![Technology as Choice
• "I understand the reward and benefit of
functioning without [technology]. But I do
use it.”
© 2012 Penny Thompson
• “Sometimes I feel like I should turn my cell
phone on more often just because my
friends are, like, why are you so hard to
talk to? But…I’ll turn it on when I feel like
it."](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/thompsondissertationdefenseslides-120619144121-phpapp02/75/Penny-Thompson-s-Dissertation-Defense-24-2048.jpg)
![Strategies
• Attention Control: "I text a lot more in math cuz
I'm pretty good at it and I put it away, like if I'm
doing science cuz it's my worst subject.”
• Separation: "For finals...there’s a website that
© 2012 Penny Thompson
you can sign up and it won’t let your computer
access like those sites you list."
• Time Management: "I kinda' set up...standards
for myself. If I can finish this chapter, I can check
[Facebook] for X amount of time."](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/thompsondissertationdefenseslides-120619144121-phpapp02/75/Penny-Thompson-s-Dissertation-Defense-27-2048.jpg)
More Related Content
Similar to Penny Thompson's Dissertation Defense
Penny Thompson's Dissertation Defense
- 1. Investigating Claims Aboutthe Digital Natives: Technology Use Patterns and © 2012 Penny Thompson Approaches to Learning Penny Thompson Michigan State University June 18, 2012
- 2. © 2012 PennyThompson Picture from iStockPhoto
- 3. Problem Statement • Educatorsreceive urgent messages telling them to change their teaching to meet the needs of the new generation of learners. It is hard for educators to know how to respond to these © 2012 Penny Thompson demands because: • The claims are conflicting • The claims are not well supported with empirical data
- 4. Purpose of theStudy • Consolidate the popular press claims into a Popular Profile of the Digital Learner (PPDL) in order to facilitate investigation of the claims • Gather data on: • patterns of technology use © 2012 Penny Thompson • whether the digital natives report having the characteristics the popular authors are claiming for them • adaptive and less adaptive manifestations of PPDL characteristics • relationships between patterns of technology use and elements of the PPDL • (Focus on “interest” rather than “just for grade”)
- 5. Literature Review • Claimsmade about the digital learners are based on the assumption that media exposure and use has consequences for thinking and learning, mostly based on neural plasticity. © 2012 Penny Thompson • We know learners today are heavily immersed in technology (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010) so the question of whether and how technology use has habituated the behaviors and attitudes claimed in the PPDL is an important one. • Existing evidence suggests technology use and proficiency is more narrow than the claims suggest (Kennedy, Judd, Dalgarno and Waycott, 2010).
- 6. “Ten Characteristics ofthe Games Generation” (Prensky, 2001a) • Twitch speed versus conventional speed • Multitasking versus single-tasking • Graphics first versus text first • © 2012 Penny Thompson Random access versus step-by-step • Connected versus stand-alone • Active versus passive • Play versus work • Payoff versus patience • Fantasy versus reality • Technology-as-friend versus technology-as-foe
- 7. Research Questions 1. Whattechnologies do university freshman use and how frequently do they use them? 2. Which of the characteristics of the popular profile of the digital learner (PPDL) do students report © 2012 Penny Thompson having when learning topics in which they have personal interest? 3. When learning topics in which they have personal interest, do students report habits and behaviors that are more adaptive or less adaptive for learning? 4. Do students' patterns of technology use correlate with their characteristics from the PPDL?
- 8. Research Questions, cont. 5.How do learners with different configurations of PPDL characteristics describe their own technology use and approaches to learning? a. What kinds of connections do they see between © 2012 Penny Thompson their own personal technology use and their approaches to learning? b. What similarities and differences do they describe between their own personal approaches to learning and the PPDL claims? c. How do they describe their personal reactions to the claims being made about their generation?
