To baby boomers this probably sounds like a scene from another planet. Over the last decade, as more and more universities have gotten wired and computerized, college life has changed dramatically for students. At some schools assignments are posted on the Web and discussions held online. Need a date? Try your luck at a college’s digital cafe. Students at the University of Oregon get their grades via the Web or by phone. At UCLA students can sign on to a mega-Web site that includes descriptions of all 3,000 or so undergraduate courses. The online experience begins even before students enter school. Scores of colleges, from the State University of New York to the University of California, now accept online applications. The University of Texas put its information packet on CD-ROMs and mailed them to all 10,000-plus high-school seniors who’d been accepted. ““It’s anything but a fad,’’ says Brian Copenhaver, provost of UCLA’s College of Letters and Science. ““We have no choice but to engage the technology.''
The march toward computerization has its critics, of course. It’s not cheap, nor is it easy to smoothly integrate teaching and computer technology. Others worry that it may divert resources from the classroom. But the popularity of e-mail, multimedia and especially the World Wide Web among techno-savvy teens means that colleges either get wired–or lose customers. And proponents say computers and new media, when used thoughtfully, have some surprising benefits.
Take e-mail. Some academics dismiss it as an unhealthy substitute for human contact. But Stanford’s Richard Holeton, who tracked e-mail discussions of first-year students in one dorm, found that 87 percent of their messages involved important social or critical dialogue. Those issues included ““pornography, free speech, a potential grape boycott on campus and a sexual-harassment allegation,’’ says Holeton. And the people who dominated dorm life in face-to-face encounters were not the same folks who ruled the e-mail debates. Electronic discourse, it seems, offered a voice to some students who might not otherwise be heard.
At the University of California, Los Angeles, students can work individually on physics problems using a CD-ROM developed by Dr. Maha Ashour-Abdalla. She created the program when she realized that students weren’t learning as much in the large classes. In addition, students are asked to solve physics problems on an interactive Web site. A computer tabulates the results, giving Ashour-Abdalla immediate feedback on how well students are doing. She can then tailor class time to areas where students need work.
A program at the Center for Long Distance Art and Culture in the Bronx, N.Y., brings together art, math and computer-science majors. They sit side by side in courses on computer-graphics imaging and create Web sites and other online projects for nonprofit organizations, including the Guggenheim Museum. ““It was really shocking having art students in half of the class and computer science in the other half,’’ says art major Livia Nieves. ““They couldn’t draw, and we couldn’t use the computers.’’ But the course changed her perspective. ““I’m more excited about math, because I know I will make better drawings.’’ Computer-science students report similar conversions about art.
Emerson College, a small performing-arts and communications school in Boston, offers a new course called Digital Culture, which combines academic readings with technical training and attempts to immerse students in the computer world. They were required to live on the same floor in a dorm that was wired with fast T1 connections to the Internet. They built and ran the Web server that carried their class projects. ““We figure that what we’re teaching and modeling is the new workplace,’’ says professor David Bogen.
At other colleges students can hand in their homework online or read their professors’ lecture notes and study aids electronically. Thanks to the Internet, students at Middlebury College in Vermont can communicate with faculty who are teaching at the college’s Madrid campus. Of course, some professors will go to their graves without ever touching a mouse or swapping e-mail. Academics say colleges are just starting a long learning curve in the goal to mesh teaching and technology. Incoming students like Chelsea Clinton probably have more immediate concerns. How fast is that Internet connection, anyway?
Access: The most-wired colleges have a network connection for every student, also known as a port-to-pillow ratio of 1:1. That means roommates don’t have to fight over Internet time. But sometimes you’ll want to check e-mail and work on projects outside your dorm room or the resident computer cluster. So ask what type of computer access exists outside the dorms, including in the classroom.
Training: Round-the-clock computer access isn’t helpful if you don’t know how to use a mouse or a search engine. Make sure computer and Internet training courses are available if you’re not up to speed.
Technical support: What kind of support is available and when? Some colleges recognize that students often write papers in the early morning hours and give them access to tech support accordingly. The hippest schools pay in-dorm students to provide support.
Digital libraries: Many colleges offer students access to an electronic library catalog. Much more ambitious and more helpful is the move toward making library texts available online.
Faculty support: Do instructors get support and training to learn how to integrate technology into their courses? Last year the University of Texas established cash awards to faculty for the best uses of technology. Middlebury College let selected professors spend the month of January educating themselves about technology. Some schools may be less supportive, refusing to promote professors for authoring CD-ROMs rather than books.
Responsiveness: Can you apply online? Do instructors and administrators respond to e-mail? Use the Web? Verify the official university line by contacting a random sample of students through their home pages.
