Session proposal: The Networked Individual

One of my favorite books the past few years from my field is Rainie and Wellmans “Networked: The new social operating system.” In it they describe how our social behavior is changing such that social networks are becoming an emerging way we navigate our world as virtual connection continually cuts in on face-to-face communication. The thrust of their argument implies that we should be teaching network-building and literacy in order to help our students become engaged citizens of the world. This is a core discussion proposal to talk about how we can use network building in education to help our students learn in the moment but also learn how to construct diverse, supportive, and useful social networks.