University Brings Technology Into Classes, Research

The UNC effort to make new technology an effective teaching tool begins with the Carolina Computing Initiative, created in 1997 by the late Chancellor Michael Hooker. Hooker also appointed Marian Moore that year as UNC's first vice chancellor for Information Technology.

The CCI is designed to make high-quality and affordable technology accessible to all University students, faculty and staff by requiring every incoming freshman to own a laptop.

Provost Robert Shelton said the CCI is only a small part of a much larger picture.

"The CCI is an extraordinarily positive step, but it is not an end in itself," he said.

UNC officials are negotiating with local Internet service providers on an agreement that would provide discounted high-speed Internet services for the UNC community off campus. Another goal is eventually to make wireless networking available anywhere on campus. Last year its availability expanded to 13 new classrooms and four public areas.

Shelton said programs like the CCI have been implemented at other universities around the country, but have not always succeeded because faculty must take the initiative to incorporate technology into their classes.

"The big challenge for the University now is to ensure it provides the content behind the technology," Shelton said.

He called the program the first step in a process that will require a number of other initiatives to make technology a successful classroom tool at UNC. Since the CCI's inception, the University has developed several new resources to assist faculty in makng use of technology.

University officials are now working to merge the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Center for Information Technology as a way to combine teaching efforts with new technology as it becomes available.

Although the merger has already sparked some concern among the faculty, many professors support UNC's efforts to use new technology. Bill Balthrop, chairman of the Communication Studies Department, said he agrees with the goals and methods of the CCI.

"The CCI has been an enormous contribution to the University," Balthrop said.

"It puts technology in the hands of all students, raises awareness for improvements in education and research, and recognizes that technology serves teaching effectiveness, rather than driving it."

Academic Technology and Networks also maintains a variety of software geared toward research.

According to the web site of ATN's Center for Bioinformatics, "the Center's focus is to enhance the quality and competitiveness of UNC-CH research by promoting computational technologies through educational opportunities and technical support." There are already a number of similar programs in place at UNC, and more on the way.

"We'll know we've arrived when students and faculty members on this campus take their computers for granted," Moore says on her own web site. "My goal is to make information technology as transparent as the electricity that lights our classrooms."

Natalie Harrison can be reached at nharriso@email.unc.edu