Generation Y: Are they really digital natives or more like digital refugees?

Authors

• Barbara Combes, Edith Cowan University

Document Type

Journal Article

Keywords

Competence, Databases, Electronic libraries, First year students, Information and communications technology, Information literacy, Information retrieval, Information seeking, Information utilisation, Internet, Knowledge economy, Knowledge level, Repositories, Search engines, Self esteem, Student attitudes, Student behaviour, Student beliefs, Web sites, Higher education, Interviews, Literature reviews, Surveys

Publisher

School Library Association of Victoria

Faculty

Faculty of Computing, Health and Science

School

School of Computer and Security Science

RAS ID

7741

Comments

Combes, B. (2009). Generation Y: Are they really digital natives or more like digital refugees?. Synergy, 7(1), 31-40.

Abstract

Recent research indicates that Generation Y is not as tech-savvy as is often portrayed. If this is the case, then assumptions about the information-seeking behaviour of today's students need to be re- assessed. This paper discusses some of the findings of a PhD study on the information-seeking behaviour of Generation Y and the need for schools to become more involved in teaching students how to use the electronic environment effectively.