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Show asuHaagfi Vistbfl Riffingi Qmjtidnj .7 'JyrCifeFiramdl trip alumnus redesigns NBA logos DSU -- 7 ' V' 3 MtSplf f ' features page 9 A rv f fri I I i 4 v. FALL ENROLLMENT PLATEAUS DESPITE OFFICIALS' PREDICTIONS " 1 COMPARING THIS YEAR TO LAST YEAR 1 FULL TIME STUDENTS DOWN FROM 0.37 PERCENT 6,405 TO 6,331 TOTAL HEADCOUNT DOWN FROM 0.78 PERCENT 8,570 TO 8,503 UP 9 FROM LAST YEAR 32,615 (20151 29,672 (2014) V, , vr- api ! UP 13 aa. 8,881 (2015) 7,756 (2014) vrr MARKEE HECKENLIABLE OCTOBER 2fl. 2015 markeeakeDSN petition among other universities in Utah and online. The purge VOLUME XLV NO. 9 U0ICE0FDIXIE DIXIESUNuEYJS.COM News 1 Opinion 4 Sports 6 Features 8 Dixie State University enrollment numbers have decreased slightly despite the large influx of students officials were predicting this fall. Total student headcount is down 67, a total of 0.78 percent from last year, according to a press release sent out by the public relations office. Brigham Young Universitys enrollment is up 9 percent, and Southern Utah Universitys enrollment is up 13 percent. David Roos, executive director of enrollment services, said he believes enrollment being down this year can be attributed to two things: the earlier deadline for tuition and the increase in com- - JordanEamesDSN CONTACT NEWS TIPS AND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR DixieSunDixie.edu 1 Jennings room 34 225 S. 700 East St George, UT 84770 435-652-78- 18 ADVERTISING DixieSunAdsDixie.edu 435-414-00- 96 435-656-40- 19 Roos said one of the reasons enrollment is down is because of the purge, which happened when students were dropped from their classes earlier for In past years, DSU officials would allow students to not pay tuition until the third week of school before they were dropped from their classes. This earlier tuition deadline change was implemented this semester. Our tuition policy has been more liberal than those in the state, so this year we decided to change it, Roos said. DSU administrators decided to change DSUs policy for two reasons, Roos said. One of the reasons is to open up seats for higher demand. The second rea- non-payme- son is to drop students who are enrolled to attend DSU but actually never plan on attending. The downside to it all was, because of that change, it did have an impact on our enrollment, Roos said. Even though the purge may have caused enrollment to decrease, Roos said DSU administrators are planning on sticking with it for upcoming semesters. In my opinion, part of the challenge was making sure everyone was aware of it, Roos said. Even though we tried publicizing it, Im sure there were still students that werent aware there was an earlier deadline. Increase in competition Roos said the second reason enrollment is down this year is because of an increase in competition. There are now more online degree offerings available for students, and several local schools have stepped up their game, Roos said. You can just drive up Interstate 15 and start looking at the billboards, and you can see which schools have increased their marketing budgets, Roos said. Jessica Arruda, a freshman nursing major from Los Angeles, said DSU administrators still have work to do when it comes to attracting the attention of students. I think the enrollment is low because of the fact that DSU is an school, and its kind of in a rural area, Arruda said. see ENROLLMENT page 2 Social media legitimate learning tool JORDAN EAMES fax. FROM LAST YEAR Canvas is a helpful interaction tool, but some teachers at Dixie State University are using social media as another way to connect with their students. Forty-on- e percent of college social media as used professors an educational tool in 2013, according to USA Today. Assistant communication professor Xi Cui said social media in the classroom acts as an information source and an interaction platform. Students can pull out information on class topics at anytime in a usually very interesting way, Cui said. As an interactive platform, students can interact with each other or interact with the instructor. Cui said he hasnt implemented social media into his curriculum yet, but he still uses it for extra credit. My understanding is that students have different interests and different proficiencies, Cui said. I dont want to make it part of the grade. Cui said theres a lot of schol- - arly debate over which social media platform works best for education. Twitter, as a social media, is more on the broadcast side, Cui said. Its an informational source, and its also a promo-- , tional platform. Facebook is more closed with a friend circle. Its a social network rather than a social media. Cui said a possible goal of his is to integrate some topics of social media into his classes; however, he said he isnt planning on making social media mandatory. According to the Washington Post, Facebook is a highly useful social media platform used by many professors. Facebook promotes making announcements, having discussions, and sharing resources between teachers and students. Canvas also uses discussions and announcements to promote interaconline teacher-studetion. Adjunct English instructor Dorothy Solomon said she primarily uses Canvas in her creative writing courses. Canvas lets students receive nt see SOCIAL page 3 |