By Jacob Vanderbroek
OSWEGO, N.Y. – Students and faculty on SUNY Oswego’s campus took time to talk to Veterans in honor of Veterans Day over a bite to eat. There were a wide-variety of foods to choose from including pasta salad and wraps. Soft beverages and water were also served. The purpose of this luncheon was so that members on campus had the chance to show their appreciation.
Dean’s Office for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Adrienne McCormick who works in said the luncheon was an important event for the campus.
“It’s very important to learn the sacrifices that people have made for our country. So i’m at the luncheon to show my support to those who served,” McCormick said.
To find out about the activities that Suny Oswego did to honor the veterans this past weekend go to oswego.edu/news.
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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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The Beginning of Parking Boots
OSWEGO, NY— On October 1, 2019, parking boots became effective as it is now used as a new method to regulate parking violations. With the collaborative decision of University Police and College Administrations, this has now become a new approach to handle parking issues. These issues include parking in reserved or handicapped areas or to drivers who have acquired more than 10 tickets or violations. It’s purpose is to encourage drivers to do the right thing and to urge them to pay their fines.
Kevin Velzy, Assistant Chief of University Police and staff member for 30 years, tells us the other reasons why the parking was implemented and why it is crucial for drivers to follow the rules.
“Instead of towing the car, we are going to put the parking boot on the car and that will ensure that the fines are collected. It’s actually beneficial to draw backs of towing are the cost. Tow operators now charge over $200 for a tow, so the costs go away for the offender. And also for the hassle of getting your car back, your car will be where you left it; it’s just a matter of going online and paying the fines, calling us, and saying you know ‘this has been paid for’ and we will come and remove the boot.” Velzy said.
According to Assistant Chief Velzy, about 8,000 parking tickets were issued last year and for annually, it is closely around the ballpark of that amount. Due to this result, this also weighed on the result of the decision.
He also added on about the financial aspect of the boot.“We are not going to charge an extra or additional fee to have the boot taken on or taken off….. All you are paying for is the ticket basically…. I think it is effective in terms of eliminating those drawbacks to having your car being towed..this is going to save you money.” Velzy explains.
If the boot was applied to your car, you may go online to pay or go the University police office to pay off your accumulated parking tickets and following from that, University police will remove the boot from the car.
Student drivers on campus had mixed thoughts when hearing the news as they stated that this is “A great idea”, “Unfair”, “Understandable”, “Harsh” and “Excessive”.
As of right now, a boot has not been applied.
For more information about this new parking enforcement, you can visit https://www.oswego.edu/police/new-york-state-university-police
