The net generation and digital natives: implications for higher education

Executive Summary "Our students have changed radically. Today�s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach." (Prensky 2001 p1) 1. There is no evidence that there is a single new generation of young students entering Higher Education and the terms Net Generation and Digital Native do not capture the processes of change that are taking place. 2. The complex changes that are taking place in the student body have an age related component that is most obvious with the newest waves of technology. Prominent amongst these are the uses made of social networking sites (e.g. Facebook), uploading and manipulation of multimedia (e.g. YouTube) and the use of handheld devices to access the mobile Internet. 3. Demographic factors interact with age to pattern students� responses to new technologies. The most important of these are gender, mode of study (distance or place-based) and the international or home status of the student. 4. The gap between students and their teachers is not fixed, nor is the gulf so large that it cannot be bridged. In many ways the relationship is determined by the requirements teachers place upon their students to make use of new technologies and the way teachers integrate new technologies in their courses. There is little evidence that students enter university with demands for new technologies that teachers and universities cannot meet. 5. Students persistently report that they prefer moderate use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in their courses. Care should be taken with this finding because the interpretation of what is �moderate� use of ICT may be changing as a range of new technologies take off and become embedded in social life and universities. 6. Universities should be confident in the provision of what might seem to be basic services. Students appreciate and make use of the foundational infrastructure for learning, even where this is often criticised as being an out of date and unimaginative use of new technology. Virtual Learning Environments (Learning or Course Management Systems) are used widely and seem to be well regarded. The provision by university libraries of online services, including the provision of online e-journals and e-books, are also positively received. 7. Students do not naturally make extensive use of many of the most discussed new technologies such as Blogs, Wikis and 3D Virtual Worlds. The use of 3D Virtual Worlds is notably low amongst students. The use of Wikis and Blogs is relatively low overall, but use does vary between different contexts, including national and regional contexts. Students who are required to use these technologies in their courses are unlikely to reject them and low use does not imply that they are inappropriate for educational use. The key point being made is that there is not a natural demand amongst students that teaching staff and universities should feel obliged to satisfy. 8. There is no obvious or consistent demand from students for changes to pedagogy at university (e.g. demands for team and group working). There may be good reasons why teachers and universities wish to revise their approaches to teaching and learning, or may wish to introduce new ways of working. Students will respond positively to changes in teaching and learning strategies that are well conceived, well explained and properly embedded in courses and degree programmes. However there is no evidence of a pent-up demand amongst students for changes in pedagogy or of a demand for greater collaboration. 9. There is no evidence of a consistent demand from students for the provision of highly individualised or personal university services. The development of university infrastructures, such as new kinds of learning environments (for example Personal Learning Environments) should be choices about the kinds of provision that the university wishes to make and not a response to general statements about what a new generation of students are demanding. 10. Advice derived from generational arguments should not be used by government and government agencies to promote changes in university structure designed to accommodate a Net Generation of Digital Natives. The evidence indicates that young students do not form a generational cohort and they do not express consistent or generationally organised demands. A key finding of this review is that political choices should be made explicit and not disguised by arguments about generational change

University students' use of technologies in China

Much has been written in the last few years about 'Net Generation' students in western industrial advanced countries (e.g. Kennedy et al. 2007; Salaway et al. 2008; Jones et al. 2010). However little is known about these students and their use of technologies at universities in China. As one of the first empirical studies of the Net Generation university students' use of technologies in mainland China, a survey was administered to students across eight disciplines in one university during May-July 2010. The aim was to understand how university students in mainland China use technologies in their daily lives and to support their learning. In total, 2920 students completed the survey and 29 students participated in the follow up interviews. The results indicate that students are not naturally competent with technologies and there is a diverse range in students' experiences with technologies even within the age group. There are statistically significant differences in students' access and skill levels with ICT across gender, disciplines and year of study. Students are frequent users of instant messaging (1M), blogs and social networking sites (SNS). Nevertheless, the use of more recent web 2.0 technologies that are often associated with this generation is relatively low. There are also an increasing number of students who access the Internet via their mobile devices. Computers and the Internet have not been fully integrated into the university system, and most students use computers and the Internet for social and leisure purposes more than for learning. More in-depth investigation into students' technology practice is essential in developing appropriate guidance towards a digital culture at university in China

MiR-324-5p Suppresses Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Invasion by Counteracting ECM Degradation through Post-Transcriptionally Downregulating ETS1 and SP1.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the common malignancies, which is highly metastatic and the third common cause of cancer deaths in the world. The invasion and metastasis of cancer cells is a multistep and complex process which is mainly initiated by extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation. Aberrant expression of microRNA has been investigated in HCC and shown to play essential roles during HCC progression. In the present study, we found that microRNA-324-5p (miR-324-5p) was downregulated in both HCC cell lines and tissues. Ectopic miR-324-5p led to the reduction of HCC cells invasive and metastatic capacity, whereas inhibition of miR-324-5p promoted the invasion of HCC cells. Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) and MMP9, the major regulators of ECM degradation, were found to be downregulated by ectopic miR-324-5p, while upregulated by miR-324-5p inhibitor. E26 transformation-specific 1 (ETS1) and Specificity protein 1 (SP1), both of which could modulate MMP2 and MMP9 expression and activity, were presented as the direct targets of and downregulated by miR-324-5p. Downregulation of ETS1 and SP1 mediated the inhibitory function of miR-324-5p on HCC migration and invasion. Our study demonstrates that miR-324-5p suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma cell invasion and might provide new clues to invasive HCC therapy

