After a few webinars and attending trainings at the GoingOn offices I was ready to begin the build-out phase. I chose to concentrate on the areas that would provide the most direct benefit to students while also engaging them in a meaningful way. A few key needs were
- Getting information about student services such as financial aid to more students in a timely way.
- Creating a platform for crowdsourcing, i.e students can help each other and answer their peers commonly asked but important questions without the need to visit an office or wait in a line
- Provide a resource for students to develop critical 21st century skills such as systems thinking, information technology proficiency, and even web site and blog design concepts
The power of "pushing" information and facilitating student-led information sourcing
A Blizzard of Messages
Students who use communication tools the most frequently (several times a day or more) rack up sizeable tallies of messages sent or received:
- Frequent e-mail users (75 percent of students) send or receive an average of 25 e-mails a day.
- Frequent texters (74 percent of students) send or receive an average of 84 text messages a day.
- Frequent Facebook users (58 percent of students) log into and/or check Facebook 13 times a day.
- Frequent Twitter users (11 percent of students) read or post 112 tweets a day.
As the above data makes clear, we need to recognize the increased speed at which our students are used to gathering, exchanging and disseminating information. At the same time we need to understand that data such as these are not representative of all, or even most of the students we may be serving in any given program.
