Advances in technology are a fact of life in today’s society. Higher education is
no different. With the progression of technology, new issues present themselves at many colleges and universities. This committee report, with cited references, is designed to identify pertinent issues with technology in higher education, and offer insight on how we can become better equipped to handle situations that may arise. The goal is to educate our fellow administrators for positive future outcomes.
In regard to building a successful college community in a technologically savvy era, we believe that it is important for the college to lay the foundation. The main reason why students flock to their computers is because computers are something that is familiar to them, while being in college is not. It is the colleges’ responsibility to draw these students out by providing programming and reaching out. Students in unfamiliar surroundings need to be catered to with creative programming specifically designed for them.
On the issue of digital divide in higher education, we must recognize the haves and have-nots. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) tend to have less technology advancements that historically white colleges and universities. According to B. Keith Fulton, one of the most recognized authorities in Digital Divide issues in the United States, “One benchmark is the "Most Wired College" list, and I believe two HBCU’s made the list last year -- one being Tennessee State and the other being Hampton University...(Morehouse also made the list.) .” When only three HBCU’s make this list it shows a significant gap in the advantages that students graduating from these schools will have. Higher education must address the issue of the digital divide to continue to prepare students for the global marketplace.
The role of Community Colleges also will be an important factor in bridging digital divide. Community Colleges have the ability to train students in a shorter period of time and get them out into the technological workplace. Dr. Gustavo Mellander stated, “…the two-year institutions can gear up quickly, they are accessible in terms of location and cost, and they are experienced in teaching nontraditional students.” Given these advantages, community colleges should lead the way in a new national effort to provide computer training to those who are most at risk of being left behind. Higher education in America has played an integral role in developing computer and internet- related technologies. It is important that with development, higher education institutions also prepare individuals to work with this technology and level the playing fields so all schools are able to compete.
Online Student Services
There are many different ways that students and student services on a campus can be affected by these changes. Technology based student services are a reality on today’s college campus. Fundamentally, student services are created to help students and bring them together academically, psychologically, and socially. There is the ethical question in a technology-based student affairs department as to are students receiving the attention they need to nourish and grow and thrive in life? The flip side is – What if students want easy, no hassle access in today’s busy world?
Technology is revolutionizing the classroom and the way that information is given to students. Services to students that could be affected include education, academic advising, support services, bookstore, alumni services, and career services. Every way that a college interacts with a student is considered a “student service.” Many services can be put on line for convenience to students, but at what point is this detrimental to the overall student collegiate experience? Is the mission and philosophy of the university services being met (Davidson, 2001)?
On-line classes are becoming more accepted, and a very practical way for “non-traditional” college aged students to continue their education. In fact, “the preference of adults to continue working and living at home while earning a college degree, the growth of the Internet and World Wide Web, and the increasing availability and importance of computers” (Brigham, 2001) make the need for distance education that much greater. Students and faculty no longer need to meet at the same place at the same time. It assures that “any person qualified will no longer be excluded dude to time and place constraints” (Upcraft, Terenzini, & Kruger). The ability to control the pace of what is being learned and to have the option of when activities are completed have put the student’s needs as a priority. Financially, this option is also promising as it eliminates time for travel, child care, and meals (Van Dusen, 1998). Students ages 18-22 currently comprise only about 25% of total enrollment in higher education (Van Dusen, 1998). The needs of “non-traditional” students obviously should be met, and on-line classes are a great alternative.
There are obvious downfalls from a student affairs perspective to this kind of technology. As students sit at home in front of a computer, face to face contact with faculty, administrators, and peers is reduced significantly (Upcraft, Ternznini, & Kruger). Some students learn through interaction and gestures, and may find distance learning extremely difficult. It will also be difficult for universities to keep up with the ever-changing computer technology – this could eventually cost students more through tuition for upgrades and maintenance.
Student affairs is concerned with the entire development of a student intellectually, emotionally, and socially. An asynchronous learning environment could be extremely threatening to this concept. Classroom interaction as we know it among students and faculty is in jeopardy. It is important for all students to have an equal opportunity for a quality education. Legal aspects will have to be considered, such as the definition of e-mail harassment, site access, and a body that monitors this information.
With on-line technology, registration has already completely been revolutionized. Advising would be the next step. If a school were to transition to on-line advising, this would probably be done by a full-time professional advisor, as opposed to faculty (Brigham, 2001). Students would have more access to an advisor with this system. The obvious downfall to this system would be the lack of human interaction and counseling skills that would be necessary to help students make informed decisions concerning their future. Likewise, in a web-based career service center the same argument could be made. There should be a certain amount of counseling involved. This kind of system, however, would be easy access for students to retrieve career information, take self-assessments to learn about interests, skills, and abilities, and get resumes critiqued (Davidson, 2001). On the Internet, a web-site can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hours of operation for a Career Resource Center would be limited to school business hours. It also gives students a “sense of ownership of their progress,” as they can access various information without the help of others (Davidson, 2001).
Bookstores and libraries have and will be affected by technology. Students will have extended access to many different resources and will be able to order and pay for study materials on-line (Brigham, 2001). Therefore, once again it is easy access. However, this also limits time on campus for students. These technological changes once again affect the entire collegiate experience.
Alumni services could be well enhanced by a web-site created by colleges. This would be a quick and convenient way to update information and for old friends to keep in touch. Links to career resources, campus updates, surveys, and other publications for the school could be placed on-line (Brigham, 2001).
