Identifying the generation gap in higher education: Where do the differences really lie? Innovate, 3(5). Retrieved from http://www.innovateonline.info

Millennials, Electronic Natives, the Net Generation. Many names have been used to describe the new generation of college students, whom population experts have identified as being distinctly different from the previous generations in terms of their technological abilities, teamwork skills, and openness to participatory pedagogies (e.g., Howe and Strauss 2003; Lancaster and Stillman 2002). However, if there is general agreement that younger students do not have have the same attributes as their older counterparts, scholars and commentators still offer divergent assessments of this contrast. For example, Howe and Strauss's (2003) optimistic description of the new generation, based on theories and predictions rather than conclusive evidence, has drawn criticism as educators in colleges and universities have perceived this new wave of students quite differently. Meanwhile, Taylor (2006) offers a much less encouraging characterization of "the Generation NeXt student " (that is, a college student younger than 26 years old) as the "disengaged, entitled, student customer " (48). Such contrasting accounts suggest that even if younger students have greater levels of comfort or proficiency with new technologies, it is still debatable whether such traits necessarily entail more open, progressive, or positive perspectives of the educational process. Moreover, even in cases where quantitative research finds differences between generations, such differences do not always involve a greater tendency to embrace online learning on the part of younger students, nor do they necessarily outweigh the equally important commonalities between older and younger students. For example, Hartman, Moskal, an