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This is a nice collection of papers debunking the myth of the Digital Native. My personal belief is that this myth has been extremely harmful. If you have a chance to read Selwyn's article, I highly recommend it.

Hmmm...after reading that Wiki explanation, I feel a bit of frustration and anger. White middle class youth are probably digital natives if one wants to put a label on it. But, after reading articles on the subject, many lower income families with high school and college age students do not have the funds for technological devices & services: computers; IPADs; laptops; Kindles and the list goes on. I am even more certain youth in other countries do not have access nor would they have high speed internet access on as broad a scale as we have in the US. I suspect they could not afford it either. So this label probably only applies to a small percentage of millennials or digital learners.

Or I should have stated, for those labelled as digital learners...they are only a small percentage of the worlds's millennials and even GenX. Ithink sociological studies would support this conclusion. I prefer using statistics to test hypothesis. Then one can thread these into a theory and test it statistically.

Jennifer's email to us was a catalyst for this post to inquire about your digital prescence experience. I, like Jennifer, have aliases that I use on social networks. It is a challenge, though, to manage multiple presences and even when I do, often have a feeling of unease about the information. For example, in this course a suggestion was for us to update our profile. Although I don't feel secrative that I am taking a course at Bellevue College, the email/signature I use for this course is also the one I use for some other professional endeavors (such a technology consulting). I is not something that is a "need to know" by everyone. I chose, in this situation, not to update my general profile. When we are conscious of what/how we are posting and putting up, is one thing. Often though, I get on a mailing list, that I have no idea how I was included, as I probably forgot to check a "do not include me" box on something I have bought on line. This article was particularly interesting to me, as it talks about a survey that 23% of children get a digital presence even before they are born - having a lasting imprint.

Good article to bring things into perspective about 'online presence.' I found a similar article that compared statistics relating to age and online presence. 92% of children by age 2 have online presence thanks to parents and grandparents. As Jennifer mentioned in her discussion of facebook -- maybe we don't want the world to see what we did in our high school days...we were 15/16. Can we separate a personal online presence from a business profile...

I do separate my profiles by having different email aliases. There is overhead in having multiple ones, however, so not ideal.

I just finished reading E-Habits, by Elizabeth Charnock, CEO of the company who puts out this blog. It was fascinating (and scary!).

I think there's more of an opportunity for us to recognize that with so many different ways to communicate, the nuances of interpersonal communication are more important than ever. I think the people who will be successful, are the ones who truly learn to connect with their audience and make the digital seem personal. I grew up with a dad who taught English and was an Air Force public affairs officer. My writing style has always been formal, and cold, and I've had to learn to add warmth in digital spaces. I'm still trying to figure it out!

My experience with your style is you are very intellectually based in your writing style, while your personal style when dealing with this student was warm and open, encouraging and sharing. Okay, it is one opinion among many, I am certain; but this one is mine. I spent many years with the military as a family member and the mother of soldiers. One has to be careful in the civilian world when it comes to interacting with others, because military directness and crispness can get in the way of showing warmth and interest. Hopefully, I have mastered a more civilian way of speaking over the past several years.

I just discovered this. It might be an interesting community to join. "Welcome to the reborn home of the former DigitalDivide@ listserv - the new Digital Inclusion Network. Join over 350 members from dozens of countries exchanging knowledge on digital inclusion and strategies to close the many digital divides. This network is hosted as part of E-Democracy.org's Ford Foundation-funded "Participation 3.0" and will be used to gather input for our Inclusive Social Media initiative. This is a hybrid e-mail list and web forum with access via Facebook and Twitter. "

Since Minnesota is my home state, I decided to join this community. http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/joyannlajeret

An interesting, direct way to build political and social awareness through the internet. We really are a global community. Also, it allows - as Joy points out - to remain close to our roots, if we want.

This is an open online course about Digital Storytelling, that begins January 10. Feel free to sign up!

I wish I had more time in the day for the Digital Storytelling class... it looks like a great use of online apps.

