Volume 6, January 3, 2000

"Judith Bailey: Populism, Epiphanies and Lifelong Learning"
by Stefanie Sanford, Converge, January, 2000, p. 70

Northern Michigan University President Judith Bailey talks about moving users from snail mail to e-mail for communications while working in Maine in 1988. She indicates that once the infrastructure was in place, "we simply stopped sending mail! If you wanted to know what was going on, you had to use e-mail." (p. 70) Bailey states that "technological change is so fluid. What is most amazing is that from one month to the next, you can’t predict the changes that will come." (p. 70) Northern Michigan University "conducted a study on student and faculty expectations for technology in administration and in the classroom. We found a second Digital Divide—students and faculty had vastly different technological expectations and competence." (p. 70) "Technology has become the new economic divider, so we owe it to our students to equip them with the best skills, and that involves using the best—and equal—equipment." (p. 70) "A standardized platform, a laptop and full access for everyone on campus levels that playing field on the first day of school." (p. 71) "When equipment is mandatory, it becomes part of calculations for financial aid, scholarships and tax credits." (p. 71) Both the student newspaper and student government were prominent participants in the laptop requirement debate. "While student response has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic, faculty support has been more reserved." (p. 71) "To support faculty during this change, "the Center for Instructional Technology in Education is staffed with two professionals and a bevy of graduate and undergraduate students and is open for extended hours to teach faculty how to infuse technological tools into their teaching and transfer data from older machines to newer." (p. 71)