Net Gen Life, Learning and Literacy

NET GEN LIFE,

LEARNING and LITERACYMegan Poore

NET GEN LIFE,

LEARNING and LITERACYMegan Poore

• Web 2.0

• Statistics and expectations

• ICT proficiency and literacy

• Information behaviour

• Learning needs

• Moral Panic and Digital Faith

• Implications

COVERAGE

• Web 2.0 is not a software package

• It is the ‘read-write’ web

• Web 2.0 is not a software package

• It is the ‘read-write’ web

WEB 2.0

WEB 1.0 WEB 2.0

Ofoto Flickr

Mp3.com Napster

Britannica Online Wikipedia

Personal websites Blogging

Publishing Participation

Content mgt systs. Wikis

Directories (taxonomy) Tagging (‘folksonomy’)

Stickiness Syndication

Software as package Software as service

WEB 2.0

O’Reilly, Tim. 2005. What Is Web 2.0. Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html. Accessed 10 October 2007.

http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

• Social networking

• Wikis

• MySpace, Face book

• Blogs

• Podcasting

• Tagging, RSS

• Social networking

• Wikis

• MySpace, Face book

• Blogs

• Podcasting

• Tagging, RSS

WEB 2.0

Mindset 1.0 Mindset 2.0

The world is appropriately interpreted, understood and responded to in broadly physical industrial terms.

The world cannot adequately be interpreted, understood and responded to in physical-industrial terms only.

Value is a function of scarcity Value is a function of dispersion

Products as material artifacts Products as enabling services.

Tools for producing Tools for mediating and relating

Focus on individual intelligence Focus on collective intelligence

Expertise and authority ‘located’ in individuals and institutions

Expertise and authority are distributed and collective; hybrid experts

Space as enclosed and purpose specific

Space as open, continuous and fluid

Social relations of ‘bookspace’; a stable ‘textual order’

Social relations of emerging ‘digital media space’; texts in change

Lankshear, Colin and Michele Knobel. 2006. Blogging as participation: the active sociality of a new literacy. http://www.geocities.com/c.lankshear/bloggingparticipation.pdf. Accessed 10 October 2007

http://www.geocities.com/c.lankshear/bloggingparticipation.pdf.%20Accessed%2010%20October%202007

http://www.geocities.com/c.lankshear/bloggingparticipation.pdf.%20Accessed%2010%20October%202007

• Users add value

• Some rights reserved

• Perpetual beta

• Co-operate, don’t control

• Constructivism

• Users add value

• Some rights reserved

• Perpetual beta

• Co-operate, don’t control

• Constructivism

WEB 2.0 DESIGN PATTERNS

O’Reilly, Tim. 2005. What Is Web 2.0. Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html. Accessed 10 October 2007.



• Also called ‘millennials’, ‘Digital Natives’

• In the UK, 1 in 3 children aged between 5 and 9 owns a mobile phone

• Average age of first phone ownership is 8

• Also called ‘millennials’, ‘Digital Natives’

• In the UK, 1 in 3 children aged between 5 and 9 owns a mobile phone

• Average age of first phone ownership is 8

THE NET GENERATION

Vision. 2005. The future of mobile technology: learning ‘on the run’? Vision 1: 11-3. http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/vision/VISION_01.pdf. Accessed 10 October 2007.

http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/vision/VISION_01.pdf


• Parallel process and multi-task

• Have ‘hypertext minds’

• Have always had Web 2.0 at home

• Have little patience for step-by-step logic (or reasoning?)

• Parallel process and multi-task

• Have ‘hypertext minds’

• Have always had Web 2.0 at home

• Have little patience for step-by-step logic (or reasoning?)

THE NET GENERATION

Prensky, Marc. 2001. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9 (5): 1-6.

