We must get to grips with the world of our ‘digital native’ students

Jan 24 2008 by Prof Clive Mulholland, writing for the Western Mail

TUMBLERS, twitters, blogs, del.icio.us, stumbleUpon. This is only a small sample from a new vocabulary of technological terms that the students of today take for granted.

As I struggle to come to terms with this brave new technology-driven world, I look around and see myself surrounded by students who are “digital natives”, whose whole lives have been immersed in technology, mobile communities and the internet.

One of the many challenges facing universities and the education system is how do we embrace, capitalise on and harness new technologies to enhance the student experience, whether by improving learning opportunities, communications or social interactions?

To do this successfully, I would suggest that we must first understand the digital natives’ world and how they interact with that world.

Futurist Marc Prensky has argued that students of today are different from previous generations. They are always connected, in touch via mobile phones, the internet, email, instant messaging. That they may process information differently, as a result of using computers and the internet, and that they are expert at multi-tasking.

One has only to observe a teenager using a computer, texting on a mobile phone and chatting to friends simultaneously to appreciate this last point.

So, assuming we can understand to a degree the world our digital native students inhabit, how do we as institutions respond to these technological challenges to meet ever increasing student expectations and demands?

Strategically we must recognise two major categories of technology, assumed and student-driven. Assumed technologies include the internet, mobile devices, digital television and virtual learning environments. The question for us within universities is how do we meet the demands and expectations of our increasingly consumerist students in relation to these technologies within an obvious cost restraint? The answer, in part, depends on the vision, ambition and environment the institution finds itself in.

One thing becoming clear is that we ignore the provision of assumed technologies at our peril. Research suggests that in many cases technology provision may play an important role in selection of a university by students.

Let us now turn our attention to student-driven technologies. As the name suggests, these are technologies that students “discover” for themselves and often exploit in entirely unpredictable ways. Well-known examples include the social networking sites, Facebook and Bebo, social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us, the many variants of blogs such as twitters and tumblelogs, and virtual worlds like Second Life.

Many higher education institutions have attempted or are attempting to utilise many of the student-driven technologies in teaching. However, some recent evidence from a student expectation project at the University of Glamorgan, and from a number of other sources, suggests that students may not want us to use these technologies. Often they see it as an invasion of “their space”.

They would prefer it if we would stick to “assumed” technologies. There lies the rub, trying to predict when a student-driven technology moves (in the student mindset) to an assumed one, with an expectation that it will be provided by the institution as part of the student experience.

However, it is clear that students expect to be able to interact with their chosen university digitally and remotely, and to have access to a range of web-based services. Their expectations are only going to increase. How do we meet these expectations, or manage them better where we can’t meet them?

Well, the first step in trying to meet or manage expectations, particularly around technology, is simply to talk and engage more fully with our students. As we move into an increasingly competitive market place, there will be an increasing need to “manage” the student experience and develop it in all its facets.

The digital natives’ language expands relentlessly. Will we as institutions become fluent in that new language or will we struggle along with a dictionary or interpreter? Anyone for a class on digital language?

Professor Clive Mulholland is Pro Vice-Chancellor, Learning and Student Support, University of Glamorgan