Hot Topics in Technology for Higher Education

1
Hot Topics in Technology for Higher Education

• University of Central Arkansas Committee for the
  Deans Council
• LaCresha Henderson
• Danielle Joanette
• NuRodney Prad
• Justin Varghese

2
Whats Bringing the Heat?
Distance Education

• University Spam

LGBTQ Online
Online Safety/Training
Blogs
3
Whats Hot about Spam?

• Spam is the the mass-posting of emails sent to
  Internet users through many copies or different
  messages in an effort to impose the information
  onto people who would not otherwise select to
  obtain it.
• The Importance of addressing spam has to do with
  three areas
• Knowing the Harmful issues
• Discussing the benefits of Preventative Measures
• Future Implications

4
Phishing A way spam ends up in your inbox
Fool me once, shame on you fool me twice, shame
on me.

• Identity Safety is threatened when spammers
  partake in Phishing By E-mail
• Phishers are people who attempt to steal your
  personal information and then your money.  The
  person then sells the data to a "Casher" who is
  setup to use the data for identity theft,
  printing credit cards or just stealing your
  money.  
• Pretending to be from your financial institution,
  a legitimate retailer or government agency, the
  emails will contain a link that looks real,
  saying something like "Click here to Update your
  account" or to confirm your personal
  information.
• Typically, the link will direct you to a fake
  website that are near-replicas of the real one,
  making it hard even for experts to distinguish
  between the real and fake web sites.
• You enter your personal information onto the web
  site and into the hands of identity thieves.
• The emails can look very official, please click
  to see samples 

5
Issues with Spam on Our Campus

• Issue 1 Time Constraints
• Spam also hurts consumers. Many people still pay
  hourly rates for Internet access, including those
  who use wireless Internet services and business
  travelers who download e-mail while on the road.
  These consumers have to pay for the time they
  spend downloading these unsolicited messages to
  their computer from the Internet.
• It takes 10 seconds to recognize that an email
  contains spam
• 60 spam emails takes 10 minutes of your time to
  delete
• When you click remove from list it
  automatically doubles the amount of time it takes
  to delete spam
• If each student takes 20 minutes a day to delete
  spam at the University of Central Arkansas that
  equates to

6
Issues with Spam on Our Campus

• Issue 2 Harm to Computers
• Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) also limit
  the space available in account mailboxes for
  consumers to store e-mail messages. Spam fills
  mailbox space that consumers could utilize for
  other purposes. Viruses, Trojans, and other
  malicious scripts can attach themselves to spam
  and infect your computer the instant you open the
  message.
• Spammers also often push their mail throughout
  other people's systems. This allows spam
  creators to offload the real costs (CPU time,
  e-mail account user time, disk space, etc.) onto
  other innocent third parties.

7
Issues with Spam on Our Campus

• Issue 3 Harm to Servers
• Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other
  businesses lose millions of dollars and hundreds
  of hours of productivity as a result of
  unsolicited commercial e-mail. Spam clogs the
  Internet, computer systems, and e-mail accounts
  slowing down operations and at times causing
  system shutdowns and failures.
• The Three ways spam can harm the server is
• Viruses
• Bot or Botnet
• DDOS Distributed Denial of Service Attack

8
Benefits of Embracing Anti-Spam Tools on Our
Campus

• Central Benefit Minimization of time
  expenditures, computer and server harm
• Important tools include Appliances and Software

Iron-Port An appliance that has many features
to protect against spam and viruses on the
Internet. Such features include Spam
Defense Virus Defense Content Filters
Barracuda Spam Firewall Is an appliance
compatible with all email servers and can fit
into nearly any corporate or small business
environment. It is used by small organizations
with as few as 10 employees and large
organizations with as many as 200,000 employees.
Features of Barracuda include Anti-spam
Anti-virus Anti-phishing Anti-spyware
(Attachments) Denial of Service
GWAVA Is a software specifically designed for
the Novell Groupwise Community with many features
Including Email Policy and Surveillance
Anti-Virus Tools Anti-Spam Tools Spam
Management Tools
Picture Retrieved from http//www.ironport.com/pr
oducts/network_map_esa.html
9
Future Implications of Spam

