Online, Offline, and
Out of Line
The interplay of emerging technologies,
higher education, and student development
at Vermont State University
A Presentation to the University Deans’ Council by:
Jessica Belue, Director of Student Life
Jonathan Bove, Chief Information Officer
Erin K. Miller, Director of Judicial Affairs
Gabriel Reif, Director of Admissions
[A submission for the 2007 StudentAffairs.com Online Case Study
Competition from the University of Vermont]
VSU
In the past six months, at
VSU…
 Students with disabilities and low-income students
have struggled with access to distance learning
courses and courses utilizing on-line forums
 Faculty have begun to incorporate blogs in their
classroom work
 A student was found responsible for using her cellular
phone to receive answers to test questions during a
final exam
 Institutional spam has decreased by 15% due to novel
institutional policies
 A laptop containing 90,000 detailed alumni/ae records
was recently stolen
VSU
Session Objectives
 Familiarize staff with “hot topics” in technology
 Recognize and understand the numerous
benefits and drawbacks of such technologies
 Utilize VSU and nationwide technological
mishaps and successes as case studies,
assisting us in developing policy and practices
 Prepare staff to respond to technological
issues within their functional areas
VSU
Technology and Our
Mission
 VSU’s institutional mission outlines that
we engage students and support them in
their development
 Students come to campus already
familiar with many emerging technologies
 We must incorporate these technologies
into our work so that we can meet
students where they are and provide
them with optimal support and
opportunities for development
VSU
“Hot Topics” We Will
Highlight
 Institutional Spam
 Text Messaging and Other Cell Phone
Capabilities
 Information Security
 Blogging
 The Digital Divide
VSU
Institutional Spam
VSU
Institutional Spam Is…
 The mass e-mailing of the campus
community (all faculty, staff, or students)
 Institutional spam is not…
 E-mails sent over voluntary listservs
 E-mails sent to small campus groups (e.g.
biology majors, a student organization, a
faculty committee)
VSU
Why Institutional Spam is
Important to Understand
 Many parties demand access to campuswide e-mail privileges
 Institutional spam filtering enhances
productivity of all campus constituents
 Lack of policies and procedures can
result in confusion
VSU
VSU Policies for
Institutional Spam
 Administrative approval required
 Submission one working day before the
message is to be sent (unless it is an
emergency e-mail)
 Accordance with the mission of our
institution
 Compliance with federal and state laws
VSU
VSU Procedures for
Institutional Spam
 The IT office monitors mass e-mails
 Requests for mass e-mails can be made on
the Web
 The following officers may approve mass emails:





President: mailings to entire university
Provost: mailings to all faculty
Vice President for Finance: mailings to staff
Deans: mailings to faculty and/or students of college
Vice President for Student Affairs: mailings to student body
VSU
Benefits of
Institutional Spam
Policies
 Help us avoid viruses and network overload
 Streamline campus procedures to ensure
consistency, clarity, and understanding
 Avoid e-mail inundation; ensure campus
constituents read necessary e-mails
 Prevent third-parties from sending campuswide e-mails
 Ensure messages to large audiences are in
accordance with the mission of the university
VSU
Drawbacks of
Institutional Spam
Policies
 Change in technology will require that we
continually reevaluate our policies and
procedures
 Some university offices who want control may
not have immediate control (e.g. registrar)
 Collaboration among involved parties can be
difficult. IT will be the gathering point
 University assumes responsibility for what
messages are or are not delivered
VSU
Text Messaging and
Other Cellular
Phone Capabilities
VSU
Text Messaging Is…
Sending short messages to a [cellular
phone], pager, PDA or other handheld
device. Text messaging implies sending
short messages generally no more than a
couple of hundred characters in length.
(P.C. Magazine’s pcmag.com, http://www.pcmag.com/)
VSU
Why Text Messaging is
Important to Understand
 Text messaging is one of the many features available
on today’s cellular phones
 80% of first-year students at colleges nationwide have
cell phones (Student Monitor,
www.studentmonitor.com)
 Additional capabilities:






