翻译《05 学生的观点》

The Student's Perspective

学生的观点

Carie Windham

卡瑞·温德姆

North Carolina State University

北卡罗莱纳州立大学

© Carie Windham

版权所有(C)卡瑞·温德姆

Introduction

前言

We sat across from one another, he in his cracked leather desk chair and me in a wooden chair taken from the hallway. He leaned back, arms crossed, eyes peering over wire-framed glasses. I strummed my fingers nervously on the chipped wood of the chair's arm.

我俩面对面坐着，他坐在他那把破烂的皮制办公椅上，我坐在从走廊搬来的木头椅子上。他往后靠着，抱着手臂，隔着金边眼镜看着我。我的手指在椅子扶手上紧张的乱弹着。

"I e-mailed you the proposal last week," I said. "I don't understand why the topic change came as a surprise."

我说：“我上周就用电子邮件把计划寄给你了。为什么改变课题没有通知我？”

"I didn't get it," he said simply.

“我没有收到。”他简单明了。

"I sent it a week ago. Maybe it came back; I don't know."

“我一周前就寄了。也许退回来了，我不清楚。”

"I'll be honest; I don't check my e-mail."

“我没有骗你，我没有检查电子邮件。”

I paused. "Ever?" I asked.

我雷到了。“从不？”

"Ever. Can't stand it."

“从不。不会用。”

"Right. Should I have called?"

“好吧。那我以后打电话？”

"I don't check voicemail either."

“我也从不检查留言。”

My brow furrowed as I contemplated my next move.

我眉头深锁，我手足无措。

"So how exactly do you stay in touch with your students between classes?" I asked.

我问：“那你怎么确保和各班学生保持联系？”

"Well, I expect that they'll hunt me down on campus if they need anything."

“哦，我想他们如果想找我，一定会在学校找到我的。”

I sank back in the chair and stared at his desk, scattered with haphazard Post-Its and torn notebook paper. A cassette-tape answering machine gathered dust in the corner. An overstuffed planner bulged near my seat. I thought of my own desk at home-neat, sterile, a laptop and a Palm Pilot.

我倒在椅子上，盯着他的办公桌，散着凌乱的记事贴、撕下来的作业纸。角落里的卡座答录机上满是灰尘。在我座位旁边是一本油唧唧的胀起来的备忘本。我想念我家里的书桌——整洁、干净、有一台笔电、一台掌上机。

"So you're serious? No e-mail and no voicemail? Do you even use the Web?"

“你当真？不用电子邮箱，不用语音信箱，甚至不用网络？”

He just smiled.

他微微一笑。

Though we sat just four feet away from one another, the distance suddenly felt light years apart. I would find out, in subsequent conversations, that my professor-a relic of the Greatest Generation-did, indeed, surf the Web when it was necessary. But he preferred the newspaper over CNN.com, the weatherman over WeatherBug, and face-to-face visits over e-mail exchanges. He dusted off journals from the 1980s and flipped through their pages, and, if you asked him, he actually knew how to load one of those microfiche machines on the second floor of the university library. He represented, for me, a world I could scarcely remember-a world before driving directions on MapQuest, book buying on Amazon.com, and making plans on Instant Messenger–a world when tasks were managed one by one instead of all at once on multiple Web browser windows.

尽管我们的座位只有一米多远，但我突然觉得我俩相距数光年之遥。在随后的谈话中，我认识到，我的教授——最伟大一代的遗迹——实在是，有必要上上网。但他喜欢报纸甚于CNN.com ，喜欢气象员甚于WeatherBug，喜欢面谈甚于邮件交流。他珍藏有八十年代的报纸，还常翻阅。并且，如果你问他，他实际上知道如何使用图书馆二楼的微缩胶片机。他向我描绘了一个我几乎想不起来的世界——没有MapQuest查找驾车路线的世界，没有Amazon.com 可以买书的世界，不能制定计划、不能实时聊天——只能一项一项管理任务，而不是在多页浏览器上一次处理全部，这样一个世界。

I am a member of the Net Generation. I've surfed the Web since the age of 11, and it has increasingly taken over every facet of my personal and academic existence. I can barely recall making plans before the advent of IM and have rarely attended a campus meeting without setting it up over e-mail first. I get my news, my weather, my directions–even my clothes–from the Web. And, as my peers and I continue to flood the gates of the nation's colleges and universities, I am a puzzle to many of the faculty and administrators who will try to teach me. They will either try too hard to transform education into the virtual language I understand or too little to accommodate for the differences between us. Just as with past generations, however, all that is required is a basic understanding of what being a Net Gener really means and how it translates to the classroom.

我是一名网络世代。我从十一岁起就开始上网，网络日渐接管我现实生活和学术的方方面面。我几乎不能在收到IM之前就制定计划，也不能没有收到通知邮件就出席学校会议。我获取新闻、天气预报、位置方位，甚至我的衣物，全都来自网络。并且，正如我和我的同辈将继续涌入这个国家的各所高校，对于即将教我们的许多教师和管理人员而言，我们是个谜。他们要么很难将传统教育转变成我们能理解的虚拟语言，要么很难适应于我们之间的差别。然而，正如过去的几代人，这一切需要的就是最基本的了解，了解什么才是真正的网络世代，并如何将这种理解应用到课堂。

Meet Generation Y Not

不是千禧一代

It's easy to call myself a Net Gener–to talk about the pains of growing old in the Net Generation, to trade glib remarks with my peers about those fossils who grew up tied to their landline existence. Defining what all of it means, however, is another story.

要称自己为网络世代很容易——谈论网络世代生长的艰辛，用油腔滑调的言语和我的朋友们谈论那些被捆绑在土地上的守旧之人。然而，要给出网络世代的完整定义，又是另外一回事。

As a future historian, I've learned that everything in time must, eventually, fit neatly into a series of ages, categories, or generations: the Baby Boomers, the Bronze Age, the Silent Generation, the Renaissance. So, naturally, countless hours of history lecture were dedicated–in my head–to the role that my generation would play in future history texts. Would students in 2105 find us materialistic? Self-absorbed? Would we be defined by September 11 or the War on Terrorism? Quite frankly, I didn't know.

作为将来的历史学家，我必须如期学会所有东西，最终能够融入一系列时代、类别、世代：婴儿潮世代、青铜时代、沉默的一代、文艺复兴时期。所以，很自然的，无数小时的历史课程——在我头脑中——都让我们这一代人用来摆弄未来的历史课本了。2105年的学生会知道我们是唯物主义者么？自我主义者？9/11、反恐战争如何影响我们？坦率地说，我不知道。

Luckily, where my history musings fell short, the social sciences dedicated countless hours and volumes to dissection. And fortunately, the prognosis was good. Though the youngest among our ranks are barely teenagers and the oldest have just entered the workforce, it seems posterity will forever remember the Net Generation as the Next Greatest Generation. Or, if we fail to measure up, the Generation That Could Have Been the Next Greatest.

幸运的是，虽然我对历史考虑的不多，但是在社会科学上花费了很多时间，看了很多书，以求理解。很幸运，判断是对的。虽然我们这一代人最小的还不到十岁，最年长的刚进入社会，但后人似乎永远都会记住，网络世代会是新的最伟大一代。或者，即使我们达不到标准，我们也曾经可能是新的最伟大一代。

According to Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors of Millennials Rising: The Next Greatest Generation,¹ my friends and I are nothing like our immediate predecessors in Generation X. We are academically driven, family oriented, and racially and ethnically diverse. We are committed to telling the truth and traditional values, yet we refuse to accept our elders' speeches or sermons at face value. We are not politically active, but community centered. We truly believe we have the tools and the desire to solve the lingering problems that our parents' generation has left behind.

