Educating the Net

Generation

Diana G. Oblinger, Ph.D.

Copyright Diana G. Oblinger, 2005. This work is the intellectual property of the
author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial,
educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the
reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the
author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from
the author.
Environment
 Product of the environment

Baby Generation Net Gen

Boomers X

z TV generation • Video games • Web

z Typewriters • PC • Cell phone
z Telephone • Email • IM
z Memos • CDs • MP3s
z Family focus • Individualist • Online
communities
Children age 6 and under

• 2:01 hours / day playing outside

• 1:58 hours using screen media

• 40 minutes reading or being read to

• 48% of children have used a

computer

• 27%
daily
4-6 year olds use a computer

• 39% use a computer several

times a week

• 30% have played video games

– Kaiser Family Foundation, 2003

 Media exposure

By age 21, the average person will

have spent
• 10,000 hours video games
• 200,000 emails
• 20,000 hours TV
• 10,000 hours
cell phone
• Under 5,000 hours reading

– Prensky, 2003
 Neuroplasticity
• The brain reorganizes itself throughout life:
neuroplasticity
• Stimulation changes brain structures; the brain
changes and organizes itself based on the
inputs it receives
• Different developmental experiences impact
how people think
• For example, language learned
later in life goes into a different
place in the brain than when
language is learned as a child

―Prensky, 2001
Net Generation
 The Net Generation
• Born in or after 1982
• Gravitate toward group activity
• 8 out of 10 say “it’s cool to be smart”
• Focused on grades and performance
• Busy with extracurricular activities
• Identify with parents’ values;
feel close to parents
• Respectful of social
conventions and institutions
• Fascination for new
technologies
• Racially and ethnically
diverse
―Howe & Strauss, 2003
Today’s learners

• Digital
• Connected
• Experiential
• Immediate
• Social
Net gen learning preferences

• Teams, peer-to-peer
• Engagement & experience
• Visual & kinesthetic
• Things that matter
Web as a reference library
Games are a way of life

• 69% have played games since

elementary school

• 77% of students have played games

by high school

• 60% of college students are regular game players

• Games are part of students’ multitasking environment
• Games are integrated into daily life (and studying)

• 29 is the average age of a game player

• $7 billion: Game sales in 2002
--Jones, 2003
Concerns

• Web as information universe not the library

• Source quality
• Text literacy
• Short attention span
• Multitasking
• Fast response time
• Reflection
Attitudes
PC Net
TV Generation Generation Generation

Web What is it? Web is a tool Web is oxygen

Extended
Community Personal Virtual
personal

Perspective Local Multi-national Global

Multiple Multiple
Career One career
careers reinvention

Loyalty Corporation Self Soul

Authority Hierarchy Unimpressed Self as expert

―Savage, 2003
 Student in-class preferences

Moderate IT

40

Extensive IT
30
Percentage

Limited IT
20

10

No IT Online
0
―Kvavik, 2004
 Age vs. learning preferences
Mature Students who were very
satisfied with Web-based
60 63%
Boomer
learning by generation

55%
40 Gen X

38%

30
Percentage

Net Gen

26%
20

10

0 ―Dziuban, 2004
Adding not replacing

Face
-to-f
a ce

Online Blended
communication
or k s
ial netw
S oc
Learner expectations
• Head: knowledge of subject
• Hands: teaching skills
―Clear and systematic presentation
―Teaching at the right level
―Use of learning aids
―Stimulating student interest and
thinking
―Encouraging active learning
• Heart: concern for students
―Helpfulness
―Empathy for students
―Enthusiasm for subject and
teaching ―Noakes, 2005
What can you do?
• Make learning interactive and experiential
• Consider peer-to-peer approaches
• Utilize real-world applications
• Emphasize information literacy in courses
• Mix online and
face-to-face
• Encourage reflection
• Create opportunities for
synthesis
• Use informal learning opportunities
Nontraditional
learners
Time-constrained learners