Record and view videos
Capture and view photos
Download and listen to music
Record and listen to audio notes
Locate one’s position and download maps (GPS)
Watch TV shows/movies
VSU
“Texting” & the College
Campus: Issues to Consider
 Academic Integrity
 Safety
 Marketing & Communication
VSU
Text Messaging:
Academic Integrity
 Drawbacks:
 December 2002: Cheating scheme uncovered during finalexam week at the University of Maryand, College Park. A
dozen students were caught (Wired News,
http://www.wired.com)
 In 2005, a 9% increase in cheating was reported over the
previous year due to mobile phone use (Curtis, 2005)
 In the United Kingdom, the number one cited cheating
offense is inappropriate use of mobile phones (Curtis, 2005)
 Examples of inappropriate use may include taking pictures of
exams with camera phones, or storing notes or formulas in
phones
VSU
Text Messaging: Safety
 Drawbacks:
 A New York Post survey found that 30% of teens
age 13-18 have engaged in unhealthy stalking
behavior via text messaging (Delfiner, 2007)
 Text messaging enables the exponential increase of
students involved in large-scale campus incidents
via instantaneous communication
 Benefits
 Text messaging allows individuals to remain
connected to others at all times, even when alone
VSU
Text Messaging:
Marketing & Communication
 Benefits:
 Baruch College - CUNY has started a service that
allows people to access class information easily
through text messages (e.g., homework
assignments, computer lab availability, course
surveys)
 University of Maryland Student Government (2005)
sponsored Mobile Campus, a text messaging
service that allows students to receive campus
updates from student organization leaders, faculty,
and administration. (Carnevale, 2005)
VSU
Information
Security
VSU
Information Security is…
 The protection and management of crucial data
 One can repeatedly read in the Chronicle of Higher
Education of security incidents where data was lost or
stolen
 Colleges are repositories of personal information, and
this makes them prime targets of identity thieves
 Students, as a group, are less likely to keep diligent track of
their online bank accounts
 Alumni/ae, as a group, are more likely to be considered rich
targets because of the assumption that they have money to
give away
VSU
Why Information Security is
Important to Understand
As our campus stores more and more
personal information electronically, our
data becomes a higher profile target for
hacking, phishing (fake e-mailing), and
information thieves
You may not think you’re a target, but that
most likely makes you more of one
VSU
Steps to Heightening Our
Information Security
 Educate our staff
 IT is launching a set of digital self-defense sessions
open to all staff
 Keep secret information secret
 Switch to systems that use alternate identifiers, not
social security numbers
 Know each type of attack and how to defend
against it
 Hacking, viruses, and malicious software
 Phishing: use of a fake e-mail or website as a lure
 Physical theft
VSU
Benefits of Heightened
Information Security
 Secure information and well-managed
data prevent a loss of faith in the
university
 Every precaution we take individually
improves the overall security of the entire
campus
 Awareness of the issue makes us more
secure and savvy users
VSU
The Not-So-Distant Future
of Information Security
 There is no single solution that protects
against all threats
 A layered defense is the best approach:
one solution for each threat
 Campus constituents must realize the
need for and be educated to use each
new layer of defense as it is added or
updated
VSU
Blogging
VSU
A Blog Is…
 A weblog or online journal commonly
used to express personal, political, or
scholarly opinion
 Blogs are becoming increasing popular
among college students, faculty, and
admissions office
VSU
Blogging Example:
VSU
Why Blogging is
Important to Understand
 Blogs have become infused in the work of the campus
 Diverse users and uses on campus
 Students
 Using blogs to communicate and network
 Faculty
 Utilizing blogs for scholarly debate and publishing
 Integrating blog use into student assignments
 College admissions offices
 Current students posting blogs to reveal student life on campus
 Prospective and current students communicating through blogs
VSU
Diverse Users and Uses of
Blogs: Students
 Sites like Xanga, Angelfire, Blogspot enable
students to create blogs
 Blogs are personal or shared, private or public
 Students comment on one another’s blogs
 Blog topics include anything and everything
 Students use blogging as a way to journal and
connect to their peers
 Social networking websites like Facebook and
MySpace have blog-like features called “Walls”
VSU
Blogs and Students:
Social Networking
 Benefits
 Facilitates communication between students, leading to the
important development of mature interpersonal relationships
(Chickering & Reisser, 1993)
 Creates venue for open expression, dialogue, and
“developmental friction”
 Drawbacks
 Potential distraction from more educational endeavors
 Public blogs can be read by anyone; poses safety threat
 Students unaware of what speech is and is not protected
under First Amendment
VSU
Diverse Users and Uses of
Blogs: Faculty
 Professors use the “blogosphere” as
venue to post scholarly blogs, debate
and exchange ideas
 Faculty incorporate blogs into
coursework for students
VSU
Blogs and Faculty:
Scholarly Blogs
 Benefits
 Serve as instantaneous publishing opportunities
 Create connection between professors and wide
public audience
 Expedite academic discourse that could take
years through other media
 Provide faculty a venue to establish reputation in
discipline
 Drawbacks
 Blogs viewed by many as superfluous and
inappropriate for academic work
 Content can have negative impact on nonVSU
tenured faculty or individuals seeking employment
Blogs and Faculty:
Incorporating Blogs into
Coursework
 Benefits
 Familiar medium available to many students
 Introverted students comfortable with asynchronous nature
of blogs and become invested in education, thereby
improving their experiences (Astin, 1984)
 Professors have easy access to submitted work
 Convenient forum for student interaction and out-of-class
discussion
 Drawbacks
 Access to and fluency with blogs is not universal among
college students
 Blogs do not help writers interact (Krause, 2005)
 Blogs not conducive for editing process (Krause, 2005)
VSU
Diverse Users and Uses of
Blogs: Admissions Offices
 Admissions offices recruit current
students to post blogs that reflect life on
campus, targeting prospective students
 Prospective and current students
communicate through blogs
VSU
Blogs and College
Admissions: Recruitment
 Benefits
 Accessible and comfortable arena for
many college-goers
 Cost-effective recruitment tool
 Forum for open exchange regarding all
aspects of student experience
 Drawbacks
 Administrators lose control of often
uncensored message being conveyed to
prospective students
VSU
The Not-So-Distant Future
of Blogging
 Enhanced role of blogs in instruction
 Increases in e-recruitment
 Expanded definition of “blog”
 Audio blogs
 Photo blogs
 Video blogs
VSU
The Digital Divide
VSU
The Digital Divide Is…

