Ball State University President's Report for 1999

Introduction
Report home page
Final report
The challenge
Service learning
Taking responsibility
and leadership
Selective admissions
Technology and
learning
Community outreach
Community and
world involvement
National honors
A leader, role model, pioneer, etc...
Personal message
Outstanding faculty
awards
Recognitions
Financial report

every family had a bread man and a milkman. Every homemaker knew them by name, and they shared information at the back door that went far beyond the price of a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk. They spoke to each other in ways that allowed for feedback and improved service. Direct communication resulted in strong relationships built on personal interaction, and businesses flourished on personal trust.

That began to change in the sixties when Americans shut the back door and went inside to watch television.

In his book, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital, Robert Putnam of Harvard University says that technology radically changed our use of time and disrupted the opportunities for forming connections with other people like the connections Mom made by chatting with the milkman. Time-use studies in the last thirty years show that the hours spent watching TV dwarfs all other ways Americans pass their days and nights. Putnam believes that personal computers, which keep us occupied in total isolation from others, will accelerate the trend.

If Putnam is correct, this phenomenon has profound implications for Ball State, a university that staked a claim as one of the most technologically advanced public universities in the nation. Recently, our message incorporated the phrase "Powerful Resources" in part to describe Ball State’s commitment to computer and telecommunications technology to enhance classroom teaching.

But our message also includes the phrase "Personal Learning." At Ball State University the powerful resources support, accent, and strengthen the learning experience that occurs between teacher and student. It is the legacy handed down from our days as Ball Teachers College: Learning will always be an intensely personal experience for both.

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