The Coming UbiquityofInformation Technology

pundits frequently comment that the pace of innovation in higher education can be measured by the 40 years it took to get the overhead projector out of the bowling alley and into the classroom. The (few) pundits who know something about both bowling and technology often add that faculty are now far more likely to find computerized projection systems in bowling alleys than in college classrooms. But something significant is happening. Fueled by more than four decades of aspirations and a dozen years of sustained (if often ad hoc) experimentation, information technology has finally emerged as a permanent, respected, and increasingly essential component of the college experience. New data from the annual Campus Computing survey, now in its sixth year, indicate a major gain in the proportion of college courses (and by extension, college faculty) using information technology as an instructional resource. These data reveal that the use