U. explores options in computer technology

In an age when computers replace traditional teachers and the Internet is becoming a classroom, the University is making an outline of the future of educational technology. The University's Electronics in Education Committee, comprised of about 20 University professors and administrators, is one such group attempting to explore the future possibilities of university education as it relates to technology. "We are trying to think of ways in which Penn can be an elite [in terms of technology]," said Gregory Farrington, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. "Universities are in the business of knowledge, and the information age will provide us with a wide range of new opportunities for serving society more creatively and more effectively," he added in a paper outlining the committee's purpose. The proposed issues for discussion include courses via satellite and classroom discussion over PennNet. Technology, Farrington explained, will give new meaning to the term "study abroad," and allow for a redefinition of publishing. Donald Huesman, Information Systems Specialist for Executive Education in the Wharton School said he joined the committee because he wants to explore information distribution in the computer era. "My interests?are in exploring what it means for various schools to approach the process of distributing documents in the electronic form?rather than in the traditional classroom setting," he said. The committee's purpose, Huesman said, is to help the University "up the learning curve." "This is all part of the general realization that the electronic world is already having a significant impact?on the gathering and dissemination of knowledge," said Robert Kraft, a committee member and undergraduate chairperson of the Religious Studies Department. "The [committee] is a way of getting people together to contribute to [this]? uphill battle for resources or cooperation," he added. Kraft said the objectives of the committee do not really deviate from those of the past. "We don't have different goals [than we used to], we just have different ways of getting to them," Kraft said. The true question, Farrington said, is "if students and professors can interact anywhere they are as if they were present in the same room, why must students sit in a classroom and professors stand in front of them?" The answer, according to committee members, is simple. "I think that the beauty of the traditional classroom setting is that it makes possible very intense interaction between faculty and students," Huesman said. "What will happen?is that the classroom will be seen as the best avenue for providing?a highly interactive system," he added. According to the committee's findings, Kraft said, education will be changed forever. "[Technology] will change the shape of education, research and publishing," Kraft said. "It is already starting to have a profound impact." Since Farrington wrote his original premise for the committee a year and a half ago, some of his "futuristic ideas" have already become reality. "The creation, organizing and transmission of knowledge have always comprised the central mission of the university," Farrington stated in his premise. "What will change is how, where, and when students and faculty do it."