Are digital natives a myth or reality? University students’ use of digital technologies
Computers & EducationPublished 16 September 2010
Anoush Margaryan, Allison Littlejohn, Gabriele Vojt
Citations1,038
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score3.34
SNIP4.18
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TL;DR
The findings show that students use a limited range of mainly established technologies, and the study did not find evidence to support popular claims that young people adopt radically different learning styles.
Abstract
This study investigated the extent and nature of university students' use of digital technologies for learning and socialising. The findings show that students use a limited range of mainly established technologies. Use of collaborative knowledge creation tools, virtual worlds, and social networking sites was low. 'Digital natives' and students of a technical discipline (Engineering) used more technology tools when compared to 'digital immigrants' and students of a non-technical discipline (Social Work). This relationship may be mediated by the finding that Engineering courses required more intensive and extensive access to technology than Social Work courses. However, the use of technology between these groups is only quantitatively rather than qualitatively different.
Keywords
Social Sciences
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