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The Chronicle of Higher Education has a webpage dedicated to technology applicable to those who have a steak in higher education. This webpage is a must stop for anyone interested in learning more about how technology and higher education can coexist. It includes Latest News, Technology Forums, sound bytes from the 2011 Higher Ed Tech Summit, an area called ProfHacker with information for educators, blogs, a comment area and much more. They even offer an opportunity to sign up to receive a newsletter called the Wired Campus. It will take a while to read through all of this information and it is updated often so bookmark it and check back frequently!

Additional reading suggestions:

Click here to check out Educause Quarterly article on The Role of Disruptive Technology in the Future Higher Education written by Katrina A. Meyer

Another fantastic book for educators wanting to take advantage of social networking: Social Media Marketing with Emerging Technologies (2011), written by Robert Scott Corbett, Jamie Turner and Scott Bishop.

Higher Education, Emerging Technologies, and Community Partnerships: Concepts, Models and Practices (2011), edited by Melody A. Bowdon and Russell G. Carpenter.

Time to Turn Disruptive Technology Loose on Higher Education (2011), by Gary L. Hunt. A very intreaguing blog post in Zap! Crackle! Pop!

Effective Change Management in Higher Education (2003), by Geoff Scott. Located in the EDUCAUSE Review.

A Call for Technology in Elementary School

Wylie ISD has reached another technology milestone with the implementation of the MyWyFi program. Beginning with the first day of school on August 22, all Wylie ISD students (PK-12) will be allowed to bring their own Internet enabled devices to school. This includes laptops, netbooks, smartphones, iPod Touches and any device that meets minimum system requirements. Students who choose to bring their own devices will have access to a guest wireless network; it is similar to the current hotel models you may experience when you travel or visit a Starbucks or McDonalds. The Internet will be filtered the same as if the student was using a district owned computer. The use of the technology in the classroom will be at the teacher's discretion and ultimately the student will be responsible for any applications and support needed for his or her device. To support the implementation of the MyWyFi program the district will also be rolling out Google apps for students and staff. MyWyFi information and documentation can be found here:

https://sites.google.com/a/apps.wylieisd.net/mywyfi/apps-learning-center/program-overview

A Challenge Issued to My Fellow Staff in Student Affairs

We in Student Affairs are a very “push” driven division. We generate manuals, create traditions and allow ourselves to become very comfortable with not trying to fix what we believe isn’t broken. We lead from the top down. Most of our administrators and department leaders (including me!) are old school in function and thought. We are proud of the products we create and given even the smallest success with students, we repeat them year after year.

I have been introduced to a new way of doing things. My eyes have been opened to the fact our students aren’t going to stand for old school (unless it’s an 80’s throwback party in the Res. Hall). They expect the fee’s money they pay us to work for them as they need it to work not as we think it should. “Our educational institutions are grappling with the need to move from being institutions of learning to learning institutions that rapidly evolve in response to the quickly changing learning needs of students that define courses today” (Hagel, Brown & Lang, 2010).

We are sitting in a comfortable spot, relying on the core – the administrators central to Student Affairs - to let us know when we aren’t doing a good job, rather than allowing the students to make that ruling. Our students, after all, are our consumers. Consider this: The edge transforms the core. If we all think of ourselves as edge participants, constantly incorporating new technology and methods of serving our students, the core itself – Student Affairs – will be transformed into a university system our students will fully utilize and trust. Therefore making it easier to convince our consumers to approve new fees and continue to fund our efforts to make them better more prepared citizens once they leave our preverbal walls.

So how do we break free from this push environment we are so much immersed in and use the power of pull to generate the products and productivity that will best serve our students? For starters we need to be connected. Not only to our students and each other, but to others who can help us in our quest to prepare our students for life beyond the university. Think bigger than just our counter parts at other institutions. It seems all of our benchmarking occurs with other institutions of comparable characteristics. We need to look much bigger than that. Communication in the world around us has changed dramatically. We need to stop being afraid of social media. Join facebook and listen to what your students are saying. There is a listserv for almost everything you could think of. Open up your mind, use your technology and pay attention to the problems of your students. And then we can work to fix them. That is what we are here for. Find a campus department or even a campus or company other than ours that you would like to emulate and ask them what they are doing. But make sure if you enlist in the services of social media like facebook, twitter or youtube you don’t use them once or twice and let them die. They have to be used to be useful.

