Perhaps most importantly, we can use technology to make learning more fun, and perhaps even easier than it is now. So that's the promise that I see in technology. On the other hand, Marshall McLuhan was wrong when he said the medium is the message. The medium is NOT the message. The content is the message, and it takes a good teacher, a good student and good content to produce learning.
Technology is nothing more or less than the extension of human talents and abilities to communicate.
In preparation for my trip here, I did some reading about NIU, and of course, I've had the chance to get to know the president here and the board. I have a very good feeling about the future of this university. It seems to me that you have excellent leadership, all the way from the president's office through faculty and student ranks. I'm enormously impressed with the aggressive entrepreneurship I've seen at Northern, and I promise I'll do all I can to help NIU continue on that path. I've also noticed a genuine community of scholars and administrators and students here.