Living and learning at the speed of technology
A simple stroll across Bluffton's campus unveils the technology age we live in. Students walk out of Centennial Hall with cell phones pressed to their ears. Little white ear buds and cords peek out from under hats and hoods, iPods and mp3 players hidden in pockets. In Bob's Place and the library, students sit with laptops, perusing Facebook accounts or typing away furiously on AOL Instant Messenger, holding conversations with friends back home or a roommate sitting 500 yards away in a dorm room - and yes, registering for classes or taking a quiz online. Students on their way to lunch in Marbeck Center pull out their cell phones to text message friends already inside, asking them what's for lunch or to save an extra seat.
"I can't imagine living without technology!" exclaims first-year student Ashley Corney, as she slips her still-warm cell phone into her coat pocket. "Honestly, I don't know how people ever functioned without it."
Such a proclamation is the norm for 21st-century students. Never before has a generation been so comfortable with digital technology, nor has one held such high expectations about what technology should be doing for them. Known as "Millennials" - birth years 1982-2000 - today's students cut their teeth on compact discs, computer cords and video games. By elementary school, they were equally prolific surfing the Internet and watching DVDs. Personal computers were a part of everyday middle school and high school life followed quickly by laptops, cell phones, instant messaging and digital cameras.
Life is no life without technology
"I use technology all the time," says Corney, a psychology major from Bucyrus, Ohio, "whether I'm on my computer using Instant Messenger, e-mailing friends or surfing the Internet, watching television, listening to my iPod or talking on my cell phone. Especially since I've grown up with technology, I can't imagine not having it. I couldn't live without my laptop or cell phone."
According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, an initiative of the Pew Research Center, Millennials are "digital natives in a land of digital immigrants," incapable of imagining life without cell phones, iPods, computers and the Internet, and they make maximum use of all devices. "Today's students are multitaskers," says Deb Turner, director of information technology at Bluffton University. "They can 'google,' listen to music, do homework and chat on MSN Messenger, with everything happening on the same computer screen. At the same time, they're also chatting away on their cell phones."
"When I began working here 14 years ago, it was very uncommon to see a cell phone," says Dr. Eric Fulcomer, vice president for enrollment management and student life. "Every once in a while I'm reminded of that when I'm walking from my office in Riley Court to Marbeck Center and every student I pass along the way is talking on a cell phone." Fulcomer spent his first years as director of Marbeck Center without a computer. "I didn't have a computer because I couldn't possibly think of what I'd need one for," he says. "Today, students are coming to campus with huge expectations when it comes to technology."
Senior Andy Ferguson's earliest memory of using technology goes back to his days as a prekindergartener. "We've always had a computer in our house," he says. "I remember our first one was an old Hewlett-Packard PC with MS-DOS. I didn't understand a thing, but I sure tried to 'hack' into the system to get games to appear." A communication major from Fredonia, N.Y., Ferguson has been interested in computers and video gaming ever since. Waking up and switching on his desktop computer and iPod are synonymous actions.
Similarly, no time passes unconnected for first-year student Hannah Rybka. "My cell phone is my alarm clock," she says. "I pick it up, shut it off and usually have a message waiting." Rybka, a social work major from Hinckley, Ohio, uses her cell phone throughout the day for conversations and text messaging, which she says is a great way to stay in contact with friends and family back home. Like Corney, she cannot imagine life without her cell phone or laptop. "Recently I was sitting on my futon in the dorm room," she says. "I had a question about something I was working on for class so I took my laptop next door to ask my friend. I remember asking, "How did people live without a laptop?"
Connecting in the classroom
Keeping up with millennials has Bluffton's technology department working in overdrive. Currently, 70 percent of students at Bluffton bring their own computers to campus and more than half of those computers are laptops, says Turner. "Everyone is connected to the Internet, and everyone wants everything faster," she says. "Students are interested in more wireless hotspots. We're living in a highly connected world - connected to more information and more connected to one another."
To prepare, Bluffton invested heavily in new technology and faculty training from 1999-2004. The addition of Centennial Hall was just what the institution needed to integrate new technology for learning. "We have connectivity at every seat whether students choose to bring laptops with them to class or not; the technology is available," says Turner. The institution also maintains 250 desktop computers for student use in a variety of campus locations.
Bluffton now has more than 20 "smart classrooms" - classrooms with integrated data projection, computing, Internet access, television, VHS/DVD hook-up, recording devices and multimedia tools. Equally important, energy was focused on training faculty to incorporate technology into their everyday work. "Our technology initiative was incredibly well designed, putting much of the money into training faculty," says Dr. Peter Terry, director of instructional technology and associate professor of information technology and music. "It speaks strongly of Bluffton and its typical 'people-first' orientation rather than 'technology-first.'"
