076

76 1/14/2010 18:08:55

General Session - Conference Presentation Only (no formal paper)


 * Digital Natives Going to College: A Generational Differences Study**

Cheng-Chang Pan, University of Texas at Brownsville, Brownsville, Texas, USA, sam.pan@utb.edu Bin Zhang, University of Texas at Brownsville, Brownsville, Texas, USA, Bin.Zhang@utb.edu

This quantitative inquiry will investigate the information literacy of digital natives (those who were born after 1980) in the context of learning online and the implications of this information literacy on practice and research within a Hispanic-serving institution of higher education in South U.S.

Both undergraduate and graduate students who have taken Web-based or Web-enhanced courses were targeted in this survey research.

Five latent factors were studied: behavior pattern (pertaining to technology use), technology ability, learning preference, attitude toward technology use, and perception of instructional strategies. In particular, learners' demographics (e.g., age) were factored into this investigation.

Four questions investigated in this research effort were as follows: 1. Is there any significant difference between age groups in technology ability? 2. Is there any significant difference between age groups in learning preference? 3. Is there any significant difference between age groups in learner attitude toward technology use? 4. Is there any significant difference between age groups in learner perception of instructional strategies?

Results indicate that age influences how Hispanic learners perceive the use of technology for course work and instructional strategies, which leads to a bigger question, "Is it worth the effort to conduct a generational differences study?" This will be discussed in this forum presentation.

The 45-minute forum will include a guided discussion, followed by a short introduction of the forum wherein the audience will be engaged through presenters' inquiries/questions. Such interaction during a multimedia presentation serves as a strategy to elicit innovative thoughts and provide potential directions for further practice and research.

All Audiences, general differences, digital natives, elearning