Background: Digital texts are progressively becoming the medium of learning for students, but research has indicated that students tend to process information more superficially while reading on screen. It is therefore relevant to examine what strategies can support digital text comprehension. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the…

Background: During digital reading on internet-connected devices, students may be exposed to a variety of on-screen distractions. Learning by reading can therefore become a fragmented experience with potentially negative consequences for reading processes and outcomes. Objectives: This study investigated the effects of on-screen distractions, as…

In this work, Web 2.0 technologies in higher education are evaluated using students' perceptions, satisfaction, performance and behaviour. The study evaluates the Web 2.0 tools as stand-alone entities as well in terms of their cross-operability and integration (confluence) to synergistic contributions towards the enhancement of student…

Based on research investigating English first-year university students, this paper examined the case made for a new generation of young learners often described as the Net Generation or Digital Natives in terms of agency and choice. Generational arguments set out a case that links young people's attitudes and orientations to their lifelong…

Previously assumed to be a homogenous and highly skilled group with respect to information and communications technology, the so-called Net Generation has instead been shown to possess a diverse range of technology skills and preferences. To better understand this diversity, we subjected data from 2096 students aged between 17 and 26 from three…

Facebook and other social media have been hailed as delivering the promise of new, socially engaged educational experiences for students in undergraduate, self-directed, and other educational sectors. A theoretical and historical analysis of these media in the light of earlier media transformations, however, helps to situate and qualify this…

This paper interrogates the currently pervasive discourse of the "net generation" finding the concept of the "digital native" especially problematic, both empirically and conceptually. We draw on a research project of South African higher education students' access to and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)…

This paper presents some of the findings from a recent project that conducted a virtual ethnographic study of three formal courses in higher education that use "Web 2.0" or social technologies for learning and teaching. It describes the pedagogies adopted within these courses, and goes on to explore some key themes emerging from the research and…