Comments on Technology projects for the new academic year

• Events & Social Media
• Posted by Brenda Bethman , Director, UMKC Women's Center on August 20, 2010 at 8:15am EDT

• At our Women's Center, we already use a lot of technology, especially social media (Facebook, Twitter, blog, Flickr, etc.). What will be new for us this year is a more concentrated effort to tie our social media efforts to our programming. So we're starting a new blog that will support a series of programs we're hosting on work/life balance. And we bought an iPod touch so that our work study students can live tweet and Facebook from events. I'm looking forward to finding ways to engage the folks who can't make it to our programs but who would like to be there.

• Posted by Liz Van Lysal , Program Outreach Coordinator / University Housing at UW-Milwaukee on August 20, 2010 at 9:15am EDT

• I'm most excited about our new student experience blog, Life at UWM. It will give students the chance to tell the story of what it's like to live in University Housing at UWM. We just started the blog a week ago. If it goes over well, I'll invite some of the authors to volunteer at our university Open House display, so prospective students can meet the UWM students they've been reading about for two months.

  Elsewhere in our department, we're implementing an electronic package tracking system that sends residents an email when a package is received - no more package slips! The software is called Digital Doorman.

  With the opening of the first LEED Gold residence hall in the state on our campus, we're partnering with Lucent Technologies to offer an online energy dashboard for all of our residence halls. It gives up-to-the-minute reports of electricity, gas, and water use in our buildings. It can compare usage over time and between buildings. It also can convert energy use to "currency" - such as dollars, pounds of CO2, etc.

  We're starting the school year with over 1000 fans on our Facebook page, so we're hoping to do some more intentional programming and advertising using that medium, as well as posting thoughtful questions to prompt our students to engage with one another.

• remote proctor
• Posted by MIS Prof , Mgmt/Mkt at public teaching institution on August 20, 2010 at 9:15am EDT

• I'm faculty, not staff in student affairs, but I thought I'd mention remote proctors. These nifty devices help to verify the identity of a student taking an exam in an online class (finger-print scanner) and monitor students taking an exam at home using a 360-degree camera and a microphone to record the exam session. The software side of this technology also includes a lock-down browser to prevent the student from accessing unauthorized material with the computer. Suspicious activity is flagged so faculty can review it easily (was it a dog barking or a whispered answer from someone helping the test-taker?). Viewing the video confirms that the same student who swiped their finger across the finger-print reader is the one taking the exam. (The vendor for the one we are trying is SoftwareSecure.)

  This remote proctor might not catch every attempt at cheating; I'm sure I don't catch everything in a traditional classroom setting either. But the technology will send a message about integrity, discourage some cheating attempts, and catch a lot of others. So far, students like the convenience of taking the exam at home and appreciate the enhanced value to their degrees.

• Utilizing Technology to Improve Student Success & Retention
• Posted by Lisa B. Rhine, Ph.D. , Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at Northern Kentucky University on August 20, 2010 at 2:30pm EDT

• The impact of enrollment growth, continued innovations in technology, financial constraints, and increased accountability for improved retention rates and degree completion compelled Northern Kentucky University to review delivery of retention services to students. Redesigned practices and new technologies provide the infrastructure and the foundation to improve efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery while redirecting the focus on retention and degree completion. This systemic review and rethinking of student success programming resulted in a systemic approach called University Connect and Persist (UCAP). UCAP increases efficiency and effectiveness, improves productivity of services, streamlines processes, re-focuses programs and services, and enhances utilization of technology. NKU is taking advantage of EMAS RetentionPro, a technological retention solution that increases efficiency by enhancing intra- and inter-office communication, and allowing immediate access to the information service providers need to perform their jobs most effectively. EMAS RetentionPro was selected to improve connectivity and services by offering better communication, better tracking and reporting, and shorter response times between service providers. Recognizing productivity as a function of both quality and efficiency, the technological infrastructure for UCAP suggests that we will realize savings in costs and labor and improvement in service to the students and university offices that rely on this data and communication to perform their functions. EMAS RetentionPro’s technological advances allowed NKU to critically examine communication and work flows and processes. Since many work processes were designed using paper as the primary medium, the electronic processes resulted in a radical redesign of how services are delivered and communication occurs. According to Fink (1997) the importance of the physical location of campuses and the facilities that comprise them is decreasing. Advances in computer-based technologies and the implementation of EMAS RetentionPro has allowed NKU the opportunity to co-locate retention services virtually rather than physically, resulting in cost savings and improved efficiency. This technological solution coupled with our systemic retention strategy: University Connect and Persist: UCAP forms a creative way to deliver a full range of services proactively to students in ways that enhance their effectiveness and do not increase marginal costs.

