Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
One College Park Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
314.392.2307 / fax 314.392.2265
www.mobap.edu / pr@mobap.edu
For Immediate Release
RE: Generation Wired
Generation Wired
May 12, 2005
Today’s students are wired. Or wireless. Or at least, they are amazed with the daunting diet of digital distractions. While many of us manage to keep our computers working and our mailboxes empty of spam, MBU students are embracing technologies with new and creative uses.
They just don’t “get it.” They’ve got it, used it and already upgraded it. This generation of students is enamored with all things tech – and it’s not just the CIS majors. Instead of toting a television and radio into their newfangled dorm room or apartment, students of all disciplines are hauling a virtual electronics store filled with flashing LEDs and glowing screens.
Blackberries. iPods. Xboxes. iBooks. Trios. Tivos. Web cams. Digital cams. MP3 players. Cell phones and PDAs that would make Maxwell Smart envious.
Generation Y students are multitaskers and, good or bad, dependant on technologies for every aspect of their life. From entertainment, to communication to learning, technology interweaves the information they seek. Somehow, frequently to the chagrin of parents and professors, students multitask class work, entertainment, and a college social life literally at the same time.
However, this multitask approach at life shouldn’t be surprising to parents and professors. Most of the “traditional” students grew up in front of a computer rather than the television their Gen-X siblings couched before. Essentially adopting computer and web-related concepts for learning and communication.
This technology has made its way to the classroom, and in some cases, has replaced the traditional classroom. Each year more and more students are taking online, web-based and iTV courses at MBU. Testing, discussions and lectures are all managed online in both synchronous or asynchronous schedules, making college even more attractive to those with complex work schedules or travel times. All of the MBU campus locations are connected with video conferencing that has allowed increased schedule flexibility. This, plus the advent of online classes, is now allowing the University to cater to students bound by geographic logistics.
What was once a lecture hall with an all-too-familiar green chalkboard is now a tech-savvy learning environment with multimedia projectors, touch screens and teacher kiosks. Old school transparencies are now new-school PowerPoint presentations, media-rich with lecture notes, diagrams, video and audio clips. Professors post lecture notes online and demonstrate using smart boards that mirror a computer monitor, complete with keyboard and mouse.
Computer labs serve the purpose once exclusively held by university libraries, filled with students researching, collaborating and writing. Untethered students are using WiFi, wireless handhelds and cell phones to engage beyond the classroom. John Whitacre, a junior business administration major from St. Louis, found wireless communications “the thing” when he inherited his mother’s hand-me-down handheld computer complete with wireless e-mail.
One of the simplest techno-change examples is found any given night on campus. Amidst the stacks of textbooks and pizza boxes are gaming systems such as the PS2 and Xbox. Replacing television and board games, the kids that grew up on Nintendo are the college students chaining Xboxes to play Halo 2 against other students.
And means of entertainment are as portable and wireless as Gen-Y students. Weston Ely is one of many iPod’ers that use audible devices to hold their entire music collection as well as audible class notes.
Tanya McCroy, sophomore communications major, discarded paper journals and publishes near-daily musings on her blog. Hundreds of MBU students are blogging and connecting with their friends and families via online publishing.
MBU has invested in means to attract and educate the tech-savvy student. Maintaining a place of stewardship just behind the bleeding edge, the University is watching for the next big change and keeping pace with the times.
« Carstens Named Coach of the Year
News Archives
May Board of Trustee Meeting »
Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
# # #