There are many advantages and disadvantages to these on-line services on a college campus. Some additional consequences to think about when considering changing any of these services: “establishing a response time for answering student messages, integrating e-mail with phone calls, letters, and faxes, and tracking and storing messages” (Brigham, 2001). Additionally, these changes in technology are expensive. The cost of these programs long term and the impact on students on campus must be seriously considered.
Brigham, D.
“Converting Student Support Services To Online Delivery” International
Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, January 2001. Available:
http://www.icaap.org/iuicode?149.1.2.6
Davidson, M. “The Computerization of Career Services: Critical Issues to Consider.”
Journal of Career Development, 27(3), 2001.
Upcraft, L., Terenzini, P., & Kruger, K. “Looking Beyond the Horizon: Trends Shaping
Student Affairs.” ACPA. Available:
http://www.acpa.nche.edu/seniorscholars/trends/tremds5/htm
Van Dusen, G.
“Technology: Higher Education’s Magic Bullet.” The NEA Higher
Education Journal, Spring, 1998. Available:
http://www.nea.org/he/heta98/s98pg59.pdf
Online Cheating
“Plagiarism includes a range of actions from failure to use proper citation to wholesale cheating. A student who plagiarizes may do so unintentionally or with planful deliberation.” (Hinchliffe, 1998). Plagiarized work has been generated through many different means including fraternity house recycling, purchasing a paper (often times from local ghost writers), turning in another student’s work, turning in a paper a peer has written for the student, copying a paper from a source text supplying proper documentation but leaving out quotation marks and paraphrasing materials from a source text without appropriate documentation (Hinchliffe, 1998).
Some students find breaking the rules to be an irresistible challenge. Before the world of the Internet, many of these efforts were readily detectible by professors who were knowledgeable of the material. The World Wide Web and other electronic resources have changed the plagiarist’s methods of cheating. From the comfort of the dorm rooms, students have access to vast information resources in cyberspace. Professors must stay abreast of the variety of new methods students are using. The consequences of plagiarism are clear: when a student has used any type of information other than their own, without citations, this is ground for a failed assignment, probation, suspension or expulsion (Ryan, 1998).
“The most straightforward method of detecting online plagiarism is to use one or more popular web-based search engines such as Alta Vista, Google, or HotBot and simply search for keywords from the suspect paper.” (Anderson, 2001). It may seem overwhelming if you choose general words because of the large amount of information on the web pertaining to these basic words. It is best to try and choose phrases that made you suspect the paper may have been plagiarized. You may need to use more than one search engine since no one-search engine covers the entire web. There are numerous websites that are focused primarily on plagiarism detection. Some plagiarism detection sites include: Plagiarism.org, Essay Verification Engine Home Page, Plagiarism.com and Findsame.com. Plagiarism.org is a fee-based plagiarism detection software and paper mill monitoring organization. A professor must register his/her class with plagiarism.org and then request that his/her students upload their papers to the TurnItIn.com web site and the papers are screened. This alone may deter some students from cheating (Anderson, 2001).
There are many different reasons that may prompt a student to cheat: stress, anxiety, family problems, relationship problems, or just laziness. When students are lazy they often do a terrible job with their plagiarism. These efforts can be easily detected if you know what to look for: Context Change – students try to camouflage copying by changing the context of the original paper, Missing Footnotes – skipping footnotes altogether, and False References – citing nonexistent books or journal articles or referring to sources unrelated to the subject matter (Anderson, 2001).
Anderson, Cary 2001. Online Cheating, A New Twist to an Old Problem.
http://www.studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Spring_2001/cheat.htm
Hinchliffe, Lisa 1998. Cut-and-Paste Plagiarism: Preventing,
Detecting, and Tracking
Online Plagiarism. http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~janicke/plagiary.htm
Ryan, Julie 1998. Student Plagiarism in an Online World.
http://www.asee.org/prism/december/html/student_plagiarism_in_an_onlin.htm
Misuse of
Technology
Some institutions are providing policy involving appropriate technology usage. According to the University of Central Florida Golden Rule,
“Users shall not use university computing resources to impersonate another individual.
Appropriate use of technology may range from downloads, such as MP3’s or pornography, use of e-mail, and instant messenger services. The newest wave of disciplinary files in higher education deal with such misuse of technology. Institutions are able to monitor ports on campus and determine the source of illegal downloads. Some institutions are coping with this by installing a “firewall”- a program designed to keep people on particular computers or networks from illegal downloads.
Other disciplinary issues include a new form of harassment: cyber-stalking, harassing e-mails and instant messages, e-mail spams and bombs. Recent case law is being incorporated into federal and state law regarding this technologically enhanced form of harassment, and there are numerous resources on this available on the internet.
Colleges and universities must keep current on technology-based case law. The newest example is a case determining student e-mails to faculty and staff as official educational records, and therefore protected by the Family Education Right to Privacy Act (FERPA). The significance is in the fact that students may be assured that e-mails (absent of anything against policy such as threat or harassment) to faculty and administration are protected from public record.
A simple search on findlaw.com uncovered a wealth of information pertaining to online harassment and misuse of technology. As long as institutions maintain policy which parallels public law, and community standards are set for cyberspace, liability goes down, and administrators can focus their efforts on other issues.
http://www.ucf.edu/goldenrule/conduct.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/frompost/nov98/email01.htm
http://www.e-lawconsultant.com/cybercrime/index.shtml