Educating the Net Generation – A Handbook of Findings for Practice and Policy

TLDR

Australian universities are currently enrolling a “Net Generation” of students born between 1980 and 1994 who are technologically savvy, prompting calls for educators—often labeled “digital immigrants”—to adapt their teaching strategies to leverage emerging technologies. The project aimed to explore the Net Generation in higher education to understand students’ and teachers’ technological experiences and preferences. The study examined current technological experiences, preferences, and implementation challenges of emerging technologies in local learning contexts. The handbook concludes that the digital native/immigrant rhetoric is unsupported, technology experiences are diverse, emerging technologies can enhance learning but require aligned pedagogical, technical, and administrative support, and their adoption challenges existing university policies.

Abstract

It has been widely suggested, and in some respects accepted, that a so-called Net Generation of students is passing through [Australia's] universities. Born roughly between 1980 and 1994 these students have been characterised as being technologically savvy, having grown up in an age where computers, mobile phones and the Internet are part of mainstream culture and society. A number of commentators have even suggested that educators, whom they label 'digital immigrants', need to radically adjust their teaching and learning strategies to accommodate their 'digital native' students, predominantly by adopting and capitalising on the affordances of emerging technologies. This project explored the notion of the Net Generation in higher education to gain a better understanding of: students' and teachers' current technological experiences and preferences; and a range of issues associated with the implementation of emerging technologies in local learning and teaching contexts. This handbook represents a key project outcome. The main messages that have emerged from the project are that: (1) the rhetoric that university students are 'digital natives' and university staff are 'digital immigrants' is not supported; (2) there is great diversity in students' and staff experiences with technology, and their preferences for the use of technology in higher education; (3) emerging technologies afford a range of learning activities that can improve student learning processes, outcomes, and assessment practices; (4) managing and aligning pedagogical, technical and administrative issues is a necessary condition of success when using emerging technologies for learning; (5) innovation with learning technologies typically requires the development of new learning and teaching and technology-based skills, which is effortful for both students and staff; and (6) the use of emerging technologies for learning and teaching can challenge current university policies in learning and teaching and IT.