Google Generation and Myths

There are a number of statements bandied around the Internet about the Google Generation. Some of these include:

  1. ‘They [the Google Generation] need to feel constantly connected to the web’
  2. ‘They are the “cut-and-paste” generation’
  3. ‘They pick up computer skills by trial and error’
  4. ‘They are expert searchers’

Research has shed some light onto these statements. A report from UCL  1  p19 suggests that of these statements:

  1. True – but not specific to the Google Generation.
  2. This is in general true – albeit it the evidence is mostly anecdotal. In general I would agree with this – but I do not think it necessarily only applies to the Google Generation. I have experienced many students from previous generations who once introduced to the net and Google then cut and paste huge chunks of text etc into assignments; most without actually answering the question!
  3. False – again there is little evidence for this. From my own experience I would say this is more linked to overall learning preferences and very few learners I know (of all ages) turn first to the manual, preferring to try it or ask someone to show them how to do it … often leading to the comment RTFM when it all goes wrong!
  4. False – there is a growing weight of evidence to suggest that the Google Generation are not expert researchers – and have difficulties in authenticating and validating sources. Research indicates that young people often fail to validate or validate poorly information found on the Internet 2 3 4 – the classic example being the Tree Octopus 5

From  a personal perspective, I would say that I need my Internet – I use it for work, teaching, learning, social networking including my hobbies and interests, accessing news, media, doing my shopping …. All of which have become so much easier with a smartphone.

I hope I use ‘cut and paste’ judicially – I am certainly aware of the need to reference and avoid plagiarism

I do tend to ‘dive in’ and use hands-on learning … I think this is part of feeling confident with computers and web 2.0 technologies – I know I am not likely to break anything! I find to become proficient with something you need to actually use it. I would describe this as an ‘ability to learn’ – I think technology changes too rapidly today to rely on learning one or two things in detail or needing to read a manual each time. I remember working with – and still do work with sometimes – people who know how to use a specific piece of software but cannot apply the same principles to a new piece of software. For example, a lack of understanding of basic principles such as File, Save, Open, cut, paste – actions that will be there somewhere if not in exactly the same place. This seemed to happen most when people had completed CLAIT courses and been taught how to do a series of actions to pass an assessment rather than how to use IT in the wider sense.

The research skills I learned as part of my earlier study skills – such as thinking about who wrote something and why – remain as true today as they did then, they are just applied in a different way. We cannot expect the Google Generation to know how to research unless we demonstrate the principles and reasoning.

  1. UCL (2008) Information behaviour of the researcher of the future, University College London, (online) Available from: http://learn.open.ac.uk/file.php/7325/block1/UCL_Reading_research.pdf (Accessed 6 February 2011).
  2. Leu, Donald J., Kinzer, Charles K., Coiro, Julie L. and Cammack, Dana W. (2004) ‘Toward a Theory of New Literacies Emerging From the Internet and Other Information and Communication Technologies’, Fifth. In Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading, International Reading Association, (online) Available from: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/leu (Accessed 6 February 2011).
  3. Williams, Peter and Rowlands, Ian (2007) THE LITERATURE ON YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR, INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR OF THE RESEARCHER OF THE FUTURE, British Library / JISC Study, (online) Available from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/reppres/ggworkpackageii.pdf (Accessed 30 January 2011).
  4. BL and JISC (2010) Researchers of Tomorrow: Annual Report 2009-2010, British Library / JISC Study, (online) Available from: http://explorationforchange.net/attachments/056_RoT%20Year%201%20report%20final%20100622.pdf (Accessed 30 January 2011).
  5. Leu, Donald J. and Castek, Jill (n.d.) ‘What online reading comprehension skills and strategies are characteristic of more accomplished, adolescent, users of the Internet?’, Institute of Educational Science, US Dept of Education, (online) Available from: http://homepages.uconn.edu/~jmc03014/AccomplishedAdolescentReaders.pdf (Accessed 6 February 2011).

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