Transcript Proficio University Advancing Through Education Presented by the Dean’s Council Committee for Technological Advancement: Sarah Decker, Steve Lerer, Laurel Peffer & Renee Piquette February 18, 2007

Proficio University
Advancing Through Education
Presented by the Dean’s Council
Committee for Technological Advancement:
Sarah Decker, Steve Lerer,
Laurel Peffer & Renee Piquette
February 18, 2007
Hot Topics in Technology
The Committee for Technological Advancement at Proficio
University has examined many current and relevant
technology issues currently facing our students and higher
education.
The following are five hot topics the committee felt were most
crucial to the future of our campus and the lives of our
students:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Institutional Spam
Blogs
Internet Video-Casts
Distance Learning
Social Networking Sites
Hot Topic: Institutional Spam
What is Institutional Spam?
•
First, it is important for the institution to note there are two types
of bulk Electronic Mail (E-mail) students, faculty and staff can
receive:
– Spam
– Institution-sponsored Mass E-mail
•
Spam is defined as unsolicited, mass E-mail received without
expressed permission from the recipient.
•
Mass E-mail: Received per the recipient's request or as
understood through their E-mail user contract
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/secureweb/glossary.asp
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Why Spam/Mass E-mail
Effects Proficio University
Due to the large number of requests universities receive, from
both internal and external organizations and businesses,
universities must be clear on what information is worth filling
institution E-mails with.
Proficio University needs to evaluate who will determine what
E-mails are appropriate and under what conditions mass E-mail
will be sent.
In addition, having a procedure in place for students, faculty and
staff to report spam to university accounts, E-mails that are
unsolicited and not sent by the University.
Continual Spam uses large amounts of bandwith, the rate and
speed by which information travels through the Internet
Large amounts of uncontrolled Spam can also fill university
E-mail inboxes, preventing recipients from receiving all of their
messages.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/secureweb/glossary.asp
Benefits of Mass E-mail
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Mass E-mails can allow students to receive up-to-date
information more quickly than regular mail and are more likely
receive individual attention than other campus advertisements
Campuses, such as Roger Williams University, have clarified in
their institutional policies what information can qualify for mass
E-mails as follows:
– Crisis communication and emergency closings
– Parking bans
– Information from the Office of the University President, Vice
President of Student Affairs, and Dean of Students
– Campus volunteer opportunities
As reaching students via E-mail becomes increasingly popular, it
is important to have guidelines and policies in place both for
messages from the institution and how unwanted messages are
handled.
http://www.rwu.edu/Administration/Public+Affairs/University+Mass+E-mail+Policy.htm
Current Mass E-mail & Spam Issues
•
As reported on February 2, 2007, the University of North Carolina
– Chapel Hill accidentally sent over 2700 applicants an e-mail
stating their acceptance for the Fall
– The intended E-mail was to actually request semester grades
from those who were already accepted – not the remaining
applicants
– This is a clear demonstration of the issue mass E-mail
technology brings when information is only a mouse click
away.
•
As reaching students via E-mail becomes increasingly popular, it
is important to have guidelines and policies in place both for
messages from the institution and how unwanted messages are
handled.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i22/22a03004.htm
Hot Topic: Blogs
What are Blogs?
-The most common type of Blog is an online database that is used
by bloggers (writers) for the purpose of journaling.
-Some colleges and universities have blogs set up as instruction
tools. This is often used for online discussion or reflection.
-Blogging sites include:
-Xanga
-Live Journal
-Blogger
O’Keffe, K. (2007). http://kevin.lexblog.com/blog-tools/
Why Students Choose
to Use Blogs
•Students use blogs as a way to express their own feelings
and emotions.
•They often feel that it is an important outlet to the outside
world.
•Blogs are often in a
journal format and are
used by students to
vent about the issues
they are facing.
•Blogs can also be
used to reflect on
an assignment or
classroom discussion.
O’Keffe, K. (2007). http://kevin.lexblog.com/blog-tools/
Some Benefits of Blogs on Campus
•
Used as instructional tools for all different types of
classrooms and in all different areas of education.
