If we have innovative tools, students will automatically use them, right? Not always so! Some students exhibit resistance and anxiety in using campus innovative tools and technologies. Coppin State established a framework to boost adoption of campus innovative tools. This session will discuss the strategy, student viewpoints, and impact.
From mobile apps to cloud-based storage, campuses are continually deploying various technologies for students. There are typically several schools of thought regarding student adoption of these technologies:
- if you provide it, they will use it;
- the millennial student can easily learn the technology; or
- put the information in e-mail/campus website/text message/social media, the students will learn about it.
Conversations amongst IT leaders and IT staffers indicate that students don’t use the technology appropriately, or adoption doesn’t occur in the anticipated groves. Compared to the amount of literature, resources, and toolkits to support the faculty adoption of technology, the number to support the student adoption of technology is drastically smaller. It’s sometimes the elephant in the room that we are often ashamed to admit is there.
Like many other campuses, Coppin was challenged with getting students to adopt new technology, showing students all of the possibilities with campus technologies, getting them to use the technology correctly, and making them aware of the services available to them. This caused us to drastically overall the outreach and adoption strategy for students, devising a 360-degree approach to reaching different student groups (e.g., millennials, non-traditional, weekend, etc.) Elements of the program include having a student ambassador group, providing incentives, partnering with campus groups (i.e., Student Affairs, Housing Department), hosting high-visibility events, and offering high levels of support services.
This session highlight the need for stronger student technology adoption initiatives. Once demonstrating the need, the presenter will discuss Coppin’s multi-faceted student outreach for approach. Evidence of impact, challenges, and lessons learned will be underscored.
To engage the audience during the presentation, the presenter will use Mentimenter to pose questions at different points of the presentation. In addition, an engaging slide deck, video and music will be incorporated into the presentation to keep the content exciting. Additionally, the presenters will speak with excitement and engagement, adding a touch of humor, to keep the audience engaged in the presentation.
Participants can expect the following outcomes as a result of attending this session:
- Identifying strategies to encourage student adoption of campus technology and innovative tools.
- Understanding the necessary campus partnerships to aid in the promotion of student adoption.
- Articulate challenges when pushing student adoption of technology on campus.