Technology corner Electronic campuses

Howard Falk

The author Howard Falk is a Columnist living in Bloomfield, New Jersey, USA. Keywords Wireless technology, Online retrieval, Library services, Electronic resources, Communications technology, Electronic publishing Abstract Provides an overview of the technology being employed at some US colleges which is leading to the paperless campus. For example, the use of wireless networks to connect PCs and Internet displays in classrooms and laboratories that lack conventional network wiring, providing access to online libraries and other resources from laptop PCs and handheld devices. Looks at Webbased technology and its use by faculty and students, not only for information gathering, but also for tutoring services. Shows how live chat sessions with teachers are heavily over-subscribed. Looks at the use of e-books (4 million e-book units sold in 2000: predicted figure by 2005 140 million). Provides results of a study comparing print text books and e-text books, and from another study which show undergraduates spend only a third of their study time in the library and faculty members only 10 per cent. To counteract these trends, online library resources are being expanded for 200,000 students and faculty at seven academic institutions in a unified students' portal, with links to local online course materials and consultations with reference librarians. Electronic access The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
The Electronic Library Volume 21 . Number 1 . 2003 . pp. 63-66 # MCB UP Limited . ISSN 0264-0473 DOI 10.1108/02640470310462452

First came campus computer networks, then portable computers for students, proliferating academic online services and campus Web sites. Today, schools and campuses are being equipped with wireless networks and use of handheld devices is rapidly increasing. In a report released in mid-2002, Datacomm Research Company found that wireless networks are being used to connect personal computers and Internet displays in classrooms and laboratories that lack conventional network wiring. On campuses, wireless networks allow access to online libraries and other resources from laptop PCs and handheld devices. Handheld devices are being used to improve rapport between college lecturers and their students. At Erskine College in South Carolina, students of physics professor William F. Junkin are using their handheld palm devices to show how well they understand his lectures. Junkin sends a set of multiple choice questions to the student's palm devices, which are equipped to send and receive infrared signals over a distance of 50 feet. Their answers come back within a second or two and are displayed for the professor. The display can correspond to the lecture seating chart, or can show up as a histogram illustrating how many students choose a particular answer, or the professor can view a spreadsheet that shows which students are having difficulty and which are giving the correct answers. Often the professor displays the histogram of responses for the class to view. With this display, students can see how their answers compare to those of the rest of the class, yet no individual student need be embarrassed. The West Des Moines (Iowa) campus of the Des Moines Area Community College has no library. Instead, there is a center equipped with computer workstations for accessing the Web, ebooks and online journals. In 2001 about 75 students took part in a trial program where each student used a handheld computer to access etextbooks, syllabi and class materials, and to take notes and exams. Now the program has expanded to include all technology courses and some business and liberal arts courses. The aim is to have a paperless campus within a year.

First choice: the Internet

The Internet has become the first-choice information resource for college and university faculty and students. A survey at 63

Electronic campuses

Howard Falk

The Electronic Library Volume 21 . Number 1 . 2003 . 63-66

Canadian and US schools found that 83 percent of higher education faculty members believe that Web-based technology has become a key contributor to student success. The survey, sponsored by the McGraw-Hill Ryerson company, also found that 62 percent of faculty use Web content for course preparation, 56 percent use the Web to supplement textbooks and 51 percent use the Web to ensure up-to-date course content. Survey respondents included more than 1,100 faculty members in colleges and universities across Canada plus 700 US faculty members. These respondents plan to spend more time in the future integrating Web content, tools and applications into their teaching and using Web technology in course delivery. Some 84 percent expect to spend more time on the Web, with 52 percent very or extremely likely to do so. Researchers questioned in a Digital Library Federation study tended not to trust online sources of information. Of those polled, 96 percent said they verified online information through some other source, either a knowledgeable individual or print material. Nevertheless, almost 90 percent of researchers said they went online first, before consulting other sources. About 75 percent of students said they used the Internet first, then went to a professor or librarian for assistance, and consulted print sources last. According to the study results, use of electronic resources varied from discipline to discipline. Researchers in law, business, and biology rely on electronic information as much as 78 percent of the time, while researchers in the arts and humanities use online sources only 36 percent of the time.

Online tutoring flourishes

Internet use by students is not limited to information gathering. Tutoring services, for example, are well established on the Internet. America Online (AOL) offers an Ask a Teacher service that allows students to log on from 3 p.m. until midnight to enter chat rooms where volunteer teachers are available to answer their questions. Each live chat can handle up to three students and one volunteer teacher. AOL claims that about 80,000 questions are answered on Ask a Teacher each month. Unfortunately, the traffic is so heavy that it can take several minutes for a 64

student to enter a chat room and only about half the students trying to enter at any given time are able to do so. Most of the AOL volunteer tutors are teachers or professors, others are retired teachers, college students, working professionals and stay-at-home parents. Internet sites catering to college students include BrainMass (www.brainmass.com) which offers online services covering 42 subjects at any time of day from any Internet connection. Students who post academic problems, from sample questions to complicated theories, can receive detailed explanations from graduate students employed by the Web site; prices start at $3.49. Students may also download the text of previously posted questions with corresponding solutions for $1.00 per download. Another service allows students to post final drafts of their essays, to be reviewed and marked by graduate students. The price for this service is $1.99 per double-spaced page. Smarthinking (www.smarthinking.com) provides post-secondary schools, colleges, universities, government agencies, and other education providers with online tutoring services, including immediate contact with a tutor through a whiteboard display on which both the student and the tutor can type text and make and mark up handwritten material. Ongoing sessions of this type are listed and students can log into any session of their choice, or private sessions with a selected tutor can be scheduled. Students can submit their papers and receive critiques. At the MathNerds site (www.mathnerds. com) students can access a free service that provides hints, directions, references, or guidance (but not necessarily answers) in many areas of mathematics. The site provides e-mail discussions between its volunteer tutors and students who are having difficulty understanding mathematical concepts. The unpaid volunteer tutors are industrial and academic mathematicians from all over the world. MathNerds.com receives nearly 1,000 questions per month and answers about three-fourths of them.

