Soon the new Center for Instructional Technology will help students dial into their coursework from afar.
The center's purpose is to integrate technology into classrooms and course-work at the University.
This includes choosing materials for courses, improving projection devices, developing web pages for courses and creating a new system for on-line learning.
Students living off campus or studying abroad would potentially be able to complete their work online.
In January, Lynne O'Brien was appointed the center's first director. "Because many people felt that more should be done to improve and integrate technology into the classroom, the Center for Instructional Technology was formed," she explained.
O'Brien created an advisory board consisting of faculty, a member from the Office of Information Technology and two students to help her identify areas the University could improve.
"The purpose of the advisory committee is to create a dialogue and a forum to discuss technological approaches, to be informative and to implement certain technologies into the classroom," said Donna Hewitt, a member of the committee and an assistant clinical professor of nursing.
The committee has begun investigating new software that will make it easier for professors to create web pages for their classes.
"In the future, every course at Duke will probably have a web page to augment the course content.... Technology will enhance traditional education and take the University into new frontiers," Hewitt said.
"At the present only the School of Nursing and the Fuqua School of Business use technology on a wide scale basis. Both schools have courses, testing, evaluations and forums online," she added.
The University's infrastructure currently makes it difficult to wire all its classrooms.
"We need to have physical environments conducive to the use of advanced technology in the classroom," said Marie Miranda, a member of the committee and an assistant professor of the practice in the Nicholas School of the Environment.
"Classrooms need to be more technology-friendly for faculty to make an investment and for students to think that the technology is worthwhile," she said.
O'Brien is conducting a workshop on instructional technology for engineering professors.
Upon completion of the workshop, these professors will receive vouchers for laptop computers.
There will also be a speaker series composed of faculty using instructional technology in their classes.
The series will include faculty from Fuqua, the nursing school, Trinity College and the Medical Center and will begin in the next few weeks.
Members of the committee see great potential for expanding the role of technology in the University's classrooms.
"I'm excited and I think the committee will make a big difference," said Roger Loyd, a member of the committee and a Divinity School librarian. "A number of schools from across the University, especially those who are without high technology, have shown an eagerness in the committee."
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