• Some evidence that their brain structures are different …

• Some evidence that their brain structures are different …

THE NET GENERATION


Some false assumptions

• ‘Net Gen’ are those born post-1980 (no! that’s too old to describe people who were ‘brought up’ with Web 2.0

• All young people are ‘Net Gen’

Some false assumptions

• ‘Net Gen’ are those born post-1980 (no! that’s too old to describe people who were ‘brought up’ with Web 2.0

• All young people are ‘Net Gen’

THE NET GENERATION

Instead, let’s think of a ‘generation’ as describing a set of behaviours, rather than an age-specific demographic

Instead, let’s think of a ‘generation’ as describing a set of behaviours, rather than an age-specific demographic

THE NET GENERATION

• Characteristics

• Values

• Characteristics

• Values

THE NET GENERATION

• Information-rich• Non-linear and

associative• Multi-media,visual and

graphical• Immediate/instantaneous• Immersive and abundant• Relevant and meaningful

INFORMATION FOR THE NET GEN

Pletka, Bob. 2007. Educating the Net Generation. How to engage students in the 21st century. Santa Monica Press.

• Community-oriented and team-based

• Collaborative, co-operative, participatory

• Communication-rich• Interactive and dialogical• Customised, personalised,

individualised

COMMUNITY, COLLABN, CHOICE


• Are active processors of information

• Filter info all the time• Are used to getting info

immediately• Are used to controlling

info flows

CHARACTERISTICS

Veen, Wim and Ben Vrakking. 2007. Homo Zappiens: Growing up in a digital age. Continuum.

• Get bored if the information flow is poor or too slow

• Use non-linear resources

• Do not complain of information overload!

CHARACTERISTICS


• Absorb discontinuous information and make meaning of it

• Cope with complexity• Increase or decrease their

attention levels, depending on need

COMPLEXITY


• Can work with sub-optimal knowledge

• Make sense of bits• Accept uncertainty

COMPLEXITY


• Are effective communicators• Prefer communicating

through images• Use their networks• Are used to controlling

communication• Are collaborative

COMMUNICATION


• ‘Net Gen’ communication is

o Multimodal

o Interactive

o Creative and interpretive

o Comes easily to them

• ‘Net Gen’ communication is

o Multimodal

o Interactive

o Creative and interpretive

o Comes easily to them

COMMUNICATION

Johnson, Larry. 2006. The sea change before us. EDUCAUSE Review, March/April 2006: 72-3. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0628.pdf. Accessed 10 October 2007

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0628.pdf

• Are personalised• Are visual• Have links to the

community• Are rigorous• Use individualised

feedback

LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS


• Trust• Openness• Access

VALUES

Veen, Wim and Ben Vrakking. 2007. Homo Zappiens: Growing up in a digital age. Continuum. p. 47

• Speak with an ‘accent’ – or a different language entirely!

• Misunderstand the new ways in which the Net Gen learns

• Speak with an ‘accent’ – or a different language entirely!

• Misunderstand the new ways in which the Net Gen learns

‘DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS’


• Work in a linear fashion• Read the instructions first

before using• Are used to working alone• Believe in doing things

'right'• Believe in doing things one

thing at a time

‘DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS’

Veen, Wim and Ben Vrakking. 2007. Homo Zappiens: Growing up in a digital age. Continuum. p. 32

“What truly continues to separate the generations is not technological skill but

how the generations perceive the digital world”

THE DIGITAL WORLD

Pletka, Bob. 2007. Educating the Net Generation. How to engage students in the 21st century. Santa Monica Press. p. 42

• Students are feeling as though they are ‘powering down’ when they enter the school gates

• Students are feeling as though they are ‘powering down’ when they enter the school gates

NET GENERATION AT SCHOOL

Vision. 2005. The future of mobile technology: learning ‘on the run’? Vision 1: 11-3. http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/vision/VISION_01.pdf. Accessed 10 October 2007.



