Digital not-so-natives?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the so called “digital native” label so often assigned to college students, the idea that they are fully versed and skilled with technology. I’m just not convinced it’s true. I work with a lot of students and student organizations and I would say that by and large most of them, while certainly not intimidated by technology, are not really that well versed in it. Fundamental understanding of how things work also seems to be missing out. Case in point this Daily Tar Heel article about Ruckus shutting it’s doors:

“First of all, we had students served with suits from the RIAA,” said Allred. 

“They had been downloading music illegally through the UNC server. That was a problem we were worried about becoming more frequent.”

I know that UNC was not illegally hosting music for our students to download. This to me illustrates the difference between comfort and understanding. Here is a very bright student who lacks a basic understanding of how networking functions. The other option here is that the reporter got the quote wrong, but that still illustrates my point.

As another example, I had a conversation recently with a student about a web-based application form. She had stopped the application process because of problems with her PC and was surprised when I told her that she could access the application from any computer with a web browser and an Internet connection. Wouldn’t a “digital native” get this up-front?

I think there is a significant impact in this perceived competence. When we go about designing systems and launching things for students on campus we tend to make assumptions that because they are comfortable with technology they will immediately “get it”. This does make roll outs easier, but if we take the assumption away I wonder if we would get better results.

I’m starting to believe that maybe today’s students aren’t so different from the supposedly technophobe administrators when it comes to actually using technology and tools and I’ve begun to adjust my planning and approach with this in mind.

Tags: students, technology