据《千禧崛起》的作者，尼尔·豪和威廉·斯特劳斯表示：新的最伟大一代，我和我的朋友们，完全比不上我们上一代人，里根世代。我们受到学术驱动、面向家庭、多种族多民族。我们承诺保持真理和传统价值观，但我们也拒绝接受老一辈“不要轻易相信人”的话语和说教。我们不积极参与政治，但我们关心社区。我们真心相信我们拥有解决上一代遗留下来的问题的工具和愿望。

In my own experience, both as a Net Gener and as a student leader and journalist at North Carolina State University, Howe and Strauss and their colleagues are not entirely off base. But the generalities require greater exploration, especially in the role they will play for college faculty and administrators in determining how best to reach the next generation of learners.

我既是网络世代又是学生领袖，同时担任北卡州立大学记者，以我自己的经验来看，豪和施特劳斯及其同事的结论不算太离谱。其结论需要更多探究，尤其是对高校教师和管理人员，在决定如何更好的理解下一代学习者方面，所扮演的角色。

Driven to Succeed

被迫成功

Net Geners, for the most part, are not just driven by the notion of achievement–they are consumed by it. Drilled by guidance counselors, parents, and teachers about the importance of attending college in determining our own self-worth and success potential, the race for the top began for some of us in middle school. We quickly learned that a 4.0 grade point average is no longer sufficient to get a foot in the door of a good school and that every applicant would be able to claim honor roll as an achievement. To distinguish ourselves, therefore, we load our schedules with honors, advanced placement, and international baccalaureate coursework. We take classes from community colleges. A portion of us even enter college with sophomore standing.

网络世代，在大多数情况下，不只是受到成功意愿的驱动——他们受到成功意愿的支配。经过指导顾问、家长和老师的反复灌输，读大学对于实现自身价值和成功潜力有多重要，我们当中有些人从初中就开始这项登顶比赛。我们很快就明白，GPA全部拿优秀不再保证我们有机会进入优秀大学，所有申请人都会把登上光荣榜当作成功。因此，为了脱颖而出，我们追求荣誉、尽力跳级、学习国际文凭课程。我们去社区大学上课。有些人进入高校的时候已经是大二学生了。

And achievement is no longer limited to the classroom. College-bound students learn early that extracurricular activities, leadership development, athletics, and community service are not only to be enjoyed but exploited. In a world where high school transcripts increasingly look more uniform in their perfection, a role as president of SADD–Students Against Destructive Decisions–might be enough to tip the scales in your favor. And you know it.

成功不再局限于课堂。想上大学的学生，早就学到，课外活动、领导力开发、体育运动、社区服务，不仅要享受，更要利用。在高中成绩单越来越完美的世界里，一个“学生反对有害裁决倡议”主持人的身份，足以扭转局势对你有利。你知道的。

Even at the university level, we feel pressure that our degree simply will not be enough. We've watched the economy falter and jobs disappear. We sat through the dot-com bust (feeling fortunate we were still in college, at least) and heard analysts share horror stories about students with four-year degrees and nowhere to go. Those fears have driven Net Geners outside the normal confines of the classroom and made them desperate to add both value and experience to their degrees. Internships are taken during the summer, co-ops throughout the year. Clubs are joined and community service embraced. It is enough, by junior year, to leave us wondering at what point all the preparation for life ends and enjoyment actually begins.

甚至到了大学，我们感受到学位不够用的压力。我们看到经济衰退、就业机会减少。我们捱过网络泡沫的破灭（至少，可以庆幸我们还在读书），听过分析师有关四年大学毕业即失业的恐怖故事。这些恐惧迫使网络世代走出教室，迫使他们急于为自己学位增加价值和经验。暑假去实习，全年参与勤工俭学。俱乐部和社区服务更是少不了。对于大三学生，让我们为一辈子的事情和即将开始的享受做好准备，这足以让我们不知所措。

For college administrators and faculty, it means that each class of incoming freshmen will be more stressed than the last. The average college-aged Net Geners sitting in the back of the classroom will have more than the weight of a 15-hour course load on their shoulders. Instead, most will be juggling a position or role in a campus organization, a part-time internship, an independent research project, and applications for summer jobs and graduate school. They will be masters of multitasking and–by the time they graduate–will leave with a suitcase of experience and an ulcer lying in wait.

对于高校管理人员和教师，这意味着每个新入学的班级比上一届压力更大。大学网络世代一般都坐在教室后排，每天承受着超过十五个小时的课程压力。相反，大多数都会在某个学校组织混一个位置或角色，找一份兼职实习，独立研究项目、申请暑期工作、准备读研。他们会成为多任务高手，到他们毕业的时候，带走的是一皮包的经验和即将发作的胃溃疡。

Driven by Compassion

同情心驱使

Our capacity for community service and engagement is not entirely tied to our desire to succeed, however. From a very early age, my peers and I have been exposed to opportunities for service and examples of servant leaders in the community and in history. Community service is not just an opportunity to the Net Generation, it is a responsibility.

我们用在社区服务和职业的能力，与我们期望的成功不完全挂钩。很小的时候，我们就已经在接触在历史上、在社区中行使服务，充当仆人式的领导人模范的机会。对于网络世代，社区服务不仅仅是机会，更是责任。

The average American high school encourages community service through service clubs, service awards, service requirements, or service-learning courses. Religious groups and national humanitarian organizations, bolstered by the falling prices of international travel, are taking youth on more trips around the world to teach the importance of a "global citizen" and a dedication to worldwide service. The nation and the media consistently praise and hold up examples of youth in service. It has become increasingly "cool" to give back.

一般美国高中鼓励社区服务，通过服务俱乐部、服务奖励、服务要求、服务研习课程等方式进行服务。宗教团体和全国人道主义组织，在国际旅行费用下跌的带动下，带领年轻人环绕世界旅行，以培养“全球公民”意识，致力于服务全球。国家和媒体一致赞誉并推举青年服务模范。在青年人当中，这已经变得越来越“酷”了。

Beyond high school, colleges and universities have increasingly become community centers for civic responsibility and community giving. Beyond a host of service organizations, most universities have departments on campus to coordinate service projects, plan service trips for extended university breaks, and support service organizations. Other student bodies, like that at NC State, coordinate mass days of service that often draw thousands of volunteers to work with service groups around the community.

不管是高中，高校也越发成为市民责任和社区供应的社区中心。除了成立诸多服务机构外，大多数高校各系部也在协调各服务项目，为大学长假安排服务旅行，支持各服务机构。和北卡罗莱纳州立大学其他学生团体一样，协调弥撒日的服务，因为常有上千志愿者和服务团体在社区活动。

This acceptance of and emphasis on social responsibility has also changed the way the Net Generation looks at careers. Priority within our ranks is placed less on monetary value and fame than happiness and "doing something good." We join programs like the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and Teach for America in record numbers and repeatedly express an interest in a career that will–somehow–impact the future and other people.

