Implications of Media and Technology use Among Today’s Learners

George SiemensTechnology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute

Athabasca UniversityMay 13, 2010Presented to:

Millennials?Media use & technology ownershipImpact

Millennials?Media use & technology ownershipImpact

“Coddled, narcissistic praise junkies”US Navy

“Generational differences research suffers from many of the same weaknesses found in learning styles research.”

Tom Reeves (2007)

“The researchers found, however, that only a minority of the students (around 21%) were engaged in creating their own content and multimedia for the Web, and that a significant proportion of students had lower level skills than might be expected of digital natives.”

Bennett, Maton, Kervin (2007)

“The rhetoric that university students are Digital Natives and university staff are Digital Immigrants is not supported”

Educating the net generation: a handbook of Findings for Practice and Policy (2009)

Millennials?Media use & technology ownershipImpact

Stronger correlation between educational performance and frequency of computer use at home than at school

OECD (2010)

Change in computer ownershipECAR, 2009

By 2020, mobile phone is primary connection tool

Pew Internet (Expert survey, 77% agreed)

Ownership of internet “capable” deviceECAR, 2009

Hours per week using internet for school/recreationECAR, 2009

Consumption of “multiple technologies” and mobiles

BECTA, 2008

“Research shows that while we can perceive two stimuli in parallel, we cannot process them simultaneously”

Foehr (2006)

Internet Use by Age Group

Nearly two-thirds of online teens are content creators

Pew Internet

Millennials?Media use & technology ownershipImpact

“You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics”

Robert Solow (1987)

“…profound changes whose revolutionary nature is better revealed by their eventual breadth and depth of the clusters of innovation that emerge than by the pace at which they achieve their influence”

Paul A. David (2000)

“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”

Educating the net generation: a handbook of Findings for Practice and Policy (2009)

Most frequently used online services by higher education instructors

“Participation in the digital age means more than being able to access “serious” online information and culture; it also means the ability to participate in social and recreational activities online.”

MacArthur Foundation (2008)

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Social Networks & Learning (June 21-25, 2010)https://tekri.athabascau.ca/dr_seminar/

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