ARCHIVED EVENTS AT IHE

on this page:	ECAR Study of Students and Information Technology 37th Annual Conference on Higher Education and the Law “The Privatization of the Public Research University” Education Law and Policy Forum Roundtable on Intercollegiate Athletics and Higher Education Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet & American Life Project Makerere University Partnership
see also:	2004-2005 Events

ECAR Study of Students and Information Technology, 2006: Convenience, Connection, Control, and Learning
May 2, 2006

Robert B. Kvavik

A longitudinal extension of the 2004 ECAR study of Students and Information Technology, this 2005 study is based on quantitative data from over 18,000 freshmen and senior students at 63 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies today's students are using, with what levels of skill they are using them, how information technology use contributes to the undergraduate experience, and what value the use of IT adds in terms of learning. The study also provides a review of and comparison with the 2004 ECAR study of students and IT and the 2003 ECAR study of faculty use of course management systems undertaken at the University of Wisconsin System.

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Workshop on Critical Issues: Alcohol, Suicide, Cheating, Discipline, Ethics, and More

The conference was held at the Jekyll Island Club on Jekyll Island. It addressed a variety of current critical issues. Topics included alcohol and drugs, suicide and mental health, cheating and academic dishonesty, discipline and judicial affairs, liability and risk management, campus safety and security, ethics and professionalism, and other timely topics. Speakers included Gary Pavela, Parker Young, Don Gehring, Carole Middlebrooks, Burns Newsome, and Karen-Ann Broe. Next year’s conference, “Protecting Life, Liberty, and Property on Campus,” is scheduled for August 5-8, 2007, again at Jekyll Island.

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The Privatization of the Public Research University

Participants in the Conference: Front row (L-R): Rob Toutkoushian, Educational Administration, Indiana University; Christopher Morphew, Institute of Higher Education, UGA; Christopher Cornwell, Economics, UGA; Stanley Ikenberry, University of Illinois. Back Row (L-R): Carlo Salerno, Government Accountability Office; Robert Lowry, Political Science, University of Texas-Dallas; Gabriel Kaplan, Public Policy, University of Colorado; Michael Mclendon, Higher Education and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University; David Mustard, Economics, University of Georgia. Not pictured: Peter Eckel, American Council on Education.

On September 7-9, the Institute hosted a group of scholars with varied disciplinary backgrounds who wrote papers on their perspectives of the social, economic, political and organizational realities relevant to the theme, “The Privatization of the Public Research University.” Institute students, staff and faculty engaged in a spirited conference and also participated in associated events, including a reception and lunch on the lawn in front of Meigs. Papers presented at the conference will be compiled into an edited volume.

Stan Ikenberry, former president, University of Illinois and ACE, was one of 10 scholars who participated in the conference and provided opening remarks. Dr. Ikenberry has been writing on these issues and speaking nationally on the topic of privatization for the past several years. The conference was funded by a grant from the University of Georgia’s Provost Office and organized by Christopher Morphew.

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Education Law and Policy Forum: September 29-30, 2006

A capacity crowd met at the Institute for the Saturday sessions.

The Education Law and Policy Forum held its second annual national graduate student conference at the Institute of Higher Education on September 29-30, 2006. The Forum began on Friday night with dinner hosted by Doug Toma (IHE) and Anne Dupre (UGA Law School) and reconvened on Saturday morning for five one-hour paper sessions. The papers presented by the students are submitted for publication in an electronic journal. Sixteen students from UGA and across the country (representing 11 different universities) participated this year with about 50 people attending the sessions on Saturday. Discussants included seven leading education law scholars from seven different major universities.

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At a roundtable hosted by IHE, university presidents, athletics directors, conference administrators and leading scholars discuss the challenges associated with athletics recruiting.

Athletics Recruiting and Academic Values:
Enhancing Transparency, Spreading Risk, and Improving Practice

UGA President Michael Adams (left) enjoys a few minutes during break with Greg Vincent (center), vice president at Univ. of Texas, and SEC Commissioner Mike Slive (right).

On August 20-21, 2006, the Institute assembled 19 presidents, athletics directors, campus and conference administrators, and leading scholars writing on intercollegiate athletics for a daylong discussion of the challenges associated with athletics recruiting. The roundtable focused on framing issues in recruiting student-athletes in the context of the entire university. We worked from the prospect that trends and challenges across higher education parallel and thus can inform and be informed by those in intercollegiate athletics, concluding that positive change in areas such as athletics recruiting cannot occur if it is considered in isolation from the whole of university communities. The recruitment and admission of student-athletes must be grounded in the principles of academe — and it must involve faculty and academic administrators in meaningful ways.

