Talking Stick - March/April 2009 - (Page 40) The Net Generation on Campus and Online Research suggests that members of the Net Generation share notable characteristics. As a group, they • are heavily “deviced” and generally fluent in technology • have a strongly social orientation to technology and a bias for collaboration • crave and expect constant connectivity to maintain social networks • prefer to access information in hypertext, hypermedia, and multimedia modes • prefer instant gratification and “just-in-time learning” • are heavy multimedia content producers • are skilled multitaskers • and switch media readily and change or combine communicative purposes (i.e., personal, social, academic) within any one medium. Given the central role technology plays in the lives of today’s students, educators must understand the impact this is likely to have on the campus. In fact, four key technology trends are helping to fundamentally transform the college experience: • the movement of content online • the increasing mobility and convergence of personal technologies • the development of prosumer (professional/consumer or producer/consumer) devices and software • and the emergence of interactive and participatory Web applications known as “Web 2.0.” Not merely the flavors of the day, these trends appear sweeping and inexorable – and they are mutually reinforcing, in a kind of virtuous (some may say vicious) circle, with the Net Gen’s proclivities. Together these trends are powerfully moving the locus of student learning and socializing from formal institutional spaces and technologies (library, classroom, computer lab) toward informal, personal, and virtual spaces and technologies (such as the residence hall, online game world, smartphone). This article touches on emerging ideas about physical learning spaces in residence halls; the impact of virtual communities on residential life; and, in the context of these emerging technologies and social issues, the need for new kinds of support and guidance for first-year residential students. Regarding the need for flexibility and adaptability, we should bear in mind that students use the same spaces in different ways depending on the time of day or night or the week of the academic term. Despite all their laptops and the other devices, students continue to need (at least for the near future) university-provided computers, software, and other technology resources, ideally located in the residence halls where they do most of their work. The myth that “public labs are no longer needed” because most students have their own computers was debunked in a 2007 EDUCAUSE Review article by Brian L. Hawkins and Diana G. Oblinger. They point out that some students cannot afford and do not receive financial aid for the highend hardware or software applications they need for coursework. Even well-equipped students do not carry their laptops everywhere. At Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where 99 percent of undergraduates own at least one computer, 70 percent still use the computer labs located in every residence, primarily for the availability of technology-enhanced study space away from their rooms, for the software and courseware provided on public computers, and for printing and production activities. Students also need multimedia production facilities in or convenient to their residence halls and available around the clock, so they can digitize materials, edit audio and video, and do high-quality laser printing. As William Zeller argues in his article “Living-Learning Programs in the Digital Age,” we need “to ensure that the technological resources available within the living-learning programs support and complement the instructional technologies being utilized in the classroom,” with the important goal of enhancing “seamless in-class and out-of-class student experiences.” Spaces for Learning and Community Building Mobile Millennial learners – who are constantly accessing online content, equipped with converged devices and prosumer technologies, and interacting in virtual spaces – require us to rethink all the physical spaces in our residence halls and to perceive them as informal learning spaces. Student rooms, hallways, lounges, foyers, study spaces, dining halls, courtyards, and lawns are all, more than ever before, adjuncts to the formal learning spaces of classrooms and research labs. This anytimeanywhere learning-space mindset gives the concept of a living-learning community an even deeper resonance in the 21st century. Experience with formal learning spaces would suggest a list of residence hall “no-brainers”: the need for robust wired and wireless networking; abundant electrical connections to recharge devices; plentiful natural light and good artificial lighting; comfortable, humanfriendly spaces; and ergonomic, flexible, movable furniture. Welcome almost anywhere are soft seating, comfortable chairs with tablet arms, other laptop-friendly furniture, and large displays that can be shared. 0 Talking STick
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.