From smartphones and social media to augmented spaces and virtual reality, digital technologies are changing the ways we connect with each other and interact with our world. Higher education is no exception. Students on today’s college campuses are digital natives and bring with them expectations when it comes to learning and interacting on electronic platforms.<\/p>\n
But is a “full steam ahead” approach to the digital future a reality for most college campuses? The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em> recently published a story about the challenges faced by the University of Texas at Austin<\/a> when they attempted to redesign their curricula and produce more live online classes. In the end, support and funding for the digital initiatives faltered and backing for the bold move forward all but disappeared.<\/p>\n So, how can we understand digital technologies and the role they play in our learning? Should higher education go digital?<\/p>\n University Communications sat down with Joan Rubin<\/a>, the Dexter Perkins Professor of History and the Ani and Mark Gabrellian Director of the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Humanities Center<\/a>, Jayne Lammers<\/a>, associate professor at the Warner School of Education and associate director of the Center for Learning in the Digital Age<\/a>, and Emily Sherwood<\/a>, director of the Digital Scholarship Lab<\/a> at the URochester, to discuss being educators and being human in the digital age. The following Q&A has been edited for format.<\/p>\n