Category Archives: Students use of technology

Wireless in the Classroom: Asset or Distraction?

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Like most colleges and universities, PSU has spent the last several years expanding wireless access to the network across our campus. Except for the residence halls, where population density precludes good wireless service, we've installed wireless in most public and academic buildings. You want to connect, we're usually there for you.

Faculty are raising concerns, however, about the distraction of wireless in the classroom. A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Distractions in the Wireless Classroom, cited the example of one observer…

"[we] were intrigued by the tapping of the laptop keys as students appeared to be taking copious notes. As we looked over their shoulders from our back-row seats, we found instead they were on Facebook, Dave Matthews Band Web sites, instant-messaging friends, and e-mailing fellow classmates." <http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i21/21c00101.htm>

While laptops make for better note-taking and in-class exercises, their connection to the vast media, communication and information of the internet poses somewhat of a challenge to an instructor who is trying to get your focus on a specific topic. After all, that is why you're paying tuition.

Frankly, laptops are not the biggest problem. It's cell phones that are changing the nature of the classroom. Imagine the distraction to an instructor when the cell phones go off or vibrations send reverberations through the class. Think of what it does to your focus, then multiply it for the classroom.

I'm not sure there is a simple answer here. For some instructors, those who are more facilitators than information disseminators, student connectivity to the internet poses a wealth of opportunities for in-class discussion, research and analysis. But pity the lecturer, the old-style of class delivery where they are the vessel and you are the receptacle. That tends to lend itself to surfing. Regardless, if you don't respect some basic guidelines of class manners, more and more you'll see syllabus components that prohibit ANY laptops in the classroom. That would be a shame.

I write with a certain sense of authority on the matter. I have my smartphone with me all day. I get text messages from colleagues who want my attention right away. I am always on-call. If someone raises an issue, I quickly get on the internet and get more information. And, if I'm bored and less-than-engaged in a meeting, I check my email. I admit, I'm addicted to my connectivity.

I've found, however, that this type of behavior is perceived as rude and insensitive to those around me. I don't like it when others do it in my meetings.

I also dislike what this constant connectivity is doing to our culture in general. Spend time in an airport, look around at the mall. Everywhere people congregate, they are yakking it up on cell phones, oblivious to those around them. We are fast losing our sensibilities and courtesies in public areas.

There was a time when public phones were in booths. They were designed to help you talk in privacy. Maybe we should create booths for cell phone users.

Regardless, and more to my original point, turn off the signal and stash your phone while you're in class. Use your laptop wisely. It's your money, it's your education. Be courteous.

Penny for your thoughts...

Students, Technology & Trends

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A recent study (2004) by the Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) shared some key findings about undergrads and information technology.1

 

  • Nearly all (97.5%) students surveyed owned a computer. More than two-thirds of those computers were one year old or less, and most were laptops. In spite of these numbers, most of the students never brought their laptops to class. They cited heft and theft as key reasons.
  • On average, students spend 23 hours a week online. Guys spend more time online than girls. Engineers and business majors more than others. They prefer broadband connections, and only 10% depend on dial-up access.
  • While students use text messaging and other more immediate forms of communication, 83% preferred email as the official means of communication from their schools.
  • Three quarters of the students surveyed used course management systems (like our WebCT), most several times a week. More than 75% prefer at least moderate to extensive use of technology for their coursework.
  • Most students (70%) use computers for downloading music or social networking (Facebook or mySpace).
  • Use of blogs, podcasts and other forms of new media tend to be used by less. While the use of blogs, podcasts and other forms of new media have grown significantly, they are not used by a majority of students.
  • Respondents ranked convenience as the “single most important benefit of IT in their academic experience.”
  • When asked about their priorities, first year students wanted “more network speed and access to music!” Seniors wanted “more computer labs and IT training.”
  • While a majority of students who make up the ‘net generation’ are fluent and highly adaptive to technology, there remains “an important minority of undergraduates do not appear enamored of IT, and some even appear to avoid it.”

These findings are consistent with our experience at PSU. Nearly all have computers, but demand for our computer labs is at an all-time high. Since we serve a rural region, we probably have more students dependent on dial-up internet access.

 

Students communicate freely through (Facebook, text messaging, cell phones), but still respond well official emails. They appreciate online services. If surveys or polls are provocative, they respond in significant numbers on myPlymouth. They tend to download music until they are warned that they might be caught. Some chase technology, some could care less. There remain some who are overwhelmed and intimidated.

