DOWNLOAD MY DISSERTATION: College Students, Social Media, Digital Identities, and the Digitized Self

I am happy to finally make my entire final dissertation available for all to download and read.  This document represents some of the first qualitative research into how traditionally aged college students use social media and its impact on their development and how they construct identities online.  If you want a more detailed description, I've included the... Continue Reading →

Adding ‘Digital Identity’ to your Student ‘Development’ Syllabus [REBLOG]

Once a month I reblog a post from a colleague that I think deserves to be shared more widely.  This month’s comes from Dr. Paul Eaton, who is researching similar topics as myself: the impact of social media and digital technology on the college student developmental process (or as Paul would describe it, “becoming”).  Take a look at this great post from Paul on how one may integrate concepts of “digital identity” into traditional college student development courses.  Some great resources here.

Paul William Eaton

It is the start of spring semester here at Louisiana State University.  I am fortunate, blessed, and honored to once again be co-teaching our Master’s Level Student Development Theory course, alongside Dr. Danielle Alsandor and Kristin Satterlee (pedagogically, team-teaching is an incredible opportunity to add diverse perspectives to a classroom).

We have decided to add discussions of ‘digital identity’ to our syllabus.  This is an ethical responsibility, necessary and important for future leaders in our profession.  If you are teaching student development theory this spring, or in the near future, consider adding this important new component to your syllabus.

Many synoptic texts do not currently have chapters dedicated to this topic, so here is a list and brief overview of some readings we are including this spring.

Becoming and Belonging

This chapter, by Rob Cover (2014), is part of an excellent edited text from the University of Wisconsin Press entitled 

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The Difference Between a College Student’s DIGITAL and ONLINE Identity (And Why We’re Getting it Wrong)

As you probably know at this point, my research involves college students and how they construct a sense of self in digital and social media spaces.  In conducting this research, I've encountered the term "digital identity" frequently.  I've used it, and some of my doctoral student colleague friends have written about it (including Paul Eaton, Josie Ahlquist, and Ed... Continue Reading →

Applying Bronfenbrenner’s Student Development Theory to College Students & Social Media

Tweet http://youtu.be/fBLuzUk5NII (One of my colleagues and friends, Paul Eaton, wrote a great blog post about Bronfenbrenner's applicability to online/social media spaces.  I also wanted to have a go at the topic, so I purposely didn't re-read his post until after publishing this one... and there's agreement... but with a twist... read on...) Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory of... Continue Reading →

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