Talking Stick - March/April 2009 - 43

Technology in Cambridge also uses TeamSpot® software in four undergraduate residence halls to enhance collaborative workspaces. • The Academic Service Centers in the five main residential units at the University of California, Berkeley, which support livinglearning programs with academic peer advising, tutoring, and faculty programs plus services like printing, copying, and binding and equipment such as headphones and voice recorders. • The Florence Moore Hall Smart Lounge at Stanford University, which provides a state-of-the-art audiovisual presentation space for lectures and section meetings of the Structured Liberal Education (SLE) program, in which first-year students take required courses in humanities and writing and receive tutoring in the residence. In the early evenings, the faculty resident fellow and student resident assistants host guest speakers, film discussions, and other residential programs in the Smart Lounge. At other times, students use the space casually for group study, gaming and Local Area Network (LAN) parties, music, movies, and social events. A similarly equipped residence lounge in the Chicano/Latino ethnic theme dorm, Casa Zapata, hosts campuswide Latino community events and house programs. constraints of being co-located in the physical residence hall. Indeed, for better or for worse, class-year and residential community building begins in virtual spaces, long before students arrive. As soon as they get their acceptance letters or e-mails, entering students form Facebook groups for their class year and begin active discussions and preparations for college. Residence hall Facebook groups are formed as soon as entering students learn where they are living. By late summer 2007, 82 percent of the incoming Stanford University firstyear class (more than 1,400 members) had joined the Class of 2011 Facebook group. USA Today reported in August 2007 that students entering Syracuse University in New York created groups for “almost every residence hall on campus,” and they shared “room numbers, floor plans for their buildings, and other tips they have Is your university housing keeping up with students’ technological needs? Intersections of Real-Space and Virtual Communities Perhaps the most compelling story about residential life on campuses today lies in the rich intersections between the physical, real-space community and the online, virtual community. In today’s living-learning communities, both the living and learning activities have become dislodged from the time and space Believe it or not, students occasionally use their Internet connection for applications besides Facebook, YouTube and online gaming. Today’s students need access to electronic publishing, collaborative studies and online courses to keep up academically. Unfortunately, all of these demands can put a serious strain on your school’s network. There is a solution. By partnering with Connexion Technologies, you can upgrade to a fiber-optic network that is ready to support students’ Internet, video and telecommunications needs. Find out more at www.connexiontechnologies.net or contact us at 919.535.7329.

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Talking Stick - March/April 2009

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