Presented at EDUCAUSE Annual Conferences, Net Generation Learner, Presentations/Speeches, and Students

Educational technologists and librarians will follow up their well-received EDUCAUSE 2007 panel session on library disconnects to focus on millennial user expectations concerning learning management systems. Bringing together a diverse set of perspectives and outside-the-box thinkers, this session will feature panelist discussion interspersed with new media demonstrations and audience participation.

Since 2003, the Speak Up National Research Project has collected authentic feedback about technology and education from over 1.1 million K–12 students. Learn about the expectations of today's digital learners for 21st-century learning environments, and how you can be prepared to address the technology needs of your future students.

Digital field assignments combine active-learning strategies with digital technologies to engage today's learners in team-based assignments in which students apply classroom concepts as they research real-world problems. This session will define the concept of digital field assignments, present case studies, and share best practices.

Students' preferences and demands challenge existing IT and other campus services. Sometimes a gap exists between what today's students expect and what universities are likely to deliver. Finding imaginative solutions for this "digital disconnect" can improve the teaching and learning environment. This session will address themes including informal learning spaces, classroom instruction, online resources, and promoting services.

Join this panel that continues the discussion addressed in a 2006 EDUCAUSE Quarterly article by McDonald and Thomas on the disconnects between library culture and millennial generation values. Panelists will cover three broad areas of demographics, design, and social outreach as related to the needs of the millennial library researcher.

The national Speak Up initiative annually collects and reports on the authentic, unfiltered viewpoints of K–12 students, teachers, parents, and school leaders about education technology and 21st-century learning environments. Learn about the expectations of today's K–12 students (the higher ed students of tomorrow) for technology use and their new aspirations for learning as uncovered in the most recent survey data.