Transcript A Proactive Approach to Addressing Technology at Telnet College Using Portals as a Tool for Student Learning and Development.

A Proactive Approach to
Addressing Technology
at Telnet College
Using Portals as a Tool for Student
Learning and Development
Assumptions

Access to Technology:
– All students, faculty, and staff have adequate
access to computers and other technology
through resources provided by the college.
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Committee Make-up:
– The Telnet College Technology Committee is
comprised of representatives from Academic
Affairs, Student Affairs, IT Staff, Students, and
Student Leaders.
Assumptions Continued

Funding and Resources:
– The College has agreed to fund a pilot program
based on the committee’s findings.

Presentation Format:
– This presentation is the culmination of many
committee meetings and research dedicated to
assessing campus needs and identifying issues
and solutions related to technology and student
involvement.

Population:
– The student body is primarily traditional aged
students living on campus.
– Students possess at least basic knowledge of
computer technology.
Overview
Demographics
 Cutting-Edge Technology
 Marketing
 Student Needs
 Summary of Pressing Issues

Demographics
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With a campus of 3500 students, of various
backgrounds and high academic standards, it
is increasingly important to keep up with
changing technology.
 Because of the college’s location, it is
important to provide students with
opportunities to connect with and build
outside communities.
Technology
Ways Computer Mediated Communication Can
be Integrated on Campus:
–
–
–
–
–
File sharing
Multi-user Domains
Smart Classrooms
Online courses/ WebCT
Streaming Video/ Real time interaction for
instruction
– Institution-wide Individualized Portals
Marketing

Integrating technology on our campus
increases our ability to be competitive with
other institutions both in recruitment and
academic performance.
 Our target student population expects to have
access to cutting edge technology.
 Increased technology attracts high caliber
faculty and staff and serves to connect alumni
to their institution.
 College recruiters view internet access as a
selling point.
Student Needs
Increased use of technology on campus meets
students needs through:
– Providing students with practical experience with
technology relevant to the workforce
– Offering immediate access to web-based student
services
– Creating community and interest groups among
students
– Easing the dissemination of information directly to
specific student populations
– Connecting students with endless resources for
academic use
Pressing Issues
Student Interaction and Involvement
 Web-Based Student Services
 Student Learning Online
 Assessment
 Alumni Connections

The Portal
A Personalized Web-Based Service
Background Information
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Campuses have been using the web since the early1990’s
Web Technology was revamped in the late 1990’s to
accommodate students as consumer users.
The web portals of today offer the user a tailored experience,
catering to their interests and involvement.
These sites were popularized by providers such as MSN,
Yahoo, and Excite.
Today software companies are offering their services in creating
institutional based web portals.
More notably, many institutions have begun grouping together to
develop and install their own programs.
(Jacobson, 2000)
Benchmarking

Finding institutions similar to Telnet College
that have successfully implemented a web
portal is difficult because of the recent
development of this technology.
– Larger institutions and technical colleges are often
setting the standard in web portal development
because of their ability to acquire resources and
funding.

The following schools similar in size an
population to Telnet college have
implemented portals:
– Providence College
Portal Proposal
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Our institutional portal will link off of the Telnet
College main page. The page is called the
Doghouse, keeping with our mascot the Bulldogs.
Students, Faculty, Staff, and Alumni can access the
site via passwords, but Visitors can also browse the
site.
Upon first entering the site, the user can select
options to customize the portal for their interests and
needs. Some information such as campus news and
announcements will be universal to all sites.
Campus professionals, such as RA’s, Greek Life
advisors, and faculty, will be able to customize their
own communities through the portal.
Portal Possibilities
Personal
Calendar
Email Account
Residence
Information
Academic
Grade Reports
Dining Hall
Menus
Campus,
Weather
World, and
National News
Class Schedule Sports
Registration
Special
Information
Campus
Activities
Campus Map
Club Information
Chat Rooms
The Doghouse
A Campus-Based Student Portal
http://home.att.net/~merideth.ray/index/index/intropage.htm
Click the Bulldog to access the
page!
Issues in Detail
Student Interaction and
Involvement
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Points to Consider:
– With increased technology, many Student Affairs
professionals fear that students are losing
opportunities for face-to-face interaction (Williams,
Kolek, & Kluge, 2002).
– It is unknown what effects technology has on
student development, although student
development theory has shown that involvement
on campus and interaction with others is
imperative to student growth.
– Computer-mediated communication is a norm for
this population of students (Strange & Banning,
1998). Computers will continue to play an integral
role in their lifestyles, influencing the dynamic of
Student Interaction and
Involvement

The Portal’s Role
– The Doghouse will provide opportunities for
students to interact with others, both on and off
campus, through chat rooms, file sharing, and email.
– The portal will provide listings of campus events
and activities, designed to promote student
involvement. Frequent communication with RA’s
and staff will serve to reinforce these advertised
opportunities.
Web-Based Student
Services
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Points to Consider:
– Lack of centralization of services on campus
causes confusion and is inefficient.
– Students want instant access to campus services
and immediate responses to issues and concerns.
– Face-to-face interaction may be limited by
computer communication.
– Current protocol for documentation and student
records requires excessive use of paper and can
cause storage problems.
Web-Based Student
Services
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The Portal’s Role:
– A variety of services, including financial aid,
registration, health services, and admissions,
could all be accessed through one centralized
location.
– Access to forms, information, and staff will be
constant and instantaneous.
– Web-based student services allow for secure and
confidential storage of information.
– The Doghouse provides anonymous information
and resources to students who otherwise may not
seek it out.
Student Learning Online

