In the article, Teaching ‘Digital Native’ College Students Who Understand TikTok- But Not Microsoft Excel, it shines a light on how college students may come across as internet savvy, but realistically many struggle with basic tech skills, such as using Microsoft Excel. The article discusses that although college students have the title of, “digital natives,” it does not necessarily mean they have the digital skills needed to succeed in college. When it comes to college students, some professors have even started building lessons surrounding computer tools into their courses in order to benefit their students. “Imposter syndrome” has been a big problem for many college students, who instead of asking for help, due to embarrassment, choose to struggle and decide to complete task through trial and error. In the article, it also mentions that it is not very clear who exactly is responsible for teaching college students technology skills and the stigma of those classes being “basic.” One suggestion to help college students build their technology skills, was to offer opportunities for non-evaluated play. This means students could just use technology for fun without being graded. However, a downside to this solution is that college students do not usually have the time to do things like this. Another solution was for colleges to form partnerships, like the one between Utah Tech and Pluralsight, which provides students and staff with video guides on how to use different tools. The article also mentions how frustration with learning technology on top of class content sometimes becomes to much for students and factors into whether a student will continue on with school or not. The article concludes by suggesting colleges and universities try educating their students on the bigger scope of digital literacy, such as understanding how incentives and algorithms might be structured on tech platforms and/or risk to privacy. This has to do with the fact that those broader scopes need to be discussed, they just do not come naturally from using the internet.