 

Students are no longer using phones in the residence halls. Nearly all have cell phones and in spite of 500 free long distance minutes per month, less than 15% are using them. This has significant implications for our campus and how we communicate with students.

 

What does this mean for us? Some questions for thought.

 

  1. How do you communicate with students?
  2. How should PSU communicate with students? (in other words, what is the most effective means to reach them?)
  3. If there was a pandemic and students were prohibited from being on campus, how prepared are you to conduct your class online?
  4. How does technology enhance what you do?
  5. How does technology undermine or burden what you do?
  6. What area of technology would you like to learn in the next year?

Our students live in an online world....do you?

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One of the greater challenges in the classroom today is bridging the widening gap to students who are more connected than any generation in history. Students are using technologies that many faculty and instructors do not use, much less understand. While the work of faculty is demanding enough, failure to understand these dynamics may place them at a severe disadvantage.

Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University, recently stated that the greatest challenge we face in higher education is the explosive evolution of technologies juxtaposed to stagnant pedagogy.

More and more, our students navigate within a real and virtual world of vast amounts of information, media and stimuli. Some of it is very real, such as blogs from war zones, and other parts are more surreal, like gamers. But more than anything else, they are the generation of online social networking. While we sit back and observe, maybe pass judgment on the folly of it all, they are running in information circles around us. They communicate and network like most of us have never known.

Most students have social networking web pages. Maybe on www.mySpace.com, maybe on www.facebook.com. If you want to get to know them, this is where they hang out. Avoid a critical eye; use a listening eye. To know these places and how interaction works is to gain understanding of your students. While some are getting press on irresponsible postings, there is a far greater story about how youth today are presenting themselves, their interests and their skills online. These sophomoric beginnings will evolve to emerging electronic portfolios.

I know. Our two daughters, 17 and 13, and all their friends, live for this. They take pictures, post them online, write and chat with others. They record videos, edit and integrate with sound and special effects, then post to youtube.com and link to their pages. As parents, we emphasize safety and etiquette, and share stories about how some people make big mistakes, but mostly we allow them their rites of passage.

These tools and skills will become increasingly important as they enter a complex, networked employment world.

How can you use this information to reach out in new ways, to incorporate some of your coursework into an online experience? First, spend some time online. Get into Facebook and find your way to Plymouth University. Look up some of your students. You might even ask them for their facebook addressees.

You might want to create your own page in Face.book. A few of your colleagues are already there. Check out this one: http://plymouth.facebook.com/profile.php?id=44603719

You don't need to be a convert, but if you know your students better, this information can be useful in connecting with them in class and helping them better understand the material you teach.

You can also use some of the more dynamic tools in WebCT to strike up some conversations in ways you never dreamed.

I'm not saying whether this is good or bad. In fact, there are elements of both in this new world. I am saying, however, that any tendency to shrug this off as a passing fad is to miss a key ingredient in understanding students of today. They are the employees of tomorrow. Those who will be successful will be those who exploit their online networking and community.

 


Spam, it's getting worse again

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Email…what a wonderful tool running amok. Much of our work today is based in email. When you find, however, that your inbox is cluttered with spam and unsolicited intrusions, you start to wonder if it’s all it’s cracked up to be.

Most of the mail on the internet today is spam. We protect you from most of it. Not all. You have tools at your disposal to block more. Unfortunately, the more you tighten your filters, the more good emails get caught in the nets. (sigh) Thus we are losing confidence in a communication means that used to be very reliable.

In spite of our approaches, new types of spam keep coming through. A year or so ago, we were dealing with multitudes of smut and offers to enlarge. We installed new software to filter that out. Then we had credit card and eBay scams, phishing ploys enticing us to update our accounts and offer up our access codes to financial data. Currently, we’re fending off stock deals, masked by randomly generated names and subject headings.

Consider this from a recent Computer World article:

Computer security analysts who fight spam face the same thankless task as goalkeepers: They don’t get much credit for the unsolicited e-mail they stop, only demerits for the ones that get through. But those few messages that wriggle past increasingly sophisticated filters constitute the greatest threats on the Internet. The sheer volume of spam threatens to bring the Internet to a crisis point. The amount of all e-mail traffic that is spam has recently risen to 85%, according to the Messaging Anti-Abuse Work Group in San Francisco….

Who knows the precise percentage, but those numbers are consistent with our experience.

