When I see Concordia students working feverishly on their laptops around campus, I reflect on my own student days.
As a young graduate student, I put in very long hours at the library. In those days, you had no choice: research meant heading out in rain, snow, heat or cold; thumbing through the card catalogues to locate books that might or might not be on the shelf; making notes by hand on colour-coded index cards; and, in my case, typing my thesis on a pink Smith-Corona manual typewriter my mother bought me when I was 12; mailing drafts to my thesis advisor overseas and waiting for a snail-mail answer.
Judith Woodsworth, third from left, at the Forces Avenir Awards ceremonies October 8 in Montreal. Woodsworth is surrounded by Concordia students and Forces Avenir Award recipients Cassandra Elizabeth Porter, Gabriel Bran Lopez, Peter Schiefke, Karen Haffey and Esther Kalaba. 17.
Some of you might remember those times. Those of you who have grown up in the digital age will have trouble believing that there was ever a time without computers or that we were ever able to get anything done!
Life is irrevocably changed for our students. They now have access to information—at any time and from anywhere. We’ve put in place the resources, infrastructure and staff to support their technological needs and make it possible for them to expand their ways of learning and expanding their knowledge.
Concordia’s technological savvy reaches beyond our two campuses. We have researchers integrating effective teaching and learning practices into higher education; expanding internet use in developing countries; and refining tools for cyber forensics, text messaging, ecommerce and historical research, for example. Others are using new technologies to change the world: giving aboriginal communities, homeless people and leading-edge young artists a voice and platform to advocate for social justice.
Our alumni, too, are at the forefront of world-class innovation. I couldn’t be prouder of the ways in which Concordia grads are making their mark.
What’s next? It’s impossible to predict where technology will lead us. But wherever it is and whatever we encounter next, you can be sure that Concordians, as they have always done, will lead the way.