这种对社会责任的接受和重视，也改变了网络世代对职业生涯的认识方式。在我们决定优先级的时候，更多考虑的不是货币价值和名誉，而是快乐和“做好一件事”。我们参与和平队、美国志愿队等组织，是“为美国教书”项目在册成员，一再表示有兴趣，在职业生涯中以某种方式影响未来和他人。

Driven by Hope

希望驱使

It is true, as Howe and Strauss indicated, that the Net Generation is an overly optimistic generation. We have not seen the corruption of power or felt the fear of the Cold War. Instead, we've watched technology solve problems and alleviate the rigors and stresses of our everyday lives. Just as society often views technology as a vessel for progress, we see ourselves as the future navigators. There is an unspoken sentiment within our ranks that the problems of the world have largely been deposited at our feet. With the hole in the ozone layer growing, peace shattering, and disease raging, many of us feel that older generations have simply stepped aside to make room for our ingenuity and creativity. And, largely, we feel that we are up to that challenge. In our eyes, our technological savvy makes us smarter, easily adaptable, and more likely to employ technology to solve the problems of past and present generations.

豪和施特劳斯指出的都是事实，网络世代是过于乐观的一代。我们没有看到权力的腐败，没有感受到冷战的恐惧。相反，我们看到技术解决问题，减轻我们日常生活中的残酷与压力。正如社会常把技术看作进步的容器，我们把我们自己视为未来的领跑者。我们有一种心照不宣的感受，世界上各种问题都将被我们踩在脚下。随着臭氧层的扩大，和平破碎，疾病肆虐，我们多数人觉得老一辈该靠边站，给我们的聪明才智和创造力腾出空间。而且，我们感到，在很大程度上，我们能迎接这一挑战。在我们眼里，我们的技术头脑，使我们更聪明，更容易适应，而且更有可能采用技术来解决过去几代人遗留下来的问题。

Father Google and Mother IM

搜索为父聊天为母

Perhaps the greatest indicator of the Net Generation, however, has less to do with our habits and values than our namesake: the Internet. I met the Internet for the first time from my second-row seat in Mrs. Kingsley's fourth grade class. We sat transfixed as a golden highway unfurled across the TV screen in a 30-minute film about the future of society. Soon, a voice promised, we would be able to talk to children across the world, access medical advice from our home computers, and search libraries across the country. The possibilities would be endless, the vaults of knowledge limitless.

然而，网络世代最明显的标记物，可能不是我们的习惯和价值观，而是我们的双生兄弟：互联网。我第一次接触互联网是在金斯利夫人的四年级课堂，当时我坐在第二排座位。电视屏幕上放了三十分钟的有关未来社会的影片，我们完全被其中展现的信息高速公路震撼了。很快，有声音承诺，我们能够与世界各地的儿童交谈，从自己家里访问远程医疗设备，搜索全国各地的图书馆。可能性无穷无尽，知识却是有限的。

After class, two friends and I stood in awe at the single PC in the back of the classroom. From that little box, we thought, we would soon access the world.

课后，我和两个朋友敬畏的站在教室后面惟一一台计算机前面。我们想，通过这个小盒子，我们很快就能接触到整个世界。

One friend picked up a yellow cable from the back. "Do you think this is it? Do you think this is the highway?"

一个哥们从计算机背后拿起一条黄色电缆，问：“是这个么？你觉得信息高速公路是这个么？”

I rolled my eyes. "They said the highway isn't complete yet. It's like cable–you probably have to wait until they dig the highway in your neighborhood," I remarked.

我转动眼珠，说道：“他们说信息高速公路还没完成。它就像电缆，你可能得等到他们在你邻居家也挖条高速公路才能用。”

It took years before I realized that the approaching Information Superhighway was nothing more than an interconnected system of networks. It would take many more before I realized the way the Internet had permeated almost every facet of my life.

过了好些年我才真正明白，即将到来的信息高速公路，只不过是相互联接的网络系统罢了。用了很多年，我才意识到互联网已经充满了生活的方方面面。

Technological Masters

技术为王

Growing up alongside the wheels of Web-based progress has instilled a feeling within the Net Generation that technological understanding is a necessity for current life and future existence. We cannot succeed in this world, we reason, without an understanding and command of technological advances. This feeling is reinforced by the emphasis on computer literacy in public school curriculums and the nagging feeling that few jobs in the future will not rely on some form of computer technology.

伴随网页技术的进步一同长大，给网络世代灌输这样一种认知，掌握技术，对于当今生活和未来的生存，是必不可少的。如果不能理解并控制技术的发展，我们就不能在这个世界上，取得成功。这种认知，受到公立学校课程里的计算机素养的强化，也受到未来没有什么工作不依赖某种形式的计算机技术这种唠叨的强化。

To keep pace, Net Geners have become some of the most technologically adept members of society. Our cell phones often serve as Web browsers, digital phones, and game consoles. We keep our schedules and addresses in Palm Pilots and our music in MP3 players. We program our televisions to record movies while we watch a game on another channel. We strive to stay ahead of the technology curve in ways that often exhaust older generations.

为了跟上步伐，网络世代成为了社会上技术最熟练的人群。我们的手机也充当网页浏览器、数码手机、游戏终端。我们把日程安排和通讯录存放在Palm Pilot 里面，把音乐放在MP3 播放器里。我们在看其他频道的比赛的时候，安排电视录下另一频道的电影。我们努力保持技术领先，让老一辈追赶不及。

This drive to keep pace with current trends is not fueled by society's ability to educate and teach these technologies. Instead, we are a generation of learners by exploration. My first Web site, for example, was constructed before I had any concept of HTML or Java. I simply experimented with the commands until the pieces fit together. I have installed every addition to my computer myself, often with just my instinct and eyesight to guide me. Likewise, many of my peers rarely pick up the instruction pack to learn programming or a technique. Instead, spurred by our youthful exploration of the Internet, we tend to learn things ourselves, to experiment with new technology until we get it right, and to build by touch rather than tutorial.

促使我们紧跟时代潮流的，不是社会的教育水平，社会没有教会我们这些技术。相反，我们是探究学习的一代。比如说，我建立第一个网站的时候，完全没有任何HTML 或者Java 的概念。我只是不断尝试这些命令，最终拼凑起来。我计算机上所有零配件都是我自己加上去的，基本上都是靠直觉和眼光引导着去做的。同样，我的许多伙伴，很少通过翻看说明书来学习编程或其他技术。相反，通过我们对互联网的积极探索，我们总是自己学习新东西，体验新技术，直至掌握，通过接触而非指导来建构知识。

Filling the Attention Deficit: Reaching the Net Generation in a Traditional Classroom

弥补注意力缺失：了解传统教室里的网络世代

In middle school, my second-period health class took a break from memorizing the food groups to learn healthy study habits. Flipping idly past images of red-shirted, blue-panted stick figures seated upright in desk chairs in our text, we were told that the best way to study was to isolate ourselves from the television, the tape player, and the busy sidewalks outside the window. We were to clear a nice study corner with a comfy chair, good lighting, and ample work space.

