Study questions the digital native discourse

Two British researchers have completed a study that casts doubt on the prevailing view of the "digital native" as a sophisticated user of technology who has a fundamentally different approach to learning. Anoush Margaryan and Allison Littlejohn studied the extent and nature of the use of digital technologies by undergraduate students in Social Work and Engineering at Glasgow Caledonian and Strathclyde Universities.

The key findings:

1) "students use a limited range of technologies for both learning and socialisation. For learning, mainly established ICTs are used- institutional VLE, Google and Wikipedia and mobile phones. Students make limited, recreational use of social technologies such as media sharing tools and social networking sites. "

2) "a low level of use of and familiarity with collaborative knowledge creation tools, virtual worlds, personal web publishing, and other emergent social technologies. "

3) "the study did not find evidence to support the claims regarding students adopting radically different patterns of knowledge creation and sharing suggested by some previous studies. The study shows that students’ attitudes to learning appear to be influenced by the teaching approaches adopted by their lecturers. Far from demanding lecturers change their practice, students appear to conform to fairly traditional pedagogies, albeit with minor uses of technology tools that deliver content.

The study involved a questionnaire survey of students (n=160) followed by in-depth interviews with students (n=8) and lecturers and support staff (n=8) in both institutions."

Read the full draft of the paper that summarizes the results.

Using technology to re-design teaching

We tend to use learning technology as an add-on to existing ways of teaching or to completely replace existing ways (i.e., online). Even when we opt for blended or hybrid models, often the technology is added on rather than integrated and rarely is the teaching re-designed from the ground up.

This article describes an example of how teaching was completely re-thought and re-designed to make effective use of technology. The example isn't new. It is Virginia Tech's Math Emporium which as been around for about ten years

"The key is letting computers do what they do best—grading multiple-choice tests, providing 24/7 access to text, audio, and video, connecting people to one another at a distance—while retaining the human element when only real people will suffice. The Virginia Tech Math Emporium is staffed twelve hours a day with a combination of upper-division math majors, graduate students, and faculty, each of whom is prepared to help students with any of the Emporium-based courses."

The Math Emporium approach has had a positive impact on student success while lowering costs significantly.

The real point of the article, however, is the negative impact of rising tuition fees. It argues that savings generated by the Math Emporium and other creative uses of technology aren't being passed on to students and the steadily rising cost of higher education is not sustainable:

"If higher education costs continue to spiral upward, student debt loads will grow, default rates will rise, and graduation rates will stagnate or decline. Low- and middle-income students and families—people at the margins of economic opportunity, for whom a college education means the most—will disproportionately suffer. Traditional four-year colleges and universities will increasingly become enclaves of privilege, places where class divisions are reinforced rather than broken down. Fed up with unaccountable colleges and uncontrollable prices, the public will gradually withdraw from its historic commitment to higher education, weakening institutions that are vital for the nation’s competitiveness in the twenty-first century."

More on Second Life in Postsecondary Education

From University Affairs, here's another article on the use of Second Life for educational purposes. It doesn't add much to our understanding of the educational potential of this 3D environment. The article quotes one professor who was amazed that he could teach classes in Second Life and another as being impressed with its collaborative potential. The consensus of those interviewed for the article is that "three-dimensional online classes and assignments will become a staple in Canadian education." However, the article doesn't tell us why.