Generation Gap

A chart from the questionnaire data was presented to the teachers which showed that while 100% of the students aged 20-25 years and those in the 26-30 age group were using Facebook, only 85.7% of the 15-19 year age group said they were using Facebook. The teachers were asked whether they thought that the different generations (or the generation gap) might have any impact over who uses Facebook or how it is used. The responses demonstrated that the teachers did notice gaps, and that these were evident from their parenting experiences, and beliefs about the disconnection of the managers of the institute from the student experiences.

The teachers all seemed to believe that Facebook was relatively easy to use based on their own experiences through using it socially. Teacher 4 shared that she thought more and more people were using Facebook and “a lot of older people have

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Facebook sites and more and more people are getting iPhones” which made it even easier to access the site.

Teacher 5 seemed to think that “the younger demographic [were] moving more to the Instagram platform and away from Facebook.” While referring to the 15-19 year age group, he said that “Facebook will need to reinvent itself to appeal to that demographic group.” This provoked some discussion amongst the teacher group with others seeking clarification around the differences between Instagram and Facebook. Some of the other teachers did not appear to have knowledge of Instagram and how it is used.

Teacher 3 explained that he thought that maybe the reason behind the lower percentage uptake of Facebook amongst the 15-19 year old age group could be attributed to restrictions placed on them by their parents. He said he “knew of some families like that who don’t allow their children to use Facebook or have an account.” Teacher 3 added that he thought that could be the reason behind the statistic and “once they turn 18 that’s fine but while under our roof and rules you will not have a Facebook account.” Teacher 3 also went on to say how he won’t allow his children to have a mobile phone until they are 15 years of age. In his words, he said “I may be a stick-in-the-mud parent but my almost 16 year old son only got a mobile phone when he was 15, he wasn’t allowed before that.” It appears that an individual’s personal beliefs and values affect their choice of which types of technology that their children are allowed to access and at what age. These personal life experiences could also have an impact on an individual’s beliefs around actions and role as a teacher. The boundaries of personal and professional life could become blurred.

Teacher 2 was a parent also, with children of 13 and 16 years of age. She explained that her 13 year old daughter used both Facebook and Instagram while her 16 year old son seemed to only use Facebook. Teacher 2 said,

She loves Instagram for sending quick messages but she’s also on Facebook. Where my 16 year old [son] is not on Instagram, not interested at all but he’s on Facebook. As soon as he gets home he’s on Facebook.

He’s doing his homework, he’s on Facebook. They ask questions and work and help each other.

Teacher 2 also pointed out that her children seem to have more understanding of the features available in Facebook than she does. She explained that they “know all about what they can do on Facebook and I am at that stage where I don’t have a clue. I wouldn’t know how to set up a group. I would go to him [her son] and ask him what to do.” All of the teachers, who were also parents, appeared to refer to their personal lives and their children’s activities to try and explain their knowledge about Facebook and other social media. They were using these experiences to try and make sense of what they did or did not know about the features available and how they were used.

Teacher 1 added that there was another aspect to consider when looking at the generation gap and that it is not just between teachers and students but also a gap exists between “the students and the management that write the code of ethics. Here is an enormous gap.” Teacher 1 seemed to indicate that management and the policy makers were far removed from the realities of the classroom environment and the technology that students wanted to use. He hypothesised that this gap is less about generation but more about risk aversion. Teacher 1 argued that “as people in the hierarchy move up in the organisation, they become more risk averse as it could be a threat to their position and promotions or career advancement.” The teachers in the focus group agreed that there was “a fear of the unknown,” (suggested by Teacher 1)

“a fear of the known” (added by Teacher 4), and, finally, “a fear of the uncontrollable” (added by Teacher 5). There appeared to be a sense of frustration within the teacher group about the restrictions imposed on them by management.

Teacher 1 was a strong advocate of using Facebook as part of his teaching as he had seen the benefits and he pointed out that “the [Institute’s] use of Facebook is restricted by internal policy and they fail to see that students are unlikely to change their routine behaviour to an unfamiliar, unreliable system that doesn’t do anything really that the students want.” The current Learning Management System (LMS) used by the Institute at that time had a history of being unreliable and had recently been “falling over” quite frequently.

Teacher 1 added that the current processes and systems in place failed to deliver what he believed that teachers wanted, particularly in terms of collaboration.

He said “I want clean, I want comprehensive collaboration of students. I want convenience.” The teachers then discussed the fact that the Learning Management

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System (LMS) was currently being reviewed due to all of the problems they had spoken about. Again, there was confusion around whether Facebook could be used as a LMS or not.

Overall, the discussion centred around the teachers’ own personal experiences and knowledge about Facebook. Some teachers thought the generation gap existed as their children seemed to know considerably more about Facebook and its features than they did but all agreed that they would be happy to learn more about Facebook and thought it would be reasonably easy to navigate.