Points To Consider:
– Academic resources can be difficult to
locate and expensive to purchase, which
could discourage student usage.
– Not all students respond to traditional
teaching methods.
Student Learning Online
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The Portal’s Role:
– The portal will provide access to research
materials and will also allow for communication
with faculty and classmates via chat rooms.
– Students are often more likely to use and revisit
sources that are posted on-line than paper
documents (Kelly, 2001)..
– Technology paired with traditional teaching
methods can serve to supplement learning for
different learning styles. This type of technology
can enhance collaboration among students and
encourage higher levels of student participation
(Kuh & Hu, 2001).
Assessment
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Points to Consider:
– Assessment of student interests and use
of services is often difficult.
– Quality assessment is needed in order to
develop and maintain effective programs
and services.
Assessment
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The Portal’s Role:
– Student interests can be evaluated by
observing how they customize their
Doghouse.
– Students can easily access and submit online evaluations of student programs and
services.
– Assessment information collected within
the portal can be electronically downloaded
into database programs such as Access
and easily manipulated to yield results.
Alumni Connections
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Points to Consider:
– Alumni who are more connected to the
campus and can identify their interests are
more likely to financially support campus
programs.
– Some alumni may feel uncomfortable using
this form of technology.
Alumni Connections
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The Portal’s Role
– Alumni are able to personalize their own
portal sites. These portals will allow the
alumni association to more easily
disseminate information.
– Although alumni will not receive formal
training, the Telnet website will provide
instruction on portal navigation.
Implementing the
Portal
Facilities
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The Portal itself will require a server that can
maintain the information in a secure format.
 Campus computer labs and students’
personal computers will be able to manage
the usual number of students accessing the
portal via the World Wide Web.
 We will install kiosk style access computers
around major social areas on campus to
provide greater access to the Doghouse.
Staffing
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To maintain the portal, we will need to hire an
additional full-time computer programmer, with
knowledge of XML, Java and server side
administration (Brooks, 2002).
This staff member will work with existing IT staff and
departmental web masters to consolidate and update
the Doghouse site.
Staff members working with the site will be aware of
the characteristics related to the creation of an
effective portal: quality of content, interface,
infrastructure, and degree of coupling (Johnson,
2001).
Marketing
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We will market the site to new students and
parents during orientation while students are
signing up for their email accounts.
 Alumni will receive information in the mail
explaining the portal and providing
instructions for access and sign up.
 Current students will see information in
residence halls, the newspaper, and in
classrooms. They can attend workshops or
information sessions to learn how to use this
new site.
Funding
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Funding will be required to purchase or integrate the
new programs needed to successfully run or manage
the portal site.
The new IT staff member will require a salary and
benefits.
Staff members and existing students will need to be
trained to access, update, and integrate the portal.
Student technology fees may increase, but will be
receiving a valued increase in technology based
services.
Free software is available through UPortal sites at
http://mis105.mis.udel.edu/ja-sig/uportal
If funding is needed, advertising space can be added
Assessment
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Prior to implementation we will conduct a campuswide survey assessing student interaction, utilization
of current web sites, student participation in
extracurricular and co-curricular activities, as well as
overall study satisfaction.
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One semester to one year after its implementation
students, faculty and staff will be assessed based on
the previous information as well as the portals
usability and integration.
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Mini- assessments will be conducted throughout the
semester in order to gauge the need for updated and/
Limitations
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Implementation of the portal site may be
hindered by the interests of various
departments on campus.
Those implementing the portal will need to
decide among various characteristics to
include on the site.
The portal may be limited by student and user
interest
The portal’s capabilities may be limited by
certain issues of privacy, policy, and security.
The portal’s functioning may be limited by the
capacity of our campus’s current server
Other Factors to Consider
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Access
– Digital Divide:
• Computers will be readily available throughout campus
and all residence hall rooms are internet ready.
• Although students and staff will come to campus with
different levels of knowledge and comfort in using
technology, through the availability of technology and
campus-wide user training, we will be able to bridge this
gap.
• We are working to identify the needs of certain
socioeconomic and ethnic groups, students with
disabilities, commuter students, and part time students,
as it relates to this type of technology (Lewis, Coursol, &
Khan, 2001).
Other Factors to Consider
– Bandwidth
• Bandwidth can be limited by file-sharing
programs, which may slow the university
network.
• The IT staff will monitor the usage of these
programs and explore the possibilities of
acquiring additional bandwidth or using
programs which restrict its use, if necessary
(Olsen, 2001).
Other Factors to Consider
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Institutional Policy
– Campus Community
• We understand that building hours and staffing needs will
increase to allow for extended access once these
changes are implemented.
– Code of Conduct
• Issues of on-line harassment and improper use and
content will be addressed in campus policies and the
code of conduct. Establishing a personalized portal site
and e-mail account will require students to agree to these
policies.
Discussion
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Is it our role to draw students from their rooms and
computers and encourage face-to-face interaction?
Does this actually hinder development?
 Does increased technology on campus really
decrease face-to-face interaction and involvement on
campus?
 Does the university as a whole need to change to
accommodate today’s technologically savvy
students?
 How do we strike a balance between providing the
latest in technology to students and encouraging
traditional forms of learning and interaction?
References
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Astin, A. W. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for
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Brooks, B. Frequently asked questions about uPortal. Retrieved April
15, 2002,
from http://mis105.mis.udel.edu/jasig/uportal/index.html.
Carlson, S. (2001, March 16). A small college’s mixed results with
technology [Electronic version]. The Chronicle of Higher
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Carlson, S. (2002, April 4). New software blocks trades of music
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