TECHNOLOGY TO WATCH

2007 2008 2009

User-created content

Grassroots video Mobiles

Social networking Collaboration webs Cloud computing

Mobile phones Mobile broadband Geo-everything

Virtual worlds Data mashups Personal web

New scholarship and forms of publication

Social operating systems

Semantic-aware applications

Educational gaming Collective intelligence

Smart objects

EDUCAUSE. 2008. The Horizon Report. New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. www.nmc.org/pdf/2008-Horizon-Report.pdf. Accessed 21 October 2008.

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/CSD4781.pdf.%20Accessed%2010%20October%202007


SOME STATS: Access

Broadband, 2006-7

• 1/2 - 2/3 of all internet connections are broadband

Broadband, 2006-7

• 1/2 - 2/3 of all internet connections are broadband

Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2008. Internet access at home. Available at http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Lookup/4102.0Chapter10002008. Accessed on 7 Feb 2009.

SOME STATS: Access

Broadband, 2008

• 79%

• Broadband is linked with increased internet use

Broadband, 2008

• 79%

• Broadband is linked with increased internet use

Ewing, Scott, Julain Thomas and Julianne Schiessl. 2008. The Internet in Australia. Available at http://cci.edu.au/publications/digital-futures. Accessed on 7 Feb 2009. p. 1.

SOME STATS: Online

Use by age

• 18 - 24: 95.1%

• 24 - 24: 90.6%

• 35 - 49: 83.7%

• 50 - 64: 66.1%

• 64+:29.8%

Use by age

• 18 - 24: 95.1%

• 24 - 24: 90.6%

• 35 - 49: 83.7%

• 50 - 64: 66.1%

• 64+:29.8%Ewing, Scott, Julain Thomas and Julianne Schiessl. 2008. The Internet in Australia. Available at http://cci.edu.au/publications/digital-futures. Accessed on 7 Feb 2009. p. 2.

SOME STATS: Online activities

• Expectations

• Experiences



• Expectations

• Experiences



THE NET GENERATION

STUDENT EXPECTATIONS

• International students use more tech

• Engineering students more likely to use tech than Arts students

• Reasons for use: convenience and control – not learning

University of Melbourne. 2006. First year students’ experiences with technology: Are they really Digital Natives? http://www.bmu.unimelb.edu.au/research/munatives/natives_report2006.pdf. Accessed 12 February 2008.

http://www.bmu.unimelb.edu.au/research/munatives/natives_report2006.pdf


• Preference for using technology

• Ubiquitous internet is normal

• Cautious about publishing their work for public scrutiny

• Tech is not an end in itself

• Face-to-face is seen as core


JISC. 2007. Student expectations study: Findings from preliminary research. (Joint Information Systems Committee) http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/studentexpectationsbp.aspx. Accessed 12 February 2008.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/studentexpectationsbp.aspx


• Uncertain about how to map current learning experience onto uni study

• Cannot see how ICT and learning can work together outside of school


JISC. 2007. Student expectations study: Findings from preliminary research. (Joint Information Systems Committee) http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/studentexpectationsbp.aspx. Accessed 12 February 2008.



COMFORT LEVELSFAMILIARITY

COMFORT LEVELS

STUDENT EXPERIENCES

• ICT is seen either as a platform for admin or content delivery

• ICT is seen either as a platform for admin or content delivery

Joint Information Systems Committee. 2008. Great expectations of ICT: How Higher Education institutions are measuring up. Available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/greatexpectations. Accessed on 7 Feb 2009. p. 24, p. 28.

STUDENT EXPERIENCES

• Students struggle to understand how some technologies can be used in the educational environment

• Perceived level of usefulness of ICT increases with frequency of use

• Students struggle to understand how some technologies can be used in the educational environment

• Perceived level of usefulness of ICT increases with frequency of use

Joint Information Systems Committee. 2008. Great expectations of ICT: How Higher Education institutions are measuring up. Available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/greatexpectations. Accessed on 7 Feb 2009. p. 7.

