The Net Generation are people who were born after 1982. They are familiar with the highly technology and mobile technologies, for instance, Internet, mobile phones and laptops.
The Net Generation believes that mobile technologies could fulfil their needs. Therefore, they are using mobile technologies as their daily life. They are always connected to the Internet and using instant messaging, for instance, yahoo messenger, msn, and skype to communicate with others, which they think that they are more effective and efficient.
Based on the on-line seminar in Managing eCommunications, the main characteristics of the Net Generation are:
• They are able to multitask, they can do several things at once.
• They expect fast and immediate response.
•They tend to be more comfortable constructing their knowledge than being instructed.
• They prefer to be interactive.
There are some differences between the Net Generation and the generation previously in terms of technology:
•In 1980s, the era was pre-web. Pre-web was an interactive multimedia. In this era, people were interacting with the computer. The technologies were CD-ROM and instructional media. The learning theory was instructionism.
•In 1990s, the era was web. The web was a download and view. In this era, people downloaded resources from the internet/ LMS. The learning theory was objectivism.
•In 2000s, the era is web 2.0. Web 2.0 is the collaborative web. People create Internet content and share it with their community. The technologies for instance are blog, wiki and podcast. The learning theory is (social) constructivism.
With the rapid growth of technology, the educational system should be improved. Therefore, the educational system could support and balance with the needs and interests of the Net Generation. The supports are for instance providing computers and access to the Internet at school. Hence, the students could obtain their needs from school. However, they should not misuse these supports. Moreover, the teachers are the most important part of supporting the needs and interests of the students. The teachers are come from different generation with their students so they should understand about their students’ needs. They should be flexible and should not limit on how and where their students get information, for instance, information from the internet from wikipedia, blogger, and so on so the students not always have to get the resources from text books. The teachers possibly not familiar with the new technology so they prefer to use old-fashion way of teaching, whereas the students tend to use the new technology, for instance, wikis and blogs. In addition, in terms of teaching and learning, the LMS such as webCT and blackboard, as the on-line learning and teaching could also satisfy their expectation of immediate response from their teacher because they are more interactive and they could connect directly with their teachers everywhere and anytime. Therefore, the teachers should also adjust and more flexible to the new way of teaching and learning to create better educational systems and balance the needs and interests of their students.