VI. Use Information Technology Creatively Because research universities create technological innovations, their students should have the best opportunities to learn state-of-the-art practices--and learn to ask questions that stretch the uses of the technology. Continuing technological development, particularly in the areas of information storage, retrieval, and communication, can be expected to alter the manner of teaching at every educational level and in every conceivable setting. We know that emerging technology is ceaselessly changing and will continue to change the ways in which the world functions and the ways in which people live. What we haven’t been able to predict is exactly how. In the words of Milton Glaser, designer and Boyer Commission member, "technology is never neutral." It is the role of universities to make technology positive. No institutions are better suited to make a difference in our technological future than research universities. Much of what we think of as sophisticated technology was created in their halls, and there is every reason to believe that university scholars will lead the way to continuing improvements. Scientific benefits aside, research universities are particularly well suited to take advantage of technology for teaching undergraduates. The Electronic Classroom Research universities, because of their size and academic mission, are far more likely than other institutions to possess the technological capabilities for twenty-first century teaching in any area. At many universities, computer networks, wired classrooms, and laser discs are used to bring recent research findings and methods directly into the classroom. Creative applications of technology abound. A few examples: At the University of California, Berkeley, a state-of-the-art center for video conferencing and intercampus instruction allows courses--some of them as esoteric as Armenian History or Medieval Catalan--to be offered in collaboration not only with other University of California campuses but with other universities both in the United States and abroad; they allow any student anywhere to interact with faculty and classmates in real time. A freshman non-major science course at the University of Texas uses multimedia software modules with 3-D visuals, animation, and sound in addition to text which has links to remedial and supplementary materials. Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a large-scale computer service agency that, among other functions, provides an on-line teaching assistants’ program to answer student queries, distributes lectures through a cable-television network, and provides genetics-modeling software for biology courses. It has become routine in universities for assignments to be sent and received and students’ questions answered through electronic mail. If faculty give appropriate attention to teaching innovations, universities can become the technological pacesetters in teaching that they have always been in research; commercial developers await the products now. However, as innovations multiply, so do dangers: in many circumstances, casual over-use of technological aids already increases the real and psychological distance between living faculty members and living students. Technological devices cannot substitute for direct contact. Enriching Teaching Through Technology It is incumbent upon the faculties of research universities to think carefully and systematically not only about how to make the most effective use of existing technologies but also how to create new ones that will enhance their own teaching and that of their colleagues. The best teachers and researchers should be thinking about how to design courses in which technology enriches teaching rather than substitutes for it. And equally important, faculties need to concern themselves with the need to give their students the tools with which they can explore deeply as well as widely, with which they can discriminate, analyze, and create rather than simply accumulate. If anything is evident, it is that the more information a person can obtain, the greater the need for judgment about how to use it. Obtaining information from the Internet is easy; children in elementary school can do it. But who teaches students how to take advantage of this mass of information? Who teaches them how to tell the difference between valuable information and clutter? How, in short, does a student become a more intelligent consumer in this supermarket of information? The answer, we believe, is by exposure to scholars--experienced, focused guides who have spent their lives gathering and sorting information to advance knowledge. Recommendations: Faculty should be alert to the need to help students discover how to frame meaningful questions thoughtfully rather than merely seeking answers because computers can provide them. The thought processes to identify problems should be emphasized from the first year, along with the readiness to use technology to fullest advantage. Students should be challenged to evaluate the presentation of materials through technology even as they develop an increasing familiarity with technological possibilities. Faculties should be challenged to continue to create new and innovative teaching processes and materials, and they should be rewarded for significant contributions to the technological enrichment of their courses. Planning for academic units, such as block-scheduled courses for freshmen or required courses for individual majors, should include conscientious preparations for exercises that expand computer skills. Active interchange between units on campus and through professional meetings should encourage and inspire faculty to create new computer capabilities for teaching and to share ideas about effective computer-based learning.

SIGNS OF CHANGE University Case Study Rhetoric Department Instructors University University of Iowa Graduate instructors for required basic courses in reading, writing, speaking, and research are recruited not only from the English and Communication departments at the University of Iowa, but also from other humanities and social science departments such as African-American World Studies, Classics, History, and Philosophy. New teachers are provided with background material in the summer before they begin teaching, attend a 3-day intensive workshop before classes begin, and attend a weekly teaching colloquium, required for new faculty as well, during the fall semester. All graduate instructors are paired with faculty teaching advisors, with whom they share drafts of teaching materials and assignments and review students’ progress. The department also assists the instructors in preparing a teaching portfolio. SIGNS OF CHANGE University Case Study Capstone Learning Experience University University of Wisconsin A College of Agriculture requirement at the University of Wisconsin is a "problem-solving exercise, in which students under faculty supervision and mentorship, must solve a 'real-world' problem and address societal, economic, ethical, scientific, and professional factors in their solutions." The Capstone Learning Experience must involve more than one department or several areas within a single department. Final work is presented in written, oral, and visual reports.