• 35% of undergraduates are adult learners

• 87% commute
• 80% work
• At risk:
• Part-time enrollment
• Delaying entry into post-
secondary ed
• Lack of high school diploma
• Having children
• Being a single parent
• Working full time – NCES, 2003
Traditional targets of blame

• 7% academic difficulties
• 3% academic load too heavy
• 1% poor advisement

– Bleed, 2005
Limitations to learning
Work limits:
• 46% class schedules
• 39% number of classes
• 30% course options
• 30% access to library

• 80% participation in
extracurricular activities

– AACC, 2004
Life interruptions

Health issues

Financial problems Family

responsibilities

Work
Transportation responsibilities
problems Job shift
Limited time

– Bleed, 2005
What can you do?
Nontraditional learners have unique needs
• Make classes flexible
• Provide online options
• Tailor support systems to
the students’ needs
• Get data about what works
Engagement &
interaction
Questions that count
Two metal balls are the same size, but one
weighs twice as much as the other. The balls
• Concept are dropped from the top of a two story
building at the same instant of time. The time
inventories it takes the balls to reach the ground below
• Student response will be:
A. About half as long for the heavier ball
units B. About half as long for the lighter ball
• Immediate results C. About the same time for both balls
keep students D. Considerably less for the lighter ball,
but not necessarily half as long
engaged E. Considerably less for the heavier ball,
• Allows real-time but not necessarily half as long

modification of
instruction
 Collaborative
projects

Ancient Spaces: Developed by the Faculty of the Arts, University of British Columbia
 Historical simulation
• Players choose leadership of a country
• Interaction with variables on the economy,
policy, military, natural resources
• In multiplayer
mode, players can
IM each other

―Muzzy Lane, 2005

Augmented reality
• Players briefed about rash of local health
problems linked to the environment
• Provided with background information
and “budget”
• Need to determine source of pollution by
drilling sampling wells and ultimately
remediate with pumping wells
• Work in teams representing different
interests (EPA, industry, etc.)

―Klopfer & Squire, 2003

Alternative instructional strategies
Improvement compared with traditional methods
Net effect
Pedagogical approach (std. dev.)

Active learning 0.25

Computer-assisted 0.31

Cooperative learning 0.51

Small group learning 0.51

– Pascaralla & Terenzini, 2005
Redefining space

• Social
• Interactive
• Flexible
• Multipurpose
• Reconfigurable
• Open

―photos courtesy of Shepley.

Shepley Bullfinch,
Bullfinch Richardson & Abbott
 Reconfiguring activities and space
• SCALE-UP: Student Centered Activities for Large
Enrollment Undergraduate Programs
• Class time spent on tangibles and ponderables
• Problem solving, conceptual
understanding and attitudes
are improved
• Failure rates are
reduced
dramatically
• “The job is not to
teach physics but
to teach thinking.”

--Beichner & Saul, 2003

Informal spaces

• Students spend more time out of class than in it

• “Capture time” is particularly important for non-residential
students
• Learning occurs through conversations, web surfing,
social interactions
• Team projects
• Spontaneous interactions
• Mingle, share, make connections
Kids
 Intuitive understanding
• Began with children in New Delhi slum
• Children taught themselves to surf the
Net, read news, download games
• Replicated in many locations: children
learn to browse the Internet without
instruction

―www.hole-in-the-wall.com
Growth in Internet use

Growth
2005 since
2000
Use the Internet 87% 73%
Go online daily 51% 42%
Play games online 81% 52%
Get news online 76% 38%

– Lenhart, et al. 2005

Teens and technology

84% Own 1+ personal media device

45% Have own cell phone

75% Use IM

57% Get college information online

38% Send text messages via cell phone

– Lenhart, et al. 2005

 What kids want from the net

New & exciting

Learn
more/better

Community

Show others
what I can do

Be heard

0 20 40 60 80 100
Base: Kids 9-17 Percentage – Grunwald, 2003
Multitasking while online
Listen to
radio while
online
Watch TV
while online
Talk on
phone while
online
Visit a site mentioned by
someone on the phone
Send an IM to
person you’re
talking to
Visit website
seen on TV
Visit website
mentioned on
radio
– Grunwald, 2004
Media saturated lives
• 6:21 hours watching TV

