Warning—this message is definitely more of a rant
In his book, Richardson spends a little time talking about what Educause, and others, refers to as the Net Generation. Clearly since Richardson is focused on K-12, his audience does fit that category more—at least the middle and upper class school populations. I think many university scholars researching and writing on this subject, again check out Educause’s yearly report on the techyness of college students, also make grandiose statements about the tech savvyness of incoming college students.
Folks…drop by your local community college campus and get a reality check.
So yes…even if they are from the lower class that might have more difficulty accessing various technologies, the K-12 and “traditional” college student are more tech savvy. But I’m getting really tired of these folks making grand claims and missing a huge population that is going to college, returning students (even those still in their late 20s). These students look more like what Prensky (quoted in Richardson) calls “Digital Immigrants.” And whereas some of these Immigrants might be very tech savvy, heck those of us doing all this teaching and technology scholarship stuff have to still consider ourselves digital immigrants, they show “accents” (again, Prensky quoted in Richardson).
So first, we have an “older” student population that does not fit the definition of net generation or digital native. However, I’m not sure these digital natives are as savvy as Richardson, Educause, and others would like us to think. Yeah, they may know how to text message, take and send pictures, and download music and ringtones—all on their cell phones. But that doesn’t mean they are knowledgeable about various web2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, social bookmarking…probably social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are the only exception). And it doesn’t mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that they are willing, ready, and able to adapt to change. In other words, these digital natives may know how to use their cellphones, but sure as heck are not motivated to “play” in the same way with their blogs and social bookmarking sites as a way to learn them.
So what does this rant mean? It means back to emphasizing the critical responsibility of explaining the what/whys of each technology an instructor uses in a course. In other words, even the techy-savvy need to understand how and why they are using something, and might use it in the future.
2 responses so far ↓
1
Floyd Geasland
// Jan 26, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Just because the world is “flat” doesn’t mean you can see everywhere and have been everywhere. These digital immigrants that are coming back to school have been more ‘prewired’ for the use of the Web 2.0 technologies than older generations and can be quicker to adapt and learn how to use them. Providing of course they allow themselves to learn them and don’t be ‘refusniks’.
I think one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to generalize that all digital immigrants will excel in all the technologies and that they’ve been exposed to all the new technologies. In my experience working with my students they may not be experienced, but will adapt better to the new tools as long as someone will show them how. My kids, who are of the ‘digital native’ generation, but because of economics or immigration have not had the luxury of seeing or using these tools, still assimilate new tools easier than my peers who are excited over the possibilities and want to learn to use them. They certainly find the answers to operational problems using the tools than I do. I really think its more of a mindset and expectational response than just “They Know How” type of thing.
2
Donna
// Jan 26, 2007 at 11:54 pm
I agree with you about the “tech savy with cell phone does not equal overall tech savy” idea. Just because students have figured out their cell phones and iPods does not mean they can really search the Internet and critically evaluate what they find. Some can and some can’t. Technology is so broad and the term applies to so many things yet if someone knows how to use TiVo, they are considered “techy”. That is like saying that because I know not to apply a tourniquet as treatment for a snake bite that I am a Doctor. No way! I think we need to better understand “techiness” in terms of a set of specific skills and abilities and not just an overly broad generalization.
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