One-Pot Three-Component Approach to the Synthesis of Polyfunctional Pyrazoles

A simple, multicomponent, and straightforward reaction of vinyl azide, aldehyde, and tosylhydrazine affords the construction of 3,4,5-trisubstituted 1<i>H</i>-pyrazoles regioselectively in the presence of base with moderate to excellent yields. A range of functionality could be tolerated in this methodology, and a possible mechanism is proposed

Inhibition of miR-324-5p promotes invasion and migration of HCC cells.

<p><b>A.</b> Representative micrographs (left) and quantifications (right) of wound healing assay of the HCC cells, transfected with miR-324-5p inhibitor or negative control (NC). Wound closures were photographed at 0, 12 and 24 hours after wounding. <b>B.</b> Representative micrographs (left) and quantifications (right) of indicated invading cells in a Matrigel-coated Transwell assay. <b>C.</b> Representative micrographs of indicated cells grown on Matrigel for 10 days in 3-Dimensional Cell Culture. <b>D.</b> Real-time PCR analysis of MMP2 and MMP9 expression in indicated cells. <i>GAPDH</i> served as control. <b>E.</b> The activity of MMP2 and MMP9 in indicated cells determined by ELISA assay. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. * <i>P</i> <0.05.</p

MiR-324-5p is downregulated in both HCC cell lines and tissues.

<p><b>A.</b> Real-time PCR analysis of miR-324-5p expression in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (HepG2, Hep3B, MHCC97H, MHCC97L, BEL-7402, Huh7, SMMC-7721, PLC/PRF/5 and QGY-7703), compared with normal liver epithelial THLE3 cells. <b>B.</b> The expression of miR-324-5p was examined in eleven paired cancerous tissues (T) and their adjacent noncancerous hepatic tissues (ANT). The result is performed as the ratio of T and ANT. The average miR-324-5p expression was normalized using U6 expression. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. * <i>P</i> <0.05.</p

ETS1 and SP1 suppression are essential for miR-324-5p-inhibited cell migration, invasion and ECM degradation in HCC.

<p><b>A.</b> The expression levels of ETS1 or SP1 in miR-324-5p-inhibitor transfected HCC cells that were transfected with ETS1 or SP1-siRNA, as measured by western blotting; α-Tubulin served as the loading control. <b>B.</b> Quantification of indicated invading cells in a Matrigel-coated Transwell assay. <b>C.</b> Real-time PCR analysis of MMP2 and MMP9 expression in indicated cells. <i>GAPDH</i> served as control. <b>D.</b> The activity of MMP2 and MMP9 in indicated cells determined by ELISA assay. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. * <i>P</i> <0.05.</p

ETS1 and SP1 are the direct targets of miR-324-5p.

<p><b>A.</b> Schematic representation of the mature miR-324-5p sequence, miR-324-5p target site in the 3'-UTR of <i>ETS1</i> and <i>SP1</i> mRNA and a 3'-UTR mutant of <i>ETS1</i> and <i>SP1</i> mRNA containing three altered nucleotides in the putative target site (shown as <i>ETS1</i> or <i>SP1</i>-3'UTR-mu). <b>B.</b> The expression levels of ETS1 and SP1 protein in HCC cells overexpressing miR-324-5p or transfected with miR-324-5p inhibitor, compared with control cells, by western blotting 48 hours after transfection; α-Tubulin served as the loading control. <i>C.</i> Luciferase assay of pGL3- <i>ETS1</i>-3'UTR or pGL3- <i>ETS1</i>-3'UTR-mut reporter, pGL3- <i>SP1</i>-3'UTR or pGL3- <i>SP1</i>-3'UTR-mut reporter cotransfected with different amounts (25, 50nM) of miR-324-5p mimic in indicated cells, or different amounts (50, 100nM) of miR-324-5p inhibitor, compared with negative control (NC). Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. * <i>P</i> <0.05.</p

Ectopic expression of miR-324-5p inhibits HCC cells migration and invasion.

<p><b>A.</b> Representative micrographs (left) and quantifications (right) of wound healing assay of the indicated cells. Wound closures were photographed at 0, 12 and 24 hours after wounding. <b>B.</b> Representative micrographs (left) and quantifications (right) of indicated invading cells in a Matrigel-coated Transwell assay. <b>C.</b> Representative micrographs of indicated cells grown on Matrigel for 10 days in 3-Dimensional Cell Culture. <b>D.</b> Real-time PCR analysis of MMP2 and MMP9 expression in indicated cells. <i>GAPDH</i> served as control. <b>E.</b> The activity of MMP2 and MMP9 in indicated cells determined by ELISA assay. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. * <i>P</i> <0.05.</p