NOTICE: Team GVSU has taken the following approach to presenting the Telnet College case study:

1. NOTICE: Team GVSU has taken the following approach to presenting the Telnet College case study: White text: Text that would actually appear on a Power Point Presentation. Black Text: Information that would be presented to you orally in order to elaborate on the bulleted points in white text. Thank you and Enjoy!

2. Telnet College: A proposal for taking a proactive approach towards technology on campus. Presented by: Team GVSU Jones, D., Petterson, C., Spiegel, S., & Zaremba, T.

3. COMMITTEE • Demographic/Membership • Each member of this committee will utilize their specific talents and expertise to create a comprehensive, broad-based online student services. • Members Include: • Housing Representative • As the Assistant Director of Housing, this person would be responsible for building a community in residence through drawing students out of their room to become part of the larger community. • Student Life Office Representative • As the Assistant Director of Student Life, this person would be responsible for assisting the committee in making sure that web-based student services are accessible and represent the wide range of student activities.

4. Members cont. • Information Technology Representative • As the Information Technology representative, this person would be responsible for communicating technological challenges facing the implementation of a wide range of web-based student services. This person would also be able to help develop and implement computer training for web-based student services. In addition, this person would help identify potential security issues and assist in eliminating security breaches. • Registrar Representative • As the Registrar Director, this person would be responsible for ensuring security of student information, which would include FERPA as well as other privacy right issues. In addition, the registrar representative can aid the committee in implementing technological advances for web-based student services.

5. Members cont. • Faculty Representative • As a faculty senate (the faculty governing association for campus) representative, this faculty member is responsible for representing the entire faculty body; therefore, the committee would ask this faculty member to bring the issues to a faculty senate meeting and then bring other faculty’s thoughts and ideas back to the committee. In essence, this faculty member serves as a liaison between the student body and the administration. • Student Senate Representative • As a student senate (the student governing association for campus) representative, this student is responsible for representing the entire student body; therefore, the committee would ask this student to bring the issues to a senate meeting and bring other student’s thoughts and ideas back to the committee. In essence, this student serves as a liaison between the student body and the administration.

6. OBJECTIVES and GOALS • Establish a proactive approach for Telnet College to respond to the ever-increasing technology on our college campus in a way that is cognizant of student development. • Respond to the issue of students withdrawing to their rooms. • To create a community wherein students can interact either via the web or face-to-face while enhancing student’s success at the university both academically and developmentally.

7. ISSUES RELATED TO WEB-BASED STUDENT SERVICES • Building Community • Legal Issues • The Digital Divide

8. BUILDING COMMUNITY • Issues • Interaction • Personal • Chat rooms and Instant Messengers have led to less face-to-face interaction and more towards indiscriminate contact via online services. • The diminished interaction may not allow students to develop the interpersonal skills necessary to function in society. • Contacts through computers have decreased interaction and personal accountability, therefore, leading to a potential for more online harassment. • Group • Programming in residence halls is becoming more difficult because of students propensity towards solitude. • Traditional means of advertising for programming is becoming less effective because students are confining themselves to smaller and smaller spheres of contact.

9. Building Community cont. • Relationships • Web-based student services should provide opportunities to develop and maintain interpersonal relationships. • Through the use of web-based student services, students may embark on friendships outside of their typical comfort zone of race, class, and gender because of intimate conversations, via chat rooms, where such issues are less relevant (Foster, 2001). • As a result of web-based student services, students are building different types of relationships than ever before. However, knowing how to build successful personal relationships remains vital in order to succeed in college and throughout life. Thus, the diminished interaction as stated above may not allow for such knowledge to be gained.

10. Building Community cont. • Implications/Implementations • To further build a community at Telnet College, we will develop web-based student services that encourage students to use our cyber-cafes for their social needs. • The cyber-cafes will have non-alcoholic beverages and food in a fun and friendly environment. Middlebury College in Vermont has implemented a café similar to what we intend to do, for more information, click here. • The cyber-cafes will in addition to providing computer portals, provide other recreational activities that will promote social interaction and community building. These opportunities may include things such as foosball, pool, video games, and other opportunities. • Telnet College will provide information via the web for programs and other event occurring on campus. • Pop-up windows will be created, when students use the computer portals at the cyber-cafes. These pop-up windows will include campus and community events that will promote social interaction. • The campus calendar will be set up on all the computer portals, as the home page, rather then Telnet College’s web site.

11. Building Community cont. • Theory as it relates to building community • Chickering • Moving through Autonomy Towards Interdependence • Because students are using the Web and their computer more and more frequently they are less likely to interact with one another and staff, failing to become interdependent and remaining autonomous (Evans, N.J., Forney, D.S., & Guido-DiBrito, F., 1998). • Chickering • Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships • Perhaps student’s development in this vector may be enhanced rather than hindered through their abilities to communicate through a more open and honest arena (Evans, N.J., Forney, D.S., & Guido-DiBrito, F., 1998)such as chat rooms, similar to what Young (2001) stated. • Banning and Strange • According to Banning and Strange, the community where student live, work and study, is composed of the physical, the organizational, and the constructed environment, as well as the human aggregate. In our attempt to build a positive community, through web-based student services, we must focus on the differing aspects of human environments as previously stated.

