For the 2007 Symposium, the keynote speaker was Lee Rainie, the project director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, whose mission is to research and report on the way that new technologies are affecting the way Americans live, work, and learn. Lee Rainie’s organization investigates topics such as the expectations of digital natives as they enter the workplace, demographic trends in broadband Internet access, perceptions of intellectual property, and teenagers who are becoming self-made media producers.
That year’s theme, “Social Computing and the Culture of Teaching and Learning,” put a spotlight on the impact of new tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasting, and tagging on the ways we communicate and learn. The Symposium acts as a showcase for many of these technologies, giving faculty the opportunity to experience them firsthand.
