Where Computers Make a Difference in Learning

By David G. Brown

VP, Dean, and Professor of Economics

Wake Forest Universityhttp://www.wfu.edu/~brown and brown@wfu.edu

Remarks at the Annual Meeting of the American Council on Education

February 16, 1999

THE WAKE FOREST PLANF96: IBM 365XD, 16RAM, 100Mhz, 810MB, CD-ROM, 14.4 modemF97: IBM 380D, 32 RAM, 130Mhz, 1.35GB, CD-ROM, 33.6 modemF98: IBM 380XD, 64 RAM, 233 Mhz, 4.1GB, CD-ROM, 56 modem

• Thinkpads for all• New Every 2 Years• Own @ Graduation• Printer for all• Wire Everything• Standard Software• Standard Template• IGN for Faculty

• 40+30 New People• 50% Faculty Trained• 75% CEI Users• +$3000 Tuition• 4 Year Phase In• Pilot Year• Plan for 2000• Now 3 Classes

-To help communities establish and use computers to Customize Collaboration through Communication

-In Higher Ed, K-12, Businesses, and Towns

-Via Conferences, Customized Visits (to WFU), Consultancies, and Publications

-At http://iccel.wfu.edu

Wake Forest’s International Center

for Computer Enhanced Learning

Campuses Represented in Interactive Learning: Vignettes from America’s Most Wired Campuses

American Middlebury Texas-AustinArizona Millsaps TuftsCalifornia-Davis Missouri-Rolla VanderbiltConneticut MIT VirginiaDartmouth NYU VassarEast Carolina Northwestern Wake ForestHarvard Oberlin Washington & LeeHendrix Oregon Washington StateJohns Hopkins Reed WhitmanKansas State Smith WilliamsLeMoyne SUNY-Potsdam WPIMichigan State Temple 93 Vignettes; 35

Campusess

Positioning for the Future

• What are your institution’s strengths & weaknesses

• How do you determine your place in an electronic world?

• What will be your primary student markets--program areas? Degree credit? Geographic span? Age?

• What are the appropriate delivery technologies next year? 5 years? Etc?

• What is a realistic staffing plan? Outsourcing? Support personnel? Executive leadership?

• What institutional partnerships make sense?

For a free copy of thismonograph, please comeup at the conclusion ofthis session and sign theroster of recipients. Please take only onecopy per institution.

SUMMARY•Communication! Communication!

•Interactive Learning

•Ubiquitous Computing Essential

•Best Uses Easily Learned

Computers Enhance My Teaching and/or Learning Via--

PresentationsBetter--20%More Opportunities toPractice & Analyze--35%

More Access to SourceMaterials via Internet--43%

More Communication with Faculty Colleagues, Classmates,and Between Faculty and Students--87%

Computers allow people----

• to belong to more communities• to be more actively engaged in each

community• with more people• over more miles• for more months and years• TO BE MORE COLLABORATIVE

Beliefs of 91/93 Vignette AuthorsPedagogy and Philosophy

• Interactive Learning

• Learn by Doing

• Collaborative Learning

• Integration of Theory and Practice

• Communication

• Visualization

• Different Strokes for Different Folks

Brown’s First Year Seminar• Before Class

– Students Find URLs & Identify Criteria

– Interactive exercises

– Lecture Notes

– E-mail dialogue

– Cybershows

• During Class– One Minute Quiz

– Computer Tip Talk

– Class Polls

• After Class– Edit Drafts by Team

– Guest Editors

– Hyperlinks & Pictures

– Access Previous Papers

• Other– Daily Announcements

– Team Web Page

– Personal Web Pages

– Exams include Computer

– Materials Forever

Ways to Provide Universal Access at Less Cost

• Desktop Computers• Network Computers• Public station computers• Specified Threshold• Annual Lease• Phase in by classes• Phase in by programs• Hand me down• Loaner Pool

The Big Three Tools for Collaborative Learning: E-mail + Web Pages for Each Course + URLs

SUMMARY

•Communication! Communication!

•Interactive Learning

•Ubiquitous Computing Essential

•Best Uses Easily Learned

Anticipating the Future

• Digitized Scholarship

• Humanities Scholarship in Teams

• Weaker Disciplinary Boundaries

• New Typologies

• Specialized Institutions

• Collaborative Learning

• Collaborative Teaching

Anticipating the Future (cont.)• Hybrid Courses• Guide by the Side• Globalization• Apprenticeships• Corps of Professorial Associates• Lifelong Relationships• Age of Experimentation• Age of Assessment• More Communities