Fighting spam is difficult in an academic environment. We value academic freedom and are committed to free exchange of ideas. Rarely do we block access to information, and only when it poses a threat to our network.

Yet if the spammers continue to have their way, they may force us to develop new strategies for communicating and messaging. It might mean that we change to another means of messaging. It almost certainly requires resources and ITS time and effort.

Set your own spam filter at oz.plymouth.edu/spamkill This is a free service to the PSU community. Outlook users can also set a second filter under the Tools menu.

ITS will continue to keep pace with developments in the anti-spam industry. We know this is important to all of us.

Should PSU Host Blogs?

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There’s been a good debate about whether or not PSU should support blogs. Who among you think this is important for PSU to invest in and support?

Blogs, or web logs, are used more and more for individuals and organizations to publish material to the web quickly and easily. Any individual can set up a blog and write until their heart's content. They can publish their thoughts to the world and with no editor, filter or moderation. If they have good ideas and can write effectively, others take notice. They may also establish a feed from your site. That means every time you post something on your blog, it is pulled to their attention.

Like so many new aspects of the web, water seeks its own level. If you are good, people take notice and your hit count increases. Some may get their 15 minutes of fame. For most, it simply brings the satisfaction of writing and publishing.

Some PSU classes use blogs. Students are required to set up a blog and post materials there as part of assignments. Some students who are less extroverted in the classroom can be more effective communicators in writing. (and vica versa)

Over the past year, PSU has been hosting a small blog server in a pilot study. Several departments have signed on to use them, along with a few individuals. The very blog you're reading now is sitting on that server. Yet we cannot continue to expand its use without investing in more equipment.

With that background, here is the issue. Should PSU host a blog site for individuals or not? Should we invest PSU resources in the hardware to host blogs in the PSU domain? It might cost around $7-8,000, plus someone’s time to maintain and upgrade it in the future. Or should we use and encourage blogs, but use any one of the many blog sites free and easy to anyone on the web. There are two camps of thought.

Camp One: PSU should not only support, but encourage blog use. We are an academic community where free exchange of ideas and thoughts is fundamental to our mission. By encouraging the use of blogs, we can bring more attention to PSU. In a Google Economy, this is muscle. It could also be a marketing boon. $7-8k in cost is nothing considering the larger cost of technologies on campus. PSU can and should invest in this rapidly expanding means of communication. It is core to what we do. Also, by hosting the blog site at PSU, we do not require students sign up for web services outside of our control.

Camp Two: PSU should encourage and support blog use for anyone interested, but why invest in hardware and support when blogs are a commodity readily and easily available on the web? Anyone can sign up for a free blog by establishing a username, password and verification of age. (www.blogstream.com, for an example) There is nothing overly personal or sensitive in that information. (If you don’t want to give your real birthdate, don’t.) There would be no cost to PSU and the same functionality would exist. Besides, given the rapid pace of change around web applications, we might want to wait this out and see if it’s a fad or a true wave of the future.

I’ve simplified the debate to this core issue. There are pros and cons to each. The crux question to you is whether or not you feel this is important to what we do at PSU? The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) engaged in this debate in their September 2006 meeting. Their recommendation was that PSU should support and host blogs.

It will be presented as a budget priority for next year. It will compete with other priorities for new funding.

What do you think? Do blogs matter to you and if so, should we host or post elsewhere? I’d love to hear from others in the campus community.
(ITS’ers and blog aficionados, let’s give others a chance to chime in first)

Wireless in Res Halls?

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Many students ask about setting up wireless routers in the residence halls. Simply put, the campus housing is too densely populated for personal wireless access to work. It would be convenient, for sure, but there are a number of downsides.

More below. But the bottom line is this: PSU has expanded wireless access to public spaces (Library, HUB, Prospect) and academic buildings. By the end of this year, all common areas in residence halls will be have wireless access to the network.

What we cannot do, at least now, is bring wireless to the living areas. And, because of the inherent problems that are listed below, ITS simply doesn’t have the resources to support students who attempt to set up wireless access points in their rooms. In fact, we prefer that you don’t. Here’s why

Wireless at home vs. wireless in a densely-packed residence hall

Setting up a wireless router at home is easy. In a densely-packed resident hall, it’s something else altogether. There are a number of technical problems that arise when students hook up wireless routers in their residence hall or PSU apartment:

  • Wireless routers are set to a specific channel. If there are two or more wireless signals competing for the same channel, they’ll conflict and render each other useless.
  • Wireless routers are also impacted by some electronic equipment, like microwaves and wireless phones.
  • Unless a wireless router is configured correctly, it will allow others to connect to our network equipment that is not authorized or properly screened for viruses and operating system updates. That creates a network security hole that could negatively impact others on the residential network.

