Building a Blueprint: Net Gen Students, Web 2.0, and the Future of Learning

1. Building a Blueprint: Net Gen Students, Web 2.0, and the Future of Learning EDUCAUSE 2009 Southwest Regional Conference February 24, 2009 Julie K. Little and Carie L. Page

2. Today’s Approach • Introductions (8:15-8:30) • Learning Environments (8:30-9:00) • Net Gen Learners (9:00-9:30) • Learning Principles (9:30-10:00) • Break (10:00-10:15) • Time to Build (10:15-10:30) • Emerging Technologies (10:30-10:50) • Time to Build (10:50-11:25) • Wrap up (11:25-11:30)

3. Learning Environments

4. Step 1:Defining Learning Environment • Personal construction/reflection • Group discussion/construction • Group report out

5. Net Gen Learners iPod toting, Facebook poking, Twitterers

6. The (digital) natives are coming! Children age 6 and younger • 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% 4-6 year olds use a computer daily • 39% use a computer several times/week • 30% have played video games Kaiser Family Foundation (2007)

7. K-12 Students Technology Use Speak Up, 2007 Grades 9-12 • 23% of students use online tools to connect with students around the US • 17% to connect with students around the world • 50% of students grades 3-5 use online tools to connect with other students • 44% of students connect with 20+ other kids per month online • 34% of those are friends they have never met Evans (2007). http://www.tomorrow.org/

8. K-12 Students Regular Technology Use, 2008 • #1 activity grades 6-12: downloading music • 64+% K-12 play online and computer games • 40% gr 6-8 and 67% gr 9-12 maintain a personal web site • 50% gr 9-12 posted/shared a video • 21% gr 6-8 remix content • 24% gr 3-5 participate in virtual worlds Evans (2008). http://www.tomorrow.org/

9. K-12 and Mobile Devices Evans (2008). http://www.tomorrow.org/

10. K-12 and Gaming Devices Evans (2008). http://www.tomorrow.org/

11. Living and Learning with New Media (2008), MacArthur Foundation • Messing Around and “Geeking Out” • Building an Audience • “Friends” with multiple definitions • A seamless space • Hierarchy and articulation Digital Youth, http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/report

12. Students and Information Technology (2008)EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research • More than 85% of undergraduates are logging on to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. (85.2) • More than 83% are text messaging from their phones. (83.6) • More than two-thirds are downloading music and videos from the Web and an increasing number are actually creating and sharing content on the Web. (77.3) • Almost half are contributing to sites like Flickr and YouTube. (46.6)

13. Students and Information Technology (2008)EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (con’t) • More than a third are contributing to wikis and blogs. (38.2 | 34.1) • Almost a third are accessing the Web from handheld devices like a mobile phone (30.8) and ownership of mobile devices with Internet connectivity is on the rise. (About 66.1 percent.) • Almost 29% are playing multi-player games like World of Warcraft. And about 1 in 11 are using virtual worlds like Second Life. (8.8) • On average, they say they are spending 19.6 hours online each week

14. “They” are iPod-toting, Web-site building technology users “I took a vacation recently to the Outer Banks and we didn’t have wireless. So we want to go out to eat and I start to pick up my laptop. Then I realize – there’s no wireless. Someone finds a phone book. It took us forever to figure out what we were doing.” • E-mail, social networking sites are ubiquitous (ECAR, 2008) • Youth are easily picking up and adopting new technologies, usually through trial and error (MacArthur, 2008) • Relying on technology for every day tasks

15. “They” are text message sending, back row Twittering multitaskers “If you look at my computer, there are at last six windows open at the same time. Information can be accessed so fast and so easy, why not use that to get more done at the same time?” • Tools like IM, Twitter, and email have replaced the “note” in class (MacArthur, 2008) • Ubiquitous computing means anytime, anywhere access to a network of friends. • Computer lab observations show screen multitasking mimicks face to face multitasking (Jones, 2002)

16. “They” are surfing-the-Web-while-I-walk and text-messaging-while-I-wait connected “I like to take my work and my life anywhere. That might be texting on the bus or listening to music when I’m running. Or just checking e-mail when I’m waiting between classes... I’m never bored.” • Mobile technologies create access to anytime, anywhere information and social interaction • Students are living, working, and community in seamless world of online/face to face interaction

17. “They” expect 24/7, instant access “They call this the information age or something, right? Look, I want things fast! I don’t wait for video, I don’t wait or mail, I don’t wait for anything. If I ever had to use dial-up again, I might shoot myself.” • Online banking, shopping, etc. have changed the norms around “access” • Students expect information will be fast, tire of tedious tasks or waiting

18. “They” are social networking building, Facebook-poking virtual social butterflies “My parents don’t understand. They think that talking online must be impersonal. Or that is leaves some sort of void. Online is how I talk. I can communicate with so many more people and manage so many more relationships. She thinks I’m more isolated than her generation – I think it’s the opposite.” • IM, Facebook, Skype, Multi-player games • Leverage tools to keep in contact with friends • Have wider social networks; easily create groups online • Might be an inch deep

19. “They” are tossing out the instruction book and figuring it out anyway Question: How did you figure out how to make the vodcasts? “Well… I opened up the camera box, started messing around and then figured out how to upload it. Took awhile. Had to Google it a few times to figure out how to splice stuff together. Just took an hour or so. Is that what you mean?”

