LHU professor Rey Junco will speak on

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - The Berkman Center at Harvard University has invited a Lock Haven University professor to be a featured speaker. Rey Junco, associate professor and the director of Disability Services in the Department of Academic Development and Counseling, will deliver a talk on “Teaching Teens to Twitter: Supporting Engagement in the College Classroom.” The event, part of the Berkman Center Luncheon Series, will take place at 12:30 on December 1 and will be webcast live on the Berkman Center website: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ .

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is the premiere research center for Internet social, legal, policy and educational issues. Junco says he is excited to have been invited to give this talk by the principal investigators of “digital natives.” He explained that the expression “digital natives” refers to people who were born into the age of digital technologies, including the Internet, IPods, and so on. Junco’s work focuses on how digital natives use technology for engaging purposes. His talk will deal with an experimental study he is conducting to determine whether first-year college students’ use of Twitter affects student engagement and success.

This is one of the first controlled experimental studies of social media’s impact on first-year student engagement and academic performance. Previously, Junco conducted a large, multi-institution survey of student technology use, which he wrote about in his book, “Connecting to the Net.Generation: What Higher Education Professionals Need to Know about Today’s Students.” Junco further explored students’ Internet usage in his second book, “Using Emerging Technologies,” in which he analyzed the role of social networking sites in the engagement of students, technology’s potential to improve retention, and blogs’ potential to improve students’ writing and marketing skills.

Junco received his doctoral degree in Counselor Education with a focus on Student Development, and his Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University.

Following Junco’s appearance at the Berkman Center, his talk will be archived on the Berkman Center website.