Student Perception vs. Faculty/Staff/Admin. Needs

By: Robert J. King, M.Div., Th.M.
Adjunct Professor of Religion & Philosophy (Ethics) H.C.C.-Dale Mabry and MacDill A.F.B.

At the 2011 E-Text Symposium, held October 7th at Daytona State College, and as funded through FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education), keynote speaker Matt Drugan, a sales manager for a major educational publisher, shared some quite illuminating statistics concerning technological usage for higher education. Consider the following:

• 92% of high school students stated that "technology on campus" was a major factor in deciding where to attend; 87% of currently enrolled college students also stated that technology was a priority in considering college selection.
• 22% of higher educational administrators stated that improving technology is a priority.

What should we as higher educational leaders make of such a startling gap? Is this simply a product of differences in "generational perception," lack of exposure to the full panoply of technological advances on the part of higher educational administrators or are other dynamics at work?


Similarly, in citing the importance of various educational technologies, a similar gap was evident. Again, consider the following:

• Faculty viewed wireless internet access as important at a rate of 78%, digital content at a rate of 72%, and virtual learning at a rate of 48%.
• Students, however, viewed wireless internet access as important at a rate of 87%, digital content at a rate of 66%, and virtual learning at a rate of 53%.

As an educator whose very first exposure to full-time college and university teaching (2004 - current) has come within mixed models ranging from a small liberal arts college in the Midwest to major online innovators in higher education (e.g. the Apollo Group, parent company of University of Phoenix) to state college and community college approaches to private research university adult extension learning, what Drugan shared should come as no surprise. Whereas on one campus of a community college where I teach I have full access to a Smart Board, state-of-the-art equipment, etc. (granted, a military-affiliated campus) at another campus, the room still comes "fully equipped" (sarcasm) with chalk boards, PC's that are several years antiquated (e.g. running on Windows Vista), and with modest "middle-tier" classroom technological support "sandwiched" in between in a majority of classrooms, offices, computer labs, etc.


Therefore, in order for the U.S. to not slip any further behind the E.U., Asian Pacific Rim nations, etc., significant re-orientation of higher educational institutional support is necessary. Sure, private for-profit higher education will likely still lead the way in technological innovation, but public institutions of higher education should make it a budgetary and human resources priority to maintain both the computer infrastructure and well-trained faculty members otherwise U.S. higher educational superiority will continue to wane.


Signed,
Concerned Online and Face-to-Face Humanities Professor