12. Building Community cont. • Limitations • By increasing all student services online, it may not allow students to interact with others in a more traditional setting such as the Student Services Administration Building or Campus Recreational Center. • Residence Assistant Staff may confront a lack of training in knowing how to program on a virtual campus. • These services may present a need for additional resources, such as financial, structural/physical, and staffing. • The bombardment of pop-up windows and the campus calendar may be seen as an annoyance.

13. LEGAL ISSUES • Issues • Information security • Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) • We must make sure that our web-based student services coincide with the laws associated with FERPA. For example, some parents/guardians may have access to information online; therefore, we must implement a strategy in which to avoid them from accessing this information in violation of FERPA (Kaplin, W. A., & Lee, B. A., 1995). • As a university, we do not want to be negligent by allowing hackers to easily access student’s records and therefore, we need to be sure that our web-based student services are secured. • Federal laws on privacy protection include the collection and dissemination of personal information by electronic means (Kaplin, W. A., & Lee, B. A., 1995).

14. Legal Issues cont. • Online harassment • We are aware of and recognize the potential risk of online harassment at Telnet College. Problems at other universities demonstrate that harassing emails can potentially flow freely through the virtual campus (Carnevale, 2002).

15. Legal Issues cont. • Implications/Implementation • If we are negligent of security concerns in our administration of web-based student services, we may expose ourselves to potential legal action. • Limitations • Regardless of Telnet’s strategies to avoid such legal issues, the dynamic nature of the current technology and developing legal structure make it impossible to forecast future problems. Thus, we must give legal issues the due diligence that they demand.

16. THE DIGITAL DIVIDE • Issue • Equal access. • The digital divide is inclusive of all people across race, class, and gender lines (Mineta, 2000). Therefore, the administration of Telnet must not and cannot make assumptions regarding the knowledge base and experience that students currently have or may bring to the institution. • While in-residence students have access to technology on campus; the digital divide creates inequality of access to technology among other students groups, specifically non-residence students and prospective students. • Social mores and folkways of various societal groups and how those play into the use of technology. • Various cultures view the use of technology differently; therefore, we must not assume that each student at Telnet perceives the use of technology in the same light (Johnson, 1997). Therefore, Telnet administrators must be cautious of such cultural diversity on campus.

17. The Digital Divide cont. • Implications/Implementations • In our mandatory Freshman Seminar classes, we will require a technology component to the curriculum. • We will increase access to computers and other technology resources. • We will provide additional voluntary technology training courses for students who find their computers skills are lacking.

18. The Digital Divide cont. • Limitations • Being able to actually assess the level of technological ability of our students could be difficult and perhaps costly. • If we do not have an adequate student to computer ratio, the web- based student services we want to provide may be under utilized. As a result, Telnet may need to increase the number of computers on campus, which could be extremely expensive. However, perhaps these financial concerns may be overcome through a partnership between Telnet College and a generous and willing sponsor in order to stifle such limitations, such a partnership might be similar to that of what Brown University and MCI WorldCom engaged in (Carnevale, 2000). • Theories • Chickering- • Developing Competence • Through our ability to assist these students in developing computer competencies, we can facilitate their progression the varying levels according to Chickering (Evans, N.J., Forney, D.S., & Guido-DiBrito, F., 1998).

19. PLAN OF ACTION (Implications/Implementation) • Office of Technology Support (OTS) • The office of technology support will develop policies for the implementation and continued use of web-based student services. These policies will ensure that students are not abusing the privilege of web-based student services or other online services, such as downloading viruses, worms, or rouge programs or accessing potentially illegal websites.

20. Plan of Action cont. • Evaluations of computer labs on campus • The office of technology support will be charged with the maintenance of computers throughout campus. • OTS with the Division of Student Affairs will evaluate the effectiveness and utilization of web-based student services each semester.

21. Plan of Action cont. • Training • OTS will work in conjunction with the Division of Student Affairs to develop an education plan for all of campus. This plan will include teaching modules for the freshman seminar classes, as well as the additional technology classes that will be offered.

22. RESOLUTION Be it therefore resolved that Telnet College will establish an online system that effectively negotiates legal issues, addresses the digital divide, and fosters community building, in accordance with the previous criterion.

23. REFERENCES Carnevale, D. (5 April 2002). Anonymous racist e-mail floods a college campus [Electronic version]. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 48. Carnevale, D. (9 June, 2000). Brown U. and MCI WorldCom join to help colleges try to close the digital divide [Electronic version]. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 46. Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., & Guido-DiBrito, F. (1998). Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Mineta, N. Y. (October 2000). Falling through the net: Toward digital inclusion [Electronic version]. Retrieved on April 13, 2001 from http://www. ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/digitaldivide/

24. REFERENCES Foster, A. (17 May 2001). Study finds optimism about the internet – Even though it makes people work harder [Electronic version]. The Chronicle of Higher Education,47, p. A29. Johnson, S. (1997). Interface Culture. San Francisco: Basic Books. Young, J. R. (29 June 2001). A study finds more tolerance among web users [Electronic version]. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 47, p. A33.