• Google, Foursquare and Twitter
• Posted by Gary , Residence Director at NC State Universtiy on August 26, 2010 at 3:45pm EDT

• Example: SPEAK UP! AS A TRAINING TOOL I think I've finally gotten to this. I've been trying for a week or so now. My name is Gary Honickel. I am a third year graduate student at NC State University in Raleigh, NC. I will be graduating in May with my Master's Degree in College Counseling (insert plug here for job). I come to graduate school and Student Affairs from Northeastern University in Boston, MA. I was an RA and Senior RA during my time. I have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and this is a good background to demonstrate my love for technology.

  Last year I toyed with the idea of using Twitter, Facebook and Google sites to communicate to students and help build community that way. However, I didn't market it very well and many students didn’t realize it existed or paid much attention to it. I also did not manage to spend much time on focusing the website. However, I learned that having a facebook or twitter account6 for my building is a great way to help monitor the health and safety of the building. I found a student who had posted some questionable and worrying comments that alerted me to a concern for the student. In the end, we got the student help but I found it was a great way to understand where students are coming from. Now in a new building, I decided to try again but also expand my use.

  I have read many of the same articles as others in the field about the impact of Social Media and I am a firm believer that it works. It’s just another way to reach out to a student. I will breakdown what I have done and why I have done it. https://sites.google.com/site/northandwataugahalls/ One of the first things I looked into was the use of Google Sites to create a website for my building. Google Sites is great and now that my institution has students whose email and calendars are all done through Google Apps, it makes it even easier as Google Sites is one of the include items in the package. While I have a background in Computer Science and have programmed my own website (www.ghonickel.com) before, Google Sites is free, easy to use and transition to the next person.

  I am aware that not everyone knows how to program a website in php and mysql on the fly. You don’t have to know the <b></b> is the tags you put around text to bold it. Google Sites provides you with the tools to do that. I designed the site to answer questions and assist students with what was going on in the building as well as provide them an opportunity to get to know me and their RA staff. Calendars were added to provide students with an opportunity to add the events to their own calendar as well as add the calendar itself to their account. Its easy for RA staff members to add their programs and use. The front page has both twitter/facebook accounts for easy access for the students to see the updates. I plan on using the website for coordination of some of opportunities for community building including 12 second video tips, interactive games and opportunities to add their own flavor or pictures.

  Twitter and Facebook. Both of these social media greats have given my staff a great opportunity to reach out to students. As many have seen previously, there is a report out there saying that students who are on Facebook and active, are more likely to be involved on campus. We’ve used it to promote events and connect with students. I offered students free pizza if they followed/friended the buildings by 8/31 with the random student from each building getting free pizza. I also will offer random prizes for the students to come meet me and their RAs by attending programs and by seeing “Visit me in my office from x-x for candy or prizes”.

  Lastly, I am going to talk about Foursquare. This year I got an Droid. Now its not the fancy Droid X like some people have or the new Droid 2 (though I want to get the R2D2 version in October). It does have access to the same applications including Foursquare. I am fascinated with the app. Now, its not huge following because it’s still new and you need an “smart phone” to use the service. However, I decided to experiment with it. I found out I could become a “manager” of a location and I did. With this not only can I have specials for my building but I can also track who checks in, when they check in and how often they check in. It allows me to use the data to see how often people use the service and what times they are coming in. Overall, I am trying something new each year and trying to use these items to build community and provide students with the resources they need. If you have any questions about any of these things, feel free to contact me on twitter @ghonickel