Google generation not so Google savvy
e-learning skills Tagged google internet search information literacy January 24th, 2008
The British Library and the Joint Information Systems Committee just released a report that exposes the myth that the Google Generation (people born after 1993) are more Internet savvy than older adults. The report, entitled Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, indicates that while our youth are generally quite comfortable with using technology, they lack the basic Internet searching skills of their adult counterparts.
In my own teaching experiences, I find this report to be highly accurate. A myth exists amongst older generations that our children are incredibly Internet savvy. While it is true that our children are comfortable and regular users of the Internet, many of them primarily use basic and simple features of the web. The skill of doing smart Google searches must be explicitly taught and then reinforced. Without proper education in web searching techniques, children will resort to typing entire sentences in Google, overlooking crucial keywords and abstaining from employing even basic techniques to narrow search results.
The first step in improving the information literacy skills of our students is to educate our teachers. Once our teachers are competent in performing more advanced Google searches, they can pass these skills and expectations onto their students. Without explicitly addressing this issue in schools, our students will continue using Google to find a needle in a haystack.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Very insightful. I was never taught in school how to use the Internet no less Internet searching skills. With time, I gradually became more efficient with the Internet. How would you recommend educating the teachers in using the google search engine effectively?
January 30th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Unlike David, I was taught how to search the internet in school and I think it has allowed me to become a more savvy internet user. It has surprised me to see students from the “Google generation” doing broad searches and sometimes finding unreliable sources.
I definitely agree with the idea that teachers need to be guiding students to become more savvy internet users even though they seem proficient in other areas concerning the computer and technology in general.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:20 pm
I agree with the idea that teachers should be proficient in the Internet Technology. But my teaching experience tells me that do not push students to use the Internet too much. My college level students have acquired basic knowledge about how to use the Internet. I used to do English News Report activities in classrooms. Some of the students majoring in Arts preferred to find news from magazines or newspapers that offer comparatively “out-of-date” news. The truth is lack of computer skills discourages some students to use the Internet.
Personally speaking, in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) classroom, a balanced point of using the Internet should be found, or it will probably produce the wrong result.
April 6th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I think it’s important for students to be taught search skills - it’s not something you are born with. As a member of the pre-Google generation, I learned searching skills…in the library. Remember the good old fashioned card catalog? Right there are skills that can be applied to Internet searches - keywords, related subjects, etc. So much of technology education focuses on the “here’s the program and how to use it” that thinking, searching skills get pushed to the back of the line.
I completely agree, we need to train our teacher to know how to search. Teachers also need to remember that they have valuable “search skills”; maybe they just need to be taught how to apply them in a digital context.