From this year’s Chronicle of Higher Education Information Technology Forum, one of the Top 10 Trends in Information Technology:

More discussion about mobility. “How are we going to use mobile learning, such as podcasting and social-networking sites,” asks Mark David Milliron, president of Catalyze Learning International.

The other nine, in case you’re curious…

1. Improved communication between top IT and non-IT leaders
2. A push to set IT goals in the context of broader higher education goals
3. More emphasis on demonstrating “value added”
4. Greater consideration if outsourcing
5. More-customized curricula
6. Improved “customer service”
7. A continued shift toward globalism
8. A continued search for the right blend of online and traditional instruction
9. A greater emphasis on “analytics”

Think a group of 26 college students could go just one week without modern technology like cell phones, laptops, iPods and the Internet? Think again. In a great story about the class experiment at University of Central Florida, only 2 of 26 students could even make it through the week without cheating.  Living without technology - “a waste of time” said one.

Full story:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-techfree2108apr21,0,3686295.story

It’s no surprise that with the surge in campus violence we’ve seen in recent years, and with greater media attention paid to the topic, people are thinking more than ever about the importance of campus safety.

Some of the unsolicited comments we get through our website are pretty moving. Just that people take the time and thought to submit comments like these shows how much they care. Consider this comment:

Please work to make sure our universities recognize their responsibility to ensure our young people’s safety through greater transparency and accountability for their policies & procedures. These young people our country’s greatest natural resource, and our heart.

Or this one, from a concerned student:

I hate to say it, but students on campus are at a high risk because of their ignorance on the subject. I am a student myself, and rarely ever think of campus safety, because I have so many other things going on in my life; just like many other students. Living on campus, essentially with out our parents, is so new to us; we are somewhat naive to the violence that exists in the communities around us; to many people, it’s just something that happens “to other people”. It should change, and it should be imperative that students receive the necessary information; it should be given to us, rather than having to stop our busy schedules and go to request it. Perhaps with the knowledge of our surroundings, we could better prepare ourselves for protection against such crimes. They say knowledge is the greatest weapon.

Clearly for those of us who work in the realm of campus safety, our work is very important and touches the lives of many people. Let’s make sure we all do the absolute best we can do to honor the concerns of those who take the time out to express them.

We had a really cool week in Boston at the NASPA 2008 conference. NASPA co-presented a huge job fair called The Placement Exchange, where about 1,000 people took part in interviews for student affairs jobs. This year The Placement Exchange wanted to offer a special service for their on-the-go job candidates, so they used Rave Alert to send notifications and reminders throughout the event. Nearly 300 people opted in to receive the text alerts and we heard lots of great feedback. Saturday night was the switch to Daylight Saving Time and the text reminder for people to change their clocks so as not to be late for their interviews was especially appreciated it seems.