To keep faculty and students connected 24/7, Bluffton uses Jenzabar, an online learning management system that automatically organizes all learning materials, assignments and tasks for students and faculty, creating a one-web interface for online registration, campus information, group activities and online learning. "Jenzabar enables faculty to reach out to students at any time and with greater capacity," says Turner. Rybka says Jenzabar "makes things easier" because she can use it to access quizzes and grades as well as professors' Powerpoint presentations which saves on the amount of paper she has to carry around.
Connecting online
With so many students arriving on campus fully connected, it is no surprise that online social networking communities such as Facebook and MySpace are popular among college students. Social networking refers to Web sites organized to help users stay connected with each other and meet new people, either through introductions or searches based on common interests or school affiliations. "Student-life conference conversations used to revolve around 'How are we dealing with students who have cell phones?'" says Fulcomer. "Today, administrators are asking 'How are we dealing with Facebook and MySpace?'"
Created in 2004 by Harvard University sophomore Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook is a combination of photo albums, e-mail, instant messaging, phone books, yearbooks and scrapbooks. The site provides anyone with an e-mail address with control over a personal page that can display one's name, addresses, phone numbers, hobbies and interests, links to photo albums and a list of "My Friends." It also displays "The Wall," an area designed for visitors to leave notes on.
Rybka says she opened her Facebook account with her new Bluffton e-mail address as soon as she came home from orientation. "With Facebook, I can keep up with the latest like people getting married, break-ups and so on," says Rybka, who has 206 Bluffton friends plus 255 friends at other institutions. "It's how I keep track and stay in contact with everyone. It might be awkward to call high school friends, but it's not awkward to send them a message on Facebook."
MySpace is a comparable portal that is popular among artists and fans, allowing bands to create artist profiles and users to listen to their music. As of early January, there are roughly 140 million MySpace users throughout the world, making the site one of the most trafficked on the Web.
"Social networks like MySpace and Facebook are online communities, 'community' being the real word here," says Ferguson, a budding musician who turned to both sites to increase publicity for his self-titled band. "In real life, you would be introduced by a friend to their friends in a social gathering situation. With these sites, if I'm friends with someone, all of that person's friends and all of their friends' friends can see who I am."
Ferguson created an artist profile on MySpace to showcase his musical talents, posting photographs and videos of his concerts. He notifies his 3,852 "friends" of upcoming shows by posting information, using MySpace bulletins. "It's basically free advertising because it reaches so many people, which is a really nice aspect of the site," he says.
"Facebook and MySpace have changed our campus the way it has changed everyone else's campus," says Fulcomer. "Students now communicate differently. They know more about each other. The first thing students do when they find out who their roommate is going to be is to look them up on Facebook or MySpace."
No signs of slowing
Terry says technology growth is much like a California freeway system. "A new freeway was built when I lived in Los Angeles, and those who built it said, 'Finally, we're going to have another east to west link that will solve traffic problems.' Within two weeks the freeway was maxed out. It works the same way with digital technology." Students are oftentimes unaware of what it takes to maintain the technology they take for granted each day, says Terry. "We're a small school that stands out because of our technology infrastructure. But with that comes high student expectations that their connections never lag." While Bluffton and the rest of the world are continually bombarded with new technologies, maintaining the balance between offering the latest technologies and realistic staffing and budgets is key.
"Students often ask, 'Why don't we have this new program?'" says Terry. "They don't realize the costs behind software and hardware, including maintenance, licenses and yearly upgrades, not to mention having the staff to stay on top of all of it. At Bluffton, we're interested in acquiring the tools that will help students be successful. Therefore, we have to ask ourselves, 'What are we trying to accomplish?' We don't simply want to run out, purchase new software and install it."
Technology has added complexity and cost to the Bluffton campus, but students show no signs of slowing down. Rybka's conversation with a fellow student who regularly calls Bluffton's alumni to ask about their individual Bluffton experiences, sums up how many of today's millennials feel about technology: "One woman who was called said she remembers when she was here 30 years ago, no one had cell phones and there was only one phone to the entire floor! When it would ring, all the girls would run to it to see if it was their particular friend from back home. My friend is telling me this as I sit with my laptop, chatting on IM and holding my cell phone, sending text messages to friends. It's funny to think about how people ever lived without technology!"
