Des Moines Area Community College: Tying Learning to the Gaming Generation

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Des Moines Area Community College: Tying Learning to the Gaming Generation

11/26/2002

The college also uses technology so students can meld learning more easily into their lives, rather than vice versa. Although the College initially focused on delivering services via handheld tools, it has since broadened its approach to be non-hardware dependent.

"We designed the campus to be very mobile. We want to give information to students when they want it, how they want it, where they want it, and the way they want it. In order to help students adapt to today's mobile culture in business, we're building it into the classroom and into the educational experience," said Paustian.

For students, the technology-infused campus is a welcome experience. "I really enjoyed the change. It opened up my ability to use technology," explains Robert Dyer, a transfer student. "I use the technology everyday from school to personal use. With a PDA, you can go throughout campus and use it to its full potential. I use it for everything from going online and researching, to retrieving a file."

While Dyer, a telecommunications major, enjoys leaving his heavy books behind, he appreciates even more the long-term benefits of using the technology. "If you don't have the technology accessible to you, you can't necessarily learn it. Having it available to me lets me learn state-of-the-art technology and really puts me ahead of everybody else in the field. My expectation is that my campus provides me with what I will need on the job when I get out of school."

All data, including each student's work, is kept on the school's storage area network and is accessible through the Web. A memory module slides into the back of each iPaq and stores student work that can be synched with a home computer or laptop.

However, the process of synching was not always that easy. "When we started, there wasn't much out there, and we didn't have the expertise to make the synching happen," recalls Paustian. "The way we were doing it was very cumbersome. Users had to put iPaqs in cradles to synch the data. It had become a problem."

Paustian and others were at a trade show when they saw SCT demonstrating its forthcoming PocketCampus product. SCT had developed the technology to readily synch data between a handheld tool and an institution's database through any Internet connection. "We were totally impressed," says Paustian. "Soon after, SCT collaborated with us to develop a new product so we can synch up through our wireless network … It makes students' lives easier, which technology is supposed to do."

The college also uses SCT Banner as its administrative system. "We do everything in Banner," says Paustian. "We keep adding more and more functions to Banner, to do both remotely and on site. Now we're looking to add more functions to do more through Banner through the iPaqs." Those activities include continuing to migrate some of the technology tools used at the West Campus to the college's other five campuses. The college also is driving an initiative to have the entire Des Moines metro area wireless.

"In the future, we will see greater emphasis on mobility," predicts Briggs. "Students will have the ability to take class anywhere, anytime, through different wireless technologies. They'll have access to their professors and their professors' notes 24x7."

"Students expect to use technology at all levels of life," notes Paustian. They have a real easy time using new things, and they expect other things to have the same level of interaction."

For more information, contact Anthony Paustian, executive dean for the West Campus, Des Moines Area Community College, at adpaustian@dmacc.cc.ia.us.