在中学，健康课的第二阶段，在掌握健康学习习惯的时候，需要记住食物分类，我休息了一下。随手翻过花花绿绿的图表，笔直地坐在课桌前，我们被告知，最好的学习方法就是远离电视机、收录机，关上窗户、远离喧嚣。我们要隔离出一个角落，放一把舒适的椅子，加上良好的照明，充足的工作空间，才好学习。

If Harcourt Brace were to evaluate my college study space, it would–no doubt–be the antithesis of healthy study habits pictured in one of their textbooks. There would be no clear desk, no silent cocoon, no harsh lighting. Instead, Law and Order reruns would be playing in the background. To my left, a trail of jumbled cords would stretch from my bedroom to a laptop on the couch cushion. My IM buddy list would be minimized on the screen, but noise alerts would be turned on to tell me when friends signed on or off the Internet. A collage of browser windows would remain open, one directed to CNN.com to read the day's news between chapters, another to my e-mail to know exactly when the next piece of mail arrived, and then another to Google, in case the text raised any questions. Somewhere in the middle would be me and a history textbook turned to page 149.

如果哈考特·布雷斯【按：出版公司】来评价我的大学学习环境，毫无疑问，是他们教科书上的健康学习习惯的反面典型。没有干净的桌面，没有安静的角落，没有刺眼的灯光，边上正在重播《法律与秩序》。在我左边，杂乱的电线从卧室一直牵到沙发垫子上的笔电。我的即时聊天朋友列表已经最小化，但是不断有声音提示我有人上下线。各种浏览器窗口还开着，一个开着CNN.com 方便看当天新闻；一个开着电子邮件，好及时知道有邮件到达，还有一个开着谷歌，以防有问题要查。中间某处可能是翻到第一百四十九页的历史课本。

My study space-which could be found in the average dorm room suite-is characteristic of my life. With information and accessibility lying effortless at my fingertips, I have grown accustomed to juggling multiple tasks at once, at lightning speed. In the average online conversation with a friend, for instance, I am likely to be talking to two others, shopping online at Barnes & Noble, laughing out loud at Friends reruns, and printing off notes from a chemistry lecture. It is only in the classroom, therefore, that my mind is trained on one subject. To keep it in place requires some flexibility and creativity on the part of the professor and an understanding of the basic principles that guide the Net Generation.

我的学习环境——这在学生宿舍随处可见——就是我的生活特点。信息尽在指尖，我早已习惯了同时最好几样事情，还特别快。举个例子，平时在网上和朋友聊天，我有可能和两三个人聊，同时在巴诺公司【按：美国最大的连锁书店巨头】网上买书，还因为重播的《老友记》开怀大笑，同时复印化学课的笔记。因此，我认为课堂只能改善一个主题。要固定下来，就需要教授表现出一点灵活一点创意，以及对引导网络世代的基本原则有所理解。

Interaction

互动

Though online communication is often seen as the opposite of personal and the antithesis of contact, for the Net Gen it is certainly not seen as such. Instead, the Internet has become a vehicle for interaction. It allows us the opportunity to communicate with friends, to participate in chat room discussions, and to stream video from around the world. In short, it allows interaction with a variety of people and material. In the classroom, we crave much of the same. An online society may increase the means of communication, but it does not diminish the human need for connection. Instead, many Net Geners often leave the computer screen craving actual conversation and interaction with their classmates. To capitalize on this need, faculty should encourage interaction both within and outside the classroom. Group work should be emphasized alongside required one-on-one meetings with professors. Students should be given the opportunity to interact with faculty and researchers outside the confines of the curriculum and to develop meaningful relationships with them.

虽然在线交流通常被视作不真实的、无接触的，但网络世代不这么认为。相反，互联网已经成为一种互动媒介。它可以让我们有机会联络朋友，参与聊天室讨论，观看世界各地的流视频。总之，让我们与形形色色的人和物发生互动。在教室，我们渴望也能这样。网络化社会可能会增加联络手段，但并不会减少人们对联系的需求。事实上，许多网络世代常常离开计算机屏幕，投入到现实中同学间的交谈和互动当中。为了充分利用这种需求，教师应该鼓励教室内外的互动。团队工作也应该强调与教授进行必要的一对一交谈。应该给学生与课堂之外的教师和研究者互动，与他们发展有意义的关系。

Exploration探究

Just as we want to learn about the Web by clicking our own path through cyberspace, we want to learn about our subjects through exploration. It is not enough for us to accept a professor's word. Instead, we want to be challenged to reach our own conclusions and find our own results. Lessons last longer, in our minds, if we understand the relevant steps to reach them. Therefore, a need to explore is implicit in our desire to learn. Rather than discussing bias, for instance, a journalism professor once asked my class to analyze several articles and discuss their diction. We arrived at the conclusion that the authors' bias was implicit in their work with little direction. We left class that day with both a sense of accomplishment and a deeper understanding of the journalistic themes the professor had hoped to explore.

正如我们在网络空间里，通过点击来了解网络，我们也通过探究来了解我们的课题。仅仅认同教授讲的，还不够。相反，我们想尝试得出自己的结论，找到自己的结果。在我印象中，如果我们理解掌握课程的相关步骤，课程会更长。因此，在我们对学习的渴望中隐藏着对探索的需求。比如，新闻学教授有一次要求班上分析一些文章，只是讨论其用词，而不是讨论偏见。我们得出的结论是，作者的偏见通过细小的导向，隐藏在文章中。那天我们跑题了，取得成功，深入理解了教授希望我们探究的新闻学主题。

Relevancy关联

In a world where technologies change daily and graduates armed with four-year degrees are entering the workforce in record numbers, there is an increasing fear among the Net Generation that a four-year degree will be neither relevant nor sufficient preparation when it becomes time to enter the work force. Consequently, students are consistently looking for practical applications of their studies in a real-world context. Establishing relevancy in the classroom is not as simple as it sounds. It does not equate to presenting a laundry list of future occupations or examples of a field in the news. Instead, more and more curricula are focusing on the notion of extension, or applying the lessons learned in the classroom to real-life problems, institutions, or organizations in the community. For the Net Generation, such curricula speak to two of its values: community service and interaction. Extension is an opportunity to help a community while learning the real-world application of taught material and acquiring relevant skills and experience. As a history major, for example, I spent a semester researching a cultural heritage site on the North Carolina coast. Beyond simply teaching documentary skills, the experience helped glue together the pieces of four years of courses to demonstrate how my degree would eventually translate into marketable skills.

在技术日新月异的世界里，创纪录的毕业生带着四年学位进入职场，网络世代越发担心在进入职场的时候，四年学位不是用不上就是不够用。因此，学生一直在真实环境中寻找应用所学的实际项目。在真实世界与教室之间建立联系，并不是说得那么简单。这并不是给出一份未来职业清单，或者给出新闻领域样板就可以的。相反，越来越多课程关注扩展，或者将课堂所学应用到真实生活中解决问题，服务社区机构、组织。对于网络世代，这种课程有两项价值：社区服务、互动。扩展是在学习教学材料在现实世界中的应用、掌握相关技能经验的同时，服务社区的机会。比如，作为历史专业学生，我用了一个学期研究北卡罗莱纳州海岸文化遗产名录。除了简单的教授纪录片相关技巧，还有帮助整合四年零散课程知识的经验，这表明了我的学位最终如何转化为市场需要的技能。

Multimedia

多媒体

Turn on the nightly news and it is clear that no medium is one-dimensional. Prose is supplemented by song. Photographs are accompanied by video. Issues are even turned into online polls and discussions. For the Net Gen, nearly every part of life is presented in multimedia format. Even my study space, as I detailed before, is a hodgepodge of digital, audio, and text information. To keep our attention in the classroom, therefore, a similar approach is needed. Faculty must toss aside the dying notion that a lecture and subsequent reading assignment are enough to teach the lesson. Instead, the Net Generation responds to a variety of media, such as television, audio, animation, and text. The use of a singular unit should be kept short and alternating, producing a class period as diverse in structure as it is in content. In my four years of courses, the best example of a multimedia classroom comes from a three-hour seminar I participated in on the Vietnam War. Though the prospect of spending three hours in the same cramped classroom was daunting, the professor employed a variety of media to keep our attention. Class began with a song from the period, and film clips were used throughout to illustrate key themes or replicate events. The lecture alternated discussion interspersed with photographs, tables, and graphics. As a result, most of us were more alert and interested in this class than in previous 90-minute classes, despite the considerably longer class time.

