Technology in Relation to Age

There are many people who feel the older you are, the less you use (or know how to use) technology.  The opposite side of the age spectrum also has an assumption- that the younger learners want to be educated in only virtual classrooms. In the article, Is it Age or IT: First Steps Towards Understanding the Net Generation, the author argues that technology is not age based, and that the younger generations would actually prefer to learn with a combination of online and face-to-face learning.

Many questions have been been asked to prompt my thinking:

*Are you more comfortable composing documents online than longhand?

Yes

*Have you turned your "remembering" (phone numbers, meetings, and so on) over to a technology device?

100% yes

*Do you go to meetings with your laptop, iPad, or tablet?

Sometimes

*Are you constantly connected?

Yes- WIFI throughout my house :)

 

*Is the Internet always on whether you are at home or work?

Yes- in the palm of my hands... on my phone 24/7

 

*Is your cell phone always with you?

Yes- refer to the last answer

*How many different activities can you effectively engage in at one time?

Uhm, of the top of my head 4, and I'm doing them all right now right now. I am sure I could do even more if needed.

*Do you play video or computer games?

Yes, I love Solitaire and Words With Friends on my phone.

*What generational category do you fall in or are you a mixture of a few?

I'm mixed. I had a pager then a cell phone in high school, not many did.... But, I am just now learning many other technology avenues.

 

**This article focused on implications primarily for higher education; however, the characteristics for the Net Gen remain true for students in K12. What and how do we need to change?

We need to stay with them, and teach these kids in "real-time" . For instance, many students already know how to blog- so teaching the basics of blogging needs to be a very short lesson. The focus needs to be on where they can go from there and WHAT can these "Net Gen" kids do with blogs. The same can be said of many other applications as well. Our kids are using the technologies we have solely for social purposes, and have no idea how to transition them into the "real" working world. Teachers need to show them the many productive ways to use technology.