5 Areas That Technology
Has Changed How
McApple College Will
Continue To Deliver
Programs And Services
Florida International University
Heather Kessler
Stephanie Welin
Nicole
Zauner
5 Student Services Areas Where
Technology Has Radically Changed
Decreasing
Active
Lifestyle
Safety
Judicial
Implications
Educational
Supplements
Interpersonal
Relationships
Goals of Presentation
 Help the Vice President of Student
Affairs at McApple College identify 5
areas in which technology has evolved
creating issues for student affairs
professionals
 Discuss how this has affected, or
should affect, the programs and
services student affairs offers
Important Technological Facts
About College Students
62% own
a desktop
computer
90% own
a cell
phone
55% own
a laptop
computer
38% own
a music
device
Students use computers for:
Email
Surfing the
internet
for
pleasure
Surfing the
internet to
support
coursework
Writing
documents
for course
work
For many college students today, “technology
has become as ingrained in daily life as
telephones are for older generations.”
75 % of students
listen to music
81% of students
use Instant
Messenger
61% of students
play computer
games
Students report
they spend 1115 hours a
week using
technology
Major Differences in Technology
Use Between Men & Women
Men
Academic,
Gameboys
Women
Facebook, Cell
Phones, Text
Messages, Blogs
Area One:
Decreasing Active Lifestyle
Use of technology
Decreased levels of physical activity
Increased health risks and levels of obesity
Students’ Use of Technology
10 hours
online
1-2 hours
conducting
emails
16.3 hours on
Instant
Messenger (1st
year students)
11-15 hours on
the computer
1-2 hours
downloading
music and
videos
On a weekly
basis
students
spend:
1-2 hours
playing online
games
Health Implications
 “Students tend to be less healthy when
their sole purpose is for entertainment,
which has a ‘direct effect on their
academic success, personal relationships,
and wellness.’”
 Students’ intensive use of technology
usually entails sitting in front of a
computer monitor for extensive amounts
of time, outside of the hours they already
spend in class and studying, negatively
impacting the amount of time they spend
engaging in physical activity leading to
numerous health risks.
Health Concerns
 Between 15 and 20% of adolescents and two-thirds of
adults are considered overweight or obese
 Being overweight or obese can contribute to many
chronic illnesses such as:






