Be web savvy to keep up with Generation Z

The internet is awash with exciting and innovative tools, and your students have grown up immersed in this world – get in on the act
19th July 2013, 1:00am

Share

Be web savvy to keep up with Generation Z

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/be-web-savvy-keep-generation-z-0
Thumbnail

The digital revolution has given us instant communication and easy global connectedness, with mobile technology in particular growing at warp speed: in 2013, there are almost as many mobile phone contracts as there are people in the world. This digital transformation has produced some extraordinary online tools for flexible education, which enhance students’ learning and promise innovative pedagogy for teachers. However, they can also be daunting and challenging for educators.

It is clear that teachers cannot ignore these tools, which go far beyond just Facebook and Twitter. Educators are now dealing with Generation Z - students born after 1995 who have hardly known a world without social media and have always lived a life measured in bits and bytes. Most have access to iPads and smartphones as well as textbooks and, therefore, the massive resource of the internet.

This has changed the way in which they search for and engage with information. It has provided access to a treasure trove of cultural and historical resources stored in libraries and museums. It has globalised information channels so that students are no longer restricted to their local resources. And, rather than just text, Generation Z students expect audio and video as well.

This shift in the way information is created, distributed and accessed is discussed by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown in their book, A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. They explain that information is now a participatory medium and argue that traditional approaches to learning cannot cope with this constantly changing world. For example, teachers no longer need to scramble to provide the latest data for students, because the latter are able to take an active role in helping to create and mould information, particularly social information.

The conduits for all this information, and the means by which Generation Z children analyse, share and adapt it, are a vast number of disparate and creative online tools - everything from Pinterest to Diigo. As a teacher, selecting the right tools from among the huge number available, and using them productively in lessons, is not easy, yet it is essential for the engagement and learning of today’s students.

As a starting point, it is helpful for teachers to realise that in using these tools, the aim is to educate children in a new set of skills. The US 21st Century Information Fluency Project has formulated a list of these skills, deemed essential to the development of “digital global citizens”. They are as follows:

Solution fluency - the ability to think creatively to solve problems by clearly defining the issue, designing and delivering an appropriate solution, then evaluating the process and outcome.

Want to keep reading for free?

Register with Tes and you can read two free articles every month plus you'll have access to our range of award-winning newsletters.

Keep reading for just £1 per month

You've reached your limit of free articles this month. Subscribe for £1 per month for three months and get:

  • Unlimited access to all Tes magazine content
  • Exclusive subscriber-only stories
  • Award-winning email newsletters
Recent
Most read
Most shared