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Old school, new school, or remedial school, the point is that we are all having to learn how to adapt to a new environment, a new way of information dissemination. |
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It's On The Web Carpal Tunnel-everyone who works in an office with a PC has heard of this syndrome. It is real, and most aid directors have made efforts to help reduce this affliction. We grab those free wrist protectors from vendors, we order desks with those slide out things for keyboards and we purchase ergometric keyboards. CTS is just one of the downsides of the web and the related advent of technology. The worst curse is the all too common response to our questions, "It's on the Web". I have just spent 15 minutes looking for an employment application on the web. I considered myself lucky in finding the application in this short amount of time. I have been known to spend hours looking for a specific document or searching for an answer to a specific question. There was a time when a quick phone call was all I needed to get the answer. I welcomed making the phone call because it gave me an opportunity to interact with a colleague. Regardless of what anyone says, I prefer shared laughter over receiving one of those "thinking of you :)". The web is touted as being user friendly and cost effective. I cannot argue with the latter. The web has reduced printing and mailing costs. However, putting everything on the web has moved offices further away from their clients. A while back while searching for a particular regulation, I called a state agency for assistance. The question was "Where could we get XYZ"? The curt response was, "It's on the web" There was no offer to provide a specific URL or anything similar to help with my search. Way back in the "old days" the answer would have been, "We can mail you a copy". I would claim "The Web" is costing us more in time and in effort and is making us less customer friendly in that we are becoming "high tech, but low touch". Putting items on the web takes away ongoing outreach responsibility from the provider and places the responsibility on the end user. We now have to go and search; no longer does anyone come to us. Because of my strong feelings, I hesitated putting our pre-loan and exit counseling on the web. After much pleading, begging and threats of resignations, did I yield. Yet, I am concerned that this absence of face to face interaction will undermine the importance of loan responsibilities and repaying your debts. Our future default rate will confirm or deny my fear. I find this shift in responsibility somewhat disconcerting for it undermines the sense of ownership relative to outreach. It is as if offices and organizations are saying, "We've put it out on the web for you, it is your responsibility to go out and look for it, get it and understand it". In fact, one state agency did not feel it had a responsibility to maintain institutional e-mail addresses. The agency simply preferred to put announcements on the TASFAA listserv since it was easier for them. So numerous schools had to wade through unnecessary announcements reminding schools about this particular report. What made it worse was that the list was inclusive rather than an exclusive list. Instead of having a short list of schools that were not in compliance, we had a long list of schools that had complied. I suggested compiling a list of schools not in compliance and e-mailing directly to them. The response was that it was easier to e-mail everyone through the listserv rather than updating e-mail addresses. At least the person responding did not include a :) Old school, new school, or remedial school, the point is that we are all having to learn how to adapt to a new environment, a new way of information dissemination. Some of us are eager and readily accepting of the change, while some of us..., well you know where I fit in that statement. Memory lapses or just plain resistance, old vs new, life goes on.
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