Cardiovascular disease
Diabetes mellitus type 2
Sleep apnea
Osteoarthritis
Hypertension
Premature mortality
 A study conducted by Douglas et al. suggests only 33% of
students on college campuses exercise at recommended
levels of disease-risk reduction
“Playing digital
games (video,
computer and
console games), or
using [the]
computer may be
other sedentary
behaviors related
to the development
of overweight and
obesity.”
How colleges & universities are working
to alleviate the issue of decreasing
active lifestyles due to technology
 The decrease of active lifestyles as a result of
technological advancements is a concern to student
affairs professionals because:
 Education of the whole individual includes the mind and
the body
 Colleges and universities are meant to prepare individuals
for successful lives, they cannot do so if their health is
compromised
 For many college is the last opportunity for cost effective
health education
 Colleges and universities have an easily accessible market
and should capitalize upon this opportunity
Since technology will continue to play a
major role is student’s lives, some institutions
are trying to counterbalance the effect by
promoting active lifestyles through:
 Building modern facilities equipped with the latest
equipment
 Creating a mandated hour where no classes are offered
 Banning the vending of fast food on campus and providing
more healthy options
 Requiring students to take one health or fitness related
course per semester
 Stocking vending machines with more organic and health
conscious foods
 Incorporating health and fitness services into orientation to
introduce services
 Creating school traditions based on health and fitness
events
Area Two:
Judicial Implications
Cheating
 In a study conducted in 1964, 58% of engineering students said
they had cheated at least once. By 1996, that number had
jumped to 82%.
 The internet and wireless messaging devices such as cell
phones are making it easier for students to cheat
 Homework assignments are often shared via email
 Instant messages sent via cell phone are used to cheat on
tests
 In 2003, 12 students at the University of Maryland-College
Park were accused of cheating on their accounting exam after
friends text-messaged them answers from a bogus key that
was posted online in an effort to catch cheaters. Other
students had direct access to the bogus key during the exam
by using cell phones capable of accessing the internet.
Cheating continued
 Products like ExamSoft have been created to offer
professors the ability to use technology in the classroom
while reducing the occurrence of cheating by locking
students’ computer function to a simple word processing
page
 The issue of academic integrity continues to grow as some
professors have little faith in the academic review board
 In the past two years, one-third of professors who
were aware of an incident of cheating in their
classroom, did nothing about it.
Online Harassment
 Of the online harassment cases reported to Working to Halt
Online Abuse (WHO@), between 2000 and 2006, victims age
18-30 accounted for 46.5% of the total 2,036 cases
How colleges & universities are working
to alleviate the issue of decreasing
active lifestyles due to technology
 Presentations for students, faculty members, and staff
 Engaging workshops in First-Year Experience courses
 Civility initiatives by student conduct offices and
chapters of the National Residence Hall Honorary
 Programs implemented by residence hall staff
 Mediation sessions
 Posting the student code of conduct and resources
online
Area Three:
Technological Education Supplements
 Students’ increasing demand to have resources at their
fingertips has created a need for updated educational
processes in the classroom as well as programs and
services
 “The current generation of students, or ‘Millenials,’ is
more technologically advance[d] and substantially
different from their Generation X predecessors”
In response, colleges & universities have
started to use technology to their benefit in
the following areas:
Information
Chat
AlcoholEdu
Blackboard & WebCT
AlcoholEdu
 AlcoholEdu is a science-based prevention program that over
450 colleges and universities use as a educational resource
 It helps students make informed decisions and strategies for
dealing with the drinking behavior of their peers
 Schools such as University of California Berkeley and
Assumption College make it MADATORY for all incoming
students to complete AlcoholEdu
 Some colleges go as far to fine students $300 who do not
complete the program [Assumption College]
AlcoholEdu Facts
 AlcoholEdu is the only program of its kind– an
interactive primary prevention online program
 More than 400,000 students complete AlcoholEdu every
year
 This year the 1,000,000 student will enroll in the program
 Out of the students that completed the program in
2005:
 72% know more about blood alcohol concentration
 44% of men and 41% of women have more knowledge about
how alcohol affects consent for sex
 The number of heavy drinkers declined 30% after taking the
program
AlcoholEdu Creates a Learning
Experience that:
Motivates behavior change
Resets unrealistic expectations about
the effects of alcohol
Link choices about drinking to academic
and personal success
Helps student practice safer decision
making
Engages students to create a healthier
campus community
Blackboard & WebCT
3,650 clients
in 60
countries
with millions
of users
Blackboard & WebCT
In relation to college professors:
 60% use web-based content for their courses
 56% use online sources to supplement textbooks
 50% use Blackboard & WebCT to keep their course
content current
 20% use web-based materials for half of their class
 49% have course-specific websites
Usage of web-based content
Primary
use
Secondary
use
Post
announcements
Discussion
groups
Lecture notes
Interactive
exercises
Links
Submit
assignments
Online Services
 Instant messaging offers departments savings on personnel
and offers students a quick and easy way to get the
information they need using familiar technology
Financial
Aid
Admissions
Orientation
Housing &
Residential
Life
Library
Problems with Chat
 “Increasingly, students will arrive on campus having spent
