The report identifies four key themes that characterise the way in which young people [15-24 year olds] approach the use of media and communication.
This younger generation desires Control, with the ability to access content and communicate whenever they choose, regardless of location. Impatience is also characteristic of this age group, as it seeks to make the most efficient use of its time through multitasking and “media snacking.” The youth are also constantly engaged in Community Interactions, sharing opinions on what content is worth seeing or experiencing. Additionally, they are looking for avenues of self-expression that enable them to showcase their creativity and portray their Originality.
The report contains many interesting statistics to demonstrate how this generation are using their time differently: watching less television, the shift to viewing online, on demand etc. The clearest indication of the generation gap is seen in a survey of the "Most Missed Activity by Age", the results of which I have posted below:
This confirms what we all suspected, namely that young people consider their mobile phone their most valuable means of keeping in touch, even more important than TV, and that newspapers and magazines are quite low on their list of priorities.
Since this report came about there have been several others which have examined the changing ways Digital Natives accessing and sharing information, together with reflections on how they might be used more effectively within the educational sphere.
ReplyDeleteHere are some of the more pertinent ones:
The University of Nottingham released findings last June looking into the deployment of Web 2.0 technologies in British Secondary schools. It found that not only was there a comprehensive lack of co-ordinated deployment in schools, but students themselves were unfamiliar with tools like blogging, which offer some of the most powerful opportunities for shared learning, and the development of multimedia literacies.
You can read more here: http://snipurl.com/9rqy8
There is also a good piece of research from Berkeley, which came out last November, looking at the impact of New Media on the informal ways in which children develop a range of skills.
You can read report summaries and lengthier documents here: http://snipurl.com/9rr4c
Finally, there's a fascinating online slideshow which discusses what Education 2.0 might look like. You can view it here: http://snipurl.com/9rrap