– They are used for:
• Distance learning
• Online reflections
• Social Networking
More Benefits of Blogs
on Campus
•
Foreign Language teachers are finding blogs especially
helpful in their classroom setting.
– Communication with other students in the class
– Reflections
– Journaling
– Communication with students around the world
– Practice language skills with native speakers
Ducate, L., & Lomicka, L. (2005). Exploring the blogosphere: Use of web logs in the foreign language classroom
[Electronic version]. Foreign Language Annals, 38, 410-421.
Challenges Blogs Bring
to Campus
•
Blogs are often used as a venue for students to vent their
negative emotions and feelings which can create conflict
between students and also between administrators
– Duke University President
• Students wrote blogs on how they disagreed with the
president's handling of the men’s lacrosse team
lawsuit
• Duke students called on the president to resign
through their personal blogs
Mangan, K. (2007). Duke U. president in hot seat as prosecutor drops key charges against athletes [Electronic
version]. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 53, A32.
More Challenges Blogs
Bring to Campus
•
Blogs, as with other information found about students on the
internet, can be used against students (Wagner, 2006).
– Students need to be careful of the personal information
they put on the internet as they may be putting themselves
in danger
– Information found on blogs may be held against them in the
court of law
– The information that students put in their blogs may stand
in the way of their ability to obtain a job upon graduation
Wagner, C. (2006). Blabbing your blog [Electronic version]. Futurist, 40, 7.
Hot Topic: YouTube &
Internet Video-Casting
Hot Topic: YouTube and
Internet Video-casting
YouTube (www.youtube.com) is a video-sharing website, allowing
anyone with video technology to share their media.
To post a video on Youtube, participants do the following:
• Take video of an event, time with friends, or other activity they
would like to share
• Load the video to a computer
• Create an account on a video-sharing site such as YouTube or
GoogleVideo
• Post it for the world to see!
•
Why Students Choose to
Use Video-Casts?
Students ages 18-24, as part of the Millennial generation,
value self-expression and creating self-identity to large
audience.
• Students are able to join networks through video-cast sites
(such as YouTube), based on their university-affiliation, and
share their college experience with others
• Helps students to build connections to one another and build
support through a shared common experience
Benefits of YouTube
on Campus
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Means of self-expression
Can expose information to a variety of audiences – from
campus lectures to student performances
As we know from Chickering & Riser’s theory of student
development, as students move to developing self-identity,
students look to express their changing view of the world and
their lives, video being one means of doing so.
Can be used for mass-university marketing, becoming
increasingly popular in the athletic circuit.
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/arts/006958.html
Challenges to Campus
•
YouTube also exposes many disciplinary issues
– For example, several hazing incidents, stolen university
property and other violations of the student code of
conduct have been found via posted videos
• Violations of intellectual property
– Professors have had lectures recorded and posted
without their permission and thus without any academic
credit given to their work
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/06/youtube
Hot Topic:
Distance Education
Why Distance Education?
The age of technology has quickly infiltrated the
walls of higher education. Every day, more students and
faculty members are using the internet as a medium of
communication. Additionally, an increasing percentage of
community members expect access to education
through alternative pathways.
The combination of these two concepts has created
the emergences of distance education through webbased instruction. In order to keep up with other higher
ed institutions, Proficio University must learn about
distance education and decided if we should implement
distance education at our university
The Higher Learning Commission. (nd). Best practices for electronically offered degree and certificate
programs. Retrieved February 17, 2007, from http://www.ncahlc.org/download/Best_Pract_DEd.pdf
The Higher Learning Commission. The Regional Accrediting Commissions for the Evaluation of Electronically Offered
Degree and Certificate Programs. (nd). Statement of commitment. Retrieved February 17, 2007,
http://www.ncahlc.org/download/CRAC_Statement_DEd.pdf
What is Distance Education?
• An innovative approach to that uses technology to
facilitate the learning process via the internet.
• Can be a combination of classroom sessions and
web-based instruction or 100 percent web-based
courses.
