ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been a growing interest in the technology use, attitudes and skills of the so-called digital generation or Net Generation (Oblinger and Oblinger 2005). Many qualitative studies and larger-scale surveys indicate that young people are intensive users of technologies, have relatively good ICT skills, and can be very creative and competent when experimenting with digital media – in particular at home and in informal contexts (Holm Sørensen et al. 2002; Facer et al. 2003; Lenhart, Madden and Hitlin 2005). e emergence of so-called Web 2.0 technologies and practices has further fuelled the debate. In particular, these practices are hypothesized to better aord learners’ control of their own learning, while also facilitating
more collaborative modes of learning and work. ese ideas resonate well with modern thinking about educational practice, and are in line with political initiatives whereby terms such as ‘innovation’ and ‘knowledge creation’ have become central (Crook and Harrison 2008). At national policy level, in much of Europe, there is a movement away from thinking about education as the mass production of skills, towards educational models that favour critical thinking, problem solving and the ability to transform information into new knowledge. e perceived aordances of Web 2.0 harmonize well with these ideals, and as a result it has been claimed that young people have become self-directed ‘digital native’ learners (Prensky 2001), who engage with advanced knowledge creation practices through their informal use of technology.