Additionally, the wireless signal provides maybe 1/10th of the capacity of a direct connection to a PSU network port. If multiple students are connecting on a single wireless access point, performance slows to a crawl.

Because of the support required, and the rapid evolution of wireless standards, ITS simply cannot provide support to those who want to install wireless hubs. It is also a security risk that we cannot condone. Consequently, and in light of the points above, we ask that you avoid using wireless hubs in the res halls and student apartments.

ITS Installing Wireless Access Points in Common Areas of Residence Halls

To help accommodate the growing demand from students to connect wirelessly, we are installing wireless access points in common areas of all the residence halls. Just like in the HUB or Lamson, you will be able to connect by logging in to the web page that pops up in your browser.

Meanwhile, if you want a little more latitude nn your room, consider a 15-25’ computer cable. You’ll have a much faster and secure connection. Cables are available for purchase at either the Lamson Learning Commons (front desk) or at the University Computer Store on Merrill St.
We’ll continue to listen to your feedback and grow our network to meet your needs.

Dwight

RIAA Means Business: Stop File Sharing

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Every semester we provide a warning about sharing music and movie files over the PSU network. This activity is illegal and is being closely scrutinized by the Recording Industry of American (RIAA). They've filed legal action against students in the past and they plan to continue. That aside, file sharing of copyrighted material is wrong and we expect better from PSU students.

For many of you living on campus, the broadband connection for every student is quite a luxury. You have a world of information at your fingertips. But with that broadband comes responsibility.

PSU is an ISP (Internet service provider). You are a user on our network. We do not monitor your network use or where you go. However, if we see a network slowdown, and it points to your computer IP address, and it looks like a lot of file sharing activity, we’ll cut off that port until you stop. We do that because those network traffic jams tie up everyone around you.

You also make yourself vulnerable to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). They look for their copyrighted material getting slung around the Internet. If they see it coming and going from your computer, they can file civil or criminal charges. First they would contact PSU and notify us that someone at a specific IP address is sharing their copyrighted material. We, in turn, must notify you to cease and desist the alleged behavior. If they want to bring charges, and they have, they will go right to you. At that point, you’re on your own.

PSU has an Acceptable Use Policy for computing on our network. It’s worth a read…you’re accountable to it. Please do not use our network to share files illegally or against copyright. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

For more information, see www.campusdownloading.com.

Balancing Security, Access & Services

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The laws pertaining to networks and data—and those who provide them—are changing rapidly. Graham Leach Blighly. FERPA. HIPPA. BIPPA. (I made that last one up). But you get the point. There are the most common regulatory requirements for establishing security standards. They require PSU to act in a secure and responsible way with our data, the computers and devices that carry data, and the network upon which data travel.

Picture PSU as a virtual place. It's called the plymouth.edu domain. We own that territory, that space in the Internet. Think of it like a castle within which there is a community of groups and individuals. Some areas of our community are very secure; only those who have a legitimate reason to go there are allowed to pass.

We're also an open environment, where academic freedom and access to information is valued. We bring people to our domain. We make an attractive web and help outsiders find information about us. We splay ourselves and our ideas for all to see.

We have data that is used for a variety of online services, some for external viewers, some for internal viewing only through myPlymouth. Register for classes, pay bills, access syllabi and course materials, converse with classmates in discussion groups. Access a wealth of online research and reference materials. Email. Surf. And, if you’re inclined, give online.

PSU is a private ISP, or internet service provider. It is a closed network, opened only with a valid login from a PSU student, faculty, staff or recognized friend. We provide guest accounts for short-time use. Otherwise, our internal network is closed. That's good…you want us to do that. To protect the data that is transmitted for all those above services.

Last year, in a big step toward cleaning up our network, we started a new program where all students connecting on the network had to have computers that had current security and antivirus software (that we provided). That was also true of wireless users. Not only do you have to have a valid account to get on the PSU network, you have to have a clean machine.

It's like living in a community and having to show proof of inoculations. Sad but true. But once you come in, you get more than your money's worth.

