Technology Tiger Team

to every student who enrolls at the private liberal arts college: a personal Hewlett-Packard notebook computer, compliments of Bethel’s one-to-one notebook program.

The Curriculum Innovation and Technology Group (CITG) is a curriculum-based technology consulting organization that provides thought leadership and support services to the Babson College academic programs and Babson College faculty.  The group's primary focuses include: Researching and developing best practices and innovative uses of technology in education Empowering faculty to use technology and appropriate pedagogies in their course and content development Collaborating with program administrators and faculty to innovate the curriculum through technology integration Contributing to Babson brand-building by positioning the College as a leader in curriculum innovation and technology

Gregory Phelan

Phelan pointed to the colleges that are "handing out" tablet PCs to all freshmen as the frontrunners in the race to equip students with all of the information they need to succeed in school. Whether other universities follow that lead remains to be seen. "I'd really like to see more schools making that move," said Phelan, "and even further integrate technology into the college classroom."

One of the coolest uses of technology that Hutchins has seen lately can be found in Rutgers University's English department, which is equipped with an entire wall of touch-enabled whiteboards. Using precision positioning technology, the wall-mounted boards allow for unprecedented participation and collaboration among students.

He was responsible for Babson’s adoption of blended learning and led the effort to increase working professional MBA enrollments by 500% through the creation of a state-of-the-art, blended, MBA program.

Hotseat, a social networking-powered mobile Web application, creates a collaborative classroom, allowing students to provide near real-time feedback during class and enabling professors to adjust the course content and improve the learning experience. Students can post messages to Hotseat using their Facebook or Twitter accounts, sending text messages, or logging in to the Hotseat Web site.

On one end will be (and maybe already are) the super-rich who can afford to send their offspring to pricey colleges and universities with a golden future virtually assured even if they're borderline morons. On the other extreme, just above the exploited immigrant classes, will be the products of online schools destined for permanent underclass status.

Well designed online courses do not simply push out information to self-motivated learners. Well designed courses include collaboration, formative & summative assessment, and absolutely require faculty participation. To suggest you could pull that off for $2000 for a four year degree is amusing.

Real teaching is done in small groups, or 1:1 like Oxford. The rest is compromise with resources.

Bowman, who currently teaches online undergraduate and graduate courses, and her fellow contributors provide an excellent down-to-earth guide for anyone who is thinking about or participating in an online education program.