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There are no digital natives, young people acquire their digital skills through informal learning

These are the results of a study conducted by Maria-Jose Masanet, Mar Guerrero Pico and María José Establés, researchers with the Department of Communication recently published on 14 July in the journal Learning, Media and Technology. This article is part of the Transmedia Literacy project, led by Carlos Alberto Scolari.

17.07.2019

Imatge inicial

Research conducted in different countries in Europe, Latin America and Australia, which in this case focuses on the specific results for Spain, has found that, contrary to the belief held to date of the concept of “digital native”, teenagers acquire their digital skills through informal learning in digital environments. This statement arises from the results of a study conducted by Maria José Masanet, María del Mar Guerrero Pico and María José Establés, researchers with the Department of Communication at UPF, recently published on 14 July in the journal Learning, Media and Technology. The research is part of the Transmedia Literacy project directed by Carlos Alberto Scolari, a UPF researcher and professor.

Teenagers have different transmedia skills. For example, some have better performance skills related with videogames and others in content management on the networks

The aim of the work by Masanet and collaborators was to identify adolescents’ transmedia skills and the informal learning strategies carried out to acquire them. The results show that adolescents have different transmedia skills such as, for example, better performance skills related with videogames or in content management on the networks. “But they have them to different degrees, i.e., there are teenagers who have many photo and video production skills, and others are skilled at managing people, for example”, comments Masanet.

YouTube is revealed as a key source of information and for acquiring these skills among Spanish adolescents

The acquisition of these skills is conditioned by the motivations, attitudes and context in which the young people find themselves. With regard to informal learning strategies, YouTube is revealed as a key source of information and for acquiring these skills among Spanish adolescents.

The myth of the digital native has now becomes one of digital learner

The conclusions of the study show that to acquire transmedia skills, young people rely mainly on strategies of learning by teaching. Based on these results, the myth of the digital native is deconstructed and now the concept of digital learner is being considered.

The authors identify the term digital learner in those adolescents born and raised in a media environment which has provided them with a digital space to learn about this same digital world, i.e., to acquire transmedia skills.

In this virtual space they can find answers to their doubts based on their media practices and uses. Digital learners follow traditional models of learning but do so in new spaces (mainly virtual) and with new players (friends, influencers, etc.). This learning is collaborative, complementary to school, but it does not become a substitute in any way.

Reference work:

Maria-Jose Masanet, Mar Guerrero Pico, María José Establés (2019 – first edition online), “From Digital Native to Digital Apprentice. A Case Study of the Transmedia Skills and Informal Learning Strategies of Adolescents in Spain”, Learning, Media and Technologyhttps://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2019.1641513

Maria-Jose Masanet is a postdoctoral researcher at Pompeu Fabra University.  Her research interests involve media literacy, adolescence and youth, TV series and gender. She was a visiting researcher at Loughborough University (2013) and at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (2015). Together with Joan Ferres, she co-edited the book La educación mediàtica a la Universidad Española.

Mar Guerrero Pico has worked as a research assistant at Pompeu Fabra University.  She has a PhD in Social Communication (UPF, 2016) and a master’s degree in Communication and Creative Industries (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 2010). Her research interests include transmedia storytelling, online fandom, narratology, television programmes, social media and education in the media.

María-José Establés has a bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Communication (UCM) and a master’s degree in Communication and Learning in the Digital Society (UAH). She is working on her doctoral thesis at Pompeu Fabra University.

This work is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness “2015 doctoral training grant programme”.

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