ASU Research E-Magazine: Don't Panic

Afraid of getting lost in cyberspace? Unnerved by new technologies? Feeling like you’re being left behind? “Don’t panic!” So says Douglas Adams in his book: A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Darwyn Linder thinks that Adams provides sound advice.

“I sometimes get a little impatient with all this impatience surrounding the rush to embrace technology,” Linder says.

Linder is a psychology professor and past president of the Faculty Senate. At ASU, he says, learning is the bottom line.

“Like most businesses, we must hurry, but we can’t get so frantic that we shift our focus away from using technology to enhance the learning impact for students to just using technology.”

According to Linder, ASU can’t just “digitize” current courses any more than businesses could allow employees just to surf the Internet for fun. We must completely reformat classes and human mindsets to take advantage of the new interactive aspects of technology. But doing so is costly, he says—both in cash and time-related terms.

“We have 2,200 teaching personnel here at ASU, most of whom teach more than just one course,” Linder explains. “That means we have to invest not only in the appropriate technology for each, but in both training them to use it, and in the additional Instruction Support personnel who’ll be needed to do the training and conversion work.”

Cost is a huge change counterforce—which is precisely why Linder advises techno-neophites not to worry...yet.

“All of this is going to cost real money,” he says. “We will have to establish priorities and bring people up to speed at realistic rates.”

One obvious “enhancing the learning impact” priority involves using technology to make ASU access easier. Everything from applications and financial aid forms to course registration and degree requirements, to parking registration and accessing grades can now be done on-line. Most services can still be completed in person, by mail, or via the telephone by those with less technical comfort zones.

“Community leaders tell us that our reaching out to communities is very important to the health and well-being of neighborhoods and the people who live within them,” says Bette DeGraw, dean of ASU’s College of Extended Education. That’s because people—their needs, and starting points—are increasingly unique. For example, a business person might need an at-work link-up, while a single mom or immigrant might rely upon convenient sites or at-home programs to make learning feasible.

“If we’re going to significantly increase the degree of interaction between the community and university we almost have to become a ‘virtual campus’—a facility that’s unrestricted by place or time,” DeGraw continues.

Which is why ASU now has East, Main, and West Valley campuses. There are also 10 other public sites—including the ASU Downtown Center; six community colleges; several Scottsdale sites; sites on the Gila River Indian Community; 20 corporate sites; numerous alternative schedule or condensed classes; and at least 50 courses taught via television, CD-ROM, or the Internet.

Removing roadblocks, reducing risk, and providing such alternatives are important elements in serving clients, which for us means helping them prepare for change, Linder explains.

“We are a species that’s constantly adapting to change in our environment. The problem is, humans don’t usually seek out risk voluntarily. Still, most of us can overcome the ‘change’ hurdle with motivation and some support.”

ASU, like many companies and K-12 school districts, began the technological change process simply by allowing people to approach new concepts and technologies at their own pace.

“For those who didn’t, the next logical step might be providing non-threatening, well-supported ‘mandated’ opportunities,” Linder says. “We might say to them, ‘We’re moving ahead with information technology. If you want to work for us, here are the skills you’ll need.’”

In such a scenario, Linder says, employers might pay people while they are in class—but they will make sure they attend each class.

At about this point, however, the ASU psychologist re-emphasizes his “Don’t panic” advice.

We need to remember that technology is supposed to work for us, he says, to make our lives easier—not to frighten or enslave us. Technology is supposed to make us more efficient and autonomous. It is supposed to help make work or learning more asynchronous, or self-paced, so that we have the option of being on-site, at home, or in a hotel room at 1 a.m. half a world away.

“The technology revolution may seem overwhelming sometimes, but like everything else, like other revolutions we’ve encountered, we’re still fundamentally human,” Linder adds. “So people are always going to find humane ways to master and use technology.”

The ASU researcher says that he does not ever foresee a time when we will be chained to technology, tapping away silently and independently at keyboards in darkened rooms. Instead, he thinks that people will eventually come to realize that even in cyberspace, help, and other people, will always be just a click away. —Lindsey Michaels