THE NEXT GENERATION LEARNER & LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Linda BaerDiana Oblinger1

Minnesota Online Summer Conference

July 29, 2004

1EDUCAUSE Live, July 21, 2004

Your education reliedon the three R’s.

Theirs relies on thethree W’s.

DATATEL

Who Moved My Cheese?

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES Declining economic

conditions Flood of red ink driving

cutbacks and tough decisions

Increasing enrollments and demands for new services for students

Demands for accountability and use of technology to expand access and reduce costs

New opportunities, markets and competitors

Norris, 2003

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES Need to shift learning

from a cottage industry Faculty development

and training needs are critical

It’s about e-Knowledge not e-learning

Need to continue to create systemic solutions

Norris, 2003

Who are the learners of today and the future?

Media literacy

10,000 hours video games

200,000 emails 20,000 hours TV 10,000 hours

cell phone Under 5,000 hours

reading

By age 21, the average person will have spent

– Prensky, 2003

00

50005000

1000010000

1500015000

2000020000

2500025000

E-mailsE-mailsVideo Video GamesGames

ReadingReading

TelevisionTelevision

Cell Cell PhonePhone

Children age 6 and under 2.01 hours/day playing outside 1.58 hours using computer 40 minutes reading or being read to 48% of children have used a computer 27% 4-6 year olds use a computer daily 39% use a computer several times a

week 30% have played video games

– Kaiser Family Foundation, 2003

Teen’s Use 100% use the internet to seek information on

colleges, careers and jobs 94% use the internet for school research 41% use email and instant messaging to contact

teachers or schoolmate about class work The internet is their primary communication tool

81% email friend sand relatives 70% use instant messaging to keep in touch 56% prefer the intent to the telephone

Lenhart, Simon & Graziano, 2001; NetDay, 2003

The Net Generation Born in or after 1982 Gravitate towards group activity 8 out of 10 say “it’s cool to be smart” Focused on grades and performance Busy with extracurricular activities Identify with parents’ values; feel close to

parents Respectful of social conventions and

institutions Fascination for new technologies Racially and ethnically diverse

Howe and Strauss, 2003

Freshman Experience Base

Ctrl + Alt + Del is as basic as ABC They have never been able to find the

“return” key Computers have always fit in their backpacks They have always had a personal identification

number Paul Newman has always made salad dressing Bert and Ernie are old enough to be their

parents Gas as always been unleaded

Beloit College, 2003

What kids want from the net

– Grunwald Associates, 2003

New & exciting

Base: Kids 9-17

0 10080604020

Learnmore/better

Community

Show otherswhat I can do

Be heard

Percentage

College Internet use

– Jones, 2002

79% Internet has a positive impact on academic experience 73% Use the Internet more than the library for research 72% Check email every day 60% believe the Internet has improved relationships with classmates 56% believe the Internet has improved relationship with professors 46% Allows them to express ideas that they would not have expressed in class

Rising expectations The rising expectations of computer-literate

constituents are difficult to meet Service expectations

― Self-service ― Customer-service― Immediacy― Customization― Choice

Students want customizable learning experiences They are more vocal in expressing their opinions

Non-traditional becomes traditional More than half of undergraduates are women One-third are other than white 43% are 24 or older (i.e., of non-traditional

college age) 80% are employed 39% are employed full-time 10% or undergraduates have a disability Number of students (ages 5-24) who speak a

language other than English at home more than doubled from 1979 to 1999

―NCES, 2003

Adult learners 35% of undergraduates are adult

learners 70% of all adult learners are female 38 is the median age of

undergraduate adult learners 80% of adult learners

are employed

– Swail, 2002 citing NCES, 2002

Generational Comparison

AttitudesTV

GenerationPC

Generation

Net Generatio

n

Web What is it? Web is a tool

Web is oxygen

Community

Personal Extended personal

Virtual

Perspective

Local Multi-national

Global

Career One career Multiple careers

Multiple reinvention

Loyalty Corporation

Self Soul

Authority Hierarchy Unimpressed

Self as expert―Savage, 2003―Savage, 2003

Product of the environment

Video games

ComputersEmail

GenerationGenerationXX

GenerationGenerationXX

The WebMultiple,

mobile devices

Instant messaging

Online communities

Net GenNet GenNet GenNet GenBaby Baby BoomersBoomers

Baby Baby BoomersBoomers

TV generation

Typewriters Memos

Media literacy

10,000 hours video games

200,000 emails 20,000 hours TV 10,000 hours

cell phone Under 5,000 hours

reading

By age 21, the average person will have spent

– Prensky, 2003

00

50005000

1000010000

1500015000

2000020000

2500025000

E-mailsE-mailsVideo Video GamesGames

ReadingReading

TelevisionTelevision

Cell Cell PhonePhone

ImplicationsImplications

Electricity GridElectricity Grid

ELECTRICITY GRID Seamless continuum of physical, virtual and

blended learning experiences Students can enter at any point and

experience similar learning environment services

Use community of practice model for each course/program

Assure students graduation schedules Make every place of work and congregation a

learning place Leverage faculty roles Deal with areas of high professional demand Drive costs down so tuition can cover coast

