Dr. Mark Bullen, British Columbia Institute of Technology
Synposis
According to the popular literature, a new generation has emerged that has acquired fundamentally different skills, dispositions and social characteristics due to its intensive exposure to and use of digital technologies. Futurists, pundits and commentators argue we need to make radical changes to our educational institutions and workplaces to accommodate this digital generation.
This presentation will show that there is no empirical basis for these claims and argue that we have a very superficial understanding of how young people use and understand information and communication technologies in their social and academic lives. It will highlight the dangers of blindly accepting these claims and argue that stereotyping an entire generation in this way is potentially damaging and hides much more important issues and significant intra-generational differences.
Biography
Before joining BCIT in 2005, Dr. Bullen was the Associate Director of the Distance Education & Technology department at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Director of the Centre for Managing & Planning E-Learning (MAPLE). MAPLE research projects focused on institutional planning and management issues, policy, and social and educational impacts of e-learning.
Dr. Bullen has extensive international consulting experience related to online course development and the planning and management of e-learning. He has taught workshops on developing and delivering online instruction and the planning and management of e-learning in Mexico, Malaysia, Taiwan, Bhutan, Croatia and Canada and he has been a consultant on distance education projects in Mongolia, Indonesia and Bhutan.
He is an adjunct Professor in the UBC Master of Educational Technology program and in the Athabasca University Master Distance Education.
He is currently leading the Digital Learners in Higher Education international research project. He is also the editor of the Journal of Distance Education.
He has a Ph.D. in Adult Education (1997), a Masters degree in Educational Psychology (1989) and a B.Ed. (1982) from the University of British Columbia. He also holds a Diploma of Technology in Broadcast Journalism (1977) from BCIT.
Links
Net Gen Skeptic: http://netgenskeptic.com
Digital Learners in Higher Education Research Project: http://digitallearners.ca
Personal web page: http://www.markbullen.ca
Journal of Distance Education: http://www.jofde.ca
Recording now available.
Please free to post comments or questions on this topic before or after the event here on the blog.
Based om my own experiences I share your and Mark's scepticism. Niall
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I won't be able to be there today, but I find the topic VERY interesting indeed! I do share your point and would have loved to have been able to participate in the discussion.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will post the presentation on the blog in the future.
Susanna Nocchi
Very interesting presentation by Mark Bullen today - thank you. Mark's deconstruction of much of the literature on the Digital Generation was illuminating and useful. In the BCIT study, however, asking participants to self-define their level of "digital literacy" also could be problematic. Those regularly using Google, Facebook, YouTube, etc. may rate themselves as highly digitally literate - as would those who develop software/games/apps, for example. Such a general statement would not reveal these differences. Overall, however, the phase II work which Mark described, exploring social & educational uses of ICT's, seems very worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteCatherine Cronin
Glad you enjoyed the presentation Catherine. Excellent point about relying on self perceptions and self definition. However, our aim was not to get an accurate measurement of digital literacy but to see if there were any significant differences between age groups on the typical "net gen" characteristics. We are assuming that any over estimation of skill level would happen with both age groups. As well, most of the characteristics were not skills but preferences (e.g., for group work, experiential learning, etc.)
ReplyDeleteMark
Thanks for your response, Mark. I enjoyed the webinar and the opportunity to think more deeply about the Digital Generation discourse, especially as an educator. Your presentation prompted me to reflect on some of my own experiences. I've written a blog post summarising this here: http://catherinecronin.wordpress.com.
ReplyDeleteCatherine
(Looking forward the rest of the series, Brian!)