STUDENT EXPERIENCES

• 67% of students assume they can use their own equipment at university

• 80% are satisfied with the level of internet access provided

• 67% of students assume they can use their own equipment at university

• 80% are satisfied with the level of internet access provided

Joint Information Systems Committee. 2008. Great expectations of ICT: How Higher Education institutions are measuring up. Available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/greatexpectations. Accessed on 7 Feb 2009. pp. 7-8.

STUDENT EXPERIENCES

• 25% rate guidance on using ICT in their studies as neutral, or poor.

• This is higher amongst arts students.

• 57% look for new technologies to support their learning

• 25% rate guidance on using ICT in their studies as neutral, or poor.

• This is higher amongst arts students.

• 57% look for new technologies to support their learning


STUDENT EXPERIENCES

• Most students will ask their friends first when solving a problem (mostly for convenience).

• Students are neutral about use of ICT in teaching: the key is to use it well.

• Most students will ask their friends first when solving a problem (mostly for convenience).

• Students are neutral about use of ICT in teaching: the key is to use it well.

Joint Information Systems Committee. 2008. Great expectations of ICT: How Higher Education institutions are measuring up. Available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/greatexpectations. Accessed on 7 Feb 2009. p. 10, p. 24.

STUDENT EXPERIENCES

• There is still an assumption that teaching is about conveying knowledge; this leads to assumptions about the type of tech that is appropriate for the teacher to use.

• There is still an assumption that teaching is about conveying knowledge; this leads to assumptions about the type of tech that is appropriate for the teacher to use.


STUDENT EXPERIENCES

• Social networking that emerges organically works better than that put in place by the teacher.

• ICT that is driven by students themselves (and not ‘fake’) is successful.

• Social networking that emerges organically works better than that put in place by the teacher.

• ICT that is driven by students themselves (and not ‘fake’) is successful.

Joint Information Systems Committee. 2008. Great expectations of ICT: How Higher Education institutions are measuring up. Available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/greatexpectations. Accessed on 7 Feb 2009. p. 10, 31-2.

SOME STATS: Incoming students

AccessAccess

Mobile 93%

Desktop 90%

Broadband 73%





Computer useComputer use

Emailing 94%

Creating documents 88%

Info searching 83%




Main activities on computers

‘Overwhelmingly positive’

Main activities on computers

‘Overwhelmingly positive’Study 94

%

Info Searching 93%

Course admin 84%

SMS 84%

IM 75%





1. Working with info

2. Creating and sharing info

3. Using ICT responsibly

ICT PROFICIENCY

MCEETYA. 2007. National Assessment Program – ICT Literacy Years 6 & 10. Report 2005. Available at http://www.mceetya.edu.au/mceetya/nap_ictl_2005_years_6_and_10_report-press_release,22065.html . Accessed on 21 October 2008.

http://www.mceetya.edu.au/mceetya/nap_ictl_2005_years_6_and_10_report-press_release,22065.html


1. Accessing info (identification, retrieval)

2. Managing info (organising, storing)

3. Evaluating info (integrity, relevance, usefulness)

ICT LITERACY: KEY PROCESSES




4. New understandings (creating knowledge, authoring)

5. Communicating with others (sharing; creating products)

6. Using ICT appropriately (critical, reflective, strategy, ethics and legals)

ICT LITERACY: KEY PROCESSES




• ‘Challenging but reasonable’ expectation

o Year 6: 49%

o Year 10: 61%

ICT PROFICIENCY




• Patterns:

o Low socio-economic bkgnd

o Indigeneity

o Remote locality

o Gender not an issue

ICT PROFICIENCY




• Findingso Communication is a

frequent use

BUTo Less use of applications for

creating, analysing, transforming information

ICT PROFICIENCY




• Younger users

• Older people and ICTs

• Younger users

• Older people and ICTs

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR

• Increase in full-phrase searching

• Satisfied with basic forms of searching

• Good parallel processing skills, but sequential for reading?


