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Keeping Up With Technology

StudentAffairs.com Virtual 2008 Case Study Competition

Salem State College

Danielle A. Morgan - Team Leader

Libby Donaldson

Kari George

“Technology is not something that happens to us. It is something we

create. We must not confuse a tool with a goal. We must, therefore, be sure that

technology serves the fundamental purposes of higher education.”

-Stanley N. Katz (2001)

The Students We Serve

Are Millennials with expectations Are digital and technological natives Are connected to a global community Are the most diverse student population to

ever attend college

Higher Education Must Adapt

Life and society have been reshaped by technological advancements.

Technology has changed the way we teach, the way students learn, and the knowledge necessary to survive in our global society.

Continual assessment of practices and services is needed to ensure that institutions are responding to the demands and opportunities of technology.

Student Affairs must be willing to adapt its services to meet student needs and expectations.

Student Needs & Expectations

Technology allows for the exploration and accumulation of knowledge to take place in a more private setting.

Online communities exist to bring students together, while also making private lives more public and one-on-one interactions virtually unnecessary (Facebook, MySpace, blogs, AIM, McApple Intranet).

Support networks from home are easier to maintain, diminishing the desire to connect with fellow students and create new support groups.

Students have everything they need in their rooms: online classes and library resources, computers, cable, music, contact with friends and family via cell phones, and web-based games.

Information about everything from a student’s crush in class, events and activities, food delivery numbers, counseling groups, health information, resume tips, to judicial codes, grades, and financial aid information is available online.

Overall, technology can hinder students ability to be an active participant in their college community: a student that does not go to events, is not engaged in courses and learning, and therefore is prevented from developing strong

interpersonal relationships. This same technology can also give students the opportunity to learn more privately and utilize resources at the institution that

previous generations may have been hesitant to use.

Radical Changes

Communication

McApple CollegeDivision of Student Affairs

Impacts of Technology

Access &

Equality

Ethics &

Responsibility

Structure&

Organization

Global Community

Communication

Technology has decreased the need for face-to-face interpersonal communication.

Technology has increased the frequency and ease of communication.

Technology has changed the information that is available to, and the way we interact with students, faculty, and staff.

We are challenged to utilize the benefits and efficiency of technology while overcoming the barriers of communication, personal development, and engagement it encourages.

Communication at McApple

All offices are disseminate information and make resources more readily available than in the past.

Information is available on our department websites, forms (applications for student positions, financial aid, housing lottery) can be completed online.

We use email as our primary means of student contact, publicity for events and services is easier to create and mass distribute

Student Activities has modified its programming to attract the interest of a digital student population.

Residence Life has established lines of communication with IT to accommodate for students technological needs while living on campus.

Career Services has expanded their networking tools to connect students to alumni in their field of interest.

McApple College utilizes text messaging and email blasts to communicate emergency information instantaneously.

Access & Equity

Technology has created the opportunity for students who historically would be underserved at our institution, to attend and thrive.

Technology imposes a new skill set and knowledge base necessary for students to be successful in college, one that is not always learned in high school or at home.

Socio-economic status divides students into “technology haves” and “have-nots,” in the classroom and in social settings.

Online applications and services provide more information to students when they want it, and broaden outreach opportunities to a greater variety of students.

Access & Equity at McApple

Disability Services has had to expand resources (advanced visual and auditory equipment, mobility advocacy, additional staff) available to a broader student population with more specialized needs.

Orientation Services provides online tests and information to ensure that first-year students enter classes at their academic level.

Monetary issues surrounding the Laptop initiative and general technology knowledge create new stresses in students’ lives that Student Affairs professionals in all departments must be prepared to discuss and understand.

Ethics & Responsibility

Online communities offer a venue for the display of students’ personal lives in a public and often legally binding manner.

The dangers and potential risks of online information create a new responsibility for student affairs practitioners to educate and inform students on responsible and safe use.

Connecting with students via online tools and resources adds a new responsibility and liability for students and staff.

Colleges must establish their ethical standards regarding online information about students’, faculty’s, and staff’s activities, beliefs, and lives.

Ethics & Responsibility at McApple

Orientation Services has implemented new online education initiatives for new students.

Judicial Affairs has had to adapt the student code of conduct to include technology:

New policies were added about online stalking and harassment, proper procedures dealing with facebook and myspace photographs, and AIM conversations.

Conversations about student responsibility regarding music-sharing and piracy changed Residence Life and Student Activities educational programming on these issues.

Offices have the responsibility to assess how they communicate with students to ensure the best and most efficient methods of communication are utilized.

Offices have had to set standards for employees regarding their acceptable online-presence.

Structure & Organization

Technology has allowed us to become more efficient in the process and delivery of services to students, allowing us to provide more with less time, staff, and resources.

Advances in communication have allowed us to contact students through their preferred methods (email blasts, text message warnings, resources on college website).

The capability of technology has increased student expectations of what is available to them, making “one-stop-shopping” more of a priority for offices.

New requirements for computer labs, technology spaces, and wireless accessibility has increased demands for technologically enhanced renovations, different types of community spaces, and knowledgeable staff.

Structure & Organization at McApple

With the creation of the CIO position, departments looked to technology programs to potentially minimize staffing and become more efficient.

Residence Life had to adapt community spaces for students’ technology needs: increasing bandwidth, including wireless space, and renegotiating contracts with outside companies.

Counseling, Health Services, and Disability Services have grown their staffs to accommodate student needs (speaking with students that feel isolated, creation and implementation of online information and services, research of new hardware to support students).

Student Affairs has had to align policies and ensure the “one-stop-shopping” that students find online is also available in person, leading to more interdepartmental communication and reorganization of office locations.

Global Community

Technology has connected students, faculty, and student affairs professionals nationally and internationally with other institutions, making the sharing of knowledge and services more prevalent and influential.

Online services have given McApple College the opportunity to attract a more global student population; leading to a different student needs on campus.

Technology provides opportunities for students to become more aware of and engaged in world affairs.

Global technologies have the potential to foster the holistic development of the student from moral reasoning to multicultural competence and more.

Global Community at McApple

Orientation Services has had to revamp the process to accommodate for a larger international student population.

Residence Life and Student Activities have been able to encourage RAs and student organizations to sponsor high-quality, diverse programs that encourage students to take an interest in issues beyond their local community.

Student Affairs departments have been challenged to support students with their Study Abroad experience and to encourage students to utilize their new perspectives when they return to the institution.

Student Affairs practitioners are able to share and adapt ideas, programs, and services more efficiently than in the past via national professional organizations (NASPA, ACPA, NACA, NODA, NACURH, etc), email listservs, websites, and online communities.

The Division of Student Affairs at McApple College has responded appropriately to the changing needs of students as technology became an

integral part of their lives.

We must proactively explore the opportunities technology allows to connect with our students and to ensure that our services, programs, and departments, are providing them with the best

McApple experience possible.

References

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Hinkle, S.E. & Hersh, S.L. (2007). “Facebook and the first-year experience: Promoting on-line education through new student orientation.” Studentaffiars.com. www.studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Fall_2007/FacebookandtheFirstYearExperience.html.

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Katz, S.N. (2001). “In information technology, don’t mistake a tool for a goal.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. www.princeton.edu/~snkatz/papers/CHE_6-15-01.html.

Kohlberg, L. (1981). Essays on moral development: Vol. 1. The Philosophy of moral development. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.

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