THE FUTURE FOR TEACHERS AND THE NET GENERATION

Comparison of concerns about the future for teachers and the net generation

COMPARISON OF CONCERNS ABOUT THE FUTURE FOR TEACHERS AND THE NET GENERATION

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

“Our students have changed radically. Today's students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach” (Prensky, 2001, p. 1). Our society is continually changing and the values, beliefs and attitudes of generations are impacted by these cultural changes (Coomes, 2004). With this continually changing environment, educational institutions are challenged and faced with the necessity of changing with the times in order to meet the needs of their students in learning environments. Generational needs differ in the rapid changes noted in the areas of social/demographic changes, technology advancement and issues of globalization and internationalism. “A generation can be defined as a society-wide peer group, born over a period roughly the same length as the passage from youth to adulthood (in today's America, around twenty or twenty-one years), who collectively possess a common persona” (Howe & Strauss, 2000, p.40).

The Net Generation refers to those born between 1977 and 1997 (Tapscott, 1997). The name of Net Generation reflects the impact that the Internet and technology have had on their development (Lancaster & Stillman; Coomes & DeBard, 2004 and Junco & Mastrodicasa, 2007). The Net Generation uses computers and technology at increasing rates in comparison to previous generations (Jones, 2002). The Net Generation has a relationship with computers, technology, the Internet and academia as needs are different by each generation and are related to concerns about the future (Junco & Mastrodicasa, 2007). The concerns about the future for teachers and the Net Generation are important as they impact student learning and the educational system. The needs related to concerns about the future may be different across generations. Meeting those needs by having knowledge and insight as to what those needs are in an ever-changing environment are important (Bradford, Nix, Spiro & Spiro, 1990). The importance is noted in the new learning paradigm shift of traditional learners from an authoritarian, lecture-based model of education, content-focused learning, to a constructivist learning paradigm (Brown, 2000, 2005; Oblinger, 2005). In previous generations, faculty teaching styles were focused on student memorization, repetition, and recall of information in learning and the class was teacher-centered (Brown, 2005). The focus of the Net Generation includes understanding information and knowledge while discovering methods to actively engage themselves in the learning process. In this new model, the teacher is viewed as expert and mentor in transitioning the classroom to a learner-centered model of education (Brown, 2005).

In this prospectus, three sets of information are presented. The initial information presented includes an overview of related literature. The problem explored in this research and study includes research questions. Also, the orienting theoretical/conceptual framework is presented. The final section is the proposed study procedures including limitations and significance. The focus of this study is the concerns about the future by teachers and Net Generation ...