The result of the convening was an essay circulated to and approved by those attending. The essay not only clarifies and reframes the issues and trends under consideration, but also includes a set of concrete guidelines toward improving practices related to recruiting ethics.

The essay, written by Associate Professor Doug Toma, explores the athletics recruiting process with a view toward reconceptualizing it, advancing an approach that improves practice through spreading the risks associated with recruiting and admissions across universities as a whole by enhancing transparency in the process. By more formally and completely involving the entire university community in recruiting student-athletes,Toma suggests a means of counterbalancing the negative incentives and poor decisions that too often define what fundamentally must be a legitimate admissions process.

Financial support for the roundtable was provided by the office of the president at the University of Georgia and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

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The New Media Ecology

Lee Rainie gives his presentation

Lee Rainie, the founding Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, discussed his report, Digital “Natives” Invade the Workplace, with UGA colleagues and the Governor’s Teaching Fellows. “Young people may be newcomers to the world of work, but it’s their bosses who are immigrants into the digital world,” Rainie states. “...in this digitalized age, this 21-year-old and his peers are showing up in human resources offices as digital natives in a workplace world dominated by digital immigrants — that is, elders who often feel less at ease with new technologies.” (Read more)

Rainie's latest report, The Future of Internet II, discusses the findings of a survey of technology thinkers and stakeholders’ and what major problems they believe will accompany technology advances by 2020. Prior to launching the Pew Internet Project, Rainie was managing editor of U.S. News & World Report. He is a graduate of Harvard College and has a master’s degree in political science from Long Island University.

The Project has issued more than 100 reports based on social issues and online activities. It also has focused research on important public policy questions such as public attitudes about trust and privacy online, development of e-government, attitudes about intellectual property issues, the impact of spam, and the status of digital divides. The Project is non-partisan and takes no positions on policy matters. All of its reports and datasets are available online for free at http://www.pewinternet.org.

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(L-R) Professors Nkata, Morphew, and Toma and IHE graduate student Jennifer Frum discuss U.S. higher education policy and management with members of the EAIHESD.

On December 15, the East African Institute for Higher Education Strategy and Development (EAIHESD) at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and the Institute of Higher Education (IHE) at the University of Georgia entered into a formal memorandum of understanding during a visit to Kampala by a four-member University of Georgia delegation including IHE faculty Christopher C. Morphew and J. Douglas Toma and graduate student Jennifer Frum. Over three days, EAIHESD and IHE agreed to collaborate on a comprehensive program focused on developing EAIHESD’s research, instructional, and public service roles, including though developing a proposal to seek significant foundation funding. The discussions between the two institutes identified and underscored the parallel missions of EAIHESD and IHE and suggested several areas of cooperation to pursue:

• Launching an information technology and documentation unit at EAIHESD resulting in an electronic clearinghouse of research on higher education issues in East Africa.
• Creating a comprehensive program for faculty development at selected East African universities, including pedagogical training for established faculty, as well as a certificate program in teaching for doctoral students.
• Developing a public service and educational law unit at EAIHESD to serve the region.
• Beginning a research, measurement, and evaluation unit at EAIHESD that uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches to serve Makerere and other East African universities.
• Establishing regular exchanges between EAIHESD and IHE faculty and students to encourage collaboration on research projects and other areas of mutual interest. The exchanges would also be incorporated into the instructional programs of both institutes.

Chris Morphew shakes hands with the vice chancellor of Makerere University, Livingstone Luboobi, at the contractual signing between EAIHESD and the Institute of Higher Education.

Makerere is the premier university in East Africa and EAIHESD has been designated by the Inter-University Council of East Africa as the exclusive center for higher education research and development in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda). It has built a sizable and impressive faculty, with twenty academic staff members, including twelve full-time faculty. Professor James Nkata, Professor of Higher Education at Makerere University and Director of the EAIHESD, identified IHE and the University of Georgia as a potential partner during a visit in April 2006 to several leading U.S. centers and institutes devoted to higher education policy and management. Professor Nkata saw in the Institute of Higher Education a model of what he and his colleagues are seeking to build at Makerere University.

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