打开晚间新闻，可以看到没有什么媒体是一维的。散文配的有背景音乐。照片附得有视频。内容甚至都变成了在线调查和讨论。对于网络世代，生活中几乎每一部分，都是以多媒体的形式呈现的。即使我的学习场所，如前所述，混杂了数码、音频、文本信息。因此，要让我们的注意力保持在教室里，就必须采用类似的做法。教师必须抛弃先讲课然后安排阅读任务，就足以教好一堂课的垂死观念。相反，网络世代对各种媒体作出回应，比如电视、音频、动画、文字。使用任何一种媒体都应该简短、保持互动，根据内容结构将一堂课分成若干阶段。读了四年书，最好的多媒体课堂例子来自于我参与的关于越战的三小时研讨会。虽说要在局促的教室里呆上三个小时足以让人害怕，但教授安排了诸多媒体吸引我们的注意。课堂从当时的一首歌曲开始，无数电影片段贯穿整堂课，用以说明关键主题和转折事件，教师演讲和学生讨论交替进行，照片、表格、图片点缀其间。最终，与之前的九十分钟课堂相比，我们绝大多数人显得更加灵活，有兴趣，尽管上课时间更长。

Instruction

教学

It's easy to deduce that all this technology has made the Net Generation lazy. We don't pick up dictionaries anymore–we go to Dictionary.com. We don't walk to the library–we search online journal databases. We wouldn't know an archive if we stumbled into it on the way to the fax machine. Though the Internet is attempting to phase out these standard methods of research, they are important, nonetheless. The average college student, however, has no clue how to navigate or investigate the modern library. Instead, students increasingly rely on Web sites and Internet archives for information–increasing the likelihood that they will stumble across and cite false or incorrect information. For those reasons, modern classrooms, faculty, and libraries must still teach and demonstrate basic research skills such as finding journals, evaluating primary sources, digging through archives, or even perusing library shelves. Today's students may believe they can learn solely on the Internet, but they cannot.

很容易推断出，所有这些技术，都让网络世代变懒。我们不再翻字典——我们去Dictionary.com。我们不去图书馆——我们搜索在线期刊数据库。我们不知道怎么发传真。虽然互联网正在逐步淘汰那些经典研究方法，但它们仍然很重要。然而，一般的大学生，完全不知道如何去浏览研究现代图书馆。相反，学生们逐渐依赖网站和互联网信息档案室——增加了偶然发现、虚假引用、引用错误信息的可能性。针对这些情况，现代的教室、教师、图书馆必须坚持教授、展示基本的研究技能，比如搜索期刊、评估主要来源、挖掘档案，甚至细细翻阅图书馆书架。今天的学生会认为，他们能够独立的从互联网上学到东西，实际上他们不能。

A Virtual Education: Crafting the Online Classroom

虚拟教育：精心打造在线教室

Philosophy: my nemesis. For five semesters I had cleverly evaded its call–pointedly skipping over the requirement with the dim hope that a registration glitch might fill the spot without my actual participation. But as graduation grew closer, the empty spot next to its name hadn't budged. So, with a sinking feeling of dread, I decided to budge instead.

哲学：我的克星。五个学期以来，我明智的回避它的呼唤——直截了当地略过能带来些微希望的机会，登记小事故可以弥补我没有到课。但随着毕业日益临近，姓名旁边的空白没有改变。因此，越发的害怕起来，我决定作出改变。

My only consolation, as I dutifully joined the roll for Philosophy 205, was that Introduction to Philosophy was finally being offered in a Web-based course. I had never tried an entirely "virtual" classroom before, thinking such endeavors were better suited to distance education students or those with full-time jobs. But philosophy? That could be an exception.

我惟一值得安慰的是，我尽职尽责的参加了哲学205课程的名单，这是最终以网页课程形式提供的哲学概论。之前我从未尝试过完全的虚拟教室，认为这些事情更适合远程教育学生和有全职工作的学生。但是哲学？这可能是个例外。

The class was set up with sincere trust and respect for the student. Reading assignments from an assigned text were listed on the course Web site. For grading, we were asked to periodically turn in homework questions from the text and to take occasional quizzes and exams. Every exam was open note and open book with a three-hour window of time. The homework was loosely graded.

设立这门课是出于对学生的真挚的信任和尊重。需要阅读的指定文章都列在课程网站上。为了评分，要求我们定期上交家庭作业，都是和课文有关的问题，还有不定期的测验和考试。每次考试都是三小时的开卷考试。家庭作业评分比较宽松。

For the first exam, I read every chapter and highlighted the notes from the study guide. I finished the test in less than 30 minutes. For the second, with the full weight of a 16-hour semester upon me, I did the reading but skipped the highlighting. I finished in an hour. For the next exam, with two test experiences under my fingertips, I skipped reading altogether and simply searched for the answers in the text. The test took nearly two hours. Each time, the grade was the same. By the end of the semester, I couldn't tell the theory of relativity from utilitarianism. But speed reading? I was a master.

为了第一次考试，我读了每一章，划出学习指南指出的重点。考试结束前三十分钟才做完卷子。第二次考试，我承受着十六个小时学习的全部压力，我阅读了，但是跳过上次做的重点。我一个小时就做完了。到第三次考试，由于有了两次考试经验，我完全跳过阅读，仅仅在课文中搜索答案。这次考试几乎花了两个小时。每次考试分数都一样。学期末，我说不出功利主义相关理论。但是高速阅读？我已经是高手了。

The professor had assumed, while crafting his course, that putting philosophy on the Web would give his students more flexibility to shape their own learning experience. We could read at our own pace. We could respond to message threads at our leisure. We could even take tests with the full support of our text, our notes, and–in my case–our quick darting eyes.

教授假定，在上课期间，将哲学知识放上网，能让学生更灵活的塑造自己的学习经验。我们可以按照自己的步伐阅读；我们可以在有空的时候回复话题信息；我们甚至可以在考试的时候使用全部课文、笔记以及——以我为例——我们一目十行的眼睛。

What he hadn't expected, perhaps, is that the advent of the Internet and the opportunity of the online classroom had not diminished the need for traditional educational principles like discipline, engagement, and interaction. Instead, my online course had turned learning into exactly what I despised–a one-dimensional exercise in learning and regurgitating facts.

也许，他没有想到，互联网和在线教室的出现，并没有减少对传统教育原则的需求，比如训练、参与、互动。相反，我的在线课程已经把学习变成了我所鄙视的、一维的学习与反馈活动。

Take, as a counterexample, a course in Latin American History offered on the Web. Like my philosophy course, we were asked to read from an assigned text. Instead of quizzes and tests, we were asked to periodically turn in essays and papers. The main difference, however, was that each week we were required to participate in online discussions relevant to our text or reading found on the Web. Some weeks we were required to simply post our own responses. Other times, part of the class was to counter the arguments made by another part. During some weeks, we were to evaluate and critique our classmates' arguments. Though it seemed effortless at the time, the exercises were a thinly veiled attempt to hold us accountable for the reading and to engage us in the material.

