The following presentation was developed as a part of my SAspeaks talk at the 2015 Annual Convention of NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. IT is based in my doctoral research on how student development might look different in digital and hybridized spaces. http://paulgordonbrown.com

1. Towards A Digital
College Student
Development Theory
by Paul Gordon Brown
Image from NASA

2. Towards A Digital
College Student
Development Theory
by Paul Gordon Brown
Image from NASA

3. Image from NASAImage from Facebook
Towards A Digital
College Student
Development Theory
by Paul Gordon Brown

4. CHA
NGE

5. (Turkle, 2004, para 6)
“I want to study
not only what the
computer is doing
for us, but what it
is doing to us.”
- Turkle
@paulgordonbrown

6. My
Research
@paulgordonbrown

7. DIGITAL
IDENTITY
?
@paulgordonbrown

8. confusion
there’s a lot of
with this word…
@paulgordonbrown

9. “Many student affairs
professionals use the term
digital identity
development to refer to
online professional self-
presentation; however, it
is important to tease apart
the differences between
using social media as part
of the exploration and
development of identity
and using social media to
present oneself in a
certain way.”
(Junco, 2014, p. 257) @paulgordonbrown

10. Self Presentation
Developmental Process
@paulgordonbrown

11. Psychological
Process
conflated with a
@paulgordonbrown

12. in here
today we’ll be talking about what’s going on
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13. research
What does the
say?
@paulgordonbrown

14. nothing.
There has been little to no qualitative research focusing on the
influence of digital and social media on student development.

15. “The major
achievement of
normal development
was a firm and fixed
‘sense of identity’”
- Gergen
Traditional theories held that…
(Gergen, 2000, p. 41)@paulgordonbrown

16. self authorship
(Baxter Magolda 1999, 2001; Kegan, 1994)
inner identity
(Erikson, 1968; Erikson, 1980)
identity resolution
(Marcia, 1966)
identity formation
(Chickering & Reisser, 1993)
@paulgordonbrown

17. We no longer exist
as playwrights or
actors but as
terminals of
multiple networks.
-Baudrillard
(Baudrillard, 1987/2012, p. 23)@paulgordonbrown

18. BLURRYHYBRIDIZED
SATURATED
The online profile
“is and is not the user.”
(Martínez Alemán & Lynk Wartman, 2009, p. 23)
a “rupture” or “a series of
decisive far-reaching
breaks from the past”
(Bloland, 2005, p. 125)
an “implosion”
or a collapse of
boundaries
(Baudrillard, 1981/1995)
“singularity… a future period during
which the pace of technological
change will be so rapid, its impact so
deep, that human life will be
irreversibly transformed” (Kurzweil, 2005)
@paulgordonbrown

19. “The attempt in this
case is to construct
an ontology that
replaces the vision of
the bounded self as
the atom of the
social world.”
-Gergen
(Gergen, 2011, p. 112)@paulgordonbrown

20. Question
Research
How do contemporary
college students
understand and develop
concepts of “self” when
rapidly switching between
and within different online
and offline contexts and
relationships?
@paulgordonbrown

22. The term “self” refers to one’s
sense of being.
One’s “sense of self” is the
conscious experience of one’s
internal life.
One’s “construction of self” is
how one comes to consciously
understand this sense of being.
The term “identity” is the
actualization of this self.
@paulgordonbrown

23. “Identity” is what one is and
carries with it a series of
properties. Although “identity”
and “self” have been conflated
in discourse, they are
understood here to be separate
but related. “Self” is subject
to “identity” as object. From
one’s sense of self flows one’s
identity (and potentially
identities).
@paulgordonbrown

24. methodology
@paulgordonbrown

25. Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation
(Rogers, 2003)
intentionally skewed
purposeful
extreme
An eye towards the future…
sample
@paulgordonbrown

26. qualitative inquiry
grounded theory
(Charmaz, 2006; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1990)@paulgordonbrown

27. Pre-interview Questionnaire
‣ Establish usage patterns of participant
Semistructured Interview (First Session, 1 hour; Third Session, 1 hour)
‣ Probe how students understand self
‣ Examine how sense is made of online/offline life
Synchronous Ethnographic Tour * (Second Session, 1 hour)
‣ Observe how students interact online
‣ How is identity constructed/understood
Follow-up as necessary—dictated by data
data collection
*
(Martínez Alemán & Lynk Wartman, 2009, p. 23)
@paulgordonbrown

28. preliminary findings
@paulgordonbrown

29. Who are the “yous”?
@paulgordonbrown

30. Is there an online you?
Is there an offline you?
Is there a Facebook you?
Is there a Twitter you?
IS there a student you?
Is there a family you?
Are there multiple “yous” within them?
@paulgordonbrown

31. Are you a different person
in these contexts?
Are you the same person?
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32. @paulgordonbrown

33. Parallel
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34. @paulgordonbrown

35. @paulgordonbrown

37. What is
digitized
selfhood?
@paulgordonbrown

38. ImplicationsImplications
@paulgordonbrown

39. @paulgordonbrown
www.paulgordonbrown.com
paulgordonbrown@gmail.com
Paul Gordon Brown