Millennials

Just heard about an interesting pre-conference at the American Library Association's midwinter meeting in Philadelphia, PA. It will be a two day course (January 10-11, 2008) on user-centered design by Brenda Reeb from the University of Rochester. Should be a good beginning and intermediate introduction to the processes that have culminated in the open-access monograph that Rochester has recently produced, Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester.

For more info see: http://litablog.org/2007/11/13/lita-workshops-at-2008-ala-midwinter-meeting/

At this year's Educause Annual Conference there were a variety of sessions on millennials. I thought I would list them all here for those interested in this topic. I may have missed a few, if so let me know.

McDonald, Sweeney, Thomas, Walters www.educause.edu/E07/Program/11073?PRODUCT_CODE=E07/SESS047

Deturck, Griscom www.educause.edu/E07/Program/11073?PRODUCT_CODE=E07/SESS019

Somerville www.educause.edu/E07/Program/11073?PRODUCT_CODE=E07/SESS061

Donald, Hardin www.educause.edu/E07/Program/11073?PRODUCT_CODE=E07/SESS098

Campbell www.educause.edu/E07/Program/11073?PRODUCT_CODE=E07/CI15

San Francisco, CA

Four distinct generations, from the tech-savvy to the tech-challenged, are enrolled in higher education today. Are we as educational leaders in tune with their wants and needs? In an era where students can text message their registrations, how many bells and whistles should we offer them? How do we manage to track trends? This presentation will explore possibilities and innovative solutions for the digital age.

Dr. Thor became a college President at the age of 36 and it was the first time she had been on a college campus. She has the distinction of being the only college President to have had a baby while President. She started as a public information officer and said she is still a public information officer but now she is paid more.

She believes she succeeded by designing programs that met her own needs and said there are abundant opportunities to distinguish oneself by meeting un-met student and faculty needs.

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative has taken on information fluency and Web savvy in the Net Gen age in three recent white papers:

• Ensuring the Net Generation Is Net Savvy
• Getting Past Google: Perspectives on Information Literacy from the Millennial Mind
• How Choice, Co-Creation, and Culture Are Changing What It Means to Be Net Savvy

The attached MP3 provides full coverage of the SAC conference on net generation learners.

Listen in as University of Central Florida Vice Provost Joel L. Hartman, student Gregory Roberts and a host of attendees share their thoughts and comments.See the following link for detailed information about the session "What Does the Net Generation Expect From Us?"