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... to early schooling success and overall development in this digital world. But does such an information technology-savvy generation actually exist? Owen (2004a, 2004b), Director of Learning at the United Kingdom’s (UK) Nesta Futurelab, has shown that the majority of children in advanced economies spend less than 30 min a day on the computer. Additionally, the main demographic for computer game playing is 20–35 year-olds, and in the United States, the highest usage of the Internet at home is among 35–44 yearolds (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 2000). More recently, Margaryan and Littlejohn (2008) reported that current university students (i.e., those in the Net Generation) use a limited range of technologies for learning and socialization. They state: For learning, mainly established ICTs are used – institutional VLEs [Virtual Learning Environment], Google and Wikipedia, and mobile phones. . .the findings point to a low level of use of and familiarity with collaborative knowledge creation tools, virtual worlds, personal web publishing, and other emergent social technologies (p. 1). A number of recent research studies (Bullen, Morgan, Belfer, & Qayyum, 2008; Ebner, Schiefner, & Nagler,...

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...ologies is almost universal. Very high proportions of students have access to their own mobile phone and sole access to either a laptop or desktop computer (Oliver & Goerke 2007; Kennedy et al. 2009; =-=Margaryan & Littlejohn 2009-=-; Maton & Bennett 2010). The same studies show that 322 S. Bennett & K. Maton © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd access to other technologies is more mixed or, in the case of personal digital assistants ...

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...al networking sites (like Facebook) whilesstudying and lower grades, Kirschner andsKarpinski [12] suggest that blurring this separationsmight even be detrimental to learning. Margaryansand Littlejohn =-=[13]-=- lean on their findings on theslow level of use of and familiarity withscollaborative knowledge creation tools, virtualsworlds, personal Web publishing, and othersemergent social technologies, to cast...

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...rking sites...the findings point to a low level of use of andsfamiliarity with collaborative knowledge creation tools, virtual worlds,spersonal web publishing, and other emergent social technologiess(=-=Margaryan & Littlejohn, 2008-=-, p. ??).s415 A recent study (Joint Information Systems Committee [JISC], 2007) notes that,swhile use of internet technology, particularly for social networking, is almostsubiquitous among 16-18 year ...

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...equent rewards; •sprefer games to ‘serious’ work. •sA very large debate issued from Prensky’s assumptions: it was doubtedswhether there is any adequate evidence for claims made about digital nativess(=-=Margaryan & Littlejohn, 2008-=-; Jones et al., 2010) and their implications forseducation. Bennett, Maton & Kervin (2008), for example, drew on the fieldssof education and sociology to analyse the digital natives debate. Their crit...

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...ssocial networking sites (like Facebook) whilesstudying and lower grades, Kirschner andsKarpinski [35] suggest that blurring this separationsmight be detrimental to learning. Margaryan andsLittlejohn =-=[36]-=- lean on their findings on the lowslevel of use of and familiarity with collaborativesknowledge creation tools, virtual worlds, personalsWeb publishing, and other emergent socialstechnologies, to cast...

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...dents at Newman make widespread use of social networking sites, and to a lesser extent media sharing tools, there is little familiarity [And indeed ease) with collaborative knowledge creation tools. This may be problematic when placed against our avowed intention to encourage students to ‘negotiate’ meaning through argumentation and the developing of a consensus. As Selwyn (2009) illustrates, much of the empirical evidence has shown that young peoples’ use of technology is much more complex than the simplified assumptions of the Digital Native commentary would suggest. Indeed, studies such as Margaryan and Littlejohn (2008), and Bennett and Maton (2010), to some extent echo our own findings. In the first instance, we have certainly identified the need for careful consideration of the assumptions we make on student ability and levels of nativeness, and even on the choice of tools used to support their learning. We are also beginning to identify an inherent contradiction. It can be seen that there is a real danger that we as educators are actually influencing our students’ online behaviour, as it seems that we ourselves are introducing the students to tools that we pre-suppose they are already using. Yet, whilst l...

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...ents, whom Prensky [3], Oblinger and Oblinger [5] refer to as “Digital Natives, “Games Generation” and “Millenials”, deems it logical to expect that in order to enhance future learning, students will be encouraged to utilise game-like 3D virtual worlds, or VLEs like Second Life, Active Worlds and others to accommodate for new cognitive style changes. These play an essential role in shaping future e-learning since “Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach” [3]. This pedagogical immigration is considered beneficial even by researchers like Margaryan [4] who argues that students are not using technology effectively to support learning, but rather primarily for recreation. There is an emergent research theme emphasising on the importance of using such technologies primarily as supporting mechanisms for the delivery of e-learning. This paper analyses previous literature and existing case studies, using grounded theory conceptions, to derive and compare three disadvantageous themes with thirteen major advantageous themes and their sub concepts for using 3D VLEs to deliver education, each theme beneficial in three approaches: • Proving that 3D VL...