Harvard University Political Scientist Pippa
Norris (2001) describes three main
components of the digital divide:



The global divide between the countries with
commonplace Internet access and those without
The social divide in each country of those with
access and those without it
The democratic divide between those who use
technology to participate in public life and those
who do not
VSU
The Digital Divide Is…
Michael Bugeja adds a fourth component,
an “interpersonal divide” that “concerns the
social gap that develops when individuals
misperceive reality because of media
overconsumption and misinterpret others
because of technology overuse.”
(2005, p. 6)
VSU
Why Digital Divide Is
Important to Understand
 Students without computers lack
convenient access to a growing number
of blended courses (featuring an online
component) and online university
systems (registration, finances, etc.)
 Without access to social networking Web
sites and cellular phones, students may
have difficulty generating social capital
and connecting to their peers
VSU
Implications for A Socially
Just Educational Climate
 Emerging educational technologies enhance
learning opportunities for many students, while
widening the gap for traditionally
underrepresented groups:
 Van Dusen elaborates:
There is a more ominous consequence of these
new education opportunities. [They present] a new
set of barriers for the traditionally underrepresented
in higher education because computers are less
likely to be in the schools and homes of low-income
families (2000, p. 11).
VSU
Potential Barriers to
Access




Age
Income
Gender
Lack of computer and
technology training




Household type
Physical disabilities
Learning disabilities
Geography and access
to the internet
These barriers not only impact student success in
traditional learning environments but also limit the
access of these groups to the online classroom and
its associated virtual communities.
VSU
(Van Dusen, 2000, Novak & Hoffman, 1998 )
Bridging the Divide:
Suggestions for VSU
 Ensure faculty awareness of the implications of
limited technological access for their students
 Extend hours for campus computer labs
 Offer sections featuring both blended and
traditional instructional methods for all required
university courses
 Include optional training on Web-based
university systems during New & Transfer
Student Orientation
VSU
Next Steps
VSU
What Can You Do?
 Contact us to present to your department
 Attend workshops sponsored by the IT
department
 Stay up-to-date on emerging trends:
 Talk to students
 Consult literature
 Experiment with new technologies
VSU
Works Cited













Astin, A. W. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal
of College Student Personnel, 25, 297-308.
Bugeja, M. (2005). Interpersonal divide: The search for community in a technological age. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Carnevale, D. (2006, October 6). E-mail is for old people. The Chronicle of Higher Education
[Online version]. Retrieved February 17, 2007 from http://chronicle.com/
Chickering, A. W., & Reisser, L. (1993). Education and identity (2nd ed.). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Curtis, P. (2005, April 15). Pupils use mobile phones to cheat on exams. The Guardian
Unlimited. Retrieved February 15, 2007 from http://education.guardian.co.uk/
Delfiner, R. (2007, February 9). Tech stalking: Teen epidemic. The New York Post. Retrieved
February 15, 2007 from http://www.nypost.com
Krause, S. D. (2005, June 24). Blogs as a tool for teaching. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Norris, P. (2001). Digital divide. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Novak, T. P. & Hoffman, D.L. (1998). Bridging the digital divide: The impact of race on
computer access and internet use. Retrieved November 17, 2005 from
http://elab.vanderbilt.edu/research_papers.htm
Student Monitor. Retrieved February 16, 2007 from http://www.studentmonitor.com/
Text Messaging (Definition). P.C. Magazine Online. Retrieved February 16, 2007 from
http://www.pcmag.com/
Van Dusen, G.C. (2000). Digital dilemma: Issues of access, cost, and quality in media
enhanced and distance education. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report 27(5). Retrieved
November 2, 2005, from ERIC
Wired News. Students Called on SMS Cheating. Retrieved February 16, 2007, from
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,57484,00.html
VSU