Embracing Academic Technology: lessons learned

Matrix: The Magazine for Leaders in Education, June, 2000 by Nicole Rivard

As members of the audience listened to Gilbert's remarks, they nodded and sighed, but not in relief.

With the rising expectations of academic technology, this notion of how quickly technology can change makes higher-education leaders wary of technology and its impact on their institutions. The nature of technology requires colleges and universities to make rapid decisions with flexibility--not the way they traditionally operate.

But at this conference, a collaborative, rather than competitive, spirit was noticeable among the 220 participants representing 95 colleges and universities. Schools that have already made substantial commitments to ubiquitous computing recognized the need to work together to develop a common database for institutional comparisons of technology use.

Seton Hall, for instance, has formed an Institute for Technology Development to assess its program, and plans to share that data with universities that request it. In return, any school that receives guidance is expected to share its data.

In addition, the technologically advanced institutions shared the challenges they faced, lessons learned, and solutions with schools that are still in the planning stages of an academic computing program. (This was the first year that schools without a ubiquitous program were invited to the conference.)

Even though the overall effect of academic computing may be unknown for many years, the conference attendees agreed they will have to embrace technology on some level to move forward and to provide what's best for their students.

"It may take 10 years to determine the impact of a computer-enhanced environment," Dave Brown, vice president and dean at Wake Forest University, said. "But if we do think logically, in a computer-enhanced environment there is more collaboration and diversity in ways to learn, so we can deduce that there is more learning."

Here's what Matrix learned about what Wake Forest, Seton Hall, St. Mary's, and Fairfield University have done or are doing to incorporate academic technology into their campuses:

WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY winston-salem, N.C.

Program: The university established a ubiquitous computing program in 1995 by giving IBM ThinkPads to faculty and incoming students. Brown said that despite the increased tuition, applications to the school went up and they attracted a slightly stronger student body. Last year applications were down by 10 percent, but retention increased. Ninety-three percent of students who enroll at Wake Forest graduate from the university.

Lessons Learned: During the provosts' panel discussion at the conference, Brown recommended that schools train 85 percent of the faculty to use the computer to enhance their teaching. Even if this means deferring the requests of faculty already using computers, it is important to bring along the less technically inclined instructors. They are a powerful force, he said. The university's biggest challenge was to gain faculty approval for spending so much money on computers. This has been achieved by housing a computer specialist in each academic building, keeping the computer hardware up-to-date, and empowering a faculty committee to make decisions about software configurations.

Wake Forest has also created the Computer Enhanced Learning Initiative, a faculty-based initiative that develops effective uses of computers in instruction. CELI Time-Release Grants allow Wake Forest faculty to reduce their teaching responsibilities by one course for one semester, in order to explore and design computer-enhanced learning materials for their classes. Faculty who receive grants are required to participate in a series of luncheon meetings to discuss the progress of their projects. The Tech Fair, which takes place at the end of the semester, provides a forum to publicly present these projects.

Retaining quality IT support is also an issue because IT staff members tend to want pay increases. To address the problem, Wake Forest hired students to support the university technology initiatives. Students may receive technology training in their freshman year and then receive certification. They can work up to 18 hours a week and earn $2 more an hour than at the average campus job.

SETON HALL south orange, N.J.

Program: The university began giving incoming freshman IBM ThinkPad computers two years ago. Students can connect anywhere on campus, indoors and outdoors. Residence halls are fully wired and 40 percent of the classrooms are technology enabled.

Lessons Learned: To achieve enhanced learning through an academic computing program, ubiquitous or not, collaboration on campus is important. One way of providing a forum for collaboration that has proven successful for schools like Seton Hall is to have a Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable TLTR. Gilbert founded the TLTR approach. Ideally this is followed by a Teaching and Learning Technology Center TLTC, a physical place on campus that houses people and materials to support faculty, students, and staff.