November 2005 - The Millennial Student

The following issue focuses on the opportunities and challenges of teaching the millennial or net generation student. We have included a podcast as well as linked resources.

Podcast - Who is the millennial student and what can faculty members do to improve learning

Featuring: Dr. Diana Oblinger, Vice President of Educause
Interviewer: Maureen Wideman, Innovation Centre, UOIT

Play it / hear it - MP3 file - 1 MB OR
Play it / hear it - WAV file - 4 MB

Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II
Do They Really Think Differently?
by Mark Prensky

Based on the latest research in neurobiology, there is no longer any question that
stimulation of various kinds actually changes brain structures and affects the way people think, and that these transformations go on throughout life. The brain is, to an extent not at all understood or believed to be when Baby Boomers were growing up, massively plastic. It can be, and is, constantly reorganized.

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf

Educating the Net Generation
Edited by Diana G. Oblinger and James L. Oblinger

This is an e-book available as a free download from the Educause Web site. Chapters are written by researchers and students about how millennial students learn and use technology.

http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen

Other Resources

Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8 - 18 Year-olds
by Donald F. Roberts, Ulla G. Foehr, and Victoria Rideout

Are changes in media accessibility – for example, greater penetration of
personal computers and/or high speed Internet connections, or the miniaturization of and price decreases in almost all media – affecting the nature of young people’s media exposure? In short, to what extent does an environment saturated with new and evolving media influence their lives?

http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/Generation-M-Media-in-the-Lives-of-8-18-Year-olds-Report.pdf

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School
Edited by John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown and Rodney R. Cocking

Considered one of the best books on learning. It focuses on what is known about learners and learning, followed by the implications of research for the design of effective learning environments, including roles for technology, while emphasizing the key role of teachers. Available free on the Web at:

http://books.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/

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