Thursday, January 28, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
COMS projects link students in Kansas, New York
By Jamie Knodel
Kansan staff writer
The grades of 17 KU students in a communications class will be determined entirely on the work the students complete with partners they will never meet.
Students in Communication Studies 560: Computer-Mediated Communication have been paired up with students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. The pairs will complete weekly assignments and collaborate on two term papers through e-mail and computer conferences.
Howard Sypher, KU professor and chairman of communications studies, said students' participation and the quality of work were factors in their grades.
"In many respects it is all about participation because it is all about interaction," he said.
Sypher co-teaches the class with Joe Walther, RPI professor, and Ulla Bunz, KU graduate teaching assistant.
Sypher said the class could be conducted without ever having any face-to-face meetings because the class' software, First-Class, allowed the faculty and students to submit, respond and discuss all the issues and assignments via the computer.
In spite of the software's capabilities, the class gathers for lecture on Tuesdays and a lab session on Thursdays.
"The class is all interaction." Sypher said. "It's working together to develop quality projects."
Sypher said that the class time gave students an opportunity to explore technology and group dynamic issues.
"Technology can assist in completing a task, but it can also hinder," he said. "We're looking into the ways situations could be
COMPUTER-MEDIATED CLASS
- Ongoing computer conference about course topics
- Correspondence through electronic mail
- Use of an electronic group decision sup-
pension
Development and submission of most
handled better if they were face-to-face."
Development and submission of most graded projects through Internet-based channels
Exploration of a variety of electronic collaboration tools
For example, Sypher said that one KU student had experienced problems when the New York partner did not respond to e-mails about a project. The KU student had to do all the work for the project.
Sypher said most of the students involved
had a general knowledge of computers and were reasonably competent.
She said the class did not frustrate her because of the step-by-step instruction.
The class was also an opportunity for students such as Wendy Wyman, Houston junior, to become more familiar with computers. She said she was not completely comfortable with computers but was learning as the class progressed.
The class was not listed in the spring timetable and enrollment was by permission of instructor only, Sypher said. He also said that the students who were enrolled learned about the class from advisers and word-of-mouth.
Sypher said the communication department offered this class as part of the department's commitment to providing students a blend of technology and instruction.
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Student Senate positions empty, applicants needed
By Nadia Mustafa
Kansan staff writer
Student Senate is accepting applications for five open Senate seats, some of which have been available since November.
Melisa Veon, Nunemaker senator; Larissa Lee, engineering senator; Kate McEwen, law senator; Greg Woolen, non-traditional senator and Sara Collas, graduate senator, resigned from their elected Senate seats for various reasons.
Julie Numrich, Senate executive chair, said it was important to replace the senators because it would maintain student body representation.
"It helps when it comes to work on legislation," Numrich said. "They can offer support on certain issues. You have more people to voice their opinions and a larger perspective."
Numrich said that Senate was looking for applicants who could name major issues facing students and explain how they would represent their constituencies.
Marlon Marshall, engineering senator, said applicants should
be interested in their constituencies.
"We want people with drive who want to promote student issues." he said.
Applications for the open seats are due by 5 p.m. tomorrow. Senators will conduct interviews Tuesday night and Senate will approve their choices Wednesday,
All applicants must be enrolled at the University of Kansas.
Applicants for the Nunemaker seat must be freshmen or sophomores in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who have less than 60 credit hours. Applicants for the engineering, law and graduate seats, must be enrolled in those respective schools. Applicants for the non-traditional seat must be classified as such.
Nnumrich said that about 25 people applied for the open Nunemaker seat in October, but few had applied for the law or graduate positions.
Applications are available in the Senate office at the Organizations and Leadership office in the Kansas Union.
Multicultural salon attracts KU crowd
By Dan Curry
By Dan Curry
Kansan staff writer
Geneva Colter can style any 'do that can be done — a wave, French rolls, finger waves, flat twists, crochet braids and water-fall curls.
But in a city where many salons cater to a select few hair types. Colter coifs any kind of hair that comes through the door.
Colter works as a stylist at Elegant Touch, Inc., 949 E. 23rd St., a beauty salon that claims to be the first multicultural salon in Lawrence.
This means that they serve everybody, said owner Devorah Hall, who graduated from the University of Kansas in 1993.
"We like having people from different parts of the world," she said.
There are no salons that specialize in styling African-American hair in Lawrence, though a few salons have a single stylist that can do African-American hair, Hall said.
The salon has become a popular place with African-American students and staff at the University.
Trudy Falster, a lab technician at the University, read a book as Colter worked on her hair.
Falster said there hadn't been many options for her in Lawrence until she discovered Elegant
Touch.
"I've been coming here since August of 1997," Falster said. "I'm glad this place opened."
On a counter beside Falster lay the tools of Colter's trade: combs, clippers, curling irons (broom-stick thick to pencil-thin) and the tiny oven used to heat them.
"It'll hang down and frame my face," Falster said. "No curls."
Colter was giving Falster a wrap.
Hall opened the salon two years ago after she walked into a Lawrence salon wanting to get her hair styled. The salon couldn't help her.
"The myth is that because we're people of color we all use the same product and that we're all the same," she said.
"Black people didn't have a place to go. We deserved a choice," she said.
Hall's beauty salon operates on the assumption that everyone's hair is different, and the salon's stylists can work with all the different hair types, Hall said.
Salon employee Anthony Harris said he cut a greater variety of hair at Elegant Touch than he would at a strictly African-American salon.
"Our message is: We recognize that you're diverse. You're cool with me," she said.
"Hair is hair," he said. "That's one reason I chose to work here."
Geneva Hoeffler of Elegant Touch, Inc. works on a customer's hair. Elegant Touch, Inc. specializes in ethnic hair styles. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
Hall said that they had served African Americans, Native Americans, biracial children and international students.
Tammy Howell, owner of The Total Look beauty salon, 708 W. Ninth St., said Elegant Touch probably was the only multicultural place in town.
"There are very few places in town that do black hair," Howell said. "If we don't have the products, we refer them to her."
Flashback
Student Union Activities invites you to the first exhibit of 1999 featuring the history of SUA. Step by step and take a look at the exhibits located on level four of the Kansas Union next to the SUA Office
January 25 thru February 6
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