Digital natives debate

How do the characteristics of your students affect how they might learn, and what might an ideal environment look like for them?
Prensky (2001) asserts that today's students (the "Digital Natives") can multi-task and parallel process. they need immediacy, with instant gratification and frequent rewards. I feel that whilst many students do have the characteristic of immediacy, they also often require very clear instructions on the set tasks. I wonder whether this is because they do not have the relevant reading skills ("less than 5000 hours of reading in their lives"!! - Prensky, 2001), so as to be able to assimilate information.
Taking these characteristics into consideration, I wonder whether the ideal environment for these students might include short questionnaires, with immediate results, but no long-winded, involved, convoluted tasks.

Higher education in a Web 2.0 world

The Web 2.0 world is incredible. The amazing array of resources for social communication is mind-boggling. But is it relevant to education in a tertiary setting? I think that wikis, blogs, etc. can be used as educational tools. They allow for dissemination of education in an easier and quicker manner (eg. use of global text messaging for large classes, in place of individual emails). Lecturers can include internet material in lectures/tutorials/online discussions. Podcasts can be used to disseminate important points, or whole lectures. Engaging in different technologies can maintain the interest of the students.
For me, the challenge of Web 2.0 technologies is great. I have a huge amount of learning to do if I want to make use of these technologies. I can see that some students will need similar instruction, prior to using the technologies,and so I will have to know how to teach this technology as well. The most important point, however, is that the students will need to be sure that the technology is being used for a purpose, and not just because it's there. They will need to see that the technology can promote collaboration, writing skills, reflective thinking, etc. Without knowing this, the students may just view the technology as yet another assessment to get through, and deep learning will not be encouraged.