E textbook use continues to grow

Although growth in the mass market for ebooks has been slower than expected by

Electronic campuses

Howard Falk

The Electronic Library Volume 21 . Number 1 . 2003 . 63-66

publishers and media researchers, use of ebooks in schools, colleges and universities has been substantial and continues to increase rapidly. A study by Forrester Research found that 4 million ebook units were sold in campus stores in 2000 and predicted that figure would rise to 140 million in 2005. There is plenty of room for further increases in etextbook use. A McGraw-Hill Ryerson survey noted that only 4 percent of university and college teachers are currently using etexts, but 42 percent expect to be using them within two years. In a direct comparison between print text books and etextbooks, a study at the University of Rochester's Rush Rhees Library matched a list of print monographs on course reserve at the library with a list of currently available online netLibrary titles. A total of 17 titles from ten different courses were found on both lists. MARC records for these titles were added to the library catalog and the online titles were listed along with the print versions of the titles. Students in each of the ten courses were notified of these options during the first week of classes and the ebooks were given the same circulation periods as the print versions. Usage statistics for ebook and print formats, compiled on a weekly basis, showed that students opted for the ebooks over the print versions by a margin of 3 to 1. At the end of the semester, 36 of the students completed survey forms. Of those who used the ebooks, only three reported difficulties (such as slow connectivity and title already checked out by other students). Only four of the ebook users found it uncomfortable to read their course materials from a computer screen. When asked whether they preferred their course reserve material in paper or ebook format, 17 selected paper and 14 indicated ebook. Reasons for the paper preference included having a personal copy in class for quick reference, finding paper not as harsh on the eyes; and realizing that paper does not require ownership of a computer and Internet connection. An overwhelming 25 out of 26 respondents believe the libraries should continue to purchase ebooks for use on course reserves. Many students commented on the convenience of ebooks, which are accessible online when the library is closed and do not require a physical visit to the library. College professors are finding that etextbooks are just as effective as print 65

textbooks. Graduate students at Ball State University have been testing ebook devices for studying electronic versions of their textbooks. Richard Bellaver, associate director of the Ball State Center for Information and Communication Sciences, says the average scores of students who studied only with ebooks are virtually the same as scores for those who use traditional textbooks. Bellaver plans to try other hightech options to see what works best for his students. Teachers have long used selected copies of print materials to provide their students with the information needed for courses. With ebooks and the Internet, new techniques for filling this need have become available. At the University of North Carolina in Asheville, students in a class on the physics of sound use an electronic textbook written and produced by their professor, Michael Ruiz. The etextbook is available on the Internet. Students access it with a login and password. Unlike print texts, the etextbook allows Ruiz to readily update information. This is particularly important in fields where there are many new discoveries and debates. At least one publisher has responded to the textbook needs of teachers like Michael Ruiz. At the Kluwer Academic Publishers Web site (www.kluweronline.com) users pick from available Kluwer titles, which include more than 450 current reference books in the fields of biomedicine, chemistry, computer science/ electrical engineering, physical sciences/ materials science, mathematics and social sciences. Buyers then browse the chosen titles to select the specific chapters they want to include in their own custom book. These selected chapters can be arranged in whatever order the book buyer desires, and a personalized title can be created by the buyer. Then a format, either print or electronic, is chosen (Adobe eBook Reader is required for viewing books in electronic format), and the custom book is purchased. Electronic formats are delivered via the Internet, print versions are mailed as perfect-bound paperback books. The service is a useful one, designed to particularly appeal to instructors who wish to create course packs for their students. Although buyers can take material from about 450 titles, the choice of titles in any specific discipline is very limited.

Electronic campuses

Howard Falk

The Electronic Library Volume 21 . Number 1 . 2003 . 63-66

Campus library use is down

A study, sponsored by the Digital Library Federation, found that undergraduates now spend only a third of their study time in the library, while half of their study time is spent at home. Faculty members said only 10 percent of their work time is spent in the library while 85 percent of their work is done in their office or at home. Of the respondents, 35 percent said that they use the library significantly less than they did two years ago; and that figure was 43 percent among faculty members. To counteract these trends, there have been some efforts to expand the usefulness of online library resources. For example, over 200,000 students and faculty at seven academic institutions are to have access to local and external information resources through a unified Scholars Portal in the third quarter of 2002. The new portal gives users a direct means of fulfilling their information needs without having to use several different tools and applications. The aim is to reduce frustration from lengthy search processes. The initial focus of the portal project is to deliver cross-domain searching of licensed and openly available content in a range of subject fields from multiple institutions.

The portal will aggregate the results of the search, and support delivery of the content to the user. The Scholars Portal is a project of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), a not-for-profit organization that represent 123 academic and research libraries in the USA and Canada. Participants in the initial trial of the portal will be the University of Southern California, the University of California-San Diego, Dartmouth College, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Iowa State University, and the University of Utah. Many universities have invested large sums of money in ejournals or in access to electronic resources, only to find that users turn to less accurate and less timely information because it is easier to access. The Scholars Portal hopes to overcome this problem by giving users easy access licensed and restricted-access information resources as well as unrestricted resources. In the future, the Scholars Portal project plans to add services to the portal such as integrating the portal with local online course materials and linking the portal to consultations with reference librarians.

66