• User Perception
• Spam may affect internet users by causing them to
  desert many public discussion forums for fear
  that their e-mail addresses will be harvested and
  added to junk mail lists. Many are afraid to give
  their addresses out in even legitimate commerce
  for fear of being added to and traded among
  thousands of mailing lists. Genuine businesses,
  institutional faculty, staff and even more
  specifically, admission officers are having
  second thoughts to use e-mail to communicate with
  their prospective customers and students for fear
  of being branded Net abusers. This distrust
  threatens to undermine the acceptance and growth
  of electronic commerce among the legions of new
  Internet users taking their first steps online.
• Global Implications
• Electronic mail is a tool of business and
  personal communication. It's simple, it's
  accessible, and it's becoming more and more an
  essential part of our professional lives.
  However, there are even more far-reaching
  potentials of e-mail that have a possibility of
  being lost if this mode of communication gets
  destroyed by the increased production of junk
  e-mail.
• Technology
• When responsible computing behavior becomes more
  popular,  tools dealing with Spam Filtering,
  implementation of spyware and  removal
  procedures, will continue to be strong factors in
  decreasing the amount of spam created.

10
Whats Hot about LGBTQ Online?

• LGBTQ Online is the phenomenon of providing
  students with departmental resources through the
  internet.
• This is a hot topic because cyberspace is
  serving many functions for
• LGBTQ students. These include
• Educating- consists of collecting basic
  information
• Networking- allows students to connect with a
  larger LGBTQ network community
• Development- facilitates an individuals ability
  to obtain knowledge on LGBTQ issues and explore
  alternative ways of self-expression.
• Examples of such resources include
• Princetons LGBTQ Center websitehttp//www.p
  rinceton.edu/lgbt/
• University of Michigans LGBTQ Affairs
  website http//www.umich.edu/lgbta/

11
Methods of Using LGBTQ Online Resources

• Online Searches
• Potential students in areas where physical LGBTQ
  resources are scarce can locate institutions of
  higher education that are LGBTQ-friendly through
  online searches.
• Example The Advocate College Guide for LGBT
  Students is a book that is easily located on
  http//www.amazon.com
• Online Discussion Opportunities and Services
• Blogs, forums, and websites addressing LGBTQ
  issues offer 24/7 guidance on developmental
  issues and support through reaching a larger
  LGBTQ community.
• Example http//www.gay.com
• Example Pennsylvania State has an online LGBTQ
  resource center that hosts online discussion
  groups http//www.sa.psu.edu/lgbt/

12
Issues with LGBTQ Interactions Online

• Issue 1 Compromising Anonymity
• The internet is a public space and personal
  information can be foundtherefore putting
  aspects of the LGBTQ identity online through
  blogs, facebook profiles, or dating advertisement
  can have negative repercussions.
• Issue 2 Personal Safety
• The precautions of online personal safety are
  very similar to protective measures we use in
  everyday life. However, it is often difficult to
  identify users on the opposite side of computer
  terminals in chat rooms or blogs.

13
Benefits of Embracing Online LGBTQ on Our Campus

• Benefit 1 Identifying Allies
• Benefit 2 Protecting Privacy
• Benefit 3 Further Development

14
Future Implications of LGBTQ Online

• Development of the whole LGBTQ student
• Institutions who make it a point to support and
  provide access to LGBTQ friendly resources will
  promote growth and further development of the
  whole student especially those identifying as
  LGBTQ.
• Development of classes on LGBTQ Studies and
  incorporation of
• LGBTQ online issue into diversity training
• Scholars have discussed that online literacy may
  be different from academic literacy, and since
  the using the internet depends on writing skills,
  there may be a better development in these areas
  for LGBTQ students than what is seen in the
  classroom. Making these areas of interest a focus
  in class work has the potential for further
  educational development.