As leaders of our departments, we frequently find ourselves afraid of failure. Afraid of judgment handed down from the person above us, who in turn is afraid of the same. It may be difficult to change things upward, but we have the ability to change them below. Our employees are further out on the edge than we are. Many are young and much more connected than we know. We need to give them our trust and room to create. There is no way of knowing how connected they are until we take the time to stop giving orders and listen. We have become enraptured in the concept that as the leader if we don’t make all the decisions and come up with all of the good ideas, our employees will never have the faith to follow us. Consider how it would feel to have a supervisor come to you and say ‘You are more on the edge, closer to the students than I am. What do they want? What is the best way to achieve our goals?’. The word that comes to my mind is empowering. Most of us, when empowered to do the job we know we are capable of with freedom and trust, will by far exceed expectations. Not only that, we will most likely believe in our cause and have much greater buy in to our programs.

Collaboration needs to replace competition. Pulling of resources, whether online or in person will create bigger, better and much more effective products than if we each try to produce one on our own. Most all of us were called to this profession for similar reasons. It only makes sense we pull together and support each other, sharing resources both physical and personal.

We need to look at updating our technology. It will be much easier to go digital and get connected if we have equipment that will provide the tools to use what is available and compatible with what our students are using. The investment will be defended in the amount of time we are spared and the products we produce.

Finally, don’t forget about yourself. Take time to learn new things. Surf the net and look at what is out there. Surround yourself electronically with people who share your interests and who can help you get ahead, who are willing to give and take information. Some of us who were in our youth before the big shift in technology, fear the future because we feel so left behind in what is out there now. Technology is designed to make our lives easier. It will only get easier; you just have to commit to being a part of it. I would like to conclude by passing on a great resource I luckily happened upon on accident. Eric Stroller is a blogger and consultant for higher education. Check out his site and become inspired to join the pull movement: ericstoller.com.

“The truth is, the things you did to get there will no longer work to keep you there.” - Hagel, Brown & Lang, 2010

I Am Change!

Selecting Media That Evangelizes

Video:

The Ideas & Trends Initiative: I Am Change, developed by The Center for Leadership Development at Seton Hall University.

http://acu.embanet.com/mod/resource/view.php?id=111139

This video, in interview form, embodies the excitement I feel about reinventing the methods I use to educate college students. As student affairs professionals, we are leading and guiding our students. The project, in which the students in this video were involved, depicts a wonderful example of how leadership and collaboration can evolve out of literally nothing. The professors advising this particular group stopped listening to their own voices and literally gave the voice to the students involved in the project. The advisors acted as facilitators and mentors and watched as an amazing thing happened. The students slowly began to take over. They read recommended text books, they tapped into available technology, they took advantage of the ease at which collaboration can happen and they all share similar sentiments – it was one of the best and most unique learning experiences they have had and that change is imperative, inevitable and something we shouldn’t be afraid of.

Applying this idea in student affairs doesn’t have to be a huge challenge. Most of us are so focused on creating the perfect class or program that we lean towards considering our own wants and needs and focus less on our students. By allowing them to come in and create their own programs with our guidance and support, they will have a final product that is not only tailored to their needs, but something they can take pride in being a part of. Intuition tells me the buy in from other students, who aren’t directly involved in creating the program, will be greater than ever because of the fact it was created by peers.

For further reading: http://www.educause.edu/Resources/IdeasandTrendsInitiativeEnabli/195315

References

Twal, R. a. (2010). Ideas and Trends Initiative: Enabling Leaders to Identify and Understand the Impact of Emerging Ideas and Trends. Mid-Atlantic Regional Conferences. EDUCAUSE.

University, T. C. (2009). The Ideas & Trends Initiative: I Am Change. Seton Hall University.

