Examining Generational Differences

Responding to Michael Barbour’s blog, Examining Generational Difference, while there is no valid proof that changed today’s generation students, I can ask my 5 year old nephew to watch a show with me and he will go to the iPad, not the TV. That is just one example that shows the different upbringing. Reeves illustrates that generational differences do matter. Which ever generation that the digital natives are exposed to, young learners have an advantage – rapid succession of information sharing. While Prensky statistics regarding spending hours in front of video games or digitally entertaining oneself, I took away the view that the environment has changed how students interact digitally. The only generational difference is when students who have later adopted the knowledge of digital technology as an immigrant.

Overall, I found the Reeves article to have the most insightful information. I especially appreciated the following sentence, “ Instead of worrying about whether Boomers, GenXers or Millennials will learn more from direct instruction or virtual reality games, instructional designers and educational technology researchers working closely with practitioners and subject matter experts should begin by identifying the needs of any given set of learners, design the best possible prototype learning environments in situ, and then conduct iterative cycles of formative evaluation and refinement to optimize the solution and reveal robust design principles.” We must, as educators, do what is best for our students. This is how they will build the skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century.

Is there a gap? Sure. Can we shorten that gap? Of course. I see it everyday. I have 18 year old students that come in with more technical knowledge than 40 year old students in the same class. At the end of the class they 40 year olds are right with the younger ones. It all comes down to finding their way of learning and using that to adapt this new technological information to them.