net savvy

I kicked off my morning with a ho-hum daily web surfing ritual and a stout cuppajoe, but before the caffeine kicked in, I perked up a bit when I noticed that All Things Digital had a big front and center notice about their use of cookies. They even provided information about opting out.

Very interesting. Is this a sign of things to come? In an era of where widgets, mashups, viral video and analytic services are invading the web, should more disclosure be occurring? Should we be doing more to educate and inform those who look to our sites for news and information?

Might we see library web sites that enrich their sites with data from services like Amazon or Syndetic Solutions include such notices?

NPR's Andy Carvin recently joined Talk of the Nation to cover social networking and sites like Facebook and MySpace. During the recording, they covered a number of issues related to their use in education.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14993512

First Monday is starting up a new series of podcasts. The current recording features an interview with Ian Bogost about his new book, Persuasive Games. Next up is Siva Vaidhyanathan ... I was forwarded a preview of the very interesting recording, but they haven't linked it up yet.

http://www.firstmonday.org/podcasts/

Joan Lippincott, associate executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information, contributed a video interview to the ELI 2007 Fall Focus Session, Being Net Savvy: Developing Skills for A Rapidly Changing World. Here's her description of it:

"My daughter, Meg Lippincott, a sophomore at Vassar College, has been working at her college library reference desk and occasionally sharing some observations with me about how students seek information for their academic work.  I interviewed her for a brief video for the ELI Focus Session on net savvy students.  Her friend Jan Zhan, a student at University of Maryland, did the camera work.  Meg discusses some aspects of information literacy, the way she learned to use some math software, and her definition of a 'net savvy student.'"  --Joan Lippincott

In this 12 minute podcast, we feature an interview with Leslie Dare, Director of Distance Education & Tech Services for Student Affairs at North Carolina State University. She presented a plenary session at the 2007 ELI Fall Focus Session entitled, "Keeping Pace with the Net Generation: A Student Affairs Perspective"

The student affairs division can be a valuable partner in developing a campus response to Net Generation issues. In addition to improving the “Net IQ” of staff on campus, student affairs can and should play a significant role in assessing the impact of technology on student development and behavior, crafting policies and procedures, and educating students about technology rights and responsibilities.

In this podcast, we feature an eight minute interview with Bradley A. Cohen, Assistant Director and Coordinator for Curriculum Development at the University of Minnesota. This interview was recorded at the 2007 ELI Fall Focus Session in Boulder, Colorado where Mr. Cohen presented a session entitled, "Faculty Development and the Net Savvy Student".

Brad Cohen discusses the digital divide and shares guiding principles the University of Minnesota uses to deliver an integrated suite of faculty development programs designed to help faculty meet the needs of net savvy students. The University of Minnesota's approach is informed by the data routinely collected from their students and faculty, the literature, and their practice.

I'm making this entry to establish the common tag for event content from the ELI 2007 Fall Focus Session, "Being Net Savvy: Developing Skills for a Rapidly Changing World." All participants developing blog entries, posting photos, creating podcasts, etc., from the focus session are encouraged to tag their entries in Connect with:

ELI07NetSavvySession

This will ensure those entries are aggregated on the event page created by the tag.

If you would like to submit content but don't already have a Connect account, please see the Connect FAQ, which provides directions to do so.

How can you prepare your students to be responsible, self-directed, lifelong learners, who understand the implications of how they use information and technology?  Explore answers to this question at the ELI 2007 Fall Focus Session, Being Net Savvy: Developing Skills for a Rapidly Changing World, August 15–16 in Boulder, Colorado. The event will be held at the new ATLAS building at the University of Colorado at Boulder. You can view the program, speakers, and session readings online.