The growth in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), especially the Internet, is having a significant impact on society and on many aspects of daily life (Jelfs & Richardson, 2012). The world that young people grow up in prior to their arrival at university is filled with new technology that is integral to the way they live, think, communicate, and the way they work (Jones & Healing 2010).

Some authors (Tapscott, 1998, Howe & Strauss, 1991; Prensky, 2001; Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005) have claim the existence of a new generation of students, who were born roughly between 1980 and 1994, and represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology, to have a more intuitive and deeper knowledge of ICT than previous generations. This generation was given several names that emphasize its affinity and tendency to use digital technology. According to Jones, Ramanau, Cross and Healing (2010) net generation, digital natives and Millennials are the most popular terms and “each way of describing this new group of students carries with it some distinct features but in general the terms are used interchangeably” (p. 723). Whatever the terminology, the exposure to technology is a critical element in determining at least some of the characteristics attributed to these students (Gallardo-Echenique, Marqués-Molías, Bullen & Strijbos, 2015).

The argument that there is a generation of learners with distinct skills and characteristics attributable to the exposure to digital technology had been accepted uncritically by many educators. The key claims of the “Net generation” discourse are not based on empirical research and seem to be inappropriate or insufficient to describe the population of current learners, because some key claims about this generation are still to be provided (Gallardo-Echenique et al., 2015). This changed in 2008 as researchers began to take a more critical look at this issue questioning the validity of the generational assumption (Gallardo-Echenique et al., 2015).

The international research project “Digital Learners in Higher Education” investigates how postsecondary learners in different institutional contexts and cultures think about technology in their social and educational lives. Its goal is to gain an understanding of what the growing use of the new ICTs means for teaching and learning in higher education. Data has been collected from a conventional Canadian university, a Canadian technical/vocational institution, two Spanish universities (a conventional and an online university) and a conventional Peruvian university.

The voice of students themselves about their communication and study habits is often missing in much of the literature, particularly given the amount of technological change that has been seen in recent years in higher education. For that reason, this paper aims to provide some important insights into how first-year university students communicate and their general study habits in the digital era.

Benfield, G., Ramanau, R., & Sharpe, R. (2009). Student learning technology use: Preferences for study and contact. The Brookes eJournal of Learning and Teaching (BeJLT), 2(4). Retrieved from http://bejlt.brookes.ac.uk/articles/student_learning_technology_use_preferences_for_study_and_contact/ Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775–786. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00793.x Bryman, A. (2004). Social Research Methods. Social research methods (2nd ed.). Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Bullen, M., Morgan, T., Belfer, K., & Qayyum, A. (2008, October). The digital learner at BCIT and implications for an e-strategy. Paper presented at Research Workshop of the European Distance Education Network (EDEN), Researching and promoting access to education and training: The role of distance education and e-learning in technology-enhanced environments, Paris. Gallardo-Echenique, E., Marqués Molías, L., & Bullen, M. (2015). Students in higher education: Social and academic uses of digital technology. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (ETHE), 12(1), 25–37. Retrieved from http://www.raco.cat/index.php/RUSC/article/view/304473/394227 Gallardo-Echenique, E., Marqués-Molías, L., Bullen, M., & Strijbos, J.-W. (2015). Let’s talk about digital learners in the digital era. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 16(3), 156–187. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/2196 Howe, N., & Strauss, W. (1991). Millennials rising: The next great generation. New York: Vintage Original. Jelfs, A., & Richardson, J. T. E. (2012). The use of digital technologies across the adult life span in distance education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(2), 338–351. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2012.01308.x Jones, C., & Healing, G. (2010). Net generation students: agency and choice and the new technologies. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(5), 344–356. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00370.x Jones, C., Ramanau, R., Cross, S., & Healing, G. (2010). Net generation or digital natives: Is there a distinct new generation entering university? Computers and Education, 54(3), 722-732. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.09.022 Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed., p. 338). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Oblinger, D. G., & Oblinger, J. L. (Eds.). (2005). Educating the net generation. Washington, DC: EDUCAUSE. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants, Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. doi:10.1108/10748120110424816 Romero, M., Guitert, M., Sangrà, A., & Bullen, M. (2013). Do UOC students fit in the Net Generation profile? An approach to their habits in ICT use. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 14(3), 158–181. Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital: The rise of the Net generation. New York: McGraw-Hill.