Presented at EDUCAUSE Annual Conferences and Net Generation Learner

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.

The University of Rochester Libraries undertook a two-year study of undergraduate students, focusing on how they do research. Anthropological methodologies, such as cultural probes, were used to construct a holistic picture of the lives of undergraduates. The study results have informed how we make decisions and effected changes to align our efforts with the needs and expectations of Net Generation undergraduates.

Net Gen workers are your new hires, student employees, and recent graduates text messaging you about that job posting! Be prepared to transform your work environment and rethink institutional policies to successfully recruit and retain this net savvy workforce with its unique worldview and ease of incorporating new technologies into work and play.

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.