CIBER. 2008. Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future. Available from www.bl.uk/news/pdf/googlegen.pdf. Accessed 21 October 2008.

http://www.bl.uk/news/pdf/googlegen.pdf

• No evidence that information literacy is worse than before

• Not expert searchers – Youngsters have always had trouble evaluating info

• Behaviour is now more public




• Skills gap between using media to create and how to create meaningful content

CRITICAL CHALLENGE

EDUCAUSE. 2007. The Horizon Report. New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/CSD4781.pdf. Accessed 10 October 2007. pp 4-5



• Spend little time evaluating for accuracy, relevance, authority (but this is also pre-web)




• Young people are concerned about the ‘unmanageable scale’ of the Web.

• They find it difficult to prioritse and evaluate search results.


Green, Hannah, and Celia Hannon. 2007. Their Space. Education for a digital generation. Available at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace. Accessed 21 October 2008.

http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace

• Fit between search engines and student lifestyles is ‘almost perfect’




• Older users are catching up fast

• All have increasing intolerance for information delay

• More people are ‘powerbrowsing’

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR: ALL



• Individual and personality backgrounds more important than generation

• Looking for ‘the answer’ rather than particular format

• Lots of pre-publishing (blogs, wikis, websites)

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR: ALL



• Age is important regarding engagement re ICTs BUT

• Attitude and character key to connection (not age, health, income)

OLDER PEOPLE AND ICTs

OFCOM. 2006. Older people and communications technology. An attitudinal study into older people and their engagement with communications technology. Available at http://www.ofcomconsumerpanel.org.uk/information/research-policy.htm. Accessed 21 October 2008.

http://www.ofcomconsumerpanel.org.uk/information/research-policy.htm



• Tailoring the learning environment is essential to engaging older people






• Current users: absorbers; self-starters

• Non-users: rejecters; disengaged

• Those not connected will become increasingly excluded






• Social networking• Gaming

INFORMAL LEARNING

• Facebook, My Space• 60% of students talk about

education topics online• 50 % talk about schoolwork

SOCIAL NETWORKING

NSBA. 2007. Creating and Connecting. Research and Guidelines on Online Social — and Educational — Networking. Available at www.nsba.org/SecondaryMenu/TLN/CreatingandConnecting.aspx. Accessed 21 October 2008.

http://www.nsba.org/SecondaryMenu/TLN/CreatingandConnecting.aspx

http://www.nsba.org/SecondaryMenu/TLN/CreatingandConnecting.aspx

• Strengthens existing relationships

• Facilitates recognisable social interactions

• Is a forum for creativity and expression

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Green, Hannah, and Celia Hannon. 2007. Their Space. Education for a digital generation. Available at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace. Accessed 21 October 2008.


• Younger users are more likely to restrict access or withhold identifying information

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Madden, Mary, Susannah Fox, Aaron Smith, and Jessica Vitak. 2007. Online identity management and search in the age of transparency. Available at http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/229/report_display.asp. Accessed 21 October 2008.

http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/229/report_display.asp

• Are hard • Are about experience,

delayed gratification, exploration, teamwork, reward

• Force you to decide, choose, prioritise (weigh evidence, analyse situations, consult long-term goals, decide)

GAMES ...



• Probing as scientific method:1.Probe the environment2.Form hypothesis3.Reprobe and check the

effect4.Rethink based on feedback

GAMING: PROBING



• Means co-ordinating with your ultimate objectives

• It’s about order and constructing proper hierarchies

• Means long-term planning and present focus

GAMING: TELESCOPING

Johnson, Larry. 2006. The sea change before us. EDUCAUSE Review, March/April 2006: 72-3. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0628.pdf. Accessed 10 October 2007. pp. 54-5


• It’s not what you’re thinking, but the way you’re thinking that’s important.

