New forms of technology means there is vast opportunities for learning and, it has been argued, this has led to a fundamental shift in the way students learn, consume and produce new artefacts. (Braun and Schmidt, 2006; Dillon, 2006; Oblinger and Oblinger, 2005; Prensky, 2001a, 2001b; Brown, 2000).
This idea spawned a swath of research in this area, however these initial studies on the student experiences concentrated too much on module evaluation rather than actually concentrating on the student. More indepth research was needed. (Sharpe et al., 2005). Hence we needed to listen to the voice of the student!!
One such study which did concentrate on the student was Oblinger and Oblinger’s (2005) book, Educating the Net Generation promoted a view of a digitally literate Net Generation who were so used to computing that it changed their mind and the way they think! 'they develop hypertext mind, they leap around' (media is the message?)
'there are a number of implications for colleges and universities. Most stem from the dichotomy between a Net Gen mindset and that of most faculty, staff, and administrators. (Oblinger and Oblinger, 2005, p.21)'These findings were backed up in a related study in Australia by Kennedy et al. (2008). However, whilst his report recognised that first year students were increasingly using new technologies, it was a far from universal. Also the types of technologies were divergent into two groups between the use of relatively simple artefacts like word processors etc, to more complicated social networking tools like PDAs, web conferencing etc. However there was a general shift towards the use of technologies and this had to be considered in a considered way by universities using empirical and evidence based research.
Alongside these two studies a third was being developed in the UK by Sharpe et al. (2005). Again he argued that there was little study that focussed on the student. His report led to JISC commisioning two projects:
- Learner Experiences of e-Learning (LEX)
- LXP Students’ experiences of technologies
The Lex project concluded that we were in the midst of a paradigm shift in terms of the use of technologies by students. In a broader study looking at students experience as a whole a similar conclusion was reached in two surveys by the UK Higher Education Academyn (HEA).
The LXP Project
'The LXP study found that the Web is unequivocally the first port of call for students – with extensive examples across the study of how students are using search engines, dedicated subject-specific sites and e-journals to find information of relevance to their studies. The level and type of communication is notable – there is strong evidence of peer support and peer community, resonant with the rhetoric inherent in the idea of social networking and the world of Web 2.0. They were critically aware of the pros and cons of the use of different technologies and ‘voted with their feet’; i.e. they didn’t use technologies just for the sake of it – there needed to be a purpose and clear personal benefit. They had an expectation of being able to access up-to-date and relevant information and resources and saw this as vital. They didn’t see the technology as anything special, but as just another tool to support their learning. (Course website).'
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