{"id":93,"date":"2008-06-03T16:56:58","date_gmt":"2008-06-03T16:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/?p=93"},"modified":"2025-08-18T13:08:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T20:08:28","slug":"the-other-research-on-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/2008\/06\/the-other-research-on-students\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Research on Students"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting perhaps with Mark Prensky’s<\/a> definitions of “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” in his 2001 article<\/a>, online teachers hear a lot about the Net Gen students. I continually point people toward the 2005 EDUCAUSE book “Educating the Net Generation<\/a>“, and there are many resources saying that our upcoming college students are tech-savvy information seekers who love technology. The conclusion is that we’d better get with the program and jazz stuff up to ensure “engagement”. I’ve been immersed in this for a long time, speaking the language, walking the walk and talking the talk. <\/p>\n

That always felt odd, because my own experience with my own students didn’t back it up. They don’t seem to know how to do basic maneuvers on the internet, even inside a CMS. They don’t seem that interested in technology, though they use cell phones incessantly and listen to their MP3 players in class while watching skateboarding contests at YouTube on their laptops. <\/p>\n

Now I’ve been reading things that back up what I’ve been seeing. Partly I’m relieved. Partly I want to go back to everyone I’ve ever talked to about Net Genners and say, “wait! I was wrong!” Mostly I want to reassure novice online instructors that they don’t have to worry that the students know the technology better than they do. They have to worry that they have no idea how to use it for academic work. (If you watched my video from my presentation at San Diego City College, you know I spent a lot of time on this although I hadn’t planned to!)\n<\/p>\n

So here’s what I’ve been reading:<\/p>\n