20. “They” are self-expressive, social networking, media creators • 57% of American teens are media creators • created a blog, web page, posted art work, photos, remixed content into own creation • 33% share what they create online with others • 22% have a web site • 19% blog • 19% remix online content • 13% have posted video Social Networking Web sites & Teens (2007). Pew Internet and American Life Project.

21. “They” are: • Experiential • Multi-taskers • Always “On” • Tech Geeks • Content Creators • Virtual Social Butterflies

22. Net Gen’rsare communicating differently • Conversations aren’t between two people, but between a group of people. • They live in social networks connected to people around the world. • Many have never met their friends face to face. • Group work doesn’t require you to sit around a table. • Talking isn’t just about communicating, it’s about communicating fast. • More than 1/3 of students said they like to learn through text-based conversations on email or through IM or contributing to wikis (ECAR, 2008).

23. Net Gen’rsare sharing differently • They often have little regard for sharing music, videos, links, homework. • They have a new definition of fame. • Internet has opened up a new way for students to create identities and share their passions. • They have little concern with sharing the most intimate details of their lives through blogs or message boards with their kindred spirits.

24. Net Gen’rsare meeting differently • They aren’t going online – they’re living online, working and connecting with friends in a third dimension. • We used to congregate in the mall for hours. 21st C students congregate in online spaces “hanging out” with friends. • And, they still meet face-to-face to hang out at the mall! It’s about interchangeable ways to meet and connect.

25. Net Gen’rsare learning differently • In the 2008 ECAR study, • 80+% of students said they like to learn through doing Internet searches. • Half said they like to learn through programs that they control, like games or simulations.

26. Step 2:Key Characteristics of the Net Gen Learner • Personal reflection • Group discussion

27. Learning Principles

28. Step 3:Learning Principles Brainstorming and Tagging • Think about the best learning experiences that you had as a student, or perhaps as an instructor in the classroom. • Think about those activities and courses that just seem to really work.

29. BREAK10:00-10:15

30. Time to Build

31. Step 4:Getting Specific • Academic area/program • Advanced or entry-level learners • Small seminar, large lecture, field-base, laboratory, etc. • Face-to-face, fully online, or blended • How important is • the role of collaboration and teamwork? • personal reflection in the process? • the role of simulation or role-play? • access to networked information or real-time data? • the involvement of real-world problem solving and activities that replicate those in the professional world?

32. Emerging Technologies

33. Top 100 Tools for Learning, 2008 Hart, J. (Updated October 2008), http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html

34. Wikis for Collaboration • Ohio State University • A student-generated glossary describes plants and key terms • Students must contribute own content and edit others • Becomes a public resource for community

35. Web 2.0 Tools for Exploring Media • University of Southern California, Comparative Political Media • Students blog, podcast, and capture video about the 2008 election season • Work is assessed by students and wider community • Students learn to use and evaluate emerging forms of expression Higdon, J. & Howell K., 2009 http://net.educause.edu/ELI081/Program/13300?PRODUCT_CODE=ELI081/SESS21

36. Virtual Worlds for Authentic Reflection • University of Wisconsin-Madison • Critique It in Second Life • Students post digital artworks in virtual world • Visitors can engage in conversation with students; audience broadens to global community

37. Simulations for Collaborative Problem Solving • River City at Harvard University • Students work in an interactive, virtual environment to determine the source of a town’s health problems • Can interview people in town, take water samples, and search for resources in library

38. QR Codes for Mobile Learning • 2-D bar codes developed in Japan • Can be read by cameras on many mobile phones • Creators can embed information about artwork, physical locations or even clues • Enables an overlay of physical locations and digital information

39. Step 5:Selecting Technologies to Support Learning • Small group discussion • Whole group sharing

40. Time to Build “Outside of the Box”

41. Step 6:Building a Blueprint • How will you foster higher order thinking skills (critical-thinking, problem-solving, decision-making)? • How will you develop 21st century literacies (information, media, visual, etc.)? • Does the activity meet the needs of net gen learners you identified in Step 2? • Does the activity address the learning principles you identified in Step 3? • How can you support the activity with an emerging technology described in Step 5?

42. Share Your Ideashttp://connect.educause.edu/wiki/Future_Scenarios_home Contact UsJulie K. Little jlittle@educause.eduCarie Page cpage@educause.edu