, including differences between different Hispanic populations (i.e., Mexico isn't the same as Guatemala). Also notes that Hispanics are often on the wrong side of the digital divide and may have less prior experience with technology, therefore exhibiting fewer characteristics of the net generation.
Marc Prensky on uses of technology in the classroom, moving from simply dabbling to doing "new things in new ways."
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- Dabbling.
- Doing old things in old ways.
- Doing old things in new ways.
- Doing new things in new ways.
First, it helps to look at the typical process of technology adoption (keeping in mind, of course, that schools are not typical of anything.) It's typically a four-step process:
Response to the "Net Gen Nonsense" blog and George Siemens' arguments that it's the environment changing rather than the learners. Chris Lott argues that learners have changed in response to the changing environment; the characteristics of these learners are more important than whether the changes are biological or environmental in origin. Interesting analogy to eating in times of abundance and scarcity.
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I suspect that we will see, in retrospect, that there are biological and neurological changes occurring due to technological changes, but it’s not really important. The remonstrations about the evidence remind me of scientists concluding that bumblebees can’t fly and philosophers concluding that there is no physical reality. Like Berkeley, I refute you thus, with the students I teach every term… but I will refrain from kicking them as proof!
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The analogy I came up with a few days ago was that of eating. People eat very differently in times of abundance than scarcity. Their biology doesn’t significantly change (though it does some), but it would be foolish to look around and argue that people aren’t really eating differently, it’s just a change in their food context. It would be wiser to recognize that the socioeconomic context is an important factor to consider when it comes to nutrition and try to teach proper eating habits in an environment that is not just no longer one of hunting and gathering, but one that is very different for most of us from even 50 years ago.
Description of the National Archives Digital Vault and how it may help digitial natives find primary sources in a more accessible way. I'm not sure whether the digital native/immigrant difference is as important as the simple fact that the Digitial Vault is more visually appealing and interactive. I think it helps show patterns and connections between primary sources more effectively, which can be helpful for people of any age.
Literature review of research in generational differences in learning and whether it matters for instructional design. Overall, the authors conclude that there are some generational differences in the workplace, but that the generalities don't warrant making assumptions about any particular individual. The current research also doesn't do enough to account for socioeconomic differences.
George Siemens raises an interesting question--are the differences really in generations or in technology-based experiences? What should our focus as instructional designers be--differentiating learning based on generations, or helping learners prepare for solving problems when the solution isn't known in advance?
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I think, in this instance, the consideration of varied design approaches has been tied to the wrong variable (generational differences). The greater area of change and impact is found in the habits, activities, and needs of learners (not based on generations, but on how technology creates new opportunities for learning networks far beyond the narrow domain of classroom walls).
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I'd like to see an instructional design process that attends to the complexity of emergent or unknown processes.
Instead of Prensky's simple dichotomy of digital native vs. digital immigrant, this author provides additional categories depending on technology use and attitudes rather than age. Includes a quiz for determining where you fit (I'm a digital addict).
Eduventures research on technology use by 18-24 year old college students. Almost all students own a cell phone, 79% own a laptop, and 73% own a media player. Students spend up to 5 hours a day online, about half of that for school. Email was the most popular communication tool.
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But our institutions need to change because of the increasing complexity of society and globalization. Schools and universities play a dual role: accommodating learner’s method and mode of learning and transforming learners and preparing them to function in the world that is unfolding. This distinction may seem slight, but it's important.
Why should schools react to learner's methods of learning and interacting with content? Well, obviously, if we ignore how they interact with each other and with content, we are largely subjecting them to a mode of thinking (linear, certainty-based) that is at odds with how they experience life (complex, social, and collaborative). Contrary to Prensksy's views, this distinction is NOT a function of age. It's a function of attitude...a mindset of experimentation...experience with technology.
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List of the stops on Karl Kapp's blog book tour for Games, Gadgets, and Gizmos for Learning
- Christy Tucker on 2007-09-10
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The research suggests that kids who live online understand the process by which knowledge is produced and shared in an online environment, whereas those kids who come in within 10 minutes, they're trying to get the answer and get off. So they're not as critical of a corporate Web site, for example. That's just one example of some fundamental inequalities in access to social skills and culture competencies between the information-haves and have-nots.
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Really this becomes the basis for the new hidden curriculum. We now must say those kids who are raised in an environment where they have regular access to the online worldï¿??have a different way of learning that prepares them for school--to do better in school and in life--than those kids who were being left out.
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Interview with Henry Jenkins about the younger generation and how being part of online participatory culture affects their learning.
- Christy Tucker on 2007-08-18
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Scoble interview with a 14-year-old who blogs, podcasts, twitters, and works in IT. Great example of a very poised and articulate net generation teenager.
- Christy Tucker on 2007-08-07
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An interesting way to look at generational differences--instead of just looking at when you were born, look at how you use media.
- Christy Tucker on 2007-07-31
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Brief overview of digital natives and immigrants regarding learning and teaching styles. Includes a table for quick comparison.
- Christy Tucker on 2007-07-26
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But the point is that these writers and researchers totally ignore or overlook people like me who were the earliest users and adapters, and are ourselves ‘natives’. Or more properly, we’re pioneers, since we’re the ones who built, tested, and worked the bugs out of many of these things. We were the people in the university computer labs, or in the military communications shops, who put this technology to real-world use, and, when we could, started bragging about it to our outside friends.
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A perspective on the net generation from a boomer who says the dichotomy between digital natives and digital immigrants is often overly simplified. He talks about a third category of "pioneers" who were early adopters and share more characteristics with natives than immigrants, regardless of their age.
- Christy Tucker on 2007-07-24
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Last part of a series on Second Life for education. This includes some discussion on accessibility in SL as well as a set of differences between how traditional educators approach SL and how digital natives and gamers approach it.
- Christy Tucker on 2007-07-19
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"People think that kids today somehow grow up magically knowing how to use new technologies," he adds. "They don't. The difference with this generation is that if students don't know how to use a technology, they aren't afraid of learning."
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Description of an 8th grade class blogging project to study a book with author involvement. The teacher, Eric Langhorst, has a great quote about the Net Generation at the end of the article.
- Christy Tucker on 2007-06-20
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EDUCAUSE ebook about how the net generation learns and how this affects higher education.
- Christy Tucker on 2007-06-19
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- Christy Tucker on 2007-10-22