and generate enough margin to enable growth

New Trends in Curriculum

Digital archives

http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/

Learning objects

Any digital resource that can be reused to support learning

Customizes learning experiences

Fosters new relationships through sharing content

Streamlines course development

―Metros, 2003―Metros, 2003

Cyberinfrastructure Remote data

collection First-person

learning Development

of expertise

NSF IIS-0329837

--Sanderson, 2004

28

PedagogyPedagogy

http://workbench.concord.org/modeler/ss3.htmlhttp://workbench.concord.org/modeler/ss3.htmlhttp://workbench.concord.org/modeler/ss3.htmlhttp://workbench.concord.org/modeler/ss3.html

Simulations

Visualizing problems

SCALE-UP Student Centered Activities for Large

Enrollment Undergraduate Programs Class time spent on tangibles and

ponderables Problem solving, conceptual

understanding and attitudes are improved

Failure rates are reduced dramatically --Beichner & Saul, 2003

Augmented reality

Combines physical world and virtual world contexts

Embeds learners in authentic situations

Engages users in a socially facilitated context

Computer simulation on handheld computer triggered by real world location

―Klopfer & Squire, 2003

Environmental detectives Players briefed about rash

of local health problems linked to the environment

Provided with background information and “budget”

Need to determine source of pollution by drilling sampling wells and ultimately remediate with pumping wells

Work in teams representing different interests (EPA, industry, etc.)

―Klopfer & Squire, 2003

Questions to ask

How well do we understand our students?

Do we have an infrastructure that enables ubiquitous access?

How interactive are our learning environments? Are there ways that technology could increase that interaction?

What types of physical spaces will lead to greater learning? to greater community?

Do we meet student expectations for service and convenience?

The Next Generation Learner Slides

Diana G. Oblinger, Ph.D.EDUCAUSE Live, July 21 2004

Copyright Diana G. Oblinger, 2004. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial,

educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the

author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Copyright Diana G. Oblinger, 2004. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial,

educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the

author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Bibliography

Robert Beichner and Jeffery Saul. 2003. Introduction to the SCALE-UP (Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs) Project. http://www.ncsu.edu/per/Articles?Varenna_SCALEUP_Paper.pdf.

Charles Dzuiban. 2004. Personal communication.

Peter Grunwald. September 23-24, 2003. Key technology trends: Excepts from new survey research findings. Exploring the Digital Generation. Educational Technology, US Department of Education.

Neil Howe & William Strauss. Millennials Rising. 2000. Vintage Books.Steve Jones. 2002. The Internet Goes to College: How students are living in the future with today’s technology.

Steve Jones. 2003. Let the games begin: Gaming technology and entertainment among college students. Retrieved July 8, 2003 from,

Kaiser Family Foundation. 2003. New Study Finds Children Age Zero to Six Spend As Much Time With TV, Computers and Video Games As Playing Outside.

George D. Kuh, Katie Branch Douglas, Jon P. Lund and Jackie Gamin-Gyurnek. 1994. Student Learning Outside the Classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 8. Washington, DC. The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development.

Amanda Lenhart, Maya Simon, Mike Graziano. September 2001. The Internet and Education: Findings of the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Lextant Group. 2003. Always On. Unpublished report.

Richard Light. 2001. Making the Most of College. Harvard University Press.

Susan Metros. 2003. Engaging or Enraging? Sharing Learning Objects.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 2002. The Condition of Education 2002.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). August 2002. Teaching Undergraduates in U.S. Postsecondary Institutions: Fall 1998.

Marc Prensky. 2003. Digital Game Based Learning.

Arthur Sanderson. 2004. Personal communication; NSF IIS-0329837.

Tammy Savage. 2003. Personal communication.

Kurt Squire & Klopfer reference is personal communication. For a useful article see Kurt Squire and Henry Jenkins. 2003. Harnessing the Power of Games in Education. The manuscript should be published soon.