• 26% of the time kids use more than 2

media simultaneously
• 8:33 of media messages
• 1:02 using computer other than for
school work

• 49 minutes playing video games

• 43 minutes of recreational reading
• (Children ages 8-18)
– Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005
The next generation
• Represents a new set of characteristics
• Not expert users; laptop as a tool
• Speed-dominated culture
• Screen culture
• Independence from parents;
dependence on peers
• Spatial flexibility (real & virtual)
• Culture of childhood being replaced by
adult created toys and games
– Backon, et al. 2003; Elkind, 2003
Generational
comparison
Net Gen experience base
• Ctrl + Alt + Del is as basic as ABC
• They have never been able to find the “return” key
• Computers have always fit in their backpacks
• They have always had a personal identification number
• Photographs have always
been processed in an hour
or less
• Bert and Ernie are old
enough to be their parents
• Gas has always been
unleaded
• Rogaine has always been
available for the follicularly
challenged
--Beloit College, 2003, 2004
Text vs. visual
Not an age phenomenon
• Are you more comfortable composing documents online
than long-hand?
• Have you turned your “remembering” over to a technology
device (phone numbers, meetings, etc.)?
• Do you go to meetings with your laptop or PDA?
• Are you constantly connected? (The Internet is always on
whether you are at home or work? Your cell phone is
always with you?)
• How many different activities can you effectively engage
in at one time?
• Do you play video or computer games?

―Suter, 2001
Comfort zones differ
Students Faculty
Multitasking Single or limited tasks

Pictures, sound, video Text

Random access Linear, logical, sequential

Interactive and networked Independent and individual

Engaging Disciplined

Spontaneous Deliberate
―adapted from Himes, 2004
 Student advice

• Be engaging; challenge us
• Be responsive: answer voice mails and emails; office hours still
matter
• Be seen: we’d like to see you and get to know you outside of class
• Set boundaries: tell us when you’re available
• Use technology appropriately: don’t be
“Power Pointless”
• Use real world, relevant examples
• Be an active participant in class; show
you are excited about the subject
• Ask students what they think
• Not everything needs to be on the Web
―Windham, 2005
Steps to take
1. Decide what is important
• Its not technology alone: Technology does not dazzle this
generation; they are interested in function/activity

• Knowledge construction: Reasoning is not linear, deductive or

abstract but begins from the concrete and assembles a “mosaic”

• Interactivity: This is a connected, interactive generation;

collaboration and interaction are important learning principles

• Formal & informal: Learning can

occur anywhere, anytime

• Adaptation: It is not about

whether you are a digital native
but whether you can adapt to
those whose style does not
match your own

– Dede, 2005
2. Determine which learner
characteristics are important
Desire to do it for themselves and to “make it their
Experiential own” is strong

Readily absorb and convey information in non-text

Non-text formats
Large percentage of students working more than 30
Limited time hours per week; commuting population
Opportunistic If there is something of interest, or a question,
style learners will look it up on the web

Desire for Being connected with peers is important; interaction

personal touch with faculty remains a key satisfier
 3. Involve students
• Students as consumers with a choice
• They have a unique perspective on their
learning environment
• Input ranges from opinion to action
• Language and perspectives differ;
not all students are alike
• “Spend a day in their shoes”
4. Find the right balance

Action Reflection

Visual Text

Social Individual

Process Content

Speed Deliberation

Peer-to-peer Peer review

5. Evaluate and modify

Qualitative and quantitative measures

• Knowledge building
• Organizational change
• Decision-making
• Program development
• Infrastructure development

―Olds, 2005
The goal is an organization that is
constantly making its future rather
than defending its past.

―Hamel & Valiksngas, 2003

 doblinger@educause.edu
www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen

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