Posted: January 9, 2006

The university community is invited to attend a campus viewing of a live national videocast, Improving Campus Communications with Wireless Technologies on Tuesday, January 17 in the Digital Union. The program will provide insight to the university community on how to take full advantage of communication shifts at institutions. Over the past several years, undergraduate students at Ohio State campuses and many other colleges and universities have moved from primarily using land-line phones, e-mail, and voicemail communications to Instant Messenger and cellular voice. The "Blackberry" lifestyle has already become more pervasive in higher education.

Program leader Jay L. Dominick, assistant vice president of information systems, Wake Forest University, explains how colleges and universities can harness the power of wireless communications in three critical areas of campus interaction: pedagogy, student life, and overall institutional value. A detailed case study and examination of overall wireless trends in higher education provide specific action steps for any institution seeking to incorporate wireless technologies into its communications network strategy.

The two-hour event, sponsored by Technology Enhanced Learning and Research (TELR), begins at 1 pm at the Digital Union, 370 Science and Engineering Library, 175 West 18th Avenue. The event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP to stone.177@osu.edu is requested to better anticipate attendance.

Agenda:

• Changing Communication Environment for Students
• Cellular phones vs. land-line phones
• Messaging (SMS and IM) vs. e-mail
• Cellular voicemail vs. campus-provided voicemail
• Emergence of PDA/Cellphone Technologies
• Three Context Domains for Omnipresent, Campuswide PDA/Cellphone Use
• Academic/pedagogical value
• Student quality of life/community integration
• Institutional value/university portal
• How One University Did It: Wake Forest Pilot Project
• Summary of Findings to Date
• Other Higher Education Models
• Transferable Concepts
• Conclusion