15
Whats Hot About Blogs?

• Blogs have infiltrated every aspect of our lives
  including Higher Education and Student Affairs.
  Faculty, staff, and students are using blogs as
  an extension of in-class teaching and
  communication. Blogs have begun to impact both
  teaching and learning methods.
• The internet blogosphere is incredibly active.
  There are over 175,000 new blogs every day.
  Bloggers update their blogs regularly to the
  extent of over 1.6 million posts per day, or over
  18 updates a second. Blogs have changed the face
  of communication around the world.
• Blogging continues to experience technological
  advancements within itself that has changed the
  perception of institutions. Institutions of
  higher education have started to sponsor and
  support blogs.

16
The Basics of Blogs
What is a Blog? A frequent, chronological
publication of personal thoughts and web links.
Blogs are alternatively called weblogs.
Types of Blogs

• Political (Includes current political topics,
  commentary and campaign material)
• Personal (On-line journal and diary)
• Business (Promotion, advertising, information)
• Topical (Focuses on single issue or niche
• Health (Medical news, personal accounts with
  health issues)

• Literary (Focuses on a literature topic including
  the publishing industry)
• Travel (Travelers share stories and photos)
• Research (Includes research notes and issue
  discussions)
• Educational (Course plan, discussion and
  announcements)
• Legal (Legal commentary and case analysis)

17
The Basics of Blogs
Components of a Blog

• V. Blogrolls Contains links to other blogs and
  websites, and can typically be found running down
  the left or right-hand side of the page.
• VI. Dialogue A venue for carrying on simple
  conversations and disseminating
  information.
• VII. Feed Every blog is published and
  broadcasted as a Really Simple Syndication
  (RSS) feed. Feed readers collect and combine
  feeds to allow readers to browse a central
  location.
• VIII. About Includes the author, contact
  information and purpose of the blog

• I. Title Typically reflects the purpose of the
  site
• II. Date and Post Title Includes the date of
  publication and overview of the post's subject
  matter.
• III. Commentary Style and content of words vary.
  
• Types
• Personal
• Opinionated
• Topic-oriented
• Irrelevant
• IV. Links Serve as a kind of works cited page,
  directing readers to additional sources of
  relevant material.

18
Issues with Embracing Blogs on Our Campus

• Issue 1 Security and Privacy
• Issue 2 Academic Freedom
• Issue 3 Blog Overload

19
Benefits of Embracing Blogs on Our Campus

• Benefit 1 Promotes Student Engagement and
  Interaction
• Benefit 2 Facilitates Small Group Work and Team
  Building
• Benefit 3 Encourages Civic Engagement on Campus
  and
• within our Communities

20
Future Implications of Blogs

• Institutionally Sponsored Blogs
• The number of institutions sponsoring blogs may
  increase. Blogging may also be embraced by more
  disciplines in higher education and academia as a
  new form of learning.
• Institutional Blog Policy
• Institutional revisions of student conduct codes
  and computer policy may occur to address blogs.
  The focus could be the content and use of blogs.
  Discussion of a blog policy for faculty and staff
  may be actively addressed beginning with the
  administrations.
• Blog Training
• Blog Training may be integrated into
  institutional training. Professional conferences
  and events may increasingly spotlight blogs as a
  part of sessions including information on new
  advancements.

21
Whats Hot About Distance Education?
Distance Education has highly increased over the
last decade for students to participate in
courses without being present on a physical
campus. The following are reasons as to why this
trend is occurring

• Higher education outsourcing and partnerships are
  increasing.
• Instruction is becoming more learner centered,
  non-linear, and self directed.
• Traditional campuses are declining, for-profit
  institutions are growing, and public and private
  institutions are merging.

• The percentage of non-traditional students have
  increased over the past two decades.
• Distance Learners are able to select a flexible
  schedule to accommodate a fulltime job.
• There is a huge interest in internet usage by
  younger generations.

