Marc Prensky is not alone in his concerns about how Digital Natives are being educated. Richard T. Sweeney has joined the growing chorus of educators who see this new generation of students as a breed apart.

Sweeney is a librarian at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He has been on the lecture circuit across America speaking about how Digital Natives "or 'the Millennials' will soon alter the way professors teach, the way classrooms are constructed and the way colleges deliver degrees"¹¹.

Sweeney began seeing changes in college students several years ago. Walking through campus he was seeing students who seemed to spend more time using "their laptops, pulling information off the Internet, [electing] to work in a group and skip[ping] class"¹² rather than attend regular lectures. This behaviour, Sweeney realized, reflected the students need to take charge of their own learning. More importantly it reflected the students expectations that they "be able to choose what kind of education they buy, and what, where, and how they learn".¹³

Scott Carlson in his article The Net Generation Goes to College interviewed students at Case Western Reserve University. What he found was that this new generation of student was only reflecting what they have been taught. Stephannie Miller, a student at Case Western, says that they have been made aware since early high school that the job market for them was going to be particularly challenging. As a result Digital Natives are using whatever means they can to stay on top of their studies.

Read Scott Carlson's article

The Net Generation
Goes to College