That's because there's some serious talent under the PSU technology hood.

Living in an Online World.2

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I’m following up a post from last week. The more I see and hear about this generation’s use of technology for online networking, the more ideas I get about how to translate them to the classroom.

There are some new and popular trends occurring through internet sites. Anyone with a digital camera can post video to YouTube.com. For many, that capability comes within their cell phone. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of average-to-sophomoric material, but some of the good ones are most intriguing, entertaining and provocative. Applicability in the classroom: talk about how communication changes in an online world. Look at how this new social engineering is impacting business and economics. Think about challenging students to submit well-conceived, well-presented videos as semester projects.

Another trend we see emerging is the use of online applications. Writely.com is a site where several people can write and collaborate on a document. Go there, try it. You need to sign on for an account, but it’s quick and painless. Working collaboratively on a document with colleagues? This is the place. On the heels of Writely is Google’s Spreadsheet. It won’t be long before we may see an end to Microsoft’s lock on applications we place on the desktop. Applicability in the classroom: Talk about writing across the curriculum. Write across classes. Partner with another class and develop small teams to write something together. Computer Science and Business. Writing and the sciences. Composition to composition class. (apologies in advance if I’ve stepped in any sacred cowpies)

Have you seen Google Earth? If you watch the ABC Evening News, you will see they use Google Earth for all maps. To run Google Earth on your computer, you need to go to the site and download a small application. Once on your computer, you can go anywhere you want on the globe and drill down to towns and, sometimes, building structures. I went to the home I grew up in and zoomed down to see my father’s Buick. It wasn’t well defined at that level of magnification, but jeezum, it was his car! Applicability in the classroom: I’m sure our friends in Geography are already there. But if you are talking about anything in the world, or climate, or international business…or, sadly, war, taking your class to the precise place on the world behind you on the big screen, well that might be impressive.

The whole idea is to start spending time in the world they navigate more freely. While this is clearly a developmental environment, those who learn to navigate it can keep pace with the changes. And, the skills that are developed by engaging in these online environments will be essential in many careers.

I’d love to hear what some of you are doing? And what would you like to do? We’ve got some talented people in ITS who know and breath this stuff. Ask us, we love to help.

Living in an online world

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I took some time off blogging this past month. It felt good. Blogging is new for me and I’ve grown to like it, but not the obligatory part. I spent time disconnecting last month. That's what summer should be.

We’re now looking at the start of a new academic year. One of the thoughts I’ve pondered on this summer was how to better engage faculty members in understanding and using some of the new tools that are second nature to our students. More and more, our students navigate within a real and virtual world of vast amounts of information, media and stimuli. Some of it is very real, such as blogs from war zones, and other parts are more surreal, like gamers. But more than anything else, there is community online. While we sit back and observe, maybe pass judgment on the folly of it all, they are running in information circles around us. They communicate and network like most of us have never known. You need to be prepared.

Many of your students this year will have web pages. Maybe on www.mySpace.com, maybe on www.facebook.com. If you want to get to know them, this is where they hang out. Avoid a critical eye; use a listening eye. To know these places and how interaction works is to gain understanding of your students. Casey Bisson noted this, too, in a recent blog post.

I know. Our two daughters, 16 and 13, and all their friends, live for this. They take pictures, post them online, write and chat with others. We teach them safety and etiquette, and share stories about how some people make big mistakes, but then monitor their pages and then let them go.

Funny thing is, these are probably more like the tools they will need as they enter an increasingly complex, networked employment world. And won’t it be something when we, as we age, revel at how natural they make it seem.

How can you use this information to reach out in new ways, to incorporate some of your coursework into an online experience? First, spend some time online. Get into Facebook and find your way to Plymouth University. Look up some of your students. You might even ask them for their facebook addressees.

You might want to create your own page in Face.book. A few of your colleagues are already there. Check out this one: http://plymouth.facebook.com/profile.php?id=44603719

You don't need to be a convert, but if you know your students better, this information can be useful in connecting with them in class and helping them better understand the material you teach.

You can also use some of the more dynamic tools in WebCT to strike up some conversations in ways you never dreamed.
I'm not saying whether this is good or bad. In fact, there are elements of both in this new world. I am saying, however, that any tendency to shrug this off as a passing fad is to miss a key ingredient in understanding students of today. They are the employees of tomorrow. Those who will be successful will be those who exploit their online networking and community.

(continued...)Â