Distance Education is defined as all credit and
non-credit courses and training delivered via
electronic means.
22
Students Using Technology for College Credit

• Examples of Technology used includes Skype,
  Podcasting, and Webinars
• Skype is a peer-to-peer internet telephone
  directory service which allow individuals the
  ability of connecting with one another to conduct
  online chats and video conferencing. Students and
  professors alike are able to log on into a
  designated chat room and hold lectures as if they
  were in a physical classroom. Most features of
  this technology are free, thus being a benefit
  for long-distance students.
• Podcastings are media files distributed over the
  internet using syndication feeds to play back on
  portable electronic devices or personal
  computers. Numerous professors are recording
  lectures and making digital and/or electronic
  notes available for students to download to their
  personal computer or MP3 players.
• Webinars allow individuals to be interactive in a
  discussion forum. The term itself translates to
  seminars conducted over the world wide web. This
  type of technology allows institutions of higher
  education to discuss current trends and hot
  topics that affect campuses. The main benefit is
  not requiring several universities to make travel
  arrangements to a central location for
• the discussion.

23
Issues with Embracing Distance Education on Our
Campus

• Issue 1 Distrust of Online Degrees by Potential
  Employers
• Issue 2 Technological and Computer Literacy

24
Benefits of Embracing Distance Education on Our
Campus

• Benefit 1 Accessibility and Location
• Benefit 2 Diverse student population
• Benefit 3 Cost Effective

25
Future Implications of Distance Education

• In the early 1990s, Congress created legislation
  such as the 50-Percent Rule and the12-Hour Rule
  to regulate federal aid dispersion and diploma
  mill issues in distance education.
• In recent years, Congress has expressed a desire
  to remove controversial regulations that limit
  funding for students of distance education
  programs.
• Due to fact that technology has been modified and
  increased in the household of Americans, we
  believe lawmakers will want to amend the
  restrictive laws created a decade ago.
• If these laws are reconfigured, we expect a rapid
  increase in the amount of students enrolled in
  distance education courses.

26
Whats Hot About Online Safety/Training?

• Online Training is a hot topic because Higher
  Education administrators, educators, and staff
  are often called upon to make informed choices
  about technology.
• Online Safety is a hot topic because current
  empirical research strongly suggests that young
  adults are increasingly becoming both victims and
  perpetrators of internet crime and abuse.
• Offenses Typical of College Campuses Include
• Piracy of music
• Academic dishonesty
• Cyberstalking
• Creation of computer viruses
• Higher Education must prepare graduates who can
  keep America's computing society safe and secure.
  We must reach out to our schools and employers to
  assist them in putting instructional programs in
  place.

27
Online Training How do we do it?

• Many colleges and universities are well
  positioned to add internet safety, information
  security, and cyberethics training to
  continuing-education courses as well as to
  degree-program requirements.
• Higher Education institutions could also offer
  leadership training to executives of public,
  private, and nonprofit organizations who have
  vested interests in having employees who can
  secure, maintain responsible use information
  systems.
• Example The CyberSmart Professional Development
  Program includes
• Geared towards educators K-12
• Topics covered are customized by what each person
  specifically desires to learn
• Includes both online training and on-site
  learning

28
Issues with Embracing Online Training on Our
Campus

• Issue 1 Cost of implementing programs
• Issue 2 Placement of the responsibility of
  technology
• education
• Issue 3 Effective Programming requires
  participation and full support

29
Benefits of Online Training on Our Campus

• Benefit 1 Serving Student Populations
• Benefit 2 Career Preparedness
• Benefit 3 Concern For Community
• Benefit 4 Developing a Proactive Stance

30
Future Implications of Online Training

• The federal government has stressed
  technological, legislative, and law-enforcement
  solutions to problems being faced in todays
  technological world.
• This committee anticipates the focus of
  legislation to shift from online predators and
  pornography to self-education, awareness, and
  responsibility.
• The main intent of federal legislation in the
  future should be on a systematic approach.
  Legislators should set guidelines on how to
  implement educational tools to students on
  internet usage.

31
Final Thoughts on Hot Topics

• Whether students or faculty are encountering
  spam, utilizing LGBTQ online resources, blogging,
  taking courses online, or using the internet for
  entertainment the millennial generation is
  plugged in. It is important to address
  technological hot topics as they arise in order
  to still be in touch with our student population.
  We must use technology rather than fear its
  potential in Higher Education.
• - The University of Central Arkansas
  Committee for the Deans Council

32
References

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33
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34
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35
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