What is the Net Generation? The challenge for future medical education

Abstract

The Net Generation is the cohort of young people born between 1982 and 1991 who have grown up in an environment in which they are constantly exposed to computer-based technology. It has been suggested that their methods of learning are different from those of previous generations. In a survey of first-year undergraduate students, we found that a large majority started university with experience of using online systems such as blogs and wikis; furthermore, their attitudes to the possible use of such tools in learning were positive. The Net Generation is a challenge to the way that all universities and medical schools provide teaching and learning. We suggest that all educators of this group of students need to be aware of incoming students’ skills and experience and do more to promote their use in the undergraduate curriculum.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Sandars

JOHN SANDARS, MB ChB (Hons) MSc FRCGP MRCP CertEd, is Senior Lecturer in Community Based Medicine at the Medical Education Unit in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds.

Catriona Morrison

CATRIONA MORRISON, MA (Hons) DPhil CPsychol, is Senior Lecturer in Experimental Psychology in the Institute of Psychological Sciences at the University of Leeds. Both John and Catriona have major interests in e-learning, especially the use of new technology by undergraduate students.