作为反例，网上提供的有一门拉丁美洲史。和我的哲学课程一样，要求我们阅读指定课文。和测验考试不同，他要求我们定期上交随笔和论文。然而，最大的差别在于，每周我们都要参与在线讨论，讨论我们的课文或者网上找到的阅读材料。有几周仅仅要求我们张贴自己的回复。其他时候，安排一部分人去反驳另一部分人的论点。有几周，我们要评估评论同学的论点。尽管当时看起来很容易，但这项活动隐含着一种尝试，要求我们对阅读和研究材料负责。

As technology improves and the "virtual classroom" becomes more popular, there is a tendency on the part of institutions and students to turn to online courses. They save resources and can accommodate more students. They are more flexible for busy schedules or commuters. But as these examples demonstrate, the online classroom must be created with the same care and expectations as the traditional one.

随着技术的改善，虚拟教室越来越流行，有部分教育机构和学生有转向网上课程的趋势。他们节省资源、容纳更多学生。对于课程繁忙的学生或者走读生，这种方式更灵活。但是，正如这些例子显示，建立网上课堂必须报以同传统教室一样的关怀和期待。

Students still crave interaction with their fellow students, even if they cannot see them. Otherwise, the online classroom seems cold and disconnected. To keep students engaged in the material and passionate about the subject matter, therefore, the professor must find a way for the students to interact with one another. Discussion forums are a natural solution and can be facilitated by posing questions for students to respond to or as simply a "free for all" for student discussion. The professor must be an active participant and facilitator, however, or students will diminish the exercises' importance. Another solution is virtual group work. Asking students to collaborate on projects or assignments forces them to meet and exchange ideas with their peers and fulfills their need for group interaction without actually meeting in a classroom.

学生仍然渴望与同学互动，即便相互看不见。如果做不到这一点，就会认为网络教室很冷清，不会去上。因此，要让学生对材料保持兴趣，对研究主题充满热情，教授必须找出办法让学生彼此互动。论坛是个很自然的解决方案，方便提出问题、回答问题，或者仅仅作为一个面向全体学生开放的讨论场所。然而，教授必须积极参与、服务，否则学生会逐渐失去对这项活动的重视。另一项解决方案是虚拟团队工作。要求学生合作项目、功课，强制他们与伙伴碰头交流思想，满足他们对小组互动的需求，不管事实上不是发生在教室里。

Students also want diversity in both content and content media, a desire that should not be stifled by the assumed one-dimensionality of online coursework. While most online courses create a class Web site for posting assignments and logging in to take tests, these sites could be used as portals for multimedia exploration. One of the great benefits of the Web is its use of multiple media formats: users can stream video, listen to audio, and peruse photographic archives. It is important, therefore, to incorporate a variety of formats into the online classroom to keep content fresh and to appeal to the sensory habits of a variety of learners.

学生也希望内容和内容媒介多样化，希望不会被在线课程资源的一维假设局限住思维。虽然大多数在线课程为了张贴作业、登录考试而创建课程网站，这些网站可以用作探究多媒体的门户网站。网站的最大好处之一就是可以使用多种媒体格式：用户可以播放流媒体、收听音频、浏览照片文档。因此，在网络课堂使用多种格式，这很重要，因为能保持内容的新鲜，满足各种学习者的认知习惯。

The Web-based course, unlike the traditional classroom, is also at an advantage visually. Net Gen learners are more likely to respond to visual images than a form of straight text. From childhood, we are bombarded by images on television, on billboards, in magazines, and on the Web. A quick survey of newspaper evolution reveals the increased reliance on images–rather than text–to tell the story over time, and Net Gen learners have evolved alongside this phenomenon. To teach the Net Generation, therefore, requires the use of visual images in conjunction with text, a feat easily accomplished through animation and diagrams on the Web.

基于网络的课程，不像传统课堂，具有视觉优势。网络世代学习者更愿意回应视觉化的图像而非普通文本。打小时候起，我们就受到电视、广告牌、杂志、网络的视觉轰炸。有关报纸演变的快速调查显示，随着时间的过去，要讲述一个故事，对图像的依赖程度较文字有增加。网络世代学习者与这种现象同时演变。因此，要教网络世代就要在使用文本的同时，使用直观图像。通过网络上的动画和图表很容易做到这个。

It's a common misconception that students take online courses to avoid the rigor and workload of a traditional classroom. In many cases, that's simply not true. When students choose an online classroom, they still want to be challenged. They still want exploration. And they still want creativity. Net Gen learners are not likely to excel in an environment where they are simply handed material and expected to recite it. Instead, most log on to online courses because they despise this traditional format of lecture and regurgitate. Instead, they feel they learn better in an environment where they can teach themselves. With that in mind, the online professor must find ways to offer students a method of exploration and research within the curriculum. Students might be asked, for example, to abandon the course Web page to search an archive or journal for information on their own. They might be asked to weave current events within the context of the taught material. Or they might employ their own technical savvy to construct research Web pages or blogs.

认为学生参与网络课程是为了避免传统课堂的严格和繁重工作量，这是普遍的误解。在很多情况下，这完全不是事实。当学生选择在线课堂，他们仍然希望挑战、希望探索、希望创造。网络世代学习者不可能在一个仅仅是要求接受材料、背诵材料的环境中表现多优秀。相反，大多数登录网络课程的学生，是因为他们鄙视传统的讲座形式，他们觉得恶心。相反，他们觉得，在一个可以让他们自己教自己的环境中，能学得更好。考虑到这一点，网上教授必须设法在课程中给学生提供探索和研究的方法。比如，可能会要求学生，放弃课程网页，为他们自己的信息搜索文档或期刊。可能会要求他们把重大时事和所教材料结合起来。或者要求他们运用自己的技术能力建立研究网页或日志。

The simple rule is engagement–moving students beyond being mere participants in the class to become active learners and discoverers.

规则很简单，融入——让学生超越仅仅作为课堂的参与者，成为积极的学习者和探索者。

E-Life: The Net Gen on Campus

电子生活：校园里的网络世代

"Do you have a check? You could pay in a check."

“你有一张支票？你可以支付支票。”

I scratched my head as I stood at the counter. Check… Check… I vaguely remembered seeing an unused checkbook tossed carelessly in the trunk of my car that morning. But even if I could locate it, I couldn't be sure it was in the right sequence. Or that I could even remember how to use the darn thing.

我站在柜台前抓抓后脑勺。支票……支票……我依稀记得今天早上在后车厢里看到一本未使用的支票本随意丢在那里。但是即使我能找到它，我也不能保证编号是正确的。我甚至不记得怎么用这破玩意儿！

"Are you sure you can't take a debit card? Or maybe a credit card? I have Visa. Or Mastercard. Is that better?"

“你确定你没有记卡？信用卡？”我有威士卡，万事达卡，是不是更好？

She smiled sympathetically and pointed to the sign behind her: CASH AND CHECKS ONLY.

