General Education

At the beginning of my first full year at DSU, after listening to alot of people associated with Dakota State for about 9 months, I formulated and presented to the campus a "vision" statement titled "A Journey Worth Taking". This journey identified four visions that we have for all our students. It stated that DSU graduates would have:
1. Unsurpassed information technology knowledge
2. Exceptionally creative problem solving skills
3. A passion for learning
4. A pride in the institution.

Recently I have been thinking about how we continue to enhance the learning of our students so to even more clearly achieve these goals. I specifically was thinking about it when an employer of several of our graduates was extolling the virtues of one of the grads that worked for him. He indicated that he was one of those individuals that you could assign any problem to and he would figure out a creative and imaginative solution. What an incredible statement!

Now, it could clearly be that this student entered DSU with all these skills but I have to believe that his educational experience helped shape and expand his capabilities. I am fond of saying in public forums that Dakota State University is not about the business of "training technicians - it is about educating technologists". Individuals who use technology to creativly solve problems and invent solutions.

When I am confronted by a student who wants an explanation about why he or she (being a computer science major) should have to take a science course, a history course, a math course etc., I look at them and say because I want you to be able to think like a scientist, think like a historian and when you need to think mathmatically. I firmly believe that our general education curriculum does contribute to the problem solving abilities of our students. I think we all have been somewhat negligent when it comes to being clear with students about the links of these disciplines to this creative problem solving process. It has been too long and maybe I just wasn't paying attention but I don't remember anyone helping me understand what an incredibly important class my required "Arts and Ideas" - general ed class was. I wouldn't want to be 18 again but I would love to take that class now!

Reactions

After my first venture into the world of blogging I am surprized with the number of comments and the level to which it helped me think about several issues related to communication. Let me share a few of my reactions to all these comments.

First, I was really impressed that people read what I had posted and then reacted. This was a pleasant surprize and did reinforce my view of this new technology as another vehicle for communication. Second, I loved the fact that several people gave me advice on what other things I should do with my blog and I even got an offer to jazz my page up a bit and make it "edgier" - my favorite word. The third and most intriquing issue was related to the pressure to write another blog and to come up with something stimulating and challenging. When I shared this sense of pressure with a professor on campus his reaction really provided some insight. He said,"how wonderful - that is the way we want students to feel".

It is the way we want students to feel. How do I think about things deeply and then write about them in a way that communicates something!!!!! Yes! Exactly! The pressure isn't a bad thing it is a good thing - well now there is a novel thought.

I am still trying to figure out the RSS thing and how to link other bogs to mine but I will get there.

Communication

Well this is my first effort to create a Blog. As the President of Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota I wanted to find another way to communicate thoughts that would allow for response from others in the DSU community or in a broader community. DSU is a campus that has unique mission - to be the information technology campus for the state and so finding new technologies and new ways to communicate is a part of what we are about.

With the help of Dan W here at DSU I am going to move into this blogging world to see what kind of possibilities it presents for increased communication. Another acquaintance of mine who is into blogging indicated that the best blogs are somewhat personal and incorporate a bit of humor so I will attempt both.

I have been thinking alot about how communication takes place in this new electronic, digital age. Certainly my life focuses around email, cell phone messages, web pages, etc. I find that I have quickly adopted a work life style that puts me in front of a screen at almost any time of the day. In-between meetings I quickly check my messages and attempt to respond to inquiries as quickly as possible. The level of communication has increased in so many ways. I know others who confine their email checking and responses to a specific time of day etc but this just doesn't seem to work for me. I am convinced that our students will quickly adopt this style of interaction. Does it make me more socially isolated - I don't believe so and find that those times when I am face to face with someone else has become even more engaging, but then I didn't grow up with instant messaging, blogging and email. I often wonder what the impact will be on this whole generation of students who have had this as part of their world and a part of their expectation.

The management team here at DSU is looking at a new PDA/Cell phone combination (Blackberry type) initiative for our group. I have joked with them that I am going to get these new earpieces that have wireless bluetooth connection and that we will walk around with them on all day so we can "communicate" ubiquitously (love that word). Who knows!

Hope to get comments or thoughts and others suggestions for communicating effectively.