EDUCAUSE | Social Computing and Students

Crafting a Campus Identity: First-Year Students, Residential Life, and Social Networking

drupal — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:22:11 -0600

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.

Social Media and Education: The Conflict Between Technology and Institutional Education, and the Future

drupal — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:10:01 -0500

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?

Just Published: The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008

cluckett — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:23:17 -0500

EDUCAUSE announces a new EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) study, The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008, by Gail Salaway and Judith Borreson Caruso, with Mark R. Nelson and an introduction by Nicole B. Ellison. 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. Because of the topic's critical importance, ECAR has made the full study, as well as key findings and roadmap, publicly available to all. Visit ECAR on the web.

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008—Roadmap

ckeller — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:20:15 -0500

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 ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008—Key Findings

ckeller — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:15:25 -0500

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.

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008

ckeller — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:22:00 -0500

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.

Sharing Your Notes Online — and Getting Paid for It

ckeller — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:18:28 -0500

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

Many Students Loosely Joined: Social Software to Support Distance Education Learners

ckeller — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:18:22 -0600

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.

Student Communication 2017: Meeting the IT and Networking Needs of Tomorrow’s Students

drupal — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:38:28 -0600

Students expect their university’s network to meet their academic and personal needs. So how can network administrators cope with a student body whose network needs for self-expression, learning, and creativity outpace the requirements of academic departments or (institutional) business practices? Is it possible (or just wishful thinking) to predict their demands? During this session, we will identify a few trends seen on today’s information-communication-technology landscape and address why we must continuously seek alternative and more efficient ways to meet the ICT services of tomorrow’s students.

RavenDesk: How Is Your Economics Course Like Your English Course?

drupal — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:00:51 -0600

RavenDesk is a web application through which students share conceptual connections between courses. Students thus build a view of their own and their campus’s intellectual life by exposing the interrelationships between courses. An ELI edition for conference presentations will also be available. See http://www.patrickgmj.net/project/eli-ravendesk.

Highlights of the 2007 ECAR Study of Students and Information Technology

ckeller — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 14:27:47 -0600

Presentation at the Sixth Annual ECAR Symposium, December 5-7, 2007, in Boca Raton, Florida. What information technologies are used by undergraduates? How does IT contribute to their academic experiences and learning? What has changed since 2005? ECAR presents 10 key findings from the fourth annual survey of undergraduates, with responses from 27,846 students at 103 higher education institutions.
How to Cite This Work: Caruso, Judith Borreson, and Gail Salaway. "Highlights of the 2007 ECAR Study of Students and Information Technology." Presentation at the ECAR Symposium, Boca Raton, FL, December 5-7, 2007, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Undergraduates Speak about IT: Results of the 2007 ECAR Survey

drupal — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:17:57 -0600

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.

A Discussion on Disconnects Between Library Culture and Millennial Generation User Values

drupal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:42:38 -0500

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.

Well, if They’re Already Using It ...

ckeller — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:30:16 -0500

College representatives at Educause conference ponder outsourcing e-mail to Google and how to embrace students’ Facebook habits.

Student Expectations Study

ckeller — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:47:43 -0500

These are key findings from online research and discussion evenings held in June 2007 for the Joint Information Systems Committee. The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) commissioned Ipsos MORI to undertake research among prospective university students to understand a number of issues:

current levels of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) provision at school/college
expectations of ICT provision at university
any difference between expectation of ICT provision and that which is provided by HE institutions

These objectives helped to explore the hypothesis that there is a mismatch between student expectations of what they will be able to do and what Higher Education (HE) institutions can and do offer in terms of ICT. This study will form part of an overarching piece of research being undertaken by JISC to examine this hypothesis and inform HE institutions of student expectations of ICT provision.

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007 - Roadmap

ckeller — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:05:20 -0500

This roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007. A longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, and 2006 ECAR studies of students and information technology, this 2007 study reports noticeable changes from previous years. It is based on quantitative data from a spring 2007 survey and interviews with 27,846 freshman, senior, and community college students at 103 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies these students use, own, and experience; their technology behaviors, preferences, and skills; how IT impacts their experiences in their courses; and their perceptions of the role of IT in the academic experience.

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007 - Key Findings

ckeller — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:00:40 -0500

This document presents the key findings of The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007. This 2007 ECAR research study is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, and 2006 ECAR studies of students and information technology. The study, which reports noticeable changes from previous years, is based on quantitative data from a spring 2007 survey and interviews with 27,846 freshman, senior, and community college students at 103 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies these students use, own, and experience; their technology behaviors, preferences, and skills; how IT impacts their experiences in their courses; and their perceptions of the role of IT in the academic experience.

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007

ckeller — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:50:42 -0500

This 2007 ECAR research study is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, and 2006 ECAR studies of students and information technology. The study, which reports noticeable changes from previous years, is based on quantitative data from a spring 2007 survey and interviews with 27,846 freshman, senior, and community college students at 103 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies these students use, own, and experience; their technology behaviors, preferences, and skills; how IT impacts their experiences in their courses; and their perceptions of the role of IT in the academic experience.

Student Perspective Video - University of Dayton

drupal — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:16:42 -0500

This video from the University of Dayton shows students discussing in their own words how and why they use social networking applications such as Facebook. It streams from the University of Dayton Web site in Windows Media format.

