This article reports key findings from the first phase of a research project investigating Net generation age students as they encounter e-learning at five universities in England. We take a critical view of the idea of a distinct generation which has been described using various terms including Net generation and Digital Natives and explore age related differences amongst first year university students. The article draws on evidence from a survey of first year undergraduates studying a range of pure and applied subjects. Overall we found a complex picture amongst first year students with the sample population appearing to be a collection of minorities. These included a small minority that made little use of some technologies and larger minorities that made extensive use of new technologies. Often the use of new technology was in ways that did not fully correspond with the expectations that arise from the Net generation and Digital Natives theses. The article concludes that whilst there are strong age related variations amongst the sample it is far too simplistic to describe young first year students born after 1983 as a single generation. The authors find that the generation is not homogenous in its use and appreciation of new technologies and that there are significant variations amongst students that lie within the Net generation age band.
This paper presents results from a longitudinal survey of first year students' time spent on living and learning technologies at university, their frequency of using specific learning technologies and their competence with these tools. Data were analysed from two similar surveys at the start and at the end of the academic year for students studying 14 different courses in five different universities (four place-based and one distance-learning) in England. The younger students used information and communication technologies (ICT) for social and leisure purposes more frequently than older students. The older students were more likely to use it for study. The frequency of using ICT was related to students' perceived competence in the tool. University mode of study also influenced how students appropriated their ICT time. These results might have an impact on the repurposing of living technologies for use as learning technologies.
This paper explores how part-time students in an online international management course perceived various features of the course learning design and whether international perspectives were built into their learning experiences. The focus of the study was on cross-cultural differences across groups of learners in the United Kingdom, in other European countries and in Russia and studying the course in different languages. Using a mixed method approach, the study's results challenge the distinction between "internationalization at home" and "internationalization away" perspectives on curricula, due to growing numbers of students studying online from their home countries. Study participants reported high degrees of engagement with international perspectives, but their experience can be best described as "internationalization at a distance," where traditional campus-based acculturation effects were not observed. The article concludes with a discussion of opportunities for management 2 Internationalization of the Online Management Curriculum educators to develop a "glocal" approach to online course curriculum design, intentionally blending global perspectives with locally-relevant knowledge and managerial skills.
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