While the number of applicants last year posted double-digit gains, the number of applications mailed actually dropped. Letters of admission include a password that new admits can use to gain access to online information on faculty, classes, fellow students, campus organizations, and housing. Searchable online databases put students' academic backgrounds and interests, hobbies, work experience, family configurations, and addresses at the requestor's fingertips, creating a virtual community before the school year even begins. And the technology connection continues when classes start. Email communication is routine between students and professors.
Wired classrooms allow multimedia presentations to supplement traditional instruction.
Students use CD-ROM and Internet resources to complete vast amounts of library research without ever leaving their rooms. Maximizing learning In every case, the point of new technology is to maximize learning efficiency. For example, allowing students access to interactive problem sets online, with immediate feedback and remediation, helps eliminate classroom paper shuffle and keep the focus on the delivery of knowledge. We want to take the best technology available and use it to enhance what we teach, to enhance the classroom experience. Tools such as intelligent tutoring, continuous assessment, multiuser cooperation, interactive simulation, and other advanced Web functions will offer a customized learning environment for each user, discerning when the student is stuck and selecting the best method of remediation.