A colleague recently began a blog and for an opening post questioned the wisdom of employing technology in career services. While her desire to keep a focus on serving our students is laudable, her stance and proposed course of (in)action will yield the opposite result.
"The more personal the issue, the more students need our personalized attention."
What defines 'personal' is different for different generations. Millenials interact with each other via technology. Seeking to meet them in their space lowers walls and lends credibility to us as a resource. In other words, the tech vs. touch debate is a non-issue in their minds. The real dimension is quality of touch, i.e. interaction and relevance. Keep in mind these are people who used Facebook to memorialize their peers from Virginia Tech; share the latest with each other via IM and texting; create and swap personalized mp3 play lists; and so on. High touch for them is often delivered through high tech tools. Caruso and Kvavik show in the 2005 ECAR (Educause Center for Applied Research) Study of Students and Information Technology that 90% of surveyed university students own cell phone. Over 60% own a desktop computer and over 50% a laptop.
"Just because students are using the technologies doesn't mean they prefer them."
First, in the case where our institutions require a technology, like a specific course management system, this may be true. However, due to those being required technologies, we know the students are there. Plus institutionally supported technologies will stick around for awhile in most cases.
Second, this point does not address the matter of CS offices adopting technologies being chosen by students for their own use. If the 2005 ECAR report is our reference point, then we know students are spending 11-15 hours a week using electronic devices other than cell phones. Furthermore, they use technology as a critical tool for their education. If these students express comfort, even a preference, for utilizing technology to interact with peers and instructors, why would we balk at this or wave it off as a fad? Those students also say that use of technology in classes improves their learning.
Traditionally, the challenges of career services offices center on connecting with students and ensuring retention of the information we deliver. The ECAR study demonstrates that technology can meet those needs in similar pedagogical contexts within our own institutions and with our own students. Carol's call to "continue to 'do what we do best and are most comfortable with, which is to be in front of them.'" ultimately misses the mark. We are on our campuses to serve our students. While we are content experts and are responsible for determining needs, their preferences and habits dictate where and how we seek to deliver the needed content.
