Digital Students in Different Flavors

• "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, and the Analog Campus" – HigherEdJobs

  A new type of college student one who is working full-time, a parent, returning to school, or a digital rabbit racing ahead of faculty. Colleges and universities need to adapt to this type of student who will gradually make up a larger share of college students while the traditiional full-time student will decline. Online, blended learning, video on demand or live streaming can all be used to retain and graduate students into the 21st century economy. 

  tags: education learning skills knowledge training digital natives universities colleges

  • Today’s traditional undergraduates are the first generation of digital natives

  • The ubiquity of these technologies has molded their expectations for how they will learn, work, socialize, recreate and live.

  • There is a growing and fundamental mismatch between digital natives and the analog colleges and universities they attend.

  • provider-driven organizations, characteristically deliberative in their processes.

  • Digital natives, in contrast, operate "anytime, anywhere."

  • College and university faculty came of age before the advent of the digital revolution and adapted to innovations during their adult lives.

  • They focus on organized delivery of in-depth information to help students master knowledge. When they do incorporate digital learning, they tend to use it as an add-on rather than a basis for instruction.

  • digital natives prefer active learning involving practical applications, games, and collaborations.

  • Half would like more blended instruction in their courses, combining online and in-person classes. One-third would like more courses completely online.

  • Deans of students at half of the campuses in our study for Generation on a Tightrope, reported that faculty comfort with today’s students and their behavior has decreased, while faculty complaints about students and their behavior have increased.

  • Increasingly, faculty must specify in their syllabi basic expectations for classroom behavior: No texting, cell phone calls or personal audio players in class; computers and Internet may be used for course-related activities only.

  • a declining understanding of what plagiarism is and why it is wrong.

  • Nontraditional students, in contrast, are digital immigrants.

  • They tend to view higher education institutions as they would any other service providers and purveyors; akin to banks, telecommunications companies and retail businesses.

  • Many nontraditional students have become accustomed to online service from their banks, utility companies, shoe stores, and children’s schools. They need and expect the same convenience, quality, quick service, and low prices from their colleges or universities.

  • Many digital immigrants and digital natives alike have created their own communities via social media.

  • Students who are in constant contact via text may not check email regularly, a phenomenon that has forced many faculty and administrators to rethink assumptions about the way campus information is distributed.

  • the full integration of digital teaching and learning remains one of the great challenges for American campuses today.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.