Students and Learners

Cosponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), EDUCAUSE, and the University of Central Florida (UCF), the Students, Technology and Learning: Strategies for Success Conference (formerly the Key to Competitiveness) provides AASCU institutions with an opportunity to learn more about the next generation of students—a group with much greater expectations for the use of technology in higher education than previous generations. The event allows teams of presidents and senior institutional leaders to explore new ways of using technology to meet student expectations and more effectively serve the next generation learner.

Campuses today face a growing number of clashing cultures. Faculty struggle with traditional methods of teaching in an environment where demands for flexibility and convenience are rising. Learners increasingly treat a college degree like a commodity. Battles rage over resources allocation. Politicians are exerting influence on campus operations and outcomes. This session will address these issues and the role IT departments need to play to help higher education not just survive, but thrive.

Diana Oblinger explores the 'net generation' who can seamlessly move between their real and digital lives. Their behaviours, preferences and expectations may be very different from those of their teachers. Diana examines the characteristics of these learners, the possibilities offered by new technologies and the skills that an education system needs to provide for the 21st century. She also argues that we need to adapt to this rapidly evolving context and goes on to explore the implications for learning space design, assessment and learning and teaching.

Members of a faculty learning community from a large urban research university will share the results of a study comparing expectations for technology use among faculty and students. Participants will engage in dialogue to address the presence (or absence) of a digital disconnect between teachers and learners and discuss the implications for instructional practice.

Additional contributors: Dina Bangdel, Teresa (Terry) J. Carter, Ed.D., and Frances (Fran) G. Smith, Ed.S., CVE, Virginia Commonwealth University.

This session will discuss the methods and preliminary results of the first and second steps of a three-step process for assessing a survey's validity. The survey of interest was designed to expand on McVay (2000, 2001) and Bernard et al. (2004), as well as examine learner characteristics and technology capabilities of online students.

Students are arriving on campus with a set of expectations and behaviors that differ from those of previous generations, including the faculty, who are faced with engaging them in the process of learning. Students' experience with new kinds of games and media has shaped their view of what learning is and how it occurs. This conversation will explore the changing way that young people approach playing, learning, and working and will examine how the concept of play can build bridges between traditional and emerging student populations.

In this video from the University of Central Florida, students interview other students to uncover what they know and don't know about information fluency, starting with the question: "What is IF (information fluency)?"

The introduction of new media tools and texts inevitably creates social tension as the roles of information receivers, producers, and gatekeepers shift with the changing literacy landscape. In particular, the traditional relationship between alphabetic literacy and schooling gives way to a complex and expansive view of multiple, critical literacies and their uses. How can educational institutions rethink the literacy and learning connection within the context of pervasive communication devices and shared knowledge networks? Instead of focusing on the challenges of integrating net savvy students into existing institutional practices, an assets model for new media education leverages everyday literacy skills and enlists students as partners in the design of relevant, customized, and dynamic learning environments in a digital world.

What do we need to know to support student success in all facets of their higher education experience? IT services affect the success of students from the day they begin searching for a program or school to their eventual departure and beyond. What do students want us to know about them, and what we can do to make their educational experience successful? This facilitated panel of college students will cover current trends and needs of today's students, as well as how to make their educational experience more successful.