digital natives:is there evidence?

students’ use of technology in formal and informal learning

full report:

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/projects/detail/projectfinder/projects/pf2969lr

Part 1: Students’ Views

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

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160

GCU Strathclyde

Social workEngineering

formal learning (course)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Never

Monthly

Daily

Informal learning

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Never

Monthly

Daily

socialising

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Never

Monthly

Daily

Use of tools on the course

General WWW/

Google scholar - Finding resources

for assignments

Use of tools on the course

VLE

- Depends on use by tutor

- Downloading handouts

use of tools for informal learning

mobile phones

- organising project meetings- discussing assignments

- peer support in preparing for exams

- “no study materials on my phone please”

Instant Messaging

- finding each other on campus

- communicating timetable changes

- arranging to meet- discussing coursework

use of tools for informal learning

Social networking (Bebo, MySpace)

• socialising• supporting each other• sharing resources• organising learning in groups• mixed socialising and learning

use of tools for informal learning

Would you like to use these tools in your courses?

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Yes No Don't know

misunderstanding the tool nature

interdisciplinary differences

low concern with who provides tools

Part 2: Staff interviews

support communication and interaction

support flexible learning opportunities

fit to the prevalent pedagogy of PBL

staff’s perceptions: social work

Face2face a strong factor

Stability and interoperability of tools

Infrastructure and mobile devices

staff’s perceptions: engineering

VLE the predominant tool

little experience with Web 2.0

enthusiasm for introduction of social tools

frustration with lack of funding or motivation

tools currently used by staff

not all young people are “digital natives”

pedagogic approach a key factor?

expectations of learning at university

(Litteljohn et al, in press)

TOOLSLEARNING CONTEXT

private

privileged

public privileged private

privileged

private

ENVIRONMENTS

formal

informal

eg. mobile phone

eg. institutional laptop

eg. SecondLife eg. VLE eg. MySpace profile

physical and virtual