- 9. Methodology • Survey (Likert-typescale) on technology use, digital characteristics, and adaptiveness • sent online by Registrar to random sample of 3000 MSU freshmen • 492 responses received, 388 were complete © 2012 Penny Thompson • Analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics • Factor analysis of technology use groupings • Means and standard deviations • Correlations and extreme group analysis • Semi-structured interviews with selected participants
- 10. Findings.RQ1. Technology Use Categories TechnologyCategory Mean SD N Web Resource Use 6.55 1.07 375 Rapid CommunicationTechnology 5.46 1.11 369 © 2012 Penny Thompson Book Reading 4.04 1.74 380 Productivity Tool Use 3.90 1.13 374 Gaming (e.g., action, strategy, puzzle) 3.07 1.67 382 Active Web Reading & Writing 2.98 1.51 375 Microblogging 2.95 2.30 388 Multimedia Creation 2.76 1.26 380 Collaborative Web Tool Use 2.06 1.34 379
- 11. Low Usage ofMany Technology Groups © 2012 Penny Thompson
- 12. Findings.RQ2.Digital Characteristics Scale Mean SD N Digital Characteristics 3.88 .776 350 © 2012 Penny Thompson
- 13. Digital Scale Item Mean SD N Fast expedient Web search (not iterative) 5.36 2.04 387 Feels technology is necessary for learning 4.86 1.75 386 Non-linear method of finding answers to 4.61 2.34 381 questions © 2012 Penny Thompson Preference for quick payoff versus future reward 3.14 1.72 385 Preference for finding (versus receiving) 2.90 1.80 388 information Non-linear method of following hyperlinks 2.67 2.02 384
- 14. Findings.RQ3.Adaptiveness Scale Mean SD N Adaptiveness 5.03 .951 354 © 2012 Penny Thompson
- 15. Adaptiveness Scale Item Mean SD N Persistence (vs. giving up) in short-term 6.16 1.77 383 boredom Ability to control multitasking when needed 5.85 2.26 387 Ability to listen attentively to lecture 5.56 1.84 388 © 2012 Penny Thompson Seeking out multiple sources of information 4.07 2.12 381 Recognize their own responsibility (vs. the 3.74 1.65 385 teacher) for making learning enjoyable
- 16. Correlations • Correlation betweenDigital Characteristics and Adaptiveness” © 2012 Penny Thompson r = -.247 Sig. < .01 N = 323
- 17. Findings.RQ4a.Relationship between Tech Useand Digital Characteristics Technology Use Category Spearman’s Rho Sig. Web Resource Use .03 Rapid Communication .29 *** Technology © 2012 Penny Thompson Book Reading -.14 ** Productivity Tool Use .09 Gaming .13 * Active Web Reading & Writing .14 * Microblogging .24 ** Multimedia Creation .18 ** Collaborative Web Tool Use .16 ** Note: *=p≤.05; **=p≤.01; ***=p≤.001. N=322
- 18. Findings.RQ4b.Relationship between Tech Useand Adaptiveness Technology Use Category Spearman’s Rho Sig. Web Resource Use .09 Rapid Communication -.14 * Technology © 2012 Penny Thompson Book Reading .22 ** Productivity Tool Use .00 Gaming .06 Active Web Reading & Writing -.01 Microblogging -.17 ** Multimedia Creation -.12 * Collaborative Web Tool Use -.10 Note: *=p≤.05; **=p≤.01; ***=p≤.001. N=322
- 19. The Interviews • Participants • Eight participants, all female, 18 – 20 years old • Purposefully chosen based on survey answers • Coding © 2012 Penny Thompson • Full interviews transcribed and coded • Unit of analysis was Question + Answer • Looked for themes directly related to research questions while open to new themes • Second coder audited 50% - Cohen’s kappa 87%
- 20. Findings.RQ5a.Technology 12 11 10 8 © 2012 Penny Thompson Frequency 6 6 6 4 4 2 2 0 Tech and Learning Tech in Daily Life Tech as Threat Tech as Challenge Tech as Choice
- 21. Technology and Learning •"We have the efficiency now in that like laptops in the classrooms...really help instead of writing on paper and pen and © 2012 Penny Thompson also people like using recorders or things when the professor talks."
- 22. Technology as Threat •"I’m worried for my kids’ sakes of how far it’s gonna be going…like babies are asking for cell phones and asking for technology © 2012 Penny Thompson that I didn’t get until I was older. Like it just keeps growing younger and younger, I feel like, and it’s not a good thing for them."
- 23. Technology as Challenge •"I guess print books and a lot of the old ways of learning were very standard. They didn't change and now that you have © 2012 Penny Thompson technology, things are constantly changing."
- 24. Technology as Choice •"I understand the reward and benefit of functioning without [technology]. But I do use it.” © 2012 Penny Thompson • “Sometimes I feel like I should turn my cell phone on more often just because my friends are, like, why are you so hard to talk to? But…I’ll turn it on when I feel like it."
- 25. Findings.RQ5b. Digital Native Characteristics 35 30 30 25 © 2012 Penny Thompson 20 19 Frequency 18 15 10 10 5 5 5 4 3 3 2 2 0
- 26. Strategies 10 9 9 9 8 7 © 2012 Penny Thompson 6 Frequency 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 1 0 Attention Control Separation from Time Management Writing vs. Typing Adaptive Reading Distraction
- 27. Strategies • Attention Control:"I text a lot more in math cuz I'm pretty good at it and I put it away, like if I'm doing science cuz it's my worst subject.” • Separation: "For finals...there’s a website that © 2012 Penny Thompson you can sign up and it won’t let your computer access like those sites you list." • Time Management: "I kinda' set up...standards for myself. If I can finish this chapter, I can check [Facebook] for X amount of time."