I'm bumping this up. The course has been in session for over a month now, and there is some amazing stuff happening. It's an open online course, and students helped come up with the weekly assignments. Anyone could design an assignment and submit it at http://ds106.us/assignments/submit/ Then each week students share their work with the class. There are also daily photo shoots, and they've even created a pirate radio station where anyone can submit songs and create playlists. There are officially enrolled students, and others participating just for the experience. You can view participants at http://ds106.us/members/ Participants add their blog feeds to the course, and the posts are automatically added to the site. The wiki at http://ds106.us/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page includes the official course details, like syllabus and calendar. The creative work that is coming out of this, is simply stunning.

Interesting article about maintaining your online presence.

I think the "game" mentality that seems to exist in all of us, is definitely true for computer scientists. You often hear stories about how secure computers are "hacked" by someone wanting to see if they can do it. I suspect these people have found their way into corporate businesses and can now "play" and see how much they can get, so the stories in this article can be true. It is true our information stays there forever now. I guess we're now all immortal.

In today's Seattle Times, A3 section - interesting article which followed over 2,000 US students from 2005 to 2009. 45% made no significant improvements in their critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills during first 2 years of study. After completing 4 years, 36 % showed no significant gains in "higher order" thinking skills. Article also states some contributing factors, many students work part-time, however, most students only spent 1/5 time on their studies and 51% on socializing & extra-curricular. I have a strong hunch the internet is a big contributor to the socializing factor. When I read such statistics, it makes me ponder if on-line learning can truly change this social/educational trend. I am enjoying many readings on the diigo, both from Jennifer and others, however, I'm not sure I would design an on-line class which designated a considerable amt. of time to short readings and discussions. Your thoughts on this?

I too found the article interesting - thanks! I do wonder about the types of classes students completed especially in their first two years. The might be a marked difference in skills acquisition if students were completing many required large class survey classes to meet initial requirements vs. small, more focused classes in their areas of interest.

I am still trying to get the picture of "slogging" through studies! Is that what I am doing when reading all this material in Diigo? I don't think so.

"The current and future health of America's 21st Century Economy depends directly on how broadly and deeply Americans reach a new level of literacy--'21st Century Literacy'--that includes strong academic skills, thinking, reasoning, teamwork skills, and proficiency in using technology.", says the 21st Century Workforce Commission National Alliance of Business

Another great read and thanks, Ann. Something this article doesn't address is the growing concern about the "digital divide." Not all segments of our society has equal access to the internet. I recently heard a lecture at NSCC addressing this problem. Many outlining districts in urban areas(and rural areas) do not have the infrastructure to receive Wi-Fi. Students is poor neighborhoods (many who don't have computers at home) must go to their local public library to get internet access. Yes, our public school system needs to incorporate more technology "know-how" into their curriculum and instruction, but equally as important, our society needs to take a closer look at what segments of society are presently at a big disadvantage in terms of equal access to technology, both in and out of school. As technology redefines what it means to be "literate," then we also must address equity and accessibility to resources.

Helen, I like your astute comments and observations. The poor in this country may have access to computers in the library and at school, but many of them are homeless and living in cars. Anywhere from 2000-5000 people are homeless in King County and 80% of these people are women with children and suffering from DV incidents. If we go further, I have a friend working in Chimbote, Peru. Most of the people living in the barrios do not even have running water, much less the ability to buy or use computers. I suspect worldwide, you would see extremely large percentages of children without food much less computer access or skills.

In her important, controversial new book, Sherry Turkle reads our leap into digital technology not as the unfettering of a deep, human urge to connect, but as a dire symptom to be understood within an older framework: psychoanalysis. Whether you find this book's analysis convincing depends on how you read the Rorschach test that is the Internet.

Bruce, CaringBridge has been a great support for so many people. I originally discovered the site while I was following the story of Baby Allie http://www.scotthousehold.com/allie.htm whose mom documented her short life battling with AML. A huge community grew around her little life, and I discovered many CaringBridge sites. Jenny went on to start the Heroes for Children foundation, raising more than $3 million for families in TX with children undergoing treatment. My own early blogging experiences were around my own grief and loss http://momrealityblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/it-began-with-tragic-ending.html I had previously been involved in several online parenting communities. They were a huge support to me during that time. We have the potential to do a lot of good online and off. I think we just need to be cognizant of how our messages are amplified, and how we amplify the messages of others.

