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Editor's
Notes
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Welcome to the inaugural
edition of Student
Affairs Online: an
e-magazine devoted to emerging issues in student
affairs and technology. We hope you find something
of worth herein, and that you will take full
advantage of this interactive medium and post your
own responses, thoughts, and/or
feelings.
Why start such a project
in this format?
Some of the professional
conference presentations that I attended last year,
including my involvement in ACPA's
Practice Agenda Project on Emerging
Technology, were
revealing of the current situation in student
affairs. The educational landscape is clearly
shifting and practitioners are often left to their
own devices to chart a course through conflicting
messages (e.g., be current but be frugal). We all
face similar challenges in this area no matter what
our focus (what DO you do with an old 486?) While
many professionals have found innovative ways to
incorporate technology into practice, my sense was
that others of us may be unaware of the fact that
we are making similar mistakes and/or do not fully
appreciate the challenge that may be facing student
affairs in the coming years.
Then I met Stuart Brown at
NASPA
in New Orleans. His experiences were similar to
mine. The pace of technological change is quicker
than the traditional routes of information
dissemination can manage (e.g., newsletter,
journals, etc.) and many practitioners are
struggling. We agreed that some type of organized
information exchange needed to occur and that the
e-magazine format seemed both a timely and
efficient method to achieve this goal. His energy
and my inability to say "no" to a good idea led to
this project.
Regards,
Daniel W. Salter
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To wade into this stream, this first
edition opens with several "thought pieces" that explore the
nexus between our profession and technology. Our
contributors range from seasoned scholars to emerging
professionals who have turned their attention to these
matters.
Higher
Education in the Digital Age
To gain an appreciation for some of the challenges facing
higher education and student affairs, this excerpt from a
larger article by Arthur Levine outlines the
potential impact of distance education in the coming
years.
Harder
Than It Looked: Reflections of Writing for the
Internet
Online education and training are not solely a
faculty concern. Kathleen Manning shares her
struggles and views on designing online educational
materials.
Automatic
Accommodations: The Potential of Online Learning for All
Students
As we attempt to reach students via technology, we must
recognize that our clientele continues to have
increasingly diverse needs. Skip Stahl and
Joyce Branaman challenge us to make the Internet
and technology accessible to students with disabilities.
They provide some strategies.
Technology
and Student Affairs: An Unlikely
Pair
Our best intentions with technology may be thwarted
by our abilities to use it. Will Barratt offers
some insights into why emerging technology may be
especially challenging to the student affairs profession
due to the types of individuals who choose this
occupation.
Emerging technology impacts our
profession at all levels, so we are also please to showcase
the writings of two graduate students.
Computer-based
Harassment on College Campuses
While empowering, new technology offers a new set of
educational challenges. Sarah Rogerson outlines
some administrative considerations regarding the growing
problem of technology based harassment.
By
Way of the Pendulum: The Effect of Technology on the
Future of Student Affairs
Looking ahead to the coming years, Jason Zelesky
weighs the pros and cons and the long term impact of
technology on student affairs.
We anticipate having some "regular
columns" for Student
Affairs Online, including book
and product reviews, case studies, and other
resources.
The
Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante
to the Internet
In our first Book Review, Phil Bernard
contributes his opinions of a provocative work by
Margaret Wertheim.
Virtual
Addiction
Our second book review is by Katherine
Schneider. In her opinion, Virtual Addiction
is an interesting book, filled with some good information
for "Internet addicts" and/or the people who work with
them.
Cornell
University's On-Line Event Planning and Risk Management
System
Our first Product Review
by Joseph Scaffido, deals with the applied use of
FilemakerPro
to student affairs administration, as Cornell moves their
event planning & risk management system
on-line.
Internet
Rights and Responsibilities - Computer Affairs: A Booming
Profession
In Internet Rights and Responsibilities - Computer
Affairs: A Booming Profession, Rodney Petersen
discusses this evolving area of student affairs practice
and outlines a few elements of a good "computer affairs"
program.
Websites
Worth Visiting
To supplement a growing list of
online
resources and links within
articles, we will ask different recognized scholars
and/or practitioners to share their favorite Internet
sites. Our first respondent is John
Schuh.
On
StudentAffairs.com
Stuart Brown's efforts in this area began long
before this e-magazine. He provides an update on the
StudentAffairs.com,
which is another resource for practitioners.
Take
the Guesswork Out of Conducting
Interviews
Increasing numbers of
students and staff are using the Internet to search from
jobs. Melissa Edeburn of the College
and University Personnel
Association, helps
potential employers to Take
the Guesswork Out of Conducting
Interviews
The
"Pay Back" Site
Finally, in the theory-to-practice tradition, I offer
a case study scenario to use with students and staff as
an educational tool. A summary of readers' responses will
be provided in a future edition of Student Affairs
Online.
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