In most developed countries students use digital technologies and the Internet in all facets of their daily life (school, work and leisure) (Kolikant, 2010; see also Levin & Arafeh, 2002). Most of these students, who were born roughly between 1980 and 1994 represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology and have been characterized by their familiarity and confidence with respect to ICT. They have spent most of their lives surrounded by digital communication technology. This generation was given several names to emphasize its affinity and tendency to use digital technology. According to Jones, Ramanau, Cross and Healing (2010), the three most common terms in circulation are: “Digital natives” (Prensky, 2001), “Net generation” (Tapscott, 1998), “Millennials” (Howe & Strauss, 1991) and (also known as “Generation Y”) (Howe & Strauss, 1991).

Whatever the terminology, the argument is that students who nowadays enter higher education have been exposed to a wide range of digital technologies. The exposure to technology is a critical element in determining at least some of the characteristics attributed to these students. Common to the multitude and proliferation of similar and/or related concepts to describe these students, is that all of these concepts suggest somehow the idea of a digitalized/ technologized generation (Rapetti & Cantoni, 2012). However, the age boundary between the generations varies – given the source – from 1977 to 1984 and others from 1990 to 2000.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the state of knowledge in education related to the concept of the “digital native” and its affiliates, as well as how the literature was identified, analyzed, synthesized, and reported by the author. To address the research aim an integrative literature review was performed, which “reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated” (Torraco, 2005, p. 356). There is a misconception with respect to literature reviews that integrative literature reviews are less rigorous or easier to write than other types of research articles (for example quantitative meta-analyses). On the contrary, the integrative literature review is a sophisticated form of research that requires a great deal of research skill and insight (Torraco, 2005, p. 356).

Initial management of retrieved abstracts included screening them for relevance and assigning abstracts to appropriate categories including “not for review”, “for review” and “not relevant”. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to the papers in the “for review” category during the screening, and relevant papers were identified for full data extraction. A total of 2500 articles were found, many of them were rejected after reading titles and abstracts and full text. In all, 355 articles (both qualitative and quantitative) met the inclusion criteria and corresponded to the aim of this review. The articles, which comprised the inclusion criteria, revealed 40 terms related to the notion of these new generation of students, some similar, others quite different and many of them redundant.

Howe, N. & Strauss, W. (1991). Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation. New York: Vintage Original. 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 Kolikant, Y. B.-D. (2010). Digital natives, better learners? Students’ beliefs about how the Internet influenced their ability to learn. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(6), 1384-1391. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.04.012 Levin, D. & Arafeh, S. (2002). The digital disconnect: the widening gap between Internet-savvy students and their schools. Washington DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants, Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6. doi:10.1108/10748120110424816 Rapetti, E. (2012). LoDE: Learners of Digital Era (Doctoral dissertation). Università della Svizzera italiana. Retrieved from RERO DOC: Library Network of Western Switzerland (2012COM006). Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital: the rise of the Net generation. New York: McGraw-Hill. Torraco, R. J. (2005). Writing integrative literature reviews: Guidelines and examples. Human Resources Development Review, 4(3), 356–367. Whittemore, R., & Knafl, K. (2005). The integrative review: Updated methodology. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 52, 546-553.