他同情的微笑着，暗示我：只能用现金或者支票。

I sighed and grabbed my application from the countertop. I needed to add money to my campus account but didn't have the energy to walk across campus to the ATM or to fish my checkbook from my trunk. Dejected, I pushed my way out the door. Just as I left, I heard familiar words from the counter.

我叹了口气，从台面抓起我的申请。我需要将钱汇入学校帐户，但是没有力气穿过校园去自动柜员机，也不愿意在后车厢搜罗支票本。我很沮丧地推门出去。就在这时，我从柜台上听到了熟悉的字眼。

"Cash? I have a debit card. Or could you take my credit card?"

“现金？我有借记卡。或者，你们可以收信用卡么？”

It should be noted, in our defense, that most Net Geners use technology to navigate even the most mundane chores in life. Thanks to online banking, we no longer balance our checkbooks. Because of ATM cards, few of us know what that memo line on checks is even for. We pay bills online. We order books online. If it were a possibility, we would probably order our pizza online. The thought of doing anything in person, therefore, is not just scary, sometimes it's downright confusing.

应当指出，在我们日常生活中，大多数网络世代很依赖技术，在最平凡的生活琐事中也是如此。幸亏有网上银行，我们不再需要平衡支票本。由于有提款卡，我们甚至很少有人知道支票上的备注栏是干什么的。我们在线付账。我们在线购书。只要有可能，我们会在线定快餐。因此，需要人亲自去现场处理事情的想法，不仅是可怕的，有时候也是彻头彻尾的糊涂。

Each new class of Net Geners will have technology to thank for removing one more obstacle from their everyday lives. My older sister, for instance, remembers sleeping outside the registrar's office to be first in line to register for courses during her sophomore year. I have only registered for courses online–in my pajamas–from the comfort of my dorm room. As technology replaces these exercises in our daily life, we expect our colleges and universities to follow suit.

网络世代的每一个新班级，都会用技术移除他们日常生活中的诸多障碍。比方说，我大姐，在他大二的时候睡在注册办公室门外，好第一个注册课程。我是在舒适的宿舍寝室——穿着睡衣——在线注册的。随着技术取代了我们日常生活中的诸多活动，我们期待高校也能跟进。

To make campus and student services more accessible and accommodating for the Net Generation, university staff and administrators must first realize the depth to which technology has revolutionized daily life for us:

为了让校园和学生服务对于网络世代更便利，更亲切，大学员工和管理人员首先必须认识到那些技术彻底改变了我们的日常生活：

• Plastic or plastic? Cash is disappearing rapidly from our wallets, to be replaced by credit and debit cards. We use these cards for purchases in stores, to pick up tabs in restaurant, and even to swipe at drive-through restaurants. We pay our bills with them and do our shopping with them. In many cases, in fact, students will simply avoid establishments that refuse to accept them.


• 各种塑料卡片。我们的钱包里早已没有现金，取而代之的是信用卡和借记卡。我们用这些卡在商店购物，在餐馆付账，甚至在免下车餐馆也刷卡。我们用这些卡付账、购物。事实上，在很多情况下，学生们会干脆躲开拒绝信用卡和借记卡的机构。
  
  


• For customer service, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Thanks to the marathon waiting times for customer service hotlines and the lack of tasteful elevator music, the Net Gen would much rather log on than call to fix problems or seek advice. Surfing Internet help lines for assistance solves two of our problems: speed and accessibility. It's much faster to find the solution in an online troubleshooter, oftentimes, than to wait for an operator to read from a textbook. It's also more likely that online help can be found any day, at any time. There are no closing times online and no hours of operation.


• 完全无视客户服务。感谢漫长的客户服务热线等待时间和无聊的电梯音乐，网络世代在解决问题或寻求帮助的时候，宁愿上网也不愿拨打客户服务。上网求助可以解决我们两个问题：速度和方便。多数情况下，从网上高手那儿找到解决办法，要快过等待电话接线员翻阅手册。更因为在线帮助没有时间限制，没有下班时间，没有等待时间。
  
  


• Dear Dr. Jones. It's not that we can't use the telephone or find an office, it's that it's just so much more difficult. Using e-mail to set up meetings, ask simple questions, or send in excuses for absences has become so commonplace in the modern classroom that few students turn to anything else. E-mail is less personal and less frightening. You don't have to worry about saying the wrong thing or getting flustered. You can carefully craft your message and spell-check the result. It's much easier to take risks and push the envelope without hearing disapproval or confronting anger. For that reason, the Net Gen will turn to e-mail for everything from job inquiries and applications to meetings with administrators. (As a former college editor, I was shocked to learn that my reporters had even resorted to conducting interviews entirely over e-mail.)


• 琼斯博士【按：夺宝奇兵，印第安纳·琼斯】。这并不是说我们不用电话、不去找办公室，而是因为它实在太困难。使用电子邮件来安排会议、提出简单的问题、解释缺课原因，在如今的课堂变得极其平凡，极少有学生或使用其它方式。电子邮件不够面对面，但也不让人害怕。你不用担心说错话，手忙脚乱。你可以静心草拟你的文字，最后还可以检查拼写。这样做更容易承担风险、挑战极限，而不需要听到拒绝、承受面对面的怒火。出于这个原因，网络世代会致力于使用电子邮件做任何事情，从求职到申请与管理人员的会谈。（当大学校刊编辑的时候，曾震惊于手下记者甚至经常完全通过电子邮件进行采访。）


• ATTN: School's Closed. When breaking news hits, students in the Net Generation are more likely to log on to a news Web site for the latest information than to turn on CNN. When we get dressed in the morning, we check WeatherBug or the local television's Web site for the day's weather prediction rather than wait for a forecast on the morning news. When we need information, we expect it immediately and seek it ourselves.


• 收件人：学校已经关闭。出现突发新闻的时候，网络世代学生更喜欢登陆新闻网站，查看最新信息，而不是打开电视看CNN。我们早上起床的时候，我们检查WeatherBug或者本地电视台网站了解一天的天气预报，而不是等待早间新闻的天气播报。我们需要信息的时候，我们希望信息立刻就来，还是我们自己找到的。
  
  

Implications

影响

We aren't expecting, when we enter college, that campus will be the technological equivalent of a science-fiction movie. What we hope, however, is that student services will evolve alongside our own society to reflect the changes we have undergone as passengers on the Information Superhighway.

我们不会奢望，我们进大学的时候，校园里满是科幻电影里的技术。但是我们希望，学生服务能够跟上我们这个世界的步伐，以体现我们作为信息高速公路乘客所经历的变化。

• Cashless on campus. It is unlikely on today's campus that a random wallet search of a hall of freshmen would reveal more than $100 in cash. Instead, these students would say they only carry their debit, credit, or ATM card. By refusing to accommodate these students, universities place them in a perilous position, stripped of resources when they might need to pick up supplies, run a few copies, or purchase a meal on campus. A number of universities have caught on to the reality of a "cashless campus," installing ATM machines, allowing student ID cards to double as debit cards, or offering secure online transactions with credit cards. But some universities still fail to realize the needs of enrolling Net Geners. In the future, more campus services such as student ticket sales, printing kiosks, and campus eateries should accommodate debit or credit cards.


