Lupton Library is pleased to announce its continuing participation in the University Studies program. USTU 199, Beyond Facebook, is a one-credit, semester-long class in which freshman students are exposed to the new technologies and services commonly branded as ‘Web 2.0’. Through active engagement with social bookmarking, cloud computing, file-hosting and services such as Google Docs, students gain experience and insight into tools that can enhance their academic, professional, and personal lives.
The library is uniquely situated to teach this course insofar as navigating the 21st century web requires more than technical computing skills. Evaluating sources, constructing search queries, and understanding digital copyright are core competencies on the internet, and the library instruction program is the established campus authority for teaching these concepts. The ‘Beyond Facebook’ course thus plays a dual role in both expanding the library instruction program outside of the library as well as reinforcing instructional standards across the curriculum.
‘Beyond Facebook’ began in the Fall semester of 2009, under the instruction of Virginia Cairns. Initial student responses have been very positive, with students indicating that the course introduced technologies that “will definitely be resourceful later in [our] professional careers” (Anonymous student feedback, 11/19/2009). For Spring 2010, Lane Wilkinson is teaching the course. Given the past and current success, the library looks forward to offering other courses in semesters to come.