The Google Generation: a crisis of information literacy?

Webcast by Dr Ian Rowlands

The Webcast itself

In the webcast Dr Rowlands talks about research commissioned by the British Library and the UK’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

“Is there something qualitatively different, quantitatively different, about the Google Generation? If so, as they migrate through school, university and become academics and researchers, what should the British Library be doing in 2017 to cope with those changes?”

Dr  Rowland Touches on a number of different themes and questions, but I would highlight the relevant parts thus:

Behaviour of Generations

Probably the most intersting part of this webcast, considering the discussions we have had within the tutor forum, is the idea that it’s not about the generations being different in a generational way, but that as we get older, we do and see things in a different way. Our perceptions change. Therefore our behaviour as a child, is no different to the behaviour of a child today. And when the gogle generation gets to 50, what’s to say they won’t behave in the same way as 50 year olds did twenty years ago. So there is something about the sociological development of humans that might change the way we interact with technology.

Information Literacy

Following on from this, should we expect young peole to be able to process in the digital world. Is this not a skill that they need to learn or be taught. Young People have a poor understanding of what their needs are.

He makes the point that there are two hypotheses about the actual behaviour highlighted. Either that people are dumbing down, and canfind what they want (which incidentally may be because it is hard to find). Or secondly that people are actually smarter and searching in a clever way to find what they actually need.

The Digital World versus bricks and mortar

Another subject that we touched on in H807, and in particular when looking at the ecolgy metaphors. Rowland using fantastic imagery in talking about the mind map of the physical library. He knows where the different sections are, what different types of books look like. Do we recreate this in the digital world, or are people visiting digital libraries with no clear map of what is there? Do libraries need to take their skills and use them in a digital context to make the virtual visit more enjoyable? I like the point he makes about branding – libraries evoke print, google evokes search.

What does this mean as a student or reader?

I think all of these areas are important for me as a student. Naturally as a Masters student, I have already committed to wanted to further my own understanding and I am therefore receptive to development. I am not a 12 year old who needs to do their homework. Therefore my tenacity may be greater.

However I do struggle with online digital libraries when the mapping is hard to traverse. I am happy this year this year that the links within the module to information and papers connects me directly. (better than the last module, although this may just be a warped perception). But does this mean that I become lazy. I have no need to trapse round the digital library because the content is automatically fed me. How important is it that I can be engage within and find content in these digital spaces?

Which then links us on to information literacy. If we want people, young and old, to develop these literacies, we need to build in activities that enable this.

What does this mean as a teacher or practitioner?

It goes back to the old argument about knowing your learners. When you are involved in adult learning this is even more difficult. Avoiding assumption, is always important, but not always easy with limited time or resources. How do you ensure that you deliver the right activities for everyone.

Again, I think that the OU have this right. There are activities that allow those without the literacies to follow up and investigate, as well as activities that allow students to explore further on tehir own, without the pressure of it being mandatory.

I think as trainers we need to think carefully about how we present resources, and what resource hubs we use, as this fits into the development of each individual. If we want our students to feel confident at accessing research, we need to ensure we give them opportunities to explore.

The presentations themselves

One of the other questions asked about this activity was the different mediums used. Was the web cast better than the report? For me, I like a mixture of both. In the first instance, I skimmed through the report , pulling out the data that I thought was useful.

In the webcast, I listened to reasonings and ideas behind the report. It gave it more personality and depth. Separate from each other they each have their strengths an weaknesses.

Generations of information seekers

“How are the internet and its search engines changing the way we access information, and the way we read?”

At work we have done a lot of work about the different generations as our volunteers span from 18 – 88! Whenever we do this, I am acutely aware that there are no hard and fast rules and you can’t categorise ages in the same way. At a recent conference myself and a colleague attended a seminar about the milleniums, and how you engage them in learning. The points made – easy access, short attention spans, information on the move, less structured – were relevant for both of us. I think it is more to do with social influences than age influences. In fact many of the people who I know that utilise the technology as milleniums do…are in fact baby boomers.

Do learners take advantage of all that the tools offer?

At the start of this week we looked at a statement about a man not knowing what he was meant to do in his English class. Well, all learners need guidance. Only the few can pick things up and know what to do with them. Learning for me isn’t just knowledge transfer, it’s about applying it. So in order for learners to take advantage of the tools they need to be given guidance and support.

Do practitioners in technology-enhanced learning understand enough about how their learners read and search?

It’s a cop out I know, but some do, some don’t. The good ones give you links to further study and further information. In the resources we design, we give quick links to resources, websites to explore, and tasks to accomplish. It allows those who want to explore to do so. What I particularly like in this module is that I can link directly to resources from the module page. This was not always available in the last module I studied. This allows me to quickly access and save the resources I need. Some of the activities are designed to enable quick reading and processing, and we are encouraged to do our own searches.

The Google Generation.

Those who have been born with little or no recollection of life before the web.

'They [the google generation] need to feel constantly connected to the web'

I don't think this is a generational thing. In my experience it is more prevalent among the older,working population. Those who don't switch off their emails and are working inside and outside of work...now you don't have to work late in the office;you can do t at home.

‘They are the “cut-and-paste” generation’

This may be true, but I wonder if the creation of plaigarism technology just helps us to identify this more. When I was in school, I cut and pasted out of the encyclopedia – I just changed the world around. My teachers just didn’t have the time to read all the books to check!

‘They pick up computer skills by trial and error’

Personally, my experience is that this is more true of the older generation. Most technology has a logic to it that is easy to use. Mostly people who have the time use trial and error – it’s why the simple technology wins, as those that take longer aften get discarded first.

‘They are expert searchers’

Well, this all depends on what they are searching for!

Which of these apply to me? Possibly all of them…does that make me a 35 year old millenial?!! I have to say that I do get frustrated when I don’t have access to the internet – and yet when I go on holiday I don’t use a phone for over a week. There’s a time and a place where easy access to the web affords me an easier life. Today we had a team building day, where we went GPS treasure hunting. Without our smartphones we wouldn’t have been able to answer half the questions. Without our phones, we wouldn’t have been able to call each other to help with clues and work as a team towards our goals.

When I am planning training I often cut and paste information from the web, and watch u-tube videos. Why? I like to get as much information as possibleand sort through that to find the relevance.  I certainly pick p skills by trail and error. I am one of those people who would rather do it, than stop and read the instructions. I may have learned this from my dad. He learned all about computers before me. How? By taking them apart and putting them back together again, just like he did with cars. I like to find out how things work and explore. If it doesn’t work after the fifth time, I tend to abandon it. I am not sure that I would call myself an expert searcher…but I certainly utilise the web for many things….from recipes to shopping to finding the answers to questions.

So what does this mean for my learners? For me it goes back to the start. We are all different and use technology in different ways. We cannot assume that one group of people will use things in a way that is different to others. What we can do is ensure that there is a mix of activities and enough guidnace for those who need it.