by Michael Allchin
Oswego, NY- The 11th annual St. Baldrick’s Day in Oswego County took place on Mar. 26 at the Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center. Participants of the event shaved their heads and donated their hair to cancer patients.
With the help of various volunteers and supervisors, the event raised a large portion of money for cancer research all over the world. Donations are spread out to various hospitals worldwide and are provided to the world’s top cancer researchers so they can find ways to cure kids with cancer. The event in Oswego raised more than $37,000.
Event Coordinator John Sheffield says he is proud to see the county come together to donate.
“This event restores my faith in humanity,” he said. “I have found that the people who often have the least to give are the ones with the most generous hearts.”
The Oswego State men’s lacrosse team and Oswego Firefighters are some of the organizations who donated money and volunteered their time.
To donate, go to St. Baldrick’s website or call (888) 899-2253.
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2 Shot, 1 Killed in Syracuse Shooting
Syracuse Police are investigating after one person is reported dead and another suffered a leg injury in a shooting near a home on Hope Avenue in Syracuse Wednesday evening.
According to reports, two suspects dumped their car and fled into Oakwood Search resulting in what is being considered an active search and homicide investigation.
Because of the closeness to the school, Syracuse University issued an Orange Alert which warned students of the off-campus investigation and recommended that they stay indoors and not let anybody in.
As of 10:56 PM, the Alert was lifted, but authorities still have not been able to find the suspects, who shot at two police officers in two separate encounters.
No officers have been reported injured at this time.
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Lakers’ drop Title game in Max Zeil Tournament
The Oswego State women’s basketball team fell to Elmira College in the championship game of the Max Ziel Tournament on Saturday by a final score of 53-40. Oswego drops to 1-2 on the season while Elmira remains undefeated with a 3-0 record.
Oswego center Rachel Windhausen led all Lakers in scoring with nine points on 4-for-8 shooting from the field. She snagged 11 rebounds and was one point shy of a double double. Senior Zana Dillard led Oswego in the rebounds category with 13.
Windhausen was named tothe All-Tournament Team directly after the contest.
Up next for the Lakers is a four-game road trip that starts in Rochester, N.Y. at 5 p.m. on Tuesday against Nazareth College.
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Master’s project examines students’ relationships with technology
[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]Complicated relationship — The master’s in strategic communication “Integrated Media Projects” course analyzed data on students’ relationships with technology and developed this video summarizing some results. A group of master’s in strategic communication students, working a large-scale student survey from 2019, found students have a complicated relationship with technology and their smartphones.
The Student Survey on Attitudes Toward Technology (SSATT) is conducted annually to collect information from freshmen and seniors about their relationship to the technologies they use as students and young adults. The data analysis and media design exercise is carried out by students in the course “Integrated Media Projects” course, under the supervision of faculty advisor Ulises Mejias of the communication studies department, and with help of the college’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.
While that survey of 367 students preceded this semester’s move to remote learning, it nonetheless showed the internet and smartphones’ enormous impact on their lives.
Among the findings on how students live and learn with technology:
- 58 percent agree that the internet has had a positive effect on their lives
- 77 percent said they check their smartphones as soon as they wake up, although they admitted this habit can provide added stress and anxiety
- 71 percent agreed that they are distracted by their personal devices in class, while freshman are significantly more likely to lose focus in class/work by checking their cell phones than seniors
- Half of the students said they are distracted by their devices during face-to-face communication
- Two-thirds of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that they were notified by important issues through social media
- 68 percent of students said they look up more information on social issues discovered via social media
- 60 percent of students reported they fact-check or cross-check news stories
- 45 percent said they rely on social media as their only source of news
- 71 percent said they text others in class or when doing work outside of class
Some 2019 figures show the importance of access to reliable internet, even before this semester’s shift to learning online:
- 85.8 percent of participants said they strongly agreed or agreed they would not be able to maintain coursework without the internet
- 77.7 percent either strongly agreed or agreed that not having access to high-speed internet would impact their academic performance
- Seniors relied on high speed internet access significantly more than freshman
Building awareness
Strategic communication major Fabio Machado said the findings should prove helpful for SUNY Oswego students to better understand their relationship with technology, as well as for anybody interested in how technology and academics can better connect.
“I think we can improve the relationship, and learn how to take what is positive from it and try to maybe work on the negatives,” said Machado, who was the social media analyst for the project. “Maybe we can look at how we can make our students more aware about how they’re using technology and what is beneficial with them, what is positive about your interactions and what is not. What you can control better.”
Fellow strategic communication major Nick Derbabian noted that data was especially relevant because it utilized attitudes from fellow students. Since it was the first survey of its type, he added, the group was working with a blank slate in finding students’ positive and negative relationships with technology.
“I think a big finding that we saw was how it was contradicting sometimes. They found their phone and having access to the internet were sometimes distracting to them,” said Derbabian, the project support officer. “But they also said: ‘We absolutely need computers and the internet to get our coursework done.’”
“They acknowledge how distracting it can be in classes or how when they wake up it was the first thing they check,” Machado said.
The team was surprised to learn two out of every three students relied on social media for news to such a high extent, but found it encouraging that many sought out other sources.
In addition to Machado and Derbabian, the master’s students in the team included Kurt Albrecht, data analyst; Curtis Cady, video designer and producer; Brenna Maclsaac, website and tap course designer; and Pedro Boller, website designer and SEO analyst.
For more information on the findings, project and process, visit the team’s multimedia website.
This article was originally featured at: https://www.oswego.edu/news/story/masters-project-examines-students-relationships-technology via the SUNY Oswego Office of Communications and Marketing.
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