♦ Technology ♦
Graduates should be able to use various forms of technology in their interactions with
students and in their own professional development. Specifically, students should be able
to:
- utilize communication tools such as electronic mail, video conferencing, and/or designing web pages;
- use research tools such as electronic data bases, world wide web searching, and other on-line sources;
- use multi-media in making presentations before professional audiences.
Current students are savvy with, and dependent on, modern technological devices and mediums. Electronic mail has simplified some of my work responsibilities and complicated others. It is the tool I use most frequently in answering questions about academic advising and admissions, because that is the way I receive the questions. I have several ‘auto’ responses to help me manage the hundreds of email I receive weekly, as honors@engineering, EAP@engineering, and admissions@engineering, are each email addresses that I manage.
But electronic mail creates miss-interpreted emotions, lacks eye contact, and reduces human contact in an environment dependent on interpersonal growth. Although I am certainly reliant on technology, my greatest strides are still made in person. Student Affairs is the heart of the university, and until software can rejoice and laugh, or worry and cry, on our behalf, technology must be balanced with individual and personal interactions, each day, one student at a time.
- The Honors Listserv allows me to communicate with over 125 students with a single message. I update the ‘recipient list’ quarterly, as the membership changes, and use the same electronic list to update the Registrar’s records of the current Engineering Honors students. I use the time that automation saves me on mundane tasks to interact with students in person.
Honors Listserv - Electronic databases have allowed me to access hundreds of journal articles and educational publications in the last three years. This has greatly enriched my graduate studies, and my student interactions, as my work campus does not subscribe to most of the journals addressing the issues dear to my heart.
- www.assist.org is an invaluable tool in advising community college students, rectifying transfer student transcripts, and in helping students identify campuses offering the major of their choice. As my department liaison to ASSIST, I manage articulation changes for the college. Recently, I had the pleasure of redesigning the Transfer Admission Agreements between numerous community colleges and Engineering at UCSB. These agreements are explained on the ASSIST site.
ASSIST memo - I use PowerPoint to display a series of photographs of my students engaging in a wide range of activities: studying abroad, conducting research, goofing off, participating in clubs and campus activities, and more. I then use the photos to prompt my presentation. Without text, the photos fill the screen and allow the details of the images speak for themselves. This format allows me to tailor my words to the listeners without having to redesign the actual slide show for every audience.