NACADA
Commission and Interest Group Division
2003
Post-Conference Unit Report
Commission/Interest
Group: Technology in Advising
Commission
Chair:
Andrea Irby
Summary
of Annual Meeting at National Conference (agenda items,
issues, discussion topics, announcements, etc.)
Mike
Leonard,
commission chair, provided a brief overview of the commission,
distributed fliers about the commission and it's on going projects.
Mike introduced steering committee members in attendance (all
but one) and talked about ways NACADA members could get involved
in Technology Commission projects.
Chuck
Haberle, former Commission Chair and Service to Commission winner,
presented this year's Service to Commission award to Hal Caldwell,
( Ball State University ) creator of the very first NACADA list serve
for advisers. Hal created ACADV and was instrumental in creating
the Technology in Advising Interest Group that went on to attain
Commission status. He was recognized as one of NACADA's founding
fathers on the use of technology in advising. It was wonderful
for Hal to see all that the Commission had become and to learn
of the activities of members on their individual campuses. Members
were likewise awed by the history of technology in advising, the
commission itself and Hal's role in getting it all started.
Andrea
Irby, incoming chair, along with Mike Leonard, asked people to
discuss what was working on their campuses, what was not, in effort
to help members network and learn from each other. This has always
worked well at both regional and national conferences and this
time was no exception. Our session ran over as people were enjoying
the discussion. Next year, we may try to schedule an optional
lunch after the session, depending on when the roundtable discussions
are held (they were in advance of the commission meeting for us
this time).
Issues
discussed were making the transition from paper to electronic
student files and the management of those files. Several members
have successfully done this and others were eager to learn from
them. Members desire to learn from others was stronger than just
listening to others describe their experiences and visit concurrent
sessions. Members seem to want more hands on training- perhaps
in the form of extended pre-conference workshops, teleconferences
or on line web-casts. This is consistent with findings from the
Commission survey performed last year. A continued topic of interest
was student information systems and related software. Some schools
seem more content this year to work with off the shelf software,
yet many are still developing or planning to develop their own
to save money and to create programs that are suited for individual
institutional needs. An emerging trend is that some schools/advisers
are developing software that may be applicable for a variety of
institutions. These members are just starting to consider themselves
as possible vendors to other advisers and campuses. Advisers are
not used to thinking of themselves in the entrepreneurial, for
profit sense, yet they have a chance to make a real impact for
themselves and others by doing so. They offer the unique perspective
of an adviser that traditional private software companies have
not had. Finally, given the vast knowledge of members and the
difficulty in members finding time to publish their knowledge,
Andrea asked the group about possibly creating a group of ghostwriters
to help members get their knowledge published on the web-site.
Members seemed receptive, but this issue needs to be further explored
through the larger commission membership via the list serve.
Approximate
Number of Commission/Interest Group Members in Attendance:
50
The
room was a little tight. It would be nice to have a room that
could hold 60 or 70. Most notable was the fact that we had 50
attendees during a year when technology sessions were running
concurrently with the Commission meeting. At past conferences,
no technology sessions were held during the Commission meeting.
Therefore, this group of 50 represents an increasing interest
in the use of Technology in Advising.
Critical
Issues of Concern or "Hot Topics" Identified:
- Technology
Support at National Conference
- Transition
from paper to electronic student records and databasing for
campuses
- The
need to change the title and nature of the Electronic Publication
Awards to include more sophisticated forms of technology applications
that are quickly being developed by members.
