scientific journal of the modern education & research institute • The Kingdom of Belgium
PHYGITAL AND THE GAP BETWEEN THE GENERATIONS OF STUDENTS AND TEACHERS Inga Milevica (inga.milevica@gmail.com) Alberta College, Riga
Abstract The article examines the issue of the generation gap and the discourse of inequality arising within its framework. The generation gap is often viewed from the standpoint of prioritizing communication channels - the younger generation chooses online, the older generation – offline. However, this discourse of inequality that is formed in this opposition is not supported by research, in particular, the priorities and problems of students and teachers during a pandemic. Keywords: Phygital, Digital generation, Generation gap, Generational theory, Discourse of inequality.
During the covid-19 pandemic the famous abbreviation VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) acquired a new sound, and the trends formed during the pandemic will continue to influence the processes of higher education for a long time, which needs to keep up with the time more than ever, and not return to its usual rut. For example, surveys around the world increasingly show that workers in a wide variety of fields are willing to continue working from home even if there is no epidemiological need to do so. Employers, in turn, design their future by taking into account the characteristics of the distance. [3] Elements of distant communication and digital processes brought the future closer than ever before, to which the higher education was not ready and its pain points were drawn out. In this article, I would like to dwell on the issue (pain point) of the generation gap (to the context of the William Strauss@Neil Howe Generational theory) and the discourse of inequality in the conditions of phygital interaction that arises, especially during a pandemic. Phygital interaction is a «new way of interaction», an «offline/online interaction». [4, c. 38] The concept of phygital came from the merge of the concepts of physics + digital, thus denoting the merging and blurring of the boundaries between the real and the virtual, perhaps even already denoting the fundamental non-existence of boundaries between the concepts of the real and the virtual. The concept of phygital communication is often actualized in the context of the theory of generations: it is supposedly more characteristic to generation Z and even «reflects the moods and behavioral characteristics of generation Z extremely well». [5, c. 160] The concept of phygital sometimes even becomes the leading characteristic of the generation Z: «phygital is defined as a key characteristic of generation Z, which not only «does not see the difference between virtual and real», but also does not think of itself outside the phygital environment, hence its new name – phygital generation». [4, c. 38] Therefore, you can observe the so-called «intergenerational «gap» in its special digital specifics, which actualizes «the need to improve the methodology and psychological technologies of professional-personal growth in the system of professional education». [9, c. 86]
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