Thursday, October 25, 2007
Well, if They're Already Using It ...
Inside Higher Ed: "That statement, or something like it, lurked in the background on Wednesday as educators and campus technology officers at the annual Educause conference here in Seattle discussed, engaged and sometimes struggled with the dilemmas posed by the e-mail and social networking habits that students routinely bring with them as incoming freshmen. Again and again, officials suggested a version of that statement, upending notions about accommodating students’ preferred methods of communicating and searching for information."
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6 comments:
This is interesting, I had no idea institutions were so hung up on trying to stay updated about our emailing habits. Personally I don't see this as being THAT important. Maybe I am just too old fashioned to have my whole life programmed around technology. Yes, I check my email constantly, and I also have a gmail account, but I can't even keep track of how often I am writing down to-do lists by hand and constantly updating them. I just think our lives are getting way too complicated.
I find it interesting that Northwestern is taking such an interest in the email habits of the student body.
Just speaking within Drama, i don't even know if you could come up with a solution that even half of the student's liked. It seems that we have about three groups of people. Pure webmail people, (who write their emails by carving on stone,) the Fowarding people, and Outlook Enthusiasts. If any one particular option was chosen for us, two groups of people would be very angry.
Therefore, versatility, the ability for whatever application to sync with other apps and foward to other accounts will please the most amount of people at one time.
I think it's good to provide as many options to students as possible. Why pay for an antique, university-based email server if students are going to opt not to use it? GMail seems to be one of the most popular free email services out there, and perchance Northwestern is on the cutting edge in university email by adopting a system so (relatively) new. However, I think all of this is a complete curtesy for the students and no university should feel obligated to go so far out of their way to make sure the email wants and desires of the incoming freshmen are met. There are already enough options out there for people to set up their email the way that is most efficient for them.
I really like the idea of universities using existing e-mail servers for their students. G-mail and Yahoo create mail clients like its their job. Personally I have had numerous problems with Squirell Mail because it really does run like something from the nineties. A university creating a mail client is like McDonald's selling Mexican food, even if we are a sweet CS school.
I think I like the idea of allowing students to search for roomates on facebook using a university created application. It might take some of the randomization out of the roomate picking process and also might make more people happier with the person they are going to be sharing 200 sq ft with for the next 9 months. However, there is murky territory when a university crosses into facebook when so many students think of it as an unmonitered social network.
Goodness it seems like everywhere you turn there is another technology crisis. I'm not incredibly good with technology, but I use it often. Anyways I got to go to the mask project.
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