WorcesterCollege of TechnologyDigitalLiteracy (Wordle)
The JISC Worcester College of Technology Digital Literacy (Wordle) project aims to review and measure digital literacy skills with the aim of developing targeted core OCN digital literacy qualifications support to underpin learning within FE. This project investigates digital literacy from a range of different angles and perspectives. It is presented as a collection of five separate case studies focusing on separate themes and participant groups concluding with a series of reports drawing together key emerging themes and a synthetic analysis of all findings. This project aims to offer a broad landscape of the understanding of digital literacy within a typical FE college and identify the support that is needed to develop the digital literacy skills needed to underpin lifelong learning in the digital age.
LITERATURE OVERVIEW:
An overview of available papers and books accessed discussing the digital generation divide
September 2011
Background overview
As part of the initial base lining phase the WCT project team scoured for any literature that offers an overview or a study regarding the ‘digital divide’ or ‘digital generation gap’ debate. We felt a list of key literatures and references would be of benefit to us for understanding the roots of the digital debate and also be of benefit to the wider JISC community. This will be presented as a series of direct links or references to documentation we have accessedand read such as articles, books, blogs, papers or interesting websites (accessed on before 16th December 2011).
Literature Overview
(Terms referred to: Digital natives; digital immigrants; Millennials; GenX; Net Generation; Google Generation; Digital generation; Generation Y; Growing up digital)
Prensky, M. (2001a) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’, On the Horizon, MCB University Press, vol.9, no.5 [Online] Available from
Prensky, M.(2001b) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently? [Online] Available from
Prensky, M. (2008) Backup Education:Too many teachers see education as preparing kids for the past, not the future.[Online] Available from
Prensky, M. (2009)H. Sapiens Digital: from Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives to digital wisdom [Online] Available from
Oblinger, D, (2003) Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials: Understanding the "New
Students"[Online] Available from
Oblinger, D. andOblinger, J.(2005)Educating the Net Generation [Online] Available from
White, D. S. and Le Cornu, A. (2011). "Visitors and Residents: A New Typology for Online Engagement." First Monday 16:9 (5 September). [Online] Available from:
Howe, N. and Strauss, W. (2000).Millennials rising: The next greatgeneration. New York: Vintage Books.
Tapscott, D. (1999). Educating the
Net Generation. Educational Leadership, Feb. 1999, Vol. 56, No. 5, pp. 6-11
Tapscott 2008Grown up digital: how the net generation is changing your world. [Google Books] Available from:
Veen, W. and Vrakking, B. (2006) Homo zappiens: growing up in a digital age.[Google Books] Available from:
Weber, S. and Dixon, S.(2010) Growing up online: young people and digital technologies. [Google Books] Available from:
Gasser, U. and J. Palfrey (2010) Born Digital: Understanding the first generation of digital natives. New York: Basic Books
Thomas, M. (2011) Deconstructing Digital Natives: Young People, Technology, and the New Literacies. London: Routledge
Manafy, M., & Gautschi, H. (Eds.). (2011)Dancing with digital natives: Staying in step with the generation that’s transforming the way business is done. Medford, NJ: Information Today.
Bartlett, J. and Miller, C. (2011)Truth, lies and theInternet:a report into young people’s digital Fluency. [Online] Available from:
Margaryan, A and Littlejohn, A (2008) Are digital natives a myth or reality Students’ use of technologies for learning. [Online] Available from
Helsper, E andEnyon, R (2009) Digital natives where is the evidence. [Online] Available from:
Comba, V. (2011) Net generation and digital literacy: a short bibliographical review and some remarks. [Online] Available from
Zimic, S. (2009) Not so ‘techno-savvy’ Challenging the stereotypical images of the ‘Net generation’.[Online] Available from
Zimic, S (2010) Opening the Box - exploring the presumptions about the Net Generation.[Online] Available from
Kennedy G.E., Judd T.S., Churchward, A., Gray K., Krause K-L. (2008), First year students’ experience with technology: are they really digital Natives? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology,2008, 24,1, 108-122. [Online] Available from
Kumar S. (2010), The Net Generation informal and educational use of new technologies. [Online] Available from
Jones C. (2010), Networked learning, the Net generation and digital Natives: Introduction. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference On Networked Learning 2010. 617-618.
Jones C., Ramanau R., Cross S., Healing G. (2010), Net generation or digital natives: is there a distinct new generation entering university?,Computers & Education. 2010, 54, 722-732.
Bennet S., Maton K., Kervin L., (2008), The ‘digital natives’ debates: a critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39:5, 775-786.
CIBER/UCL (2008) Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research (CIBER) briefing paper, University College London. [Online] Available from
Kennedy, G., Dalgarno, B., Gray, K., Judd, T., Waycott, J., Bennett, S., Maton, K., Krause, K-L., Bishop, A., Chang, R. and Churchward, A. (2007) ‘The Net Generation are not big users of Web 2.0 technologies: Preliminary findings’ in ICT: Providing Choices for Learners and Learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore 2007.[Online] Available from
Williams, P. and Rowlands, I. (2008) The Literature on Young People and their Information Behaviour, Work Package II, Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, A British Library/JISC Study; also available online at
Bennett, S., Maton, K. and Kervin, L. (2008) ‘The ‘digital natives’ debate: a critical review of the evidence’, British Journal of Educational Technology, vol.39, no.5, pp.775–86
The British Library (2008) Pioneering research shows ‘Google Generation’ is a myth. [Online] Available from