• 无现金校园。在现在的校园似乎不大可能实现，随便在哪个新生宿舍翻看一个钱包，都能翻出至少一百块现金。相反，这些学生会说，他们只带得有信用卡、借记卡和提款卡。由于拒绝接纳这些学生，大学将其置于危险境地，但他们需要在校园内获取支持、复制副本、购买食物的时候，他们的资源会遭到剥夺。一些大学已经完全理解“无现金校园”的现实意义，安装了自动柜员机，使用学生身份证充当借记卡，提供安全的信用卡在线交易平台。但是有些大学仍然没有认识到新来的网络世代学生的需求。在未来，更多校园提供的服务，诸如学生售票、打印亭、校园餐馆等都应该支持借记卡和信用卡。


• Immediate communication. Because we have learned to seek and expect information at the touch of a button, it is simplest to disseminate information in a similar fashion. When inclement weather strikes, for instance, a mass e-mail will reach students before a ticker on the bottom of the local network news. Students will check their e-mail before class before they will check their voicemail or a classroom door for notes posted there. School systems, therefore, must evolve to place less emphasis on phone lines or verbal communication and more on using e-mail and Web sites for the rapid distribution of news, warnings, and alerts.


• 实时沟通。由于我们已经学会通过按按钮来寻找和期盼信息，这是类似方式当中最简单的传播信息方法。比如，当恶劣天气袭击时，本地新闻底部的横条上面会提示学生有大量邮件。上课前，学生先检查邮件而不是去检查语音信箱或者教室大门看贴得有什么通知。因此，学校系统必须改革，不要再重点发展电话线路或者语音通讯系统，而更应该使用电子邮件和网站来快速发布新闻、警告和预警。
  
  


• Constant access. Whether it be news, shopping, or paying bills, technological advances have made it possible for the Net Gen to access services anytime, anywhere. They have grown accustomed to doing business after midnight or shopping after two o'clock in the morning. Late classes and schedules bulging with club activities, jobs, and study sessions often mean working late into the night. As a result, they have come to demand 24-hour access to university services such as health care, dining, Internet troubleshooting, and libraries. Whether in person or on the Web, current student habits demand a new evaluation of hours of operation and staff accessibility.


• 持续访问。无论是新闻、购物还是付账，日新月异的技术使得网络世代能够随时随地访问这些服务。他们已经习惯于午夜做事情，半夜两点钟购物。晚上日程表挤满了俱乐部活动、工作、学习任务，常常意味着需要工作到深夜。因此，他们极为需要大学安排医疗保健、餐饮、互联网故障排除和图书馆的二十四小时服务。无论是亲临现场还是在网上，现在的学生习惯需要对工作时间和员工态度做出新的评估。


• Face time. The Internet has enabled faculty, students, and administrators alike to communicate with more people on a daily basis while only having to physically see a few. As an administrator once lamented, "I can help 30 students each day over e-mail exchanges, but I rarely get the opportunity to meet them." While some might assume the Net Gen loathes face-to-face interaction, the opposite is true. The constant glow of a computer screen and the cacophony of clicking keys has only left the Net Generation longing for more face-to-face interaction with faculty and administrators. Despite the ease of online communications, therefore, faculty and administrators must continue to make a concerted and sincere effort to offer real face time to students and to arrange meetings so that genuine, real-time discussions, which are often stifled online or over inbox communication, can occur.


• 面谈时间。互联网已经让教师学生和管理人员，均可在日常基础上与更多的人沟通，尽管可能只会亲眼见到其中很少一部分。正如某管理人员曾经感叹道：“通过电子邮件，我每天能帮助三十个学生，但是我几乎没有机会见到他们。”虽然有些人可能会认为网络世代讨厌面对面互动，情况正好相反。不断闪动的计算机屏幕，点击按键的乏味声音，只能令网络世代渴望更多与教师和管理人员的面对面互动。因此，尽管在线通讯十分便捷，但教师和管理人员必须作出协调，共同努力为学生提供面谈时间，安排会晤，以便真实的、实时的讨论。这些常常能减少在线交流和邮箱交流的发生。

Outlook for the Future

展望未来

I arrived home in December to meet a sullen, unresponsive teenage boy: my brother. As I watched him plant himself in front of the computer each night and rush between chores to "check his buddy list," I couldn't help but pull rank.

十二月份我回到家，遇到一个闷闷不乐、反应迟钝的少年：我的弟弟。我看着他每晚都定在计算机前面，在查看朋友名单和做家务之间来回忙碌切换，我不会帮他，我要摆架子。

"You know, in my day, we used to actually call our friends over winter break. And we had to actually have our friends over to play games, we couldn't just do it on the Internet," I said.

我说：“你知道，今天一天，我都在和朋友打电话商量寒假的事情。我和朋友们一起打游戏，我们不会只是上网而已。”

He rolled his eyes. "Right, right, I know," he said. "And your cell phones only made phone calls."

他翻翻白眼：“对，对，我知道。你的电话也只能拿来打电话。”

Suddenly, I felt quite old. The truth is, I haven't called a friend just to chat since my freshman year in college. But the technology that revolutionized my college experience has transformed my younger brother's middle and high school experience. The technology that captivated my imagination as a teenager is a "fossil" in his eyes.

一瞬间，我觉得自己老了。真相是，从大一以来我就没有打电话和朋友聊天。改变我大学体验的技术，改变了我弟弟的中学体验。抓住我想像力的技术，已经被青少年视作“古董”。

The next generation of learners, therefore, will only raise more questions on college campuses. Their lives will be more reliant on technology, their attention spans that much shorter. They will have little concept of checkbooks and scant recollection of landline telephones. Their needs and their values will require a reevaluation of the concepts noted here and a fresh look at the needs and expectations of our nation's college freshmen. By then, the Net Generation will be relics of the first generation of Internet youth, when the Web was still new, page loading still slow, and telephones still in use.

因此，下一代学习者，在大学校园会出现更多问题。他们的生活会更加依赖胡技术，他们的注意力时间会更短。他们更加没有支票本的概念，根本想不起固话座机是什么样子。他们的需求和价值观将会重新评估这里提到的各种概念，对我们国家大学新生的期望和要求会焕然一新。届时，尽管网页仍然很新，页面加载仍然很慢，有线电话仍然在使用，但网络世代将会成为第一代互联网青年眼中的遗迹。

But I'll just read about all that on the Internet.

不过，我只会从网络上阅读这一切。

Endnotes

尾注

 


1. Neil Howe and William Strauss, Millennials Rising: The Next Greatest Generation (Vintage Books: New York, 2000).

About the Author

关于作者

Carie Windham is a senior studying history at North Carolina State University. When she is not Googling her own name or instant messaging her friends, she is active in student government, the University Honors Program, and the Center for Student Leadership, Ethics, and Public Service. While at NC State, she has been a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi and recipient of the Park Scholarship. She spends her free time volunteering at Noah's Landing, a nonprofit nature center, and plans to attend graduate school in Northern Ireland on a Mitchell Scholarship in fall 2005.

卡瑞·温德姆：就读于北卡罗莱纳州立大学历史系。在他不用谷歌搜索自己姓名、不和朋友实时通讯的时候，他积极投身于学生管理工作，一项大学荣誉项目，以及学生领导力、道德与公共服务中心。在北卡罗莱纳州立大学的时候，他是两个学生会成员，公园奖学金获得者。他的业余时间在诺亚登录做志愿者，这是一个非盈利自然中心。还计划利用米歇尔奖学金二零零五年秋天在北爱尔兰就读研究生院。

http://www.educause.edu/Resources/EducatingtheNetGeneration/TheStudentsPerspective/6061