Leading the Way

ACU Connected Leads the Way

Nestled in the heart of Abilene, Texas, Abilene Christian University, a small private institution, has become a global leader in the mobile learning initiative. It seems an unlikely place for technology leadership to emerge, but offers the hope that if it can happen here, it is possible anywhere. It is my intention, through this summary of the ACU mobile learning initiative called Connected, to convince student affairs professionals to accept the challenge of embracing exciting opportunities that exist, or maybe even develop those that don’t yet, and improve our programs significantly, creating greater student buy-in, through the use of technology.

My first question upon learning of the amazing and massive initiative ACU has taken on, was why? ACU proudly answers this question on their ‘Connected’ webpage: “We're pursuing the future of learning because we know our students will live and work in a world that doesn't yet exist - a world whose challenges and possibilities are only now beginning to coalesce. If we can offer them the advantages not only of seeing the new world these changes will create, but also of pioneering that world for those who will come after us, then we've done something truly valuable” (ACU Connected, 1990-2011). From higher education staff who come from generations that received their education before computers were a mainstay, it is common to hear conversations about how technology is killing relationships, face to face conversations, communication in general. ACU isn’t trying to replace these things, with their ‘Connected’ initiative, they are simply adding dimension to a students learning experience, creating a greater since of community and providing fast, efficient and more profound methods of collaboration and information discovery.

In 2006, ACU formed an advisory committee they called the ACU LINK Team, comprised of faculty, advisors and campus technologists. In 2008 ACU launched the initiative which included a mobile interface that was compatible with the iPhone and iPad Touch, which they considered a comprehensive tool that allowed students to successfully “navigate life at Abilene Christian University” (ACU Connected, 1990-2011). 957 devices were handed out to freshman and 182 to staff. Results of the first year of implementation were astounding. ACU had taken a prominent position in global mobile education leadership for higher education. Demand was so high for consulting, a summit, the ConnectED Summet was planned and the first one included 412 people from 64 colleges and universities, 29 K-12 districts and 26 companies. Today ACU offers conferences in three formats: The Connected Summit conference that happens twice a year, several online conferences each year, and open houses that offers opportunity to communicate with ACU faculty, administrators, technologists and students who are part of the mobile learning initiative. The program has received global accolades and continues to grow, today issuing iPhones and iPads to students who use the devices for a myriad of functions in classes, to receive campus news and even to perform student service functions such as register for classes.

I encourage you to visit the ‘Connected’ website (acu.edu/connected) if you wish to be inspired by the many ways technology can be incorporated into higher education. Here you will find endless news stories of the awards and publicity the program has received in its five short years. You will also have access to the research faculty has published about the effectiveness of the mobile learning program, podcasts and videos on a multitude of subjects with everything from ConnectED Summet seminars to demonstrations of student created applications. If the website itself isn’t convincing and inspiring enough, check out the ACU Connected Blog (blogs.acu.edu/connected). This blog site contains resources, presentations, mobile learning tools, very convincing arguments for incorporating mobile learning into higher education initiatives, interesting articles that are technology centered, visitor comments and much more.

If all of this feels a little overwhelming, it should. ACU has put forth a very large scale initiative that continues to grow. But a large leap for mankind can easily be scaled back to a small step for man. Having the courage just to make the decision to incorporate some form of technology into your student affairs program is a great start. Luckily with resources available, like the ACU Connected website, becoming inspired and gaining access to useful tools will make the process not only easier, but actually enjoyable.

A month ago, I took my own advice – if it can happen at ACU, it can happen anywhere. I come from a generation that was in front of the technology wave. I am a paper and pen kind of person. I finally accepted the fact that my students are not. I have committed to creating an online Alcohol Education course for my students. With a small Wellness Center staff of three, it would be impossible to educate all 18,000+ of our students, in person, in a year. With online technology, it could happen in just one hour. ACU Connected has inspired me to reach out to our Student Affairs technology consultant who has pledged to aid in making this course compatible with mobile devices. Am I nervous? Sure, but I will pass this advice along: with mobile forefathers, like ACU, who have proven it can be done and done better than successfully, my hopes are high.

I leave you with perhaps one of the most inspiring messages I took away from the ACU Connected Annual Report: “Our task has, indeed, been to foresee the future, to imagine what learning will look like a decade from now – and a decade after that… to dream for students who are not yet born and to create for those who are already here” (ACU Connected, 1990-2011). I challenge you, my fellow Student Affairs staff members to dream and create, resulting in a better learning experience for our students.

