Indeed in just about every respect, Virginia Tech's picturesque campus embodies the solemn, timeless look of academia, imbuing all who come here with a powerful sense of place. Until they get to math class. Hundreds of networked computers fill the former retail space, which is open to students 24 hours a day, seven days a week, allowing them to work at their own pace. It's just you and a machine, and the professor is this shadowy figure who e-mails you once a week. Yet test scores are up.
Fewer students fail or drop out of the courses.
Enrollment in math is up, while the department's overall costs are down. And many students, including Mr. Henson and Ms. Brewton, admit to adjusting to their cyber-classrooms. But in the debate over whether to use horses or cars, some people also passionately defended their horses. Those people died out, and so will these. That, of course, remains to be seen.