- 28. Strategies, continued • Writingversus typing: “I started off my first semester, like, taking all my notes by typing them and I could not remember anything that way so I switched over to pen and paper.“ © 2012 Penny Thompson • Adaptive reading: "If I'm reading like just a novel for fun or something, I'll read really, really fast and not really like think about it. But if I'm reading like a textbook, I read really, really slow."
- 29. Findings.RQ5c. Reactions to Claims 35 31 30 25 © 2012 Penny Thompson 20 Frequency 16 15 10 10 8 5 5 3 3 0 True for my True for me Not true for me Insulting "Sad" Not unique to my Not true for my generation generation generation
- 30. Reactions to Claims •Insulting:"I think they're not giving us enough credit for wanting to learn." • Sad or embarrassing:"It is kind of embarrassing that I come from a generation that can’t read a © 2012 Penny Thompson book." • Not unique to any one generation:"Every generation of kids our age are gonna' prefer games to serious work. So I don’t think that has anything to do with our generation specifically."
- 31. Conclusions • Digital Nativesuse a narrower range of technologies than the popular press suggests. Teachers should not assume high proficiency with all technologies. • Digital Natives value technology for speed and efficiency but may need help using it for deep © 2012 Penny Thompson learning. • Digital Natives want us to engage them but do not necessarily demand constant entertainment (at least at the university level). • Technology is probably an influence but not the deterministic force claimed by the popular press. • Heavy use of Rapid Communication Technology might signal a need for study skills intervention.
- 32. Significance of theStudy • Synthesizes the conflicting popular press claims • Provides data on technology use patterns of digital natives • Provides a more nuanced understanding of the © 2012 Penny Thompson digital natives as learners • Encourages educators to evaluate evidence critically when deciding how (or if) to respond to the popular “calls to action”
- 33. Limitations • Self-report survey •Correlations do not tell us the cause or direction of an effect • Digital Characteristics and Adaptiveness scales © 2012 Penny Thompson need refinement • Cannot assume interview participants are “typical”
- 34. Future Research • Explorethe relationship between Rapid Communication Technology use and lower Adaptiveness scores in more detail • Comparisons with different age groups © 2012 Penny Thompson • Observational studies to explore correspondence between actual performance and self-report
- 35. Questions? © 2012 Penny Thompson Penny Thompson Michigan State University thomp850@msu.edu
- 36. References • Bauerlein, M.(2008).The dumbest generation: How the digital age stupefies young Americans and jeopardizes our future. New Yourk: Penguin Group • Ellison, N., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2011). Connection strategies: Social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices. New Media & Society, 13(6), 873-892. doi: 10.1177/1461444810385389 • Kennedy, G., Judd, T., Dalgarno, B., &Waycott, J. (2010). Beyond natives and © 2012 Penny Thompson immigrants: exploring types of net generation students. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26, 332-343. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00371.x • Lohnes, S., &Kinzer, C. (2007). Questioning assumptions about students' expectations for technology in college classrooms. Innovate, 3, 5 • Prensky, M. (2001a). Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw-Hill • Prensky, M. (2001b). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5). • Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds. Kaiser Family Foundation Retrieved from http://www.kff.org/entmedia/mh012010pkg.cfm.
Editor's Notes
- #3 Popular press claims people who grew up with digital technology think and learn differently than all previous generationsSome claims optimistic and some pessimistic
- #5 (Remember to emphasize my interest in the digital natives as LEARNERS)
- #7 Not just Prensky, but several popular press writers with conflicting interpretations. This was an organizing framework.
- #8 (These were answered with survey)
- #10 (example of DC and Adaptiveness)
- #11 Ranked in descending order to show which technologies are used frequently and which are used little. Describe Web Resource, Rapid Comm. Tech, and Active Web in detail. Others are self-explanatory.
- #12 Very skewed/floor effect distributions on most technologies. Only Rapid and to some degree books had normal distributions. Web resource had ceiling effect.
- #14 Only showing top three and bottom three of 15Ranked in descending order to show which qualities the digital natives actually claim for themselvesFast web search at the top & rapid scanning of web much higher than rapid scanning of print = Carr was partially right…But non-linear approach to hyperlinks at the very bottom is surprising.
- #16 Only showing top three and bottom two of 14Contrary to claims by Bauerlein and others, students report that they can push through short-term boredom and tolerate a lecture under the right circumstances (interest), butThey still see the teacher as having high level of responsibility to make learning enjoyable.
- #18 Used the non-parametric Spearman Rank correlations since most of the tech use distributions were not normal. Many technology use categories show significant correlation with digital characteristics.Rapid Comm Tech the strongest and Book reading the only one negative
- #19 Some technologies had significant correlation with adaptivenessBook reading is the only significant positive correlation. Others are all negative, though none are extremely largeExtreme group t-tests confirmed this finding and further highlighted Rapid Communication Technology and book reading as having interesting relationships with adaptiveness.
- #26 Strategies is the one I’m going to highlight today