Selling your digital soul to Google and other companies

We also talked today about the often hidden legalities that come with using various online platforms. As a researcher who has used Google Docs in more than one study and multiple times in classes, I feel like this is something we absolutely need to be conscious of: what exactly are we allowing companies to do with our information when we accept the terms and conditions? Granted, I don't feel particularly alarmed over the prospect of "Big Brother" knowing what I'm up to (it's really not that interesting), and I've never asked students to submit personally sensitive information via outside sources: in fact, all of my Google Doc surveys and projects have been completely anonymous. Still, I'm sure there are plenty of people/students out there with a much less nonchalant view of things, so it is good for us to be aware of how these things work and to ensure that we're not asking students to unintentionally reveal information they may wish to keep private. Does anyone have any other sorts of experience using non-GauchoSpace technological platforms/resources in class? What are your thoughts on protecting student privacy?

Unpacking the digital learning characteristics of so-called "Digital Natives"

I was really interested in Table 1 from this week's article by Lai and Hong. I was born in 1989, so in Prenskian terms, I am a digital native, as are all of my current students born a few years later in the 90s. Based my own observations of and interactions with both students who are younger than me and colleagues closer to my own age, I would say that there don't appear to be very many general differences in learning styles and preferences, at least between people in their late teens and twenties.

Like many of my students, I have a laptop and a smartphone and use both on a daily basis. I generally do prefer to use the internet when doing research, but I always begin with library databases and/or online scholarly journals. I would tentatively guess that at least some of my students follow similar practices when doing research, but I would imagine that many also rely on the "satisficing" answers of Google or similar search engines. My attitude toward group work varies according to the task: if it's an in-class small group or paired activity, then I don't mind, but if it's a high-stakes project that requires coordinating schedules over several days/weeks and hoping that everyone is punctual and pulls their own weight, I would much, much rather work alone, and many of my students have expressed similar preferences. It seemed like many of us in class also disliked group work, so where does this idea that digital natives adore collaborating come from? Any thoughts/ideas?