I did a presentation at Tech Ed 06 in Pasadena today called "Online Services that Truly Serve Students" (ppt slides can be found on the "Recent Presentations" link to the right). My presentation started at 8:00 AM and given the weather today I didn't expect a lot of attendance (I left home at 5:00 AM just to make sure I wasn't late, but then again, I have a punctuality neurosis). As I expected there were only about 8 people when I started, but more and more arrived as I got going, and by the end it was standing room only and there were people in the hallway. (Reality Check #1: OK, so I was in the smallest room in the Pasadena Convention Center) (Reality Check #2: Well, "room" is actually a tad generous - it was more the size of a closet, but once I moved the mops everyone could see the screen).
I heard some great feedback afterwards and several people mentioned how it was nice to see systems that are designed to be student-centric. It's good that people caught that (since it's the theme of virtually all of my presentations), but it's sad that it stands out. Too many people in my field are chasing technology instead of serving students.
I also got to meet Bob Hughes from the North Orange district in person (he commented on my last post). He was a heck of a nice guy - even if he does like the ERPs (don't worry - I'll keep working on him).
If anyone who was at the session is reading this, I need to make sure I didn't leave you with a wrong impression. I closed the presentation with a demonstration of MySite Agent - it's an interactive agent we built that can respond to natural language queries using the AIM instant messaging service. I use it in the demo to show that we don't always get it right. In this case, I think the technology gets in the way of service and students just play with it instead of using it in a productive way. I just flat out said that we failed with that service because of the quantity and quality of the service it was providing. I was talking to a lady later in the day and she thought I was talking about all of the services I demonstrated. She didn't understand why students were not using our portal, online schedule and shopping cart when they looked so cool. So, in case anyone else had that impression, our other services are very popular - it's just the agent that doesn't get much usage.
2 comments:
Thanks for the nice comments - it was great to meet you as well.
I mentioned the Blogosphere Ecosystem - it is found at http://truthlaidbear.com/ecosystem.php
It is a humorous way to find out where your Blog ranks.
I agree (see prior post) that we would probably still invest in web registration. It has made a tremendous difference in our Admissions and Records office. With on-line admissions applications, on-line registration, on-line grading and add-codes for faculty, and on-line transcript ordering, we have really transformed their office. We are going to be testing debit cards this year that will allow us to eliminate the mailing of paper checks for Financial Aid disbursements.
It is interesting how the simpler technology is often better. The most convenient voice response technology that I still use regularly is 777-film (movie phone). Even though it was purchased by AOL and put on the web, I still browse for local movies from my phone, usually about the time the check comes during a date night with my wife.
Super color scheme, I like it! Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing this wonderful site with us.
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