References

ACU Connected. (1990-2011). Retrieved July 22, 2011, from Abilene Christian University: http://www.acu.edu/technology/mobilelearning/index.html

The Effect of Disruptive Innovation in My Organization

I have many definitions for disruptive innovation, but the best summary has come from Disrupting College: How Disruptive Innovation Can Deliver Quality and Affordability to Postsecondary Education (Christensen, Horn, Caldera and Soares, 2011). This summary follows:

Disruptive innovation is the process by which a sector that has previously served only a limited few because its products and services were complicated, expensive, and inaccessible, is transformed into one whose products and services are simple, affordable, and convenient and serves many no matter their wealth or expertise. The new innovation does so by redefining quality in a simple and often disparaged application at first and then gradually improves such that it takes more and more market share over time as it becomes able to tackle more complicated problems.

Because I work in higher education, many applications come to mind, the most obvious to me is the online degree program. I am a living example of someone who has taken advantage of disruptive innovation in higher education. I am a forty year old single mother who has a full time career. If not for the online degree program at Abilene Christian University, I would have never completed even one course towards a master’s degree, little alone having achieved the degree in two years. Furthermore, if it were not for disruptive innovation and the online degree program at Texas Tech University, I would never have even considered seeking a Doctorate degree, but because of it, last week I was accepted into their online Doctorate program.

Disruptive innovation comes about when a company and in this case institution not only recognizes a need for something new and different that will appeal to those previously excluded, but is willing and creative enough to find a solution to the problem. In the instance of higher education, it was finally accepted that people like me were never going any further with their education without a solution that offered greater flexibility and was less expensive (although only slightly). I would never have been able to go sit in a classroom weekly for two years. The online program was my solution for continuing education.

Sustaining innovation, according to Christensen, Horn, Caldera and Soares (2011) is more focused on breakthrough technologies or incremental product performance improvements in order to make better products that sell for bigger profits. These changes occur along an existing trajectory. The two are different in that disruptive innovation actually takes the place of the existing product making it more convenient, affordable, etc. where sustaining innovation continues to improve on an existing product. In higher education, colleges and universities can improve amenities they offer students, bring in renowned faculty, offer a greater variety of majors – all things that improve the existing product. Whereas online learning, a disruptive innovation renders these things fairly unimportant and offers flexibility and cost effectiveness, appealing to a completely different audience.

In working in higher education, I have found change is not something that is easily come by. Although I do work in student affairs for a university that is very interested in competing with other traditional universities, therefore making improvements to residence halls, the Activity Center, dining halls and the Student Union. With all of this change happening to structures on campus, programming efforts have remained fairly consistent throughout the last ten years.

I am responsible for alcohol and other drug education for the entire campus. All of the alcohol and other drug programming continuing education, programming ideas offered by non-profit organizations and those that are for-profit, and programming efforts put forth by most institutions of higher education have centered around convincing students of the dangers of drinking and driving, binge drinking and underage drinking. This market has been driven by sustaining innovations. We have gone from Mothers Against Drunk Drivers very basic wrecked car displays to high tech drunk driving simulation machines. Several companies have based their entire business model on aiding teachers in convincing students of the negative impact of alcohol and drugs.

Studies are beginning to surface that show college students feel the benefits they get from drinking alcohol are worth the risk. These benefits being increased social confidence and better conversational abilities to name two. The authors of these studies are suggesting our approach to alcohol and drug prevention is all wrong. That instead of using scare tactics, we should be helping our students with their social and conversation skills thus eliminating the need for alcohol in social situations. I believe these studies will create disruptive innovation in alcohol and drug education products and curriculum.

Although it’s a very small innovation in a very small corner of university life, it could make large differences in the number of lives lost and students injured because of the use of alcohol. I am personally ready to change the way I program. While this information is new, I am already creating a proposal to change the way we have been educating our students for years. I am hoping this class will give me tools to aide in this quest.

Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B., Caldera, L., & Soares, L. (2011). Disrupting college: How disruptive innovation can deliver quality and affordability to postsecondary education. Center for American Progress & Innosight Institute.