• Both faculty and students communicate electronically
several times a week through the use of online
discussion rooms, email, and message boards.
• Courses incorporate web-based material, textbooks,
videos files, audio files, and often online group
projects.
• Examinations and papers are taken and submitted
online through the web based classroom.
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green Online. (nd). Retrieved February 18, 2007, from
http://ideal.bgsu.edu/ONLINE
Fortino, A., & Wolf, P. P. (2007). Going the distance. BizEd, 6(1), 30-35
University of Illinois, Illinois Online Network. (nd). An online course in a nutshell. Retrieved February 18, 2007, from
http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/overview/nutshell.asp
Model of a Distance Learning Course
University of Illinois, Illinois Online Network. (nd). An online course in a nutshell. Retrieved February 18, 2007, from
http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/overview/nutshell.asp
The Positive Impact of
Distance Education
• Distance education is cost effective for both the
students and the universities that they attend.
• It allows for the inclusion of students with
learning disorders and physically disabilities
• Adult learners with part time jobs and children
can access high education
• Can connect students from different countries
within a virtual classroom to create a powerful
learning environment.
• Students can access the course materials 24hours a day and are less likely to fall behind in
their work.
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green Online. (nd). Retrieved February 18, 2007, from
http://ideal.bgsu.edu/ONLINE
Fortino, A., & Wolf, P. P. (2007). Going the distance. BizEd, 6(1), 30-35
Medford, A. R. L. (2004). Online learning. Quality in Primary Care, 12(1), 87-90.
The Drawbacks of Distance Education
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Limited Face to Face Communication – Expressions though
speech and non-verbal communications are lost through the use
of the internet.
Academic Dishonesty – It is often difficult to track the
participants so the potential for academic dishonestly grows
exponentially.
Difficulty Including all Learning Styles- Learning styles that
focus on projects and class presentations are rarely
emphasized in a web-based course.
Difficulty With Technology - The potential for technological
problems may discourage use by less knowledgeable students
and faculty.
Loss of Personal Interaction – Personal interaction with the
aggregate environment of the campus community allows a
student to learn, develop, and grow. Web-based courses do not
account for this aspect of college life and students may graduate
less developed than students who take classes on campus.
Fortino, A., & Wolf, P. P. (2007). Going the distance. BizEd, 6(1), 30-35
Medford, A. R. L. (2004). Online learning. Quality in Primary Care, 12(1), 87-90.
Hot Topic: Social Networking Sites
What are Social
Networking Sites?
Internet sites where users can create personalized Web
pages to distinguish themselves. They can ‘make friends’
with other site users as well as post videos, blogs, pictures
and much more.
• Popular sites with students are Facebook, MySpace,
and Friendster.
• In December 2005, Facebook reported having more
than 17 million college students registered worldwide.
According to TechCrunch, 85% of college students have
a social networking account.
• Social networking sites are pervasive in college
cultures, including here at Proficio University. As
responsible administrators it is imperative that we identify
both the benefits and issues with social networking sites.
(www.wikipedia.com)
History of Social
Networking Sites
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Friendster is the first social networking site that caught on with
high school and college-aged students
• Founded in 2002, the premise of the web site was to create
circles of friends to illustrate ‘interconnectedness’ through the
Internet
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MySpace hit the social networking scene in 2004, when it quickly
surpasses Friendster in popularity.
• To this day, it is the third most popular website in the United
State.
• MySpace took social networking to the next level by allowing
users to customize their page with art, music, graphics, pictures
and more.
History Continued
• In 2006 Facebook, originally
founded as TheFacebook,
took over the social networking
college scene.
• Created as a networking site for just college students with a
registered e-mail address, Facebook seemed to provide
greater privacy and a safer environment for students.
• In 2005 Facebook opened its doors to high school students
• In 2006 the network was made available to anyone with an
e-mail address.
(www.wikipedia.com)
Affect on Proficio University
Proficio University currently has more than 15,000 students
registered on Facebook.com, and innumerable others using
MySpace and Friendster.
