Learning About Technology and Student Affairs: Outcomes of an Online Immersion

Journal of College Student Development, Sep/Oct 2005 by Renn, Kristen A, Zeligman, Dawn M

The second open-ended question was a "Why?" follow-up to the question, "Do you believe that student affairs can be practiced in an online environment?" In keeping with the mixed attitude responses in the pre-, midsemester, and post-surveys, answers to this question showed a range of responses at each survey point, discussed in the attitudes section below.

Two additional open-ended questions were included in the final survey: "Did [this course] contribute to your learning any of the skills in questions 1-8 above? If so, please describe," and, "Did [this course] contribute to your thinking on questions 12-15 above? If so, please describe." Of the nine students responding to the first question, seven students attributed their increase in skills (questions 1-8) to the course and cited their increase in comfort working with web site creation and/ or editing as the main area of increased comfort.

To the second question, relating to attitudes regarding technology and student affairs, student responses reflected their mixed feelings about student affairs and technology, but generally noted that the opportunity to explore the topic had an influence on their thinking. Some comments related to content of the course: "I heard both sides of the case for using online tools in student affairs and I still think that personal interaction should be the way we go." And:

It gave me an opportunity to look at the love-hate relationship between technology and student affairs, look at various perspectives, but most importantly it allowed me to be at peace with that relationship. I've always been on the "hate" side of that equation, but I think I'm slowly learning to "love" it and I'm learning to work in a way where technology can complement student affairs instead of hinder or damage it.

DISCUSSION

Experiences

Findings about experiences related to outcomes derived from the immersion and to the quality of the learning environment. The online immersion seemed to have the intended effect of simulating for students the experience of being online distance learners. For some students, this was a positive experience, for others it was frustrating. In either case, however, the immersion resulted in experiential learning. In the final survey, one student wrote, "I really enjoyed the online environment-it helped me to understand the impact that face to face interactions have on students." Another student noted that without the online immersion, "I never would have thought about the impact that technology can really have." End-of-semester evaluations suggested that the online immersion portion of the course should be retained, because "No matter whether you liked it or not, it was a good way to find out more about online courses and what it would be like to be in one."

Having been immersed in an online course for five weeks, students came to understand themselves better as online learners in an asynchronous course environment. For some students, the medium created an effective learning environment: