Talking Stick - March/April 2009 - (Page 44) The Net Generation on Campus and Online heard about their new home.” Some schools even use Facebook to help students select roommates, and others have formed “official” group pages to help manage student preconceptions. For example, at Stanford the Office of Admission created the Stanford Class of 2012 group, which includes staff from public affairs, undergraduate education, and the freshman dean’s office. Institutionally formed groups appear to be no less popular than student-formed groups, with nearly 1,400 members in the Stanford Class of 2012 group as of July 2008. In a 2006 study of 286 undergraduates at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Nicole Ellison, Charles Steinfield, and Cliff Lampe found that 90 percent of students formed connections with their new college friends and classmates, and 97 percent continued connections to high school friends through Facebook. This “maintained social capital” (the resources that individuals and groups accumulate through social networks) was greater with more intensive use of Facebook and helped students avoid “friendsickness.” Facebook continues to provide the dominant virtual community for students after they arrive on campus, yet entering students are also introduced to other online tools and rich media that residence life professionals can leverage as part of today’s complex communication ecologies. In a preliminary study of Facebook by Jennifer Ly, senior consulting manager for student computing, and Josh Schiller, associate director of residential education, Stanford students said that their residence hall e-mail chatlists are almost as useful as Facebook for “sharing interests and opinions,” second only to face-to-face communication. Another study by this author found that controversial topics on the house e-mail discussion list sometimes provoke heated reactions but often lead to substantive discussion, both online and offline, that help develop critical thinking skills, a key learning goal for first-year students. Residents also successfully use online discussion to help construct shared values and norms by working A Structured Liberal education program section meeting taking place in the “Smart Lounge.” The audiovisual equipment in the Stanford Florence Moore Hall “Smart Lounge.” Talking STick KaTe MaTney, sTanford UniversiTy
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