March 1998
by Thomas A. Marino // Vision
Dr. Thomas A. Marino, Professor at the Temple University School of Medicine, bemoans the fact that most of his first-year medical students learn in fear?fear of failing, fear of a bad grades, fear of feeling inferior to their peers. "Their classroom is so outcome-oriented, so fact-directed," he writes, "that they are almost totally engulfed in acquiring facts simply to safely pass an examination." Marino is doing what he can to create a more comfortable and collaborative learning environment?a "garden" in which students can sow and reap knowledge together while keeping in mind the human faces behind hard medical fact. He believes that technology tools can help that garden grow; find out how in "Vision of a Safe Science Classroom."
by James L. Morrison and John H. Harrison // Commentary
Editor James L. Morrison interviews John Harrison?Vice President for High Performance Computing at MCNC and a former Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at UNC-Chapel Hill. Morrison and Harrison discuss a range of issues, including the major telecommunication challenge facing colleges and universities (better connectivity); the advantages of self-paced, tutorial-based educational systems; and the possibility that students might become more computer-literate than professors on campuses that require laptop use.
by Barbara Horgan // Case Studies
Are you suspicious of academic partnerships within higher education or between higher education and industry? Better get used to them, Barbara Horgan counsels in this look at consortial partnerships, which she predicts will become more common in the future. Horgan examines generally why consortia form and what enables them to succeed, then provides specific examples of innovative projects and services launched by three consortia: The Five Colleges, Inc. (western Massachusetts), NSHEC (Illinois, statewide), and Collaboratory (Illinois, Chicago area). Discover for yourself just how these teams meet educational goals that might remain unachieved if each depended upon only its own resources.
by James L. Morrison and Lorelei Feldman // Featured Products
Microsoft's NetMeeting is a multi-purpose communications tool that enables users to send audio and video over the Internet, chat, communicate via whiteboard, transfer files, and share documents and applications with others. Editor James L. Morrison and Assistant Editor Lorelei Feldman explain how NetMeeting allows readers of On the Horizon (a bimonthly publication on the future of education) to communicate with the journal's authors. Want to try this technology for yourself? Read on to learn how to download it free?and how to join Morrison and Feldman for a March 20 NetMeeting conference on virtual universities.
Spotlight Site
Officials at the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), established in 1965, bill the Society as "the leading organization focused on planning in higher education, at all levels and in all contexts." The Web site for Plan Ahead, SCUP's online journal, features detailed information about SCUP?s professional conferences and publications, a list of job openings in collegiate administration and planning, and a collection of off-site links to products and services that promote planning.