Humanizing the cyber
revolution at Trent
by Tom Eadie
When I was a Physics student
in the 60's, we used slide rules to do our calculations. In statistics
courses, which required more precision, we used mechanical calculators
- glorified adding machines. When I wanted to get money from
the bank I had to observe banking hours, and deal with a teller
who entered transactions in my bankbook by hand. My researches
were limited to the books and journals in the University library.
Classroom technology consisted of blackboards and chalk. Lab
equipment meant Bunsen burners, test tubes, scales and other
paraphernalia, which would have been recognized by students of
the previous century - not a computer in sight.
Today, computing technology pervades our society: there are computer
chips in our cars, household appliances, entertainment systems,
children's toys. Behind the convenient 24-hour-a-day bank machine,
or the easy credit card there is an impressive infrastructure
of powerful computers and high speed data networks. There is
as much information on the Internet as in the combined libraries
of the world (and much more misinformation).
In universities throughout the world, technology is transforming
teaching, learning and research. There are digital projectors
and
computers in classrooms. Professors notes are projected on the
screen, not scrawled on a chalkboard. Web-based resources, can
easily be incorporated into the class presentations. The course
itself may be captured by a digital camera and 'posted' to the
Internet - to be viewed by students from wherever they can find
a networked computer and whenever they choose. 'Attending a class'
is a concept that now requires redefinition. There are virtual
universities from which students can get real degrees without
ever setting foot in a university classroom. E-mail and the Web
have become vehicles of choice for scholarly and institutional
communication: collaborating with a colleagues half a world away
is common. Library systems enable access to a wide range of online
services and 'virtual collections' (electronic versions of journals,
books and reference resources).
What are the benefits of this new technology? Enhanced productivity.
But more importantly, a level playing field between
large and small institutions, as resources are pooled and shared.
The creation of new partnerships between groupings of universities,
colleges, and others for mutual benefit and to make it possible
to do more with less. But there is a downside to all these new
technological wonders. How to create new information infrastructures
at a time when institutional budgets are imploding. How to sustain
an infrastructure which becomes outdated so quickly. Information
technology has a rate of evolution that makes PC's obsolescent
in three years, orphans yesterday's software products, and imposes
an ever-steeper learning curve on users. Cynics say that information
technology has created a new class of cyber serfs: those who
can't afford the cost of remaining current.
For Trent, technology makes offers that cannot be refused. James
Garfield once remarked that the ideal college consists of a teacher
on one end of a log and a student on the other. Trent prides
itself on being small and being excellent. The advantage of being
small is the human scale of the university -small class sizes,
and the attention that individual students are accorded. The
disadvantage of being small is the limitation imposed on resources
that support excellence: the numbers of faculty, the size of
library collections, etc. Technology offers us the means of putting
the world of knowledge 'at the other end of the log'.
Those are some possibilities. But what uses are we making of
technology at Trent?
Trent University and Sir Sandford Fleming College are partnering
in building a high-speed network linkage between our campuses.
This will enable us to better support the programs and students
we currently share, and will enable new cooperative ventures.
We have created new computer labs for students, and have enhanced
old ones. The Library has created an Information Commons to support
student work. We have wired our residence rooms to enable students
to connect to the Web from their desktops. All this enhances
the ability of students to gain access to networked resources.
An Interactive Learning Centre to help faculty apply current
technology in their teaching. The Centre provides expertise,
specialized technology and courseware software (e.g.WebCT). The
Help Desk, set up near the Information Commons, assists students.
And we are equipping classrooms with projectors and screens to
support the new teaching methods being developed.
The Library is partnering with
the University of Toronto to upgrade its library automation system.
Library collections are being
transformed - three years ago there were no electronic journals
in Trent collections. Today there are 6000 electronic journals,
compared to 2000 print journals. The Library also provides technologically
facilitated access to more than 50,000 additional titles. Just
as 7/8ths of the iceberg is under water, the larger part of the
Library's collection is not on the shelf.
You may remember the cautionary tale of the sorcerer's apprentice
whose incomplete mastery of magic got him into deep trouble.
An issue for Trent is whether technology will be servant or master.
Trent's determination is to use the advantages technology offers
to continue to achieve excellence in teaching, learning, and
research, while maintaining a human scale and a student-centred
perspective. In short, to continue to be Canada's outstanding
small university.
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