NET GEN LIFE AND

LEARNINGMegan Poore

NET GEN LIFE AND

LEARNINGMegan Poore

• Statistics and expectations

• ICT proficiency and literacy

• Information behaviour

• Social networking and gaming

• Learning needs

• Moral Panic and Digital Faith

• Implications

COVERAGE

TECHNOLOGY TO WATCH

Horizon Report (2007)

2007 2008

User-created content Grassroots video

Social networking Collaboration webs

Mobile phones Mobile broadband

Virtual worlds Data mashups

New scholarship and forms of publication

Social operating systems

Educational gaming Collective intelligence

Horizon Report(2008)

SOME STATS: Incoming students

AccessAccess

Mobile 93%

Desktop 90%

Broadband 73%

University of Melbourne (2006)

SOME STATS: Incoming students

Computer useComputer use

Emailing 94%

Creating documents 88%

Info searching 83%

University of Melbourne (2006)

University of Melbourne (2006)

Main activities on computers

‘Overwhelmingly positive’

Main activities on computers

‘Overwhelmingly positive’

Study 94%

Info Searching 93%

Course admin 84%

SMS 84%

IM 75%

SOME STATS: Incoming students

University of Melbourne (2006)

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

JISC (2007)

• 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

STUDENT EXPECTATIONS

JISC (2007)

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

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

STUDENT EXPECTATIONS

1. Working with info

2. Creating and sharing info

3. Using ICT responsibly

MCEETYA (2007)

ICT PROFICIENCY

1. Accessing info (identification, retrieval)

2. Managing info (organising, storing)

3. Evaluating info (integrity, relevance, usefulness)

MCEETYA (2007)

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)

MCEETYA (2007)

ICT LITERACY: KEY PROCESSES

• ‘Challenging but reasonable’ expectation

o Year 6: 49%

o Year 10: 61%

ICT PROFICIENCY

MCEETYA (2007)

• Patterns:

o Low socio-economic bkgnd

o Indigeneity

o Remote locality

o Gender not an issue

ICT PROFICIENCY

MCEETYA (2007)

• Findings

o Communication is a frequent use

BUT

o Less use of applications for creating, analysing, transforming information

MCEETYA (2007)

ICT PROFICIENCY

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

CRITICAL CHALLENGE

Horizon Report, EDUCAUSE (2007: 4-5)

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

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

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR

CIBER(2008)

• No evidence that information literacy is worse than before

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

• Behaviour is now more public

CIBER(2008)

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

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

CIBER(2008)

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR

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

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

Green and Hannon (2007: 63)

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR

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

CIBER (2008)

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR

• No evidence that information literacy is worse than before

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

• Behaviour is now more public

CIBER (2008)

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR

• Older users are catching up fast

• All have increasing intolerance for information delay

• More people are ‘powerbrowsing’

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR: ALL

CIBER (2008)

• Individual and personality backgrounds more important than generation

• Looking for ‘the answer’ rather than particular format

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

CIBER (2008)

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR: ALL

• Older users are catching up fast

• All have increasing intolerance for information delay

• More people are ‘powerbrowsing’

CIBER (2008)

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR: ALL

• Age is important re engagement re ICTs BUT

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

OLDER PEOPLE AND ICTs

OFCOM (2006)

• Tailoring the learning environment is essential to engaging older people

OFCOM (2006)

OLDER PEOPLE AND ICTs

• Current users: absorbers; self-starters

• Non-users: rejecters; disengaged

• Those not connected will become increasingly excluded

OFCOM (2006)

OLDER PEOPLE AND ICTs

• Social networking• Gaming

INFORMAL LEARNING

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

education topics online• 50 % talk about schoolwork

SOCIAL NETWORKING

NSBA (2007)

• Strengthens existing relationships

• Facilitates recognisable social interactions

• Is a forum for creativity and expression

Green and Hannon (2007)

SOCIAL NETWORKING

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

Pew Internet Project 2007 (21-22)

SOCIAL NETWORKING

• 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 ...

Johnson (2006 [2005])

• Probing as scientific method:1.Probe the environment2.Form hyothesis3.Reprobe and check the

effect4.Rethink based on feedback

GAMING: PROBING

Johnson (2006 [2005]: 45)

• 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 (2006 [2005]: 54-55)

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

GAMING

Johnson (2006 [2005]: 13)

• Need to be careful of assuming that entertainment improves us only when it carries a healthy message

Johnson (2006 [2005]: 13)

GAMING

1.Everyone can succeed2.You gotta play the odds3.Learn from the team, not the

coach4.Kill bosses, trust strategy

guides5.Watch the map6.Can’t see it? Ignore it?7.Demand the right team

GAMERS: 7 HABITS

Beck and Wade (2006: xiv - xvii)

• Dynamic• Experiential• Learning by doing• Problem-solving

LEARNING NEEDS

Pletka (2007)

• Want to engage and be engaged

• Learn through doing

Veen and Vrakking (2006)

LEARNING NEEDS

• Are personalised• Are visual• Have links to the

community• Are rigorous• Use individualised

feedback

INFORMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Pletka (2007)

• Must build on what we know is already working with the students

• Need strategies that bridge formal and informal learning

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Green and Hannon (2007: 17)

Informal learning:• Self-motivation• Ownership• Purpose• Peer-to-peer learning

Green and Hannon (2007: 17)

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Need to move away from focusing on specific areas of knowledge

• Focus instead on ‘soft skills’ of problem-solving, creativity, intelligence, initiative ...

Green and Hannon (2007: 22-24)

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• BUT ...• Students rank creativity as

eighth most important skill for the future

• Only 50% of parents say ‘classroom lessons’ are the most important method of learning for their child

Green and Hannon (2007: 27)

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Need to look at existing practices, rather than trying to figure out how students should be learning from technology

Green and Hannon (2007: 25-26)

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Is about access to knowledge, not PCs

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

THE NEW DIGITAL DIVIDE

Green and Hannon (2007: 17, 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 and Hannon (2007: 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.)

Green and Hannon (2007: 35-36)

MYTHS: MORAL PANIC

• 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.)

Green and Hannon (2007: 38)

MYTHS: MORAL PANIC

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

Green and Hannon (2007: 39)

MYTHS: MORAL PANIC

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

Green and Hannon (2007: 39)

MYTHS: MORAL PANIC

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

MYTHS: DIGITAL FAITH

Green and Hannon (2007: 42)

• 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’.)

Green and Hannon (2007: 42-43)

MYTHS: DIGITAL FAITH

• Facility does not mean ICT literacy

• Need to be careful about assumptions we make

IMPLICATIONS

MCEETYA (2007)

• 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

Oblinger and Hawkins (2006)

IMPLICATIONS

• Renewed emphasis on collaborative learning

Horizon Report, EDUCAUSE (2007: 4-5)

IMPLICATIONS

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

• More personalised assessment

MCEETYA (2007)

IMPLICATIONS

• You need to be ICT literate, too.

IMPLICATIONS

LICENCE