Joy, I am so sorry for your loss. I think grief is different for everyone, and the internet is a place we can find other people who share similar methods of grieving, so we don't feel so alone. In our own families, it's hard to support each other through periods of loss. I've discovered a lot of online communities, some healthy, and some not, where people feel comfortable expressing their feelings about loss. I think the most important thing I learned online during that time, was "be gentle with yourself."

Good Motivational Video to use technology to teach.

The emphasis of this article, is that we can get in information overload, which impacts the verasity of the data we get. He discusses deliberate biases in websites and the need for us to use filters in the information we receive. To me, it is not just the information we receive, but how we ask the question. Using a different search engine or how a question is phrased can often provide a different answer. When I am trying to research something, I often will not only read the first couple of references, but randomly go to a later page and some of the references there.

Library science has definitely evolved from the time of index cards and Dewey decimel system, as the only real tools we had to find information and books required physical interaction with the printed page. It is great to have access to more data, but makes filtering more challenging. I personally, still like reading words from the printed page, but find that I do much of my reading/getting information via the web or in some type of visual form. I think the ebook products are just the start. I do look forward (and I know it is beginning) when text books for our students will be primarily electronic and they don't have carry around such heavy bookbags. Also, as a new BC student, thanks for letting me about Books 24/7 and Bruce, your comment, about how the librarians are starting to use electonic means for "crap detection" in electronic media is good.

Just saw this posted by the Cybrarian who supports our MEDIT students. http://library2.norwich.edu/library/findingonlinebooks

I just wanted to add something light to the mix here. This is one of my favorite youtube videos :)

I happened to be doing laundry and had a fitted sheet that needed to be folded. I used the information in the video and was able to more successfully fold the sheet. (I did a variation, however, after collecting the corners I folded the sheet holding it.) It is true that one needs to practice is to master it and having a "teacher" with me, might have made it more helpful. In addition to learning a new skill , the desire to post about my experience became a reflection of my digital presence. Having the information that I did laundry today is not something I consider secrative, but it is not something I would normally share with large numbers of people or people that I don't know. (A friend might call during the task, for example, and I might indicate why I was busy, but I wouldn't call to tell her that I did laundry.) On the internet, though, I can reach out without touching someone. By posting, I feel it is "about me". When Betty White hosted Saturday Night Live she made comparisons to Facebook. One joke was in her day having to see pictures from someone's vacation was usually considered torture. Perhaps, the vicariousness we can have when looking at someone's life unobserved makes it more exciting.

What's funny is that I discovered that link originally when it was posted by Alan Levine (@cogdog) on Twitter. It's just one of those little personal things shared, that made things seem more friendly. But it's also something useful that other people have passed on.

"It's often said that services like Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter - you name it - are not the product, you are. Each and every bit of information you share and action you take is used to create a profile of user behavior, which is used then to either advertise directly to you or to people on a whole. But how can we ride the fine line? How can we have great, world-changing services at a price (read: free) everyone can afford without completely selling out the end user?"

I think it's going to have to be redefined. But I also think we're in the process of defining new commodities. We need to decide what we value.

I think this issue of privacy and use of personal information by online service companies is a very big deal. I'm also beginning to make use of some of these cloud-based applications (especially from Google) as part of my standard approach to teaching hybrid classes. Up until this past year, I've relied on the tried and true Vista/Blackboard to manage student projects and interactions, but I've found it to be sort of a dinosaur compared to the speed and ease of use of other Web2.0 apps. But if I'm working outside of Vista/Blackboard, I need to be especially careful of privacy policies and procedures of the companies behind these online apps. In the 'Sharing and Privacy' article, Mike Melanson makes some interesting points. He says: "...the companies themselves - the Googles and Facebooks and Twitters of the world - realize that correctly handling these issues of privacy are center to their continued success." and... ""All things equal, the company that's going to want to win in the next couple years will have the best privacy model." When I was doing my own investigation into this issue last winter, I asked myself, "What are the most conservative and and security conscious organizations using for social networking tools?" So I went up to the US Army website to find out. Certainly they have a heightened need to be careful what companies they choose for their social networking tools. I posted the results of this online research on my Web2.0 Chronicle blog. The results aren't surprising... Google, Facebook, Twiter, Wordpress, Flickr... among others. I see no need to rush into this area, and am willing to wait until the dust settles and user results come back from dependable sources. Jennifer's recommendation of Diigo is a good example of this. For myself, I've already left a significant "digital footprint" over the past 15 years - which is now out

Thought this might be of interest on the topic of copyright.

