Generational Differences in Faculty and Student Comfort With Technology Use
Open accessAbstract
Background: Navigating through online education courses continues to be a struggle for some nursing students. At the same time, integrating technology into online courses can be difficult for nursing faculty. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess faculty technology integration practices, student attitudes about technology use, and generational differences related to faculty and student technology use. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used to obtain data for this study. Results: Integration of technology into online courses and student attitudes about technology use were not significantly different by generation. Faculty and students from the Baby Boomer and Generation X reported less comfort using technology and higher levels of anxiety using technology than did individuals from Generation Y. Conclusion: Significant generational variations were not noted in relation to technology integration into courses and overall student attitudes about technology in this study, but differences were noted in relation to comfort with use of technology and anxiety when using technology. Student learning outcomes and satisfaction with learning may be influenced by the student’s comfort using technology and faculty’s confidence in integrating and using technology to provide online instruction.
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Faculty, often from Baby Boomer or Generation X cohorts, typically have less technology exposure than Generation Z students, who are more adept with digital technologies.
“Faculty, often from Baby Boomer or Generation X cohorts, typically have less technology exposure than Generation Z students, who are more adept with digital technologies.”
From A Training Needs Analysis for AI and Generative AI in Medical Education: Perspectives of Faculty and Students (2025) · cites this paper as [35]
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McCoy, L., Ganesan, N., Rajagopalan, V., McKell, D., Niño, D. F., & Swaim, M. C. (2025) · Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development · doi:10.1177/23821205251339226 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“35 This divide has substantial implications for both curriculum design and faculty development.”
- Authors
- Culp-Roche, A., Hampton, D., Hensley, A., Wilson, J., Thaxton-Wiggins, A., Otts, J. A., Fruh, S., & Moser, D. K.
- Affiliations
- University of Kentucky (US)
- College of Nursing, University of Kentucky
- University of South Alabama (US)
- Corresponding author
- Culp-Roche, Amanda
- ORCID
- Venue
- SAGE Open Nursing
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-01
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- 2377960820941394-2377960820941394
- ISSN
- 2377-9608 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7774396
- OpenAlex
- W3042732090
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 6.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- SAGE Open Nursing (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UKnowledge (University of Kentucky) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UTS ePRESS (University of Technology Sydney) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Life-span and Life-course Studies › Generational Differences and Trends
- Social Sciences › Education › Online and Blended Learning
- Social Sciences › Demography › Technology Use by Older Adults
- Keywords
- generational differences, technology integration, online nursing education, nursing faculty, nursing students, technology comfort, technology anxiety, baby boomers, Generation X, millennials, online instruction
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