Kennedy et al (2008) review their findings of a study that started in 2006 on the internet savvyness of the so called 'Net Generation' of students entering into their first year of study. I guess what surprised me about this study (and it's precursors) was that apparently first year students in Australian universities appear to be techno-competent but are not 'Web2.0' savvy so they are not leveraging this to their educational advantage. However, now that I've read the studies I don't know why I thought that today's students ought to be able to do this?
It is still the case that (for me) the main uses students in Fiji use the internet for are
(i) do email,
(ii) surf the web to plaguerise for their assignments and
(iii) 'acquire' music & films.
What has changed though recently is seeing that many students are now using social networking sites to remain in contact with each other. This is perhaps more sigificant in Fiji where many citizens work abroad and send remittances back home, or they study abroad. Facebook and MySpace are ways of maintaining that contact. I've become acutely aware of this in about the last 18 months.
Having said that, I continue to maintain that it's 'smart' content that is more important than the technology used. Technology should be employed because it is somehow able to deliver the same or better learning experience. The value associated with the quality of teaching/learning might be the actual learning that takes place, vs. the convenience of administration of the course (electronic submissions, and hand out pick up), or the additional social dimension, or any combination of these and other factors.
References
Kennedy, G.E. et al. (2008) First year students' experiences with technology: Are they really digital natives? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24, 108-122.