(This article was originally published in the Fall 2020 issue of “Leadership Exchange”)
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended all areas of higher education — campus residences vacated, classrooms digitized, and communities physically distanced. While the toll of COVID-19 on tuition revenue and endowment losses has been greatly detailed, COVID-19 has also changed the human aspect of education, too often ignored in discussions on shifts in the college operational landscape. At the core of every class, every residence hall program, every athletics game, are bonds between a community of individuals committed to growth and connection; technology serves to protect and grow this connection, especially during our current pandemic. Educators, beginning with senior college and university leaders, including vice presidents for student affairs (VPSAs), must intentionally incorporate technological concepts, systems, and practices into daily work and institutional missions to support and develop the contemporary educational community.
What is the current state of technology in higher education? At the surface, it is clear institutions have increased their technological footprint for decades; the boom in distance learning supplemented by online-only programs and learning management systems (LMSs) is evident through the continuously increasing number of students enrolled in “online college.” However, it is not only distance learning programs that ought to be classified as “online college;” physical campuses have also become increasingly mediated by technology. ID-accessible residence halls, digital discussion boards for in-person courses, and more digitally-hosted assessment surveys than one could count all characterize the average institution today. At specific institutions, one can find irrigation systems programmed by algorithms to automatically water the campus greenery when needed most or housing selection processes so automated the only major work required by the housing operations staff is to open the portal and observe. As such, are these indicative of the ideals of a technologically-mediated education: a digitized operational machine able to automate and maximize resources?
Those who research technology and higher education would disagree, arguing for a more collegiate ideal of higher education technology: a campus community that learns deeper and grows closer through the benefit of technology. In short, technology can help better a community member’s education and affiliation with their institution by growing a digitally-connected community. Social media, LMSs, and other college technology can connect students to each other, regardless of class year, major, or interests, and deepen the community work from student affairs staff. In the 2020 Annual Knowledge Community Conference Publication, I explored what it would mean for institutions to move towards a community-focused understanding of technology titled “#BeyondMarketing: College Student Development on Social Media.” Committing institutional knowledge, staffing, and financial resources to growing the digitally-connected campus community is vital, especially in a world addressing a global health pandemic that limits physical interaction and gatherings.
Educators, beginning with senior college and university leaders, including vice presidents for student affairs (VPSAs), must intentionally incorporate technological concepts, systems, and practices into daily work and institutional missions to support and develop the contemporary educational community
Institutions must prepare their students for lives of purposeful work — in their careers, communities, and self-exploration. With employers increasingly integrating technological systems and concepts into daily work and the incoming generation of students increasingly innovating their usage of technology beyond the confines of its code and intention, higher education cannot afford to lag behind with systems, concepts, and pedagogy built for last decade’s educational OS (operating system). These industry changes were occurring before the spread of COVID-19, which now stresses your digital campus communities even further. In order to support your current community, whether in a virtual or physical year of learning, and propel your community of the future in a world increasingly mediated by technology, it is vital that institutions and their leadership commit to becoming digital community — beginning with emerging practical theory and research.
On behalf of NASPA and the Technology Knowledge Community, I am pleased to announce a new platform, the Journal of Technology & Higher Education: Emerging Practice, to share innovations and best practices in the technology and student affairs arena. The journal highlights peer-reviewed, explorative research into the theory and application of technology-based practices in collegiate teaching and learning. From digital classrooms and online course registrations to virtual residence halls and Instagram Live programs, the integration of #HigherEdTech into the daily practices of education continues to expand and impact faculty, staff, students, alumni, family, and community members. Purposeful and detailed research into how higher education institutions explore and implement technology into their practice is vital for every senior leader to read.
