Information technology (IT) in the liberal arts classroom is a controversial subject. Although colleges are now employing IT in classrooms to enhance traditional classroom activities, technology promises to redefine the classroom itself. As e-mail, presentation technology, on-line course resources and library databases have become standard tools, they are likely to transform the mission and market of all liberal arts colleges. Technological changes beyond campus boundaries will force all colleges to reconsider what their trajectory will be in the larger educational environment.

James Garner Ptaszynski considers questions on the minds of many college and university administrators, including: "How can we insure that the resources we commit to technology will be appropriately utilized"; "How can we keep up when technology is changing so fast"; and "What can we do to truly integrate the use of technology into the teaching and learning process (i.e., get the faculty to use it) rather than simply 'bolt it on' to existing pedagogues?" He argues for a number of critical elements that, he believes, will help institutions go a long way in successfully adopting new technologies.

Robert Hawk Geeslin believes that the fact that medicine is a high technology field and is rapidly becoming even more immersed in the technology does not mean that medical instruction takes advantage of technological opportunity. The possibilities are far ahead of the implementation in some departments of some institutions, but unlike the advances of the past, the Information Superhighway is available to the students. No longer are they dependent upon the single faculty member to adopt a new practice before the instruction is available. Read this article to learn more.

Ideas, questions, and individual discoveries are not restricted to the three-hour-per-week contact time of the standard classroom. However, students' discussion opportunities and contact with instructors are restricted to scheduled class meeting times and instructors' office hours. Recent interactive implementations of the World Wide Web offer opportunities for sharing ideas, posing questions, and presenting individual discoveries at a time of convenience, and better, at the time of thought. This paper describes the use of WorldWide Web-based discussion forums to provide an avenue for sharing information beyond time and place constraints of the physical classroom.

This article describes use of PowerPoint presentations as a lecture aid in the higher education writing classroom. It summarizes types of presentations that are useful and student assessment of these presentations. It also provides some advice on required equipment, issues to be aware of, and tips for effectively using electronic presentations.

The Interactive Patient is a textual and a pictorial simulation available from the Marshall University School of Medicine. It gives medical students, continuing medical education students, and med-school hopefuls a good simulation of an encounter with a patient, complete with a chief presenting complaint, interactive gathering of patient history, performing a physical exam, and reviewing the laboratory data and x-rays.