years using IM, expecting the technology to be part of their
educational lives.”
 On an average day, 26% of college students use instant
messaging
 Students want to multitask, achieving their many goals in a
short amount of time
 At colleges, “IM has become an integral aspect of
communication and community”
 Colleges are trying to keep up with fast-paced students and
hope to “incorporate IM into the educational aspects of
students’ lives, rather than relegating it to a social
function.”
Solutions to Chat
 Taking advantage of the internet access many
universities already provide students, instant messaging
offers university professionals with the means to serve
students instantly through the students’ preferred
medium
 “Some institutional libraries have set up online
reference desks with IM applications, and faculty have
begun using the technology to facilitate virtual office
hours. For many current and prospective students, IM is
becoming the preferred mode of contact with recruiters
and admissions staff, the registrar’s office, and
academic advisors.”
Area Four:
Technology as a Safety Hazard
 Through the widespread use of technology, particularly
social networking tools such as blogs, instant
messengers, and profile pages like MySpace and
Facebook, students are quickly learning the
“unwelcome lesson that websites they socialize on are
far from private.”
 Websites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo have
students display their full names, pictures, cell phone
numbers, residential location, political preferences,
interests and a list of “friends.”
Sample Sites Posing Safety Hazards
Facebook
MySpace
• More than 60 million active
users
• Active users double every 6
months
• More than 110 million
monthly active users around
the globe
• 1 in 4 Americans are on
MySpace, in the UK it is as
common to have a MySpace
as it is to own a dog
The Problems Created
 “It just takes one motivated explorer to track down the
most obscure networked public presence.”
 Through these mediums students are exposing
themselves to numerous safety risks, including:
* Cyberstalking
* Harassment
* Spamming
* Identity theft
* Embarrassment
* Blackmail
* Incriminating photos
“The internet lacks walls. Conversations
spread and contexts collapse.”
 The issue of privacy is monumental, as
many students do not realize the
information they post can be viewed by:
• Police
• The government
• School administrators
• Parents
• Potential employers
“Many of their classmates simply don’t have
any reason to think that information they leak
online can come back to haunt them”
 Several institutions have used materials from
such sites as Facebook and MySpace to
discipline students, such as:
• University of Kentucky
• Northern Kentucky University
• Georgia College (browses Facebook everyday!)
“You can’t tell a group of students, ‘don’t do
this, don’t do that,’ but you can say, ‘Here is
how you maintain a degree of safety in this
new world.”
 “Victims could have prevented the abuse if they had been more
vigilant about their online activity.”
Many institutions are incorporating technology safety into
orientations, first year experience classes, and general services
• Do not reveal personal details to strangers or “just-met
friends”
• Set pages to private
• Make searches advanced
• Do not put extremely specific details such as schedules,
routines, etc.
• Do not post compromising photos
• Overall, remember that anything put out there can be found
for a long time to come
Area Five:
Interpersonal Relationships
 Being constantly connected to friends and family is a
positive aspect of the internet, Instant Messenger, text
messaging and cell phones, but does it hurt our
relationships?
 Students can stay in touch with friends from high
school, family from far away, or friends at other
institutions
 Helps with societies need for immediate gratification
Potential Negative Effects
 Some students report that they are
“cocooning” and retreating to their computer
which isolates them from the rest of the school
community
 Roommates instant messaging each other while
in the same room, only feet away
 Students text message each other instead of
calling one another
 Groups meeting in chat rooms opposed to
meeting face-to-face
 The language used to communicate inhibits
clear writing ability
Term “friend” online vs. in person
In
person
Online
The term friend online
is anyone that you
know or have met. It
can be someone with
the same name or
interest, an
acquaintance or even
someone that you have
never met.
The term friend in person
is an individual you trust,
go to for comfort or a
laugh, someone you can
count on and someone
you interact with on a
regular basis.
Building Community via the Web
Sophomore
13.28
Hr/wk
Freshman
12.28
hr/wk
¾ of college
students use
the internet for
social
communication
Junior
8.64
Hr/wk
Senior
8.52
Hr/wk
Based on these statics, community is being formed, just in different ways with
the help of technology
How colleges & universities are working to
alleviate the issue of changing interpersonal
relationships due to technology
 Research has confirmed that, “internet communication does not
displace traditional communication, they have discovered many
ways in which the two forms of communication complement one
another”
 “Students can and do form and sustain meaningful relationships and
communities online” however we need to make sure students are
still having in person interaction which “may provide more of a
stress-relieving benefit than the less intimate contact that occurs
when using technology to obtain social support”
 In addition “technology usage is highest among freshman and lowest
among seniors, new students orientations may be an excellent
opportunity for student affairs professionals to address the role of
technology in the transition into college life”
5 Student Services Areas Where
Technology Has Radically Changed
Interpersonal
Relationships
Decreasing
Active
Lifestyle
Judicial
Implications
Educational
Supplements
Safety
 It is essential for student affairs administrators to be
aware of technological advancements and how these
can both positively and negatively affect students.
 Once this is accomplished professionals can take the
next step and utilize technology to their advantage
References

