Project-based learning often centers learning experiences around projects and is characterized by the application of knowledge, management of resources, and self-directed learning. In recent years, newer classroom designs have been developed to facilitate communication, classroom interaction and active learning but the cost of such spaces can be…

North Carolina State University may never build another computer lab. Instead the university has installed racks of equipment in windowless rooms where students and professors never go. This article describes a project called the Virtual Computing Lab. Users enter it remotely from their own computers in dormitory rooms or libraries. They get all…

How can an IT department transform traditional computer labs given the resource limits of a university setting? Before engaging a redesign team, conduct some groundwork and initial research to help guide design and resource decisions. When the author and her colleagues considered modifying the lab spaces at Cornell, they initially engaged in…

This case study describes the use of a synchronous communication application (MSN Messenger) in a large academic computing environment. It draws on data from interviews, questionnaires and student marks to examine the link between use of the application and success measured through module marks. The relationship is not simple. Total abstainers and…

Describes two instruments: one designed to assess students' perceptions of various aspects of their computer laboratory environments and the other to measure attitudes toward computers and computing courses. These instruments were used to determine association between laboratory environment and student attitude. Findings indicate a close…

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University (Minnesota), two coordinate, liberal arts colleges, have implemented a cost-effective student information technology (IT) support system. Project IMPACT (Implementing Academic Technology), a 5-year, $10 million plan to upgrade the technology for student and faculty use, was implemented in…

The Ministry of Higher Education in the Sultanate of Oman initiated recently a restructuring program for the General Directorate Colleges of Education aiming to replace the existing six colleges with more applied and highly IT assisted institutions. A particular emphasis is directed towards improving the learning methods by developing and…