A student project is setting up a Twitter with the Registrar and Sykes, the usernames are WCUSykes and WCURegistrar. Students can join Twitter, search for those usernames and click “follow” to receive announcements and reminders on their Twitter homepages. The registrar site will post about important dates regarding things like exam schedules, drop/add period, withdrawal deadlines, graduation information, etc. The Sykes page will announce campus events and what’s going on at Sykes such as concerts, the movie that they’re playing, poster sale, etc. Students can also edit their settings so that they receive these reminders as text messages to their cell phones. The Sociology class taught by Dr. Doug McConatha decided to take on this project because the students think it’s a good way for students to keep up with important dates and events on campus using the kind of technology they are familiar with and enjoy using. Students will not miss deadlines or lose out on a great event because they did not have time to go figure out when or where it is… now they can have it sent to them. Utilizing technology to keep students up to date about what is going on at WCU is a fast and easy way to involve students in things that they otherwise would have been unaware of.
– Erin McShea