This week marked Biola’s official launch of Google Apps and the phasing out of the old Biola University Bulletin Board System, more commonly known as BUBBS.
The switch entails replacing the current communications system with Gmail, as well as the addition of Google Calendar, Google Docs and other Google features.
The transition is much needed. BUBBS simply became outdated and failed to catch up with the times. We applaud Biola for acknowledging a problem and attempting to devise a solution for BUBBS this month, and Portal last month.
But as in any technological transitional period, there is room for improvement. Students’ responses to my.Biola are varied, especially regarding class registration. Some have expressed that changes facilitated quicker, easier registration, while some complained that changes required them to jump through additional hoops.
There are also downsides to the Google switch. One convenient tool unique to BUBBS is the “unsend” button. It’s nice to be able to reverse an e-mail sent unnecessarily or that becomes immediately irrelevant.
On the other hand, the absence of the button facilitates a more real-world approach to interpersonal communications. Text messages and words spoken can’t be taken back, either. Now, senders of information will have to think twice before speaking. But the benefits, such as the new e-mail system, easily outweigh the drawbacks. With an inbox capacity of 1GB compared to BUBBS’ 20MB for students, users will be able to keep a longer, larger history of their communications.
Also, students and alumni will benefit from the removal of the daily time limit. It is unfortunate that these changes were not implemented sooner. Schools like Vanguard and Westmont have already switched to Google Apps. Another tangible area in which Biola has lagged behind is bandwidth. In terms of kilobits per user, Christian universities like Seattle Pacific University, George Fox University and Westmont College all easily surpassed Biola in 2008, according to an IT fact sheet.
The recent technological changes, in addition to the coming bandwidth increase, are encouraging. But we shouldn’t stop there.
We encourage IT to continue addressing students’ concerns and fix the hiccups in the program for next semester, and to stay ahead of the curve in the best interest of not only students, but faculty and staff. We are proud of our university; we believe it should have an infrastructure we can be proud of, as well.
