Social Computing

Social software includes a variety of tools to develop and share text, image, audio, and video files as well as organize resources others create: blogs, wikis, RSS aggregators, podcasts, vodcasts, and more. While the quantity of options can be overwhelming, this workshop will provide an overview of different tool types along with step-by-step demonstrations and effective examples so participants can learn what these terms mean and fine-tune their understanding of social software. A discussion of practical uses of social software in teaching and learning will follow with examples. Participants will also brainstorm how these tools can enhance communication among IT staff and between IT staff, faculty, and students. Select social software resources will be created for this workshop group both for practice and to continue discussion well after the session ends. Participants will be surveyed in advance for a tailor-made program to benefit them the most.

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?

 This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008, by Gail Salaway and Judith Borreson Caruso, with Mark R. Nelson. This 2008 ECAR research study is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 ECAR studies of students and information technology. The study is based on quantitative data from a spring 2008 survey of  27,317 freshmen and seniors at 90 four-year institutions and eight two-year institutions; student focus groups that included input from 75 students at four institutions; and analysis of qualitative data from 5,877 written responses to open-ended questions. In addition to studying student ownership, experience, behaviors, preferences, and skills with respect to information technologies, the 2008 study also includes a special focus on student participation in social networking sites.

Citation for this work: Caruso, Judith Borreson and Gail Salaway. “The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008 Roadmap” (Roadmap). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

The emergence of the networked information economy is unleashing two powerful forces. On one hand, easy access to high-speed networks is empowering individuals. People can now discover and consume information resources and services globally from their homes. Further, new social computing approaches are inviting people to share in the creation and edification of information on the Internet. Empowerment of the individual -- or consumerization -- is reducing the individual's reliance on traditional brick-and-mortar institutions in favor of new and emerging virtual ones. Second, ubiquitous access to high-speed networks along with network standards, open standards and content, and techniques for virtualizing hardware, software, and services is making it possible to leverage scale economies in unprecedented ways. What appears to be emerging is industrial-scale computing -- a standardized infrastructure for delivering computing power, network bandwidth, data storage and protection, and services. Consumerization and industrialization beg the question "Is this the end of the middle?"; that is, what will be the role of "enterprise" IT in the future? Indeed, the bigger question is what will become of all of our intermediating institutions? This volume examines the impact of IT on higher education and on the IT organization in higher education.

This 2008 ECAR research study is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 ECAR studies of students and information technology. The study is based on quantitative data from a spring 2008 survey of 27,317 freshmen and seniors at 90 four-year institutions and eight two-year institutions; student focus groups that included input from 75 students at four institutions; and analysis of qualitative data from 5,877 written responses to open-ended questions. In addition to studying student ownership, experience, behaviors, preferences, and skills with respect to information technologies, the 2008 study also includes a special focus on student participation in social networking sites.

Citation for this work: Salaway, Gail and Caruso, Judith B., with Mark R. Nelson. The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008 (Research Study, Vol. 8). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

This document presents the key findings of The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008, by Gail Salaway and Judith Borreson Caruso, with Mark R. Nelson. This 2008 ECAR research study is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 ECAR studies of students and information technology. The study is based on quantitative data from a spring 2008 survey of  27,317 freshmen and seniors at 90 four-year institutions and eight two-year institutions; student focus groups that included input from 75 students at four institutions; and analysis of qualitative data from 5,877 written responses to open-ended questions. In addition to studying student ownership, experience, behaviors, preferences, and skills with respect to information technologies, the 2008 study also includes a special focus on student participation in social networking sites.

Citation for this work: Caruso, Judith Borreson and Gail Salaway. “The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008—Key Findings” (Key Findings). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Building a community of learners can be especially challenging when working with online and distance education students. By using social networking tools like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Second Life, we can begin to construct a community of sharing and participation that leads to enhanced satisfaction and a true sense of belonging.

A new Web site brings social networking and ad revenues to the traditional note-taking service, but the model could raise copyright issues.