Presented at EDUCAUSE Annual Conferences, Students, and Social Computing

This session reports on a study exploring the relationship between the use of social networking applications and campus life. Online survey data from 3,000 first-year students living on campus describes how students use Facebook to create academic and social identities. We will discuss the institutional implications of social networking on recruitment, retention, and campus academic technology.

Today's technology enables users to form and join communities of common interest to learn and share information. In opposition to the privileged learning spaces of higher education, social media encourage learners to seek out their own answers and construct knowledge as a community rather than as individuals. Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, and Second Life offer new learning spaces, but how do they fit into the learning expectations of institutions?

What information technologies are used by undergraduates? How does IT contribute to their academic experiences and learning? What has changed since 2005? ECAR presents key findings from the fourth annual survey of undergraduates, with responses from 27,846 students at 103 higher education institutions. Plans for 2008 will also be discussed.

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.