Abstract:

The concept of a radical new generation with completely new approaches to information and knowledge has found a considerable number of supporters and high resonance among the education community. Terms like “Digital Native”, “Millennials”, “ME-Generation”, “Generation Y” among others are frequently used and its implications taken for grant.

The author postulates that although there have been changes on the approach, meaning and intensity of the use of technology by higher education entry level youth the necessary cognitive processes to learn and develop intellectually still remain the same: apprehension, conceptualization, reflection and even at the risk not sounding “modern” – memorization.
Educators have, of course, to adapt to the characteristics of their students but the first step in order to succeed in the scholastic profession is to understand the motives, drivers and aspirations of learners more than to clutch uncritically the idea of new learning styles and cognitive processes. According to this idea this work aims to offer a glance at how technology may have shifted motivation and priorities of the so called digital generation.

Keywords:

Digital natives, learning styles, cognitive processes, motivation.