Students and Web Seminars Contributed by EDUCAUSE

Over the past decade, colleges and universities have increasingly turned to the web to increase student access, expand course offerings, and reach out to adult learners through online courses. The growth of distance and online education has been mirrored by a similar explosion in social software tools such as Facebook, Second Life, blogs, wikis, Flickr, and a host of Web 2.0 competitors that offer new ways for us to learn with and from each other. As our Web 2.0 toolbox grows, so do faculty and administrator concerns about control, privacy, assessment, and the effectiveness of these tools in the classroom.

In this seminar, Anderson will highlight an educational model for distance and online learning that leverages social software to help both learners and educators determine the most effective tool and granularity of application for their learning needs. He will also demonstrate a number of current and emerging tools and share practices that promise to help us learn from and with each other with an emphasis on social learning that includes groups, networks, and the collective.

Using the identity life cycle of the Cornell student as a use case, we will discuss the value of approaching identity management as a collective responsibility. The business and IT sides of the house must partner to meet rising expectations for streamlined access to information in a world where services are distributed not only across multiple campus units but also across multiple institutions.

In light of recent incidents, and with another school year now under way, it’s a good time to remind ourselves of our obligations—and rights—under FERPA, the federal statute that governs the privacy of student records and information. Here’s what we’ll cover:

• FERPA 101: The purpose and basic structure of FERPA
• FERPA 201: FERPA’s most important exceptions
• FERPA 301: The metaphysics of FERPA in the electronic world

University of Central Florida students Jared Lang and Jessica Vargas will discuss how Net Gen students use technology inside and outside the classroom. They will focus on various social networking tools, Web 2.0 applications, and information fluency issues. Fellow student Christopher Conover will provide technical assistance as they review different Web sites to illustrate their points.

Student Life is evolving exponentially and technology is driving the demands of the next generation of students. The prudent planning, financing, and operating of the Student Life facilities of the future will require accurate data, insight, and a peek into the crystal ball. The presenters will illustrate the impact of emerging trends on student lifestyle, media consumption, entertainment, personal communications, fitness, and computing needs found in the campus facilities that support Student Life.

The rise of the millenials has spawned new conversations about engagement and learning on today's college campuses. But what do these Net Gen learners really want? From the mouth of a confessed Net junkie, learn what makes these students tick, what ticks them off, and what faculty and administrators need to know to bridge the generational divide. Using anecdotes from her own life and the lives of her peers, Carie Windham will provide an overview of Net Gen characteristics and how those characteristics translate to the classroom, including the "Ten Commandments of Net Gen Teaching and Engagement."

In response to increasing rates of media piracy, particularly among college-aged students, the content industry has tried a variety of methods to dissuade questionable file-sharing practices, including airing commercials, filing lawsuits, and urging schools to provide access to sanctioned legal services, but progress to date has been minimal. Students themselves have not been consulted about their actual attitudes and behavior in this arena, although diverse motives have been ascribed to them. To gain a richer understanding of this key demographic, 42 undergraduates from a major East Coast university were interviewed at length about their media-acquisition habits and their responses to industry antipiracy efforts. This presentation will cover the students' viewpoints on this controversial topic.

What are the information technology uses and skills of undergraduate students, how does their use of these technologies contribute to their undergraduate experience, and how does IT add to their learning? Answers to these questions are provided by 18,039 students at 63 higher education institutions in their responses to surveys for the 2005 ECAR study. Comparisons will also be made between ECAR 2004 and 2005 study results.