Talking Stick - March/April 2009 - 42

The Net Generation on Campus and Online What Is It? A brief users’ guide to some online terminology Folksonomies User-created ways of organizing or categorizing information. In contrast to taxonomies (like library subject-indexing), which are created by experts, folksonomies are bottom up, created collaboratively by readers or consumers. Users generate online folksonomies by tagging or categorizing information with intuitive labels. Wikis User-editable Web sites. Like Wikipedia, they use a simple interface so that non-experts can easily edit and upload content to the Web. Wikis are used in higher education for courses, research, documentation, and team projects. Social Bookmarking A means for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of Web pages. With del.icio. us, for example, Web users can compare notes about bookmarked sites with others, and they can find new sites that other people have labeled with the same terms. User Tagging (or Social Tagging) The practice of categorizing content with intuitive labels to construct collaborative folksonomies (see above). Many colleges and universities have made technology-rich spaces for group work a high priority. Some exemplary or innovative residential learning spaces that support academic, community, and social needs of firstyear students include the following: • The Living-Learning Center (LLC) at the University of Oregon in Eugene, which features a variety of technology-rich learning spaces: a 2,700-square-foot performance hall, two classrooms, and a conference room. As described by Kevin Hatfield, assistant director of residence life and adjunct assistant professor, these rooms and similar spaces in the Earl International House are “used frequently by residential students and classes (e.g., first-year seminars, Freshman Interest Group [FIG] College Connections courses) for review/study sessions, miniseminars, and group projects” as well as by “visiting scholars for living-learning programs,” for art installations, and for “co-curricular academic initiatives supporting international students, student cultural groups, and multicultural/ diversity education.” • Many residential and dining spaces at Morrisville State College in New York, which are designed with nooks to support “nomadic” students and student project groups of four to five who are using laptops, cell phones, and handheld devices that need multiple power outlets. • The Life Science Early Awareness Program (LEAP) – a living-learning community for first-year students in biology and natural science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, which integrates the intensive use of technology with team-taught multidisciplinary courses and cocurricular experiences. LEAP provides similarly equipped group collaboration spaces in the residence hall, classroom, and open labs. Each space includes large shared displays and laptop collaboration software called TeamSpot®, which allows groups of walk-up laptop users to work together on public displays in conjunction with their personal laptops by sharing files, screen views, and annotations. The Massachusetts Institute of PhoTo coUrTesy of The UniversiTy of oregon Students take advantage of the wireless and a quiet space to study at Oregon’s Living-Learning Center. 2 Talking STick

Talking Stick - March/April 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - March/April 2009