GAMING

Johnson, Larry. 2006. The sea change before us. EDUCAUSE Review, March/April 2006: 72-3. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0628.pdf. Accessed 10 October 2007. P. 15


• The new digital divide• Myths: moral panic and digital

faith• Implications and points for

consideration

GETTINGPERSPECTIVE

• Is about access to knowledge, not PCs

• It needs to be about relationships and networks: not hardware

THE NEW DIGITAL DIVIDE

Green, Hannah, and Celia Hannon. 2007. Their Space. Education for a digital generation. Available at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace. Accessed 21 October 2008. pp. 59-60.


• The internet is dangerous for children. (Children self-regulate all the time.)

• Junk culture is poisoning young people. (Youth culture always challenges the orthodoxy.)

MYTHS: MORAL PANIC

Green, Hannah, and Celia Hannon. 2007. Their Space. Education for a digital generation. Available at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace. Accessed 21 October 2008. pp. 32, 34.


• No learning happens online. (Broad range of skills and learning that gives confidence to succeed in other contexts. Children better identify beneficial computer games than can adults.)

MYTHS: MORAL PANIC

Green, Hannah, and Celia Hannon. 2007. Their Space. Education for a digital generation. Available at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace. Accessed 21 October 2008. pp. 35-6.


• There is a plagiarism epidemic in schools. (This shouldn’t be conflated with new ways of accessing information. We need to teach higher-order skills.)

MYTHS: MORAL PANIC

Green, Hannah, and Celia Hannon. 2007. Their Space. Education for a digital generation. Available at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace. Accessed 21 October 2008. p. 38.


• Young people are disengaged and disconnected. (Students use ICTs to engage with cultural and political issues, get mentoring.)

MYTHS: MORAL PANIC



• This generation is one of passive consumers. (No. Media, gaming, networking communities mean large elements of production, creativity, communication.)

MYTHS: MORAL PANIC



• All gaming is good. (There are different orders of digital activity, and not all activities are equal.)

MYTHS: DIGITAL FAITH



• All children are cyberkids. (Cannot assume that behaviours from a motivated group with high access is characteristic. There is a gap between ‘everyday communicators’ and ‘digital pioneers’.)

MYTHS: DIGITAL FAITH

Green, Hannah, and Celia Hannon. 2007. Their Space. Education for a digital generation. Available at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace. Accessed 21 October 2008. p. 42-3.


• Facility does not mean ICT literacy

• Need to be careful about assumptions we make

IMPLICATIONS


• Competent or just confident?

• How to find the right info, then assess, validate, interpret, analyse, synthesise, critique, evaluate, put in context

• The need to apply problem-solving and critical thinking skills

IMPLICATIONS

Oblinger, Diana G. and Brian L. Hawkins. 2006. The myth about student competency: Our students are technically competent. EDUCAUSE Review 41(2): 12-13. Available at http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/TheMythAboutStudentCompet/40622. Accessed on 7 February 2009.

• Need to build ICT literacy through “systematic teaching rather than incidental use”

• More personalised assessment

IMPLICATIONS


• You need to be ICT literate, too.

IMPLICATIONS

“[T]he mindset of central network planners and administrators is often at odds with the increasingly user-centric nature of Internet applications and tools, limiting innovation.”

POINTS FORCONSIDERATION

Johnson, Laurence F., Rachel Smith and Alan Levine. 2008. 2008 Horizon Report. Australia-New Zealand Edition. Available at http://connect.educause.edu/Library/Abstract/TakingtheHorizonProjectDo/47984. Accessed on 7 Feb 2009.


“Universities could benefit from delivering training which highlights the way students think about information, rather than the way they use technology itself.”

“Universities could benefit from delivering training which highlights the way students think about information, rather than the way they use technology itself.”



“[U]niversities are not currently perceived to be leading the way in developing new ways people can learn.”

“[U]niversities are not currently perceived to be leading the way in developing new ways people can learn.”



The main point is to seize the opportunity to use this technology in the service of education.

The main point is to seize the opportunity to use this technology in the service of education.

LICENCE