Perceptions of Today’s Digital Students towards learning and the Internet with eight observations (Frand, 2000) in Flynt & (Brozo, 2010):
1. Computers aren’t technology; they are an assumed part of life.
2. The Internet is better than television, because it allows users to socialize with others.
3. Reality is not viewed as being static due to digital and information manipulation.
4. Doing is more important than knowing, and results and actions are more important than accumulation of facts.
5. Learning more closely resembles video games than logic; because gaming requires a trial and error approach to learning as opposed to traditional ruled based approach to problem solving.
6. Multitasking is a way of life; typing is preferred to handwriting, and keyboarding is an essential skill.
7. Staying connected is essential, and there is very little tolerance for delays.
8. Digital savvy students can be a consumer or a creator.
Our planning needs to take these perceptions into account in planning instruction to keep learning meaningful and relevant so that or students will be engaged.
If we keep going at the fast rate in the accumulation of technologies, we will no longer be saying "digital students" but rather "digital babies". Hence one cannot deny the value of ICT's to raising educational achievement. However, we need to exercise care in how we teach our students to approach new litteracies via technology through a critical eye, applying critical theory to allow students to discern bad from good, valuable for valueless and use data and information in a responsible manner.
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