Tapscott, Prensky, Net Gens--Oh My!

I've had some time to really sink my teeth into the big thinkers regarding the Net-Generation (or Google Generation, Millenials, "Digital Natives") and you just get around the presence of Marc Prensky and Don Tapscott's work in all circles regarding this new generation of tech-savvy digicoms. :)

I picked up a few of their books (below).

Mr. Tapscott is an internationally sought authority, consultant and speaker on business strategy and organizational transformation. His clients include top executives of many of the world’s largest corporations and government leaders from many countries. The Washington Technology Report says he is one of the most influential media authorities since Marshall McLuhan.

Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital: The rise of the net generation. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
 

 Tapscott found inspiration for this book from the N-Geners themselves--the Growing Up Digital Kids which was published as a result of findings from a research team led by Kate Baggott. Her team led discussions on the Net with about 300 youngsters between the ages of 4 and 20 over a one-year period. This book won the first Amazon.com Bestseller Award in the summer of 1998. It has been "recommended for all libraries" by the Library Journal. Time Magazine Senior Editor, Joshua Cooper Ramo, describes GROWING UP DIGITAL as a "compellingly written look at the generation that will make it all happen." It has been translated into 14 languages and was released in paperback in May, 1999.


Tapscott, D. (2009). Grown up digital: How the net generation is changing your world. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. 

Tapscott continues his work with how he believes the net generation is changing the world as we know it. His material for this book was inspired by a $4 million research project, "The Net Generation: a Strategic Investigation" which was funded by large companies under the parent company New Paradigm, founded by Tapscott in 1993. Tapscott's group interviewed close to 9,442 people (including the Net Generation, baby boomers (aged 42 to 61), and Gen Xers (aged 30-41) composed of randomly selected internet users, stratified to avoid any gender or socioeconomic biases. Interviews were done through an online questionnaire and what he essentially argues is that the net-geners simply, "have different brains" due to the way they learn from the age of 8-18 in a time which he calls, "extended adolescence". Unlike the generations prior who've passively sat back and accepted to be simply broadcast to, this new generation has been participating in collaborative environments made possible by the rise of technology over the years. His book talks about who the net-geners are, how they're transforming institutions, and how they're transforming society. 


Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon. 9(5). 1-6. doi:10.1108/10748120110424816

Marc Prensky is an internationally acclaimed speaker, writer, consultant, and designer
in the critical areas of education and learning. His original paper referenced above has come up in citations of other later papers throughout much of my research on the “Digital Natives”. The first part of his article, highlights how students today think and process information fundamentally different from their predecessors as a result of being constantly immersed by new technology.

On the Horizon is a self-proclaimed “strategic planning resource for education professionals”. Lesson planning for the digital native is such a hot topic because we’re getting into the generational gap between digital natives (those born after 1980) who are students technologically surpassing their teachers (digital immigrants – pre 1980) in an increasingly technological world. This is probably one of the older reference works I’m including in my term paper, but Prensky seemed to influential in many other peer-reviewed articles, I had to pay him some homage and quote the original sources of information from the other papers I’ve come across.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants part 2: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon. 9(6). 1-6. doi:10.1108/10748120110424843.

In this second part of Marc Prensky’s paper exploring the differences between “digital natives” and “digital immigrants”, he presents evidence to support these differences from neurology, social psychology and from studies done on children using games for learning.

Prensky makes his living speaking and writing about the digital generation, but at the end of the day, he does primarily sell learning software for educational gaming. His viewpoints in both of the referenced articles discuss why video gaming is good for this new generation of learners and I’m not really focusing my paper on how digital natives learn, but really what attributes they imbue in terms of learning, education and research in that they’re different from their predecessors. That Prensky is attempting to back up his claims with science is interesting to me and I will use his research in terms of supporting my claims that this new digital generation learns differently from their teachers. Prensky claims that the difference between the digital native student and his digital immigrant teacher is the root of a great many of today’s educational problems.  

Prensky, M. (2006). Don't bother me mom--I'm learning! St. Paul, MN: Paragon House

I still have yet to read the above referenced book because I'm nose deep in my Tapscott's books but I'm getting around to it and will update when I finally have a summary on it!