Forget Friending — Roommate Me

ckeller — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:13:12 -0500

"For the first time, incoming students at San Francisco State U. can select who they want to live with by searching online profiles."

Net Generation Students and Campus IT: Supporting Student Success in the Age of Multitasking, Facebooking, and Instant Messaging

drupal — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:14:15 -0500

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.

7 Things You Should Know About Wikipedia

ckeller — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:39:24 -0500

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia anyone can add to or edit. A highly popular resource, Wikipedia has become a primary research tool of college students, and it may help them develop comparative research skills. However, since Wikipedia’s entries don’t undergo verified expert review, many academics are concerned about its use for academic purposes.

The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About…" briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

7 Things You Should Know About Facebook II

drupal — Fri, 11 May 2007 17:18:51 -0500

Since ELI's first brief on Facebook (http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7017), the social networking site originally developed for college and university students has become available to anyone. It now offers new ways of organizing social networks as well as extensive new features and access to other Web applications. Users can now manage online identities and engage other users much more easily. They also enjoy privacy policies that give them unprecedented control over how their personal information is handled on the site.

Social Networking Technologies: A "Poke" for Campus Services

drupal — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:57:34 -0500

Although advances in social networking technologies allow for new and perhaps more efficient means of learning and communicating, they also pose some significant challenges in higher education, especially for those campus professionals who provide student and academic services.

A Wider World: Youth, Privacy, and Social Networking Technologies

drupal — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:18:40 -0600

Facebook represents a growing number of applications that provide communication, connection, and community building among users, so please bring your laptop to this session for an introduction to this cool new tool! We will learn how to create an account, make "friends" (connections with others you know or would like to know who share common interests), and use various functionalities such as bulletin boards, "poking," or posting content such as text, photos, and video. If the prognostications are true that e-mail is for old people and social networking is the new killer app, then come join the future!

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2006 Roadmap

drupal — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 11:41:34 -0600

This roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2006. A longitudinal extension of the 2004 and 2005 ECAR studies of students and information technology, this 2006 study is based on quantitative data from nearly 29,000 freshman and senior students at 96 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies today's students are using, with what levels of skill they are using them, how IT use contributes to the undergraduate experience, and what value the use of IT adds in terms of learning.

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2006 – Key Findings

drupal — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 11:35:56 -0600

This document presents the key findings of The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2006. A longitudinal extension of the 2004 and 2005 ECAR studies of students and information technology, this 2006 study is based on quantitative data from nearly 29,000 freshman and senior students at 96 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies today's students are using, with what levels of skill they are using them, how IT use contributes to the undergraduate experience, and what value the use of IT adds in terms of learning.

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2006

drupal — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 09:44:35 -0600

A longitudinal extension of the 2004 and 2005 ECAR studies of students and information technology, this 2006 study is based on quantitative data from nearly 29,000 freshman and senior students at 96 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies today's students are using, with what levels of skill they are using them, how IT use contributes to the undergraduate experience, and what value the use of IT adds in terms of learning. A corporate edition is available here.

7 Things You Should Know About Google Earth

drupal — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:37:51 -0600

Google Earth is an interactive mapping application that allows users to navigate (or "fly") the entire globe, viewing satellite imagery with overlays of roads, buildings, geographic features, and the like. Educators can use it to assess and bolster students' visual literacy. Students can use it to develop a context for spatial and cultural differences globally.

The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning practices and technologies. Each brief focuses on a single practice or technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

7 Things You Should Know About YouTube

drupal — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 10:16:13 -0500

YouTube is a video-sharing service that allows users to post personally developed videos of nearly any variety online, from animations to personal recordings. YouTube is one of an emerging class of social applications that allows users to share and form communities around their content. It draws users into engaging content as commentators and creators, activities that heighten students' visual literacy.

The Myth about Putting Information Online

drupal — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 12:11:03 -0500

The authors discuss online social networking tools such as MySpace and the Facebook and how higher education administrators may want to advise or warn students about the consequences of posting personal information on these sites.

7 Things You Should Know About Facebook

drupal — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 15:10:26 -0500

Information literacy—the ability to negotiate the opportunities and risks of the Internet age—is increasingly important. Facebook, a leading social networking site, highlights the information literacy challenges college students face. The site allows individuals to create profiles that include almost anything they want to post and dynamically links their information to others with similar information. While Facebook allows for easy, spontaneous networking, students may not recognize the potential consequences of submitting personal information to a public forum.

The Many Faces of Facebook

drupal — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 15:21:55 -0500

"Social networking, event announcements, roommate vetting, law enforcement, and recently a bit of job browsing … Facebook.com has an impressive array of uses."

An Academic Blog for Students

drupal — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:10:20 -0500

Beginning this fall, all incoming students in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania will keep blogs of their academic interests and development. Unlike typical blogs, the Penn blogs will not be public. Access is limited to the student, the student's advisor, and, under certain circumstances, authorized university officials. Penn has a long-standing practice of requiring students to complete questionnaires to help guide their academic careers, and the popularity of online forums such as Facebook prompted university officials to introduce the blog format for the questions.Students will be required to make a small number of entries. Beyond that, they can keep the blog as current as they choose. The blog entries will be part of a student's academic record and cannot be changed later. The introduction of the blogs follows a pilot program last year involving 300 freshmen.