I don't think this problem would be so wide spread if the information as open. There is a lot being done to open materials to all students. We learned about this concept in Intro to eLearning. I have sent an example: http://www.curriculumcompanion.org/openCourt/index.cfm

We're going to do some experimentation with plagiarism. Stay tuned!

I thought I'd try something a little bit different for Module 5, and do a CMS review of a current online course that I've been working on, called Visual Storytelling. It's a review of a Blackboard/Vista-based online class, but I'm also blending a couple of presentation technologies together to create this - SlideRocket and Camtasia. If you take a look at it, you'll want to make sure your audio is turned on - otherwise, it won't make much sense... It runs just under 10 minutes. This was a useful exercise for me, because I became aware of numerous changes I'd like to make for the next iteration of this class. These presentation tools are now very powerful and easier to use than in the past. SlideRocket has only been around for about 2 years, and it keeps getting better! You can also access this presentation by way of my Web2.0 Chronicle blog.

Thanks Bruce for showing how you use Blackboard for one of your courses. I do agree that some of the mature LMS need to make it easier to use Web 2.0 tools. Jennifer's comments about being able to use these tools is so appropriate. All of these wonderful tools are available, the problem is learning when and how to use them in our online teaching.

Thanks everyone for your feedback and comments! Mary Ann, I did see your photos from the Galapagos, and it seems like they will make great material for an online class presentation especially with your underlying message - the importance of biodiversity to our long term survival. I'm really glad you're teaching this material... I wish we were more aware of these dire issues 50 years ago! The Visual Storytelling class will be offered again in Fall 2011. Susan... One useful application of online lectures/presentations is that they can free up classroom time for more exploratory dialog and hands-on activities, as appropriate. Students also like them, because they can stop and review material at their own pace. Jennifer - I'll be happy to give an overview some presentation media I use during your office hour on Thursday. This would be a good experience for me, since I've never taught a session using Elluminate. If you could give me some quick tips beforehand, that would be welcome. I can't do it this week, but Feb 24th or following Thursdays look open.

Jenkins is an important player in this online learning stuff. This piece brings up some important considerations. We will be talking about assessment next week, but I wanted to toss this to you now, to get your gears spinning.

I cannot understand why he is so worried about open book testing of indivduals; rather than thinking about how to set up a test that would allow all contributors to weigh in and answer. What is the point of the process of collabrative learning then? Or am I just naive?

One response to this article was the practical - give the questions before the exam and the students can do whatever they want prior to the test, but when the test is actually given, make it closed book. This emphasizes information retnetion more than information retreival, which seems to be his concern. That being said - whether a test or not - his points are interesting and requires a great deal of thinking through. Allowing collaboration, for example as Joy profers, during a short course time brings up the issue of bandwidth and accessibility, so a teacher needs to spend time on logistics.

Another review on Turkle's "Alone Together."

OMG...how totally eerie. How predictive! Amazing, thanks for sharing that Bruce.

The "cultural rachet effect" was particularly interesting to me. (For grown-ups, learning a new skill is painful, attention-demanding, and slow. Children learn unconsciously and effortlessly. Because of this, each new generation rapidly acquires all the accumulated innovations of the past without even knowing it. ) It becomes the new "normal", so rather than the computer, for example, being something new, its integrated as part of lives. It changes our footprint in the world and, therefore, the world.

animoto.com is a tool that allows one to take pictures and create a slide show, adding text and music. It is a free tool, however, for a modest amount you can have additional features that allow you to do professional editting. I chose this activity as a way to connect with everyone and can really match faces with names. If you do see any mistakes, please let me know and I can easily update the slide show. I feel it goes to the discussion about creating community and having a presence that is more dimensional than just our names in a list. One could request and easily add other photos or snips.

Ann: I agree with Joy...cool tool. What a nice way to introduce the class.

My thought exactly Ann!