CNN has a story where a college’s investment in tech didn’t pay off as planned.
"Administrators brag about teachers using computers to enhance lectures, to prod students to explore on their own, and to extend class discussions late into the night. The school’s library is well-used as a result of the campaign and a number of recent graduates say their technology immersion genuinely helped them learn.
But Wesleyan’s financial and enrollment problems persist — and some faculty blame the college’s ambitions. They think Wesleyan should have focused more on its greatest asset: its teachers….
….But if Wesleyan’s experiment was a failure, how to explain the library? Parker, the school librarian, says ubiquitous computing has brought it to life.
Students consult the online Oxford English Dictionary 20 times more often than they once checked the print version. Wesleyan is part of a consortium of small colleges that buys online chemistry journals, but use here exceeds that at all the other colleges in the group combined. Even traditional books get used more; students have a betters sense of what’s in the library.
And, because Wesleyan upgraded its computer hardware and software at once, it all flows seamlessly.
"I am the envy of other librarians," Parker said.
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