Gen Y Labs

Gen Y, Social Networking and Education

A recent article by Blair Makin published in the Financial Post reinforces the importance of social networking and connectivity to Gen Yers in all aspects of life.  According to the article, students at Ryerson University in Toronto got busted for running an online chemistry study group on Facebook.  Yes, they were studying, asking questions about homework.  We're talking about 140 students, all willingly trying to figure out chemistry.

According to the article:

Academic integrity was at stake,  [the administration] said, and any threat to it -- even in the form of online tools -- is a risk that must be addressed and rightfully preserved.

At the Digital Youth forum mentioned in yesterday's post, a question came up about education and how we can engage digital youth in learning through social media.  Educators, take note:  these kids were doing exactly what forum members hoped for.  They were using their digital know-how to exchange information, build a solid knowledge base, and help other students as well.  These university students used their noggins to solve problems with information and ideas exchange.  Isn't that what we want?

I doubt Facebook will be in the university's exam room.  But it will certainly be in the workplace for Gen Yers.  They will know how to source information, collaborate on ideas, and build and disseminate knowledge quickly and efficiently.  This generation's use of social networking tools fuels innovation and new thinking, rather than limiting their thoughts to outlines from textbooks. 

If our education system is going to stay relevant, educators will need to embrace new social networking tools as knowledge builders, not threats.  The world of information exchange is running at hyperspeed.  That we would want to handicap our youth -- and our future -- by restricting access to data, ideas and collaborative exchange is inconceivable.  Blair Makin states:

...It's not about giving up control, nor about compromising intellectual property or security. Rather, collaboration for Gen-Yers means enabling people to reach each other instantly and share information in the most suitable way. It overcomes the challenges of mobile workforces and eliminates geographic boundaries.

Connectivity is the new gold standard, especially for learning and innovation.  Let's embrace it, across all generations.

Digital kids as Adults - What will that look like?

WHO WILL DIGITAL KIDS BE WHEN THEY GROW UP?  This was one of the questions at yesterday's public forum on Digital Youth, sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation and CommonSense Media, in association with Stanford University's School of Education. 

Let's start with who they are now and what their relationships look like.  danah boyd mentioned that kids crave social connection and value that above almost all.  They have "friends" through social networks even though "friends" aren't always friends. But they're likely friends of friends, or friends of friends' friends. Or interesting contacts.  The term refers to two conceptually different groups of relationships:  (1) Gen Y's social peers and related contacts maintained through social networking (she used the term "peer public")and (2) a potentially multi-generational kaleidoscope of interest-specific peers for interest-driven social networking.  Both provide social connectedness for youth.

The fascinating thing about Gen Y is that they participate in lots of social networks, and the breadth of participation expands as they grow older.  The make-up of each peer-public/community/group depends upon the specific connection at hand:  are they friends from school or town or church who use social networks to stay in touch; makers, creating robotics; young entrepreneurs sharing or selling online tools; anime specialists who translate and dub Japanese anime movies; or graduating high school seniors who are entering UCLA in Fall 2008? 

These kids have vastly broader worlds than their parents had at the same age.  This divide will become even more striking over time.  Their exposure to different people with unique skills and interests coming from different places around the world is awesome.  They have many subsets of "friends", some who participate in several "publics" and others who are community-specific.  Their lives are complex networks of relationships which shift and adapt according to their interests and needs.

As they grow older, their facility with networking will only increase, making a global world feel smaller and more accessible.  In fact, there is increasing evidence that Gen Yers are the first true globalists:  they think of the world as a whole rather than separated by geographic and political boundaries.  Their concerns over environmental, economic and social problems reflect this.  They see global issues as clearly as local ones.  Their sense of proximity is unique as well:  Playing Xbox with someone living in Australia or South Africa is no different than playing with someone in two doors down the street.  The Internet makes them locationally indifferent.  The interest lies in content, style, opinions, and relationships, not in where things or people are.

Digital kids talk a lot about bringing change to the world both now and as they transition into adulthood. They have global networks and rich, boundless information at their fingertips, ready to be put to use. They will want to effect change over and over again.  They're not looking for one accomplishment, but a sense of ongoing effectiveness and serial contributions to their world.  They want a marker in the roadway saying that their life means something...that they make a difference. 

Gen Y is still too young for us to have solid evidence of what happens if their goals aren't met.  Reports vary on the resiliency of this group.  Their future success clearly hinges on their sense of efficacy to effect change through the networks they create. Many researchers posit that Gen Yers are stronger risk-takers than any generation before and bounce back well from failure.  Others believe that they've grown up in a world of inflated self-esteem, where "I'm good" is an empty mantra, not a result of proving oneself.  Obviously, the outlook for Digital Youth adulthood varies, depending upon which camp you believe.  I've seen a lot of evidence for the former.  For their sake, I hope it holds true.