The Net Generation & Information Fluency

The Net Generation is comprised of those born after 1982 and they are the largest generation in U. S. history—comprising over 80 million in number. This generation has changed the face of technology in colleges and universities across the nation. This generation will be on campuses for many years to come.

While doing research I found a very good tool ion learning about the Net Generation. Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa wrote a book, published in 2007 called, Connecting to the Net. Generation: What Higher Education Professionals Need to Know About Today’s Students. Based on the results of the Net Generation Survey (7,705 college students in the US), the book provides information on some of today’s most popular technologies: blogs, instant messaging, social networking Web sites, and filesharing programs. The 164 page paperback also looks at how students are using these technologies to communicate and develop a sense of community on campus and beyond. The authors compare generational values and offer specific recommendations for how to better serve Net Generation students in the important areas of counseling, career planning, academic advising, campus safety, disability services, parental involvement, and classroom learning.

These are some of the results from the survey:
97% own a computer
94% own a cell phone
76% use Instant Messaging (IM)
75% have a Facebook account
60% own some type of portable music and/or video device (like an iPod)
49% download music using peer-to-peer file sharing
44% read blogs frequently
34% use websites as their primary source of news
28% own a blog
15% of Instant Message users are logged on 24 hours a day/7 days a week.

As professors, our expectation is that any student who is this savvy and proficient in technology, often called a “digital native”, is prepared for great academic achievement. These students are used to virtual learning, on line education, and have every possible advantage for doing wonderfully complex academic research. So what is the problem?

Some researchers think the faculty members are the problem. If the old fuddy duddy, outdated faculty would just get out of the way, our students would accomplish great things. This is generally not the case. Every faculty member I know has welcomed (even if begrudgingly) technology into their classroom. So, I ask again, what is the problem?

According to many researchers it is the limited knowledge some students have of the technology available to them. There is a big difference between finding an old friend on Facebook and understanding how to find material needed to complete a research paper. Often students can only utilize the top layer of the technology they enjoy. It is our job to teach them to do more with the technology.

In Information Fluency it is our task to assist faculty, staff and students across the UCF campus to learn to not only find information but to EVALUATE the information once it is found. Is the source reliable or credible? Is the information reliable? Simply put, information fluency is the ability to gather, evaluate, and use information in ethical and legal ways. Information fluency encompasses and integrates three important skills: information literacy, technology literacy, and critical thinking. These three skills are not mutually exclusive but overlap. The ability to communicate information in appropriate and effective ways is another crucial part of Information Fluency.

So how information fluent are you? Have you honed you skills in evaluating information from a web site? Can you critically examine information you find on line? Do you then use the information in a way that is both legal and ethical? Let’s stop here for a time of personal examination and reflection…