Assumption College. (n.d.) Assumption College institutes alcohol education for first year students. Retrieved
February 7, 2008, from http://www.assumption.edu/news/

newshp/current_news/alcoholedu_print.html.

Assumption College. (2004, March). Assumption College educating its students about alcohol. Retrieved February 7,
2008, from http://www.assumption.edu/news/

newshp/current_news/alcohol.html.

Berkeley. (n.d.). Dear cal student. Retrieved February 7, 2008, from http://alcoholedu.berkeley.edu/.

Blackboard. (n.d.). Blackboard and WebCT complete merger. Retrieved February 7, 2008, from
http://www.blackboard.com.webct.

Boyd, D. (2007). Social network sites: Public, private, or what? Knowledge Tree. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from
http://ktflexiblelearning.net.au/tkl2007/?page_ie=28.

Educause Learning Initiative. (2005, November). 7 things you should know about instant messaging. Retrieved
February 14, 2008, from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7008.pdf.

Gemmill, E. (2006). Technology Use Among College Students: Implications for Student Affairs Professionals. NASPA
Journal 43(2).

Govani, T., Pashley, H. (n.d.). Student awareness of the privacy implications when using Facebook. Retrieved
February 11, 2008, from http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/fa05/tubzhlp.pdf.

Gross, R., & Acquisti, A. (2005). Pre-proceedings from WPES ’05: Information revelation and privacy in online social
networks (The Facebook case). Alexandria, VA: ACM.

Guidry, K. (2006, September). Online Communication is Healthy, Normal, and Critical to Identity Development.
NetResults. Retrieved February 4, 2008, from http://www.naspa.org/membership/mem/nr/article.cfm?id=1135.
References

Hamilton, J. (2003, January). Technology affects student access. University Affairs, 30.

Hinkle, S., & Hersh, S. (2007). Facebook and the first-year experience: Promoting on-line education through new
student orientation. Ejournal, 8(3). Retrieved February 11, 2008, from
http://studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Fall_2007/FacebookandtheFirstYearExperience.html.

Holder, D. (2006, April). Ethnographic Study of the Effects of Facebook.com on Interpersonal Relationships. Retreived
February 11, 2008, from
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:c3LgI51GP3YJ:home.uchicago.edu/~holder/fethno.pdf+effects+of+facebook.c
om+on+interpersonal&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a.

Huang, T. (2003). Assessing overweight, obesity, diet, and physical activity in college students. Journal of American
college health, 52(2), 83.

Junco, R, & Mastrodicasa, J. (2006, May 24). How to meet millennials’ expectations (Part II). NetResults. Retrieved
February 4, 2008, from http://www.naspa.org/

membership/mem/nr/article.cfm?id=1535.

Kautiainen, S., Koivusilta, L., Lintonen, T., Virtanen, S. M., & Rimpela, A. (2005). Use of information and
communication technology and prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents. International Journal of
Obesity, 29, 925-933.

Lloyd, J. M., Dean, L. A., & Cooper, D. L. (2007). Students’ technology use and its effects on peer relationships,
academic involvement, and healthy lifestyles. NASPA Journal, 44(3), 481-495.

Nachbaur, A. (n.d.). College students and instant messaging: An analysis of chatting, flirting, and using away
messages. Retrieved February 14, 2008, from http://www.stanford.edu/class/pwr3-25/group2/pdfs/IM_Flirting.pdf.

Outside the Classroom. (n.d.). AlcoholEdu® for college: Population-Level Prevention®. Retrieved February 11, 2008,
from http://www.outsidetheclassroom.com/

prodandserv/higher/alcoholedu_college/.

Owen, D. (2006, September 19). Student affairs to host Facebook info sessions. Quinnipiac Chronicle. Retrieved
February 7, 2008, from
http://media.www.quchronicle.com/media/storage/paper294/news/2006/09/19/Features/Student.Affairs.To.Host.F
acebook.Info.Sessions-2285287.shtml.
References

Porter, L. R. (2003, August 18). E-learning and the transformation on your campus. NetResults. Retrieved February 4,
2008, from http://www.naspa.org/membership/

mem/nr/article.cfm?id=1135.

Read, B. (2006, January 20). Think before you share: Students’ online socializing can have unintended consequences.
The Chronicle, 52(20), p. A38.

Sadler, M. L. (2007, October 10). Freedom and responsibility: Teaching critical thinking skills to Facebook users.
NetResults. Retrieved February 4, 2008, from http://www.naspa.org/membership/mem/nr/article.cfm?id=1605.

Selingo, J. (2004). The cheating culture. Prism, 14(1), 24-30.

Tchernov, K. (n.d.). Privacy issues with blogging. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/courses/compsci705s1c/assignments/StudentResearchReports/Privacy%20issues%20wit
h%20blogging%20(ktch003).pdf.

Wall, A. F. (2007). Evaluating a health education web site: The case of AlcoholEdu. NASPA Journal, 44(4), 692-714.

Wilson, S. (n.d.). The influence of technology on college student values. Ejournal, 8(3). Retrieved February 11, 2008,
from http://studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Fall_2007/InfluenceofTechnologyonCollegeStudentValues.html.

Working to Halt Online Abuse. (n.d.) WHO@ (haltabuse.org) comparison statistics 2000-2006. Retrieved February 13,
2008, from http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/stats/Cumulative2000-2006.pdf.