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The current University e-mail system is not sufficient. Outlook’s interface is not user-friendly, and it lacks the file space and other conveniences that some e-mail services, such as Gmail, provide.

Technological capabilities students expect, such as nearly unlimited file space and a search function, aren’t features of Outlook. They are, however, features of Gmail.

The University should take advantage of students’ comfort with new interfaces and ways of communication to offer a progressive e-mail system allowing increased organization, functionality and collaboration for students and faculty.

Though the basic e-mail message itself might not have changed much in the past five years, people compose, organize, store and read e-mails differently. Students are acquainted with new interfaces, such as Gmail’s, that allow more interactivity and, therefore, increased ease in composing and managing mail.

Gmail’s appearance remains the same whether using Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari, which is an important capability at a University with a diverse base of computers. Outlook’s interface changes on different Web browsers.

Search, a key way students find, organize and use information, is lacking from the University’s e-mail system, at least when using Firefox and Safari. Search is available using external clients, but it can search only one folder at a time.

Though usability issues can be frustrating, the true goal in any new e-mail system for the University must be to offer a proactive, progressive e-mail solution for students.

New features, such as instant messaging, should be added not because they are high tech, but because they are important in drawing students back to the University’s system, resulting in better collaboration. New features will also allow students to become more organized and communicate more readily, therefore, creating a better learning environment.

According to Julie Loats, director of Information Technology, fixing some of these problems, and more importantly providing students with dynamic, progressive technologies, “is definitely part of our philosophy.” She pointed to the success of initiatives such as the campus-wide wireless network as an example.

Outlook provides much more than just e-mail, including calendar functions and scheduling for rooms and appointments. Loats pointed out that any new service, whether an upgrade of Outlook or an independent provider, would have to provide the same capabilities.

Evidenced by transitions to Gmail by universities across the world, including Vanderbilt University, George Washington University and Australia’s Macquarie University, the switch cannot be that difficult.

The University and the IT department must be ready to move forward. If the current system is too inflexible to fix, we need concrete plans for the future.

At the same time, students need to let the University know what is important to them in their e-mail system.

Bill Meyers, director of assessment and outreach for Information Services, was especially concerned with what students thought.

“We do need to better understand students’ technological needs,” Meyers said.

Here is your opportunity.

Let the University know a switch to Gmail would benefit students.

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