Reaching and Teaching the iPod Generation Before: Plug in clicker Get iPod, PSP Open web browser and load bookmarks Start up Google Earth Write URL on board Reaching and Teaching the iPod Generation Jim Gaston, Associate IT Director South Orange County CCD CASFAA December, 2006

Overview The iPod Generation Students Today Technology Review Student Services Conclusions Recommended Resources Educating the Net Generation Diana G Oblinger and James L. Oblinger, Editors www.educause.edu Growing up Digital by Don Tapscott marcprensky.com Pew Internet and American Life Project www.pewinternet.org Slides and links can be found at: www.socccd.org/it/presentations

If this interests you… http://digitaledu.blogspot.com

Why the “iPod Generation”? Remarkable Success Story Over 67 million iPods sold 70% market share of MP3 players 30% of 2006 cars have an iPod option iTunes has sold over 1.5 billion songs – 80% of worldwide online digital music sales July 26, 2004 Key to Apple’s success is not the technology itself, but the intelligent application of the technology Students have come to expect everything to work as well as their iPods

Community Involvement Generational Differences Matures Baby Boomers Gen X iPod Gen Birth Dates 1900-1946 1946-1964 1965-1982 1982-1991 Description Greatest Generation Me Generation Latchkey Generation Millenials Attributes Command and Control Self-Sacrifice Optimistic Workaholic Independent Skeptical Hopeful Determined Likes Respect for Authority Family Community Involvement Responsibility Work Ethic Can-Do Attitude Freedom Multitasking Work-Life Balance Public Activism Latest Technology Parents Dislikes Waste Technology Laziness Turning 50 Red Tape Hype Anything Slow Negativity To truly understand students today, we must understand how deeply and pervasively technology has permeated their lives…

Technology Usage Statistics Among children ages 8 to 18: 96% have gone online. 74% have access at home 61% use it every day 13 to 17 year olds average: 3.1 hours a day with television, 3.5 with digital media 70% of teenagers use IM to stay in touch 56% prefer to use the Internet instead of the phone students in grades 7-12 know more screen names than home phone numbers 12 to 15 year old California students: Spend 90 minutes a day online 40 minutes with IM, 31 downloading music, 22 with email Email is now seen as a way to communicate with “old people” MySpace has over 100 million user accounts By the time a student is 21, he will have spent twice as many hours playing video games as reading! Show PSP High end video games Full stereo sound Amazing graphics Wireless network access Ability to show full length movies Kevin figured it all out without once reading a manual

Video Games

Students Today Digital Natives Always Connected Immediate Access Multitasking Engagement and Experience Social – Enjoy teamwork Visual – Remember 10% of what they read, 30% of what they see We are digital immigrants Multitasking – this is a huge difference between us Using technology to increase customization, convenience and collaboration is well received

Students Today Thought process has evolved around the web We were raised reading books – they were raised on the web Books reinforce a linear style of thinking and reasoning They have developed a “hypertext” style of thinking

Technology Review Social Networking Software RSS Podcasting Cellphones Instant Messaging (IM) AIM, Yahoo, MSN Messenger Blogs Blogger Typepad Wikis Jotspot Wikispaces Wikipedia Social Bookmarking Spurl del.icio.us Profiles My Space Facebook RSS Feedster Yahoo Bloglines Podcasting Podcast.net Edupodder iTunes Cellphones Text Messaging Video YouTube Google Earth

Implications for Student Services Technology Generation Gap William Gibson: “The future is here, it is just not widely distributed” It’s only going to get worse Amazon Effect: Expectation of immediate service – 7 x 24 Customized online experience Helpful information offered at the right level We need to learn how to leverage the differences to serve our students better

Conclusions Students want high level of interaction, online and in-person They want to be engaged in the learning process, not just passive receptors A key component of their definition of technology is customization The ability to adapt technology to meet individual needs, rather than vice versa Students have come to expect a high level of customer service from their online experiences

What We’re Doing MySite SmartSchedule KnowledgeBase & MySite Agent August 2000 SmartSchedule July 2002 KnowledgeBase & MySite Agent October 2003 Class Shopping Cart August 2004 My Academic Plan Coming Spring 2007

Questions? Feel free to contact me: jgaston@socccd.org http://digitaledu.blogspot.com