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Net Generation Students

Student`s Name

Professor`s Name

Institutional Affiliation

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Net Generation Students

Net generation students is an article focusing on the impacts of lifelong exposure of

students to digital technologies. Net Generation and Digital Natives are the phrases used by the

authors to describe the current generation, which is surrounded by technologies. The author

claims to use the term Net Generation when referring to the new generation because they have

grown in an era where computers, the Internet, and other digital technologies are widely used.

The author uses the term Digital Natives when referring to students of this generation because he

finds them to process information essentially different from the earlier generation. This rhetorical

analysis will focus on whether technological advancement has an impact on students` skills and

confidence, agency and net generation debate and the suggestions that Digital Natives leads to

one-way determinism.

A research carried out by the author showed that students` exposure to technologies

before joining the university had no impact on their skills in a given field. Staff at the university

that dealt with spreadsheets, claimed that even though students had familiarity with various Web-

based services and common computer programs, they lacked certain crucial skills relating to

spreadsheets. It greatly contrasted with Net Generation and Digital Natives argument on the

relationship between long exposure to technologies and skills (Jones & Healing 2010). Net

Generation and Digital Natives argument claim that long-time exposure to technologies of

students before joining university increases their skills, ensuring that they do not have a hard

time adapting to some of the course's requirements. Most of the students did not have skills
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relating to some courses. Most of these skills, like the use of spreadsheets, were developed

through training. The staff also reported that the larger percentage of students joining university

do not have the natural capacity to use the required software.

Agency and net generation debate is an argument that helps in understanding how social

reality impacts the relationship between students and networked technologies. The notion on net

generation claims that due to students' exposure to digital and networked technologies, there has

been a radical diversity between them and the preceding generation. In this notion, technology is

viewed as independent and structural factor acting on social norms but not conditioned by them.

On the other hand, the notion of agency regards students as active agents in the process of

involvement in technology. The notion of agency has been contrasting with the structural

technological in the social sciences whereby structure describes elements that constraint actions

of human agents (Jones & Healing 2010). Agency is usually emergent and it is impossible to

reduce it in to structure. Agency and net generation debate will enable one to understand the

relationship between agency and structure. Understanding this will help in comprehending the

way social reality impacts the students` usage of networked technologies.

There are numerous claims that Digital Natives lead to one-way determinism. Digital

Natives lead to one-way determinism forces higher learning intuitions and staff to embrace

changes. Every person in society is fixed in a generational position requiring even the older

people to become more similar to the new generation. Digital natives also results to loss of jobs

to so teachers who lack the required knowledge on specific technologies.

It is very crucial to discuss agency and net generation debate, the suggestions that Digital

Natives leads to one-way determinism and define whether technological advancement has any

effect on students` skills and confidence. A research carried out by the author suggested that
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students` exposure to technologies before joining university has little or no impact on their skills

in specific courses. Most of them do not have the natural capacity to use required software. On

the contrary, Net Generation and Digital Natives argument claims exposure of students before

university enables them to increase knowledge and skills on various courses.

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Reference

Jones, C., & Healing, G. (2010). Net generation students: agency and choice and the new

technologies. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(5), 344-356.

doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00370.x