Be intentional about your technology use…just because something can be done with technology doesn't mean that it always should.

Online sites like twitter, etc often create a false sense of familiarity…be careful about how and what you share. If your blog is highly political and divisive and potential employers see that, you might be making a strong first impression without even knowing it.

If your college or university offers professional development in this area, take advantage of it! Even if the training is in something specific like WebCT, having working knowledge of that can help diversify your skill set in the future.

excellent points! Thank you for listing out some examples – I haven't heard of some of them. I constantly challenging my staff and co-workers to think beyond Facebook and view technology as part of our engagement tool kit. Only then can we be creative and innovate in how technology is applied within our practices.

(I feel like I'm usually the curmudgeon in these discussions.)

Ed, you wrote that “For most of us in Higher Ed, we’ve been playing catchup for years, and frankly, I don’t know how much longer we can do it.”

Although that sentiment is often repeated, I'm not sure that it's true. It's certainly not true in a broad historical context and I don't know if it's true today. I am sure, however, that merely repeating the assertion doesn't make it true.

You also wrote that “(Higher education, generally is the slowest to adapt to rapid change.) We need to shift this paradigm and move in a new direction….”

I don't quite agree with that, either. I concede that higher education usually changes slowly but that is generally viewed as a good thing and one of our key assets in our role as preservers of knowledge and culture. That slowness and resistance to change allows us to discern patterns and identify changes in society and culture that are lasting and not faddish or short-lived.

I'm a bit leery of pushing technology in our grad programs for a few reasons:

1. There is no consensus on precisely what should be taught. Many commenters here are describing specific tools. Personally, I think it would be great folly to concentrate too heavily on specific tools that may become outdated very quickly. I think we'd be much better served by identifying and focusing on broader concepts that will serve professionals for many years – separating content from presentation, privacy issues, accessibility, etc.

2. New professionals should not be stereotyped and counted upon as “technology experts” by departments merely because they're young or fresh-out-of-school. It is unfair to them to expand their work responsibilities beyond their job description and compensation merely because of their age. If we expect new professionals to have particular skills, we should formalize that through our graduate programs, job descriptions, and training/professional development opportunities. And we should compensate our staff appropriately if we expand their responsibilities.

Ed, Interesting points. I'm not going to weigh in one way or the other, but I wanted to share this article about sharing and connecting online from NYTimes. Interesting points.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25pr…

I'd personally advocate being a lurker and a listener first, then carefully consider before engaging.

I enjoyed the comments and discussions going on here in response to this post! I agree that specific tools become outdated, but I have also used my skills in Excel, Publisher, PowerPoint, and Access as much as any advising strategies on a daily basis.

Thanks also for the link to the directory of Student Affairs blogs! I added mine (http://www.studentdevelopmentblog.com)!

Great Post Ed, I think its very important for students to learn about technology and how it not only affects students but how it can be used to work with them. As someone who loves technology and its applications, I am finding that more and more people don't have a clue about it.

Background for everyone is that my undergraduate degree is in Computer Science, so I kind of love technology

One great resource that many people don't know (and may not have access unfortunately) is the “Internet and Higher Education” journal. I hear about all kinds of great things from it.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10967516

But going back to my original point. Higher Education isn't actually slow to change in my opinion. It is very quick to learn about the changes technology brings. However, it seems to focus on the fears more than the benefits.

One of my first experiences with technology in Student Affairs was as an Undergraduate at Northeastern University. I attended NASPA in 2008 (my senior year) and attended a session about using facebook to better communicate. I liked the session. However, I found it very interesting.

I came out of the session finding that people seemed to be scared of it. It was unknown and they wanted to shut it down. I found it uncertain why people would avoid instead of embrace it.

After some time in my graduate program, I finally learned why that is. People hate change.

However, technology changes so rapidly. Some people in the comments spoke about MS Office, particularly MS Access and Excel. From a database standpoint, more people use “Excel Spreadsheets” and call them databases and Access is an archaic technology. To build a back end to a website you need to know SQL, PHP, ASP, etc. (Hey we're in Student Affairs, got to throw in some acronyms).

Back on track.

What I am getting at is that we have to be training staff not on technology as we see it. We need to train them on how to adapt to new technology. Future professionals such as myself (graduate in May!) need skills, just like we teach our students and knowledge. We need to remember that not every students will have a computer coming to college or have even used one before hand. There isn't a great number for actually how many people come to college with a laptop or have had access. Students also need the skills to be able to adopt. I think the biggest skill is Patience and the willingness to learn. I don't know everything about computers, I mean I just learned about Pivot Tables in Excel and I know plenty of people in my graduate program who can't utilize a Google document or know how to save an excel file.

Also, technology provides a good way to connect with students. Rock Band, Facebook, foursquare and twitter (the latter three I am using in my Residence Hall this year) are all great ways to interact with students and a good way to connect with them and utilize those services as resources.

Do I think every student should get some sort of “tech 101″ class? Yes.
Would I love to teach it? sure

I apologize if any comments seem out of order, but I wanted to make sure I got a post up before Ed's blog post “fell behind” the newer posts. Technology is a area I love to talk about and really want to push for.

Great thoughts, I'd argue that the suggestions could be shared with new/mid-level/senior professionals as well. I'd also add the following:
-go beyond the basics of common office software and campus applications. Students might not always pay attention to how some features could make a world of difference in their work.
-utilize field-wide technology, such as the ACUI communities of practice, to gain and share knowledge.
-experiment with presentation aides such as Prezi or audience response systems to break out of the PowerPoint doldrums.

As a computer scientist turned Student Affairs professional, I'm eager to learn about emerging technology, and my pascal-era degree has given me the skill set to learn how to seek out solitons to the “how do you do this” inquiries that come across my desk. While I consider myself a novice on Twitter, blogging, and more, I am perceived as an “expert” by colleagues, which only makes me more eager to figure out the How.
Graduate students might be more inclined to embrace new technology since it's always been a part of their lives (so says Beloit), but as educators we need to know enough to help them along the way, and to better help ourselves and each other.