According to Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, the
average students spends 17 minutes a day on Facebook.
Read, B. (2006). Think before you share: Students’ online socializing can have unintended consequences. The
Chronicle of Higher Education. 52(20), A38.
Benefits of Online
Social Networking
•Sites provide a place of expression for students
•Sites allow students to share ideas
•Sites can assist in law enforcement
• Law enforcement and university officials have
successfully apprehended students simply by looking at
their Facebook pages
• Pennsylvania State University utilized Facebook to
identify students who started and participated in a riot
after the football team beat Ohio State University. The
site helped officials identify an additional 50 participants.
“For us, it was just a matter of a couple of mouse clicks,”
said Tyrone Parham, Pennsylvania State University’s
assistant director of police.
Benefits Continued
•Sites can assist in publicity of student groups and activities
•Student groups can create groups on social networking sites
to advertise their activities and can even invite students to
attend through social networking sites.
• Administrators at Uruline College found Facebook to be a
useful tool in creating knowledge and an interest in the
school’s office of counseling and career services.
Unfortunately due to Facebook’s terms use, accounts cannot
be registered on behalf of any group or entity. Ursuline had to
remove the account, but could still utilize Facebook in other
ways. The account coordinator, Megan Cox said there were at
least 60 students who had used the account to look up career
services information.
Carnevale, D. (2006). College tries to be cool but runs afoul of Facebook. The Chronicle of Higher Education. 53(14) A39.
Read, B. (2006). Think before you share: Students’ online socializing can have unintended consequences. The Chronicle of Higher
Education. 52(20), A38.
Issues with Social
Networking Sites
•Online Stalking
• Social networking sites offer students differing levels of
privacy to allow others to view their profile.
•But for many students, those features would seem to defeat
the purpose of the Web site, says Ken Vance, director of
public safety at Georgia College & State University. "There
are safeguards built into the Facebook, but nobody uses
them," he says.
•For the first time, Facebook is directly tied online predators.
•On January 31, 2007 Illinois authorities arrested a man who
was posing as a teenage girl on Facebook to lure young
boys to his home for sex.
Read, B. (2006). Think before you share: Students’ online socializing can have unintended consequences. The
Chronicle of Higher Education. 52(20), A38.
Wischnowsky, D. (2007, February 7). Facebook.com is used in sex scam, cop say. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved
Februrary 15, 2007, from http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnistswischlist/2007/02/
creepin_on_face.html
Issues with Social
Networking Sites
•Professional Consequences
•Increasingly employers are utilizing social networking sites to
check on potential employees prior to the hiring process.
•In an interview with college administrators, Read and Young
noted that there have been many instances of employees
using social networking sites to ‘snoop’ on interviewees. “One
of my students worked as a summer intern, and her job was to
check on Facebook profiles of potential employees and rank
them 1 to 10,” said Pablo Malavenda, associate dean of
students at Purdue University.
•“At the American Society of Journalists and Authors
conference, one attendee noted that a bunch of employers at
their institutions’ job fair paid a student to print profiles of
interviewees,” said Joseph Howard, assistant director of
residence life at Mercyhurst College.
Read, B. & Young, J. (2006). Facebook and other social-networking sites raise questions for administrators. The
Chronicle of Higher Education. 52(48), A29.
Issues Continued
•Distraction from academics
•Universities have been fighting the issue of students
using Facebook in classrooms with computers.
•Some schools, such as the University of New Mexico
have gone so far as to block the Facebook Web site on
all university computers.
We have not gone this far at Proficio
University, but feel it is important for the
faculty to lay specific ground rules in their
syllabi to address the use of social networking
sites during class time.
Concluding Recommendations
The Committee for Technological Advancement believes
there are many areas for technological growth at Proficio.
Additionally, there are several challenges the use of such
technology brings to how we serve our students and
understanding their continued growth and development.
The ever-changing advancements in technology greatly
shape today’s college students. It is our goal that the
education provided through today’s presentation will allow for
further development in Proficio University’s approach to
technology use.