Digital natives, better learners? Students' beliefs about how the Internet influenced their ability to learn

In the literature students are sometimes assumed to feel empowered with respect to learning because of their familiarity with and access to ICT. However, after interviewing 25 students from post-elementary schools, it was found that the majority of the students, although they use the Internet and other ICT for school purposes, believed that their generation is not as good at learning as the pre-ICT generation. Several students explained the situation in terms of the school’s failure to build on their abilities. Nonetheless, the majority believed that the Internet over-simplifies schoolwork (perceived primarily as the traditional processing of textual sources), which in turn diminishes learning abilities. These results carry important implications regarding school, given that low self-efficacy might make students less likely to apply themselves to learning. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.