Interview: squeezing more learning out of every day: mobility solutions takes anywhere, anytime computing to new places.

Integrating mobile technology on a college campus presents an ongoing challenge. At Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, which prides itself on providing cream-of-the-crop students with excellence in teaching, the challenge is doubly difficult: The typical incoming freshman ranks in the top seven percent of all students who took the SAT or ACT exams. That student is rewarded with classes taught by professors--not graduate students or teaching assistants--and 99 percent of those professors have Ph.D. degrees. "Our students are not comfortable unless they're on--no, beyond--technology's cutting edge," says Louis Turcotte, vice president, Instructional, Administrative and information Technology.

Here, an excerpt of an interview with Turcotte:

First, how pervasive is computing at Rose-Hulman?

We have more than 8,000 hard-wired ports in the wall where students can plug in their laptops, including two ports per pillow [in dorm rooms], one port per seat in classrooms and anywhere else students might want to sit and do work on their laptops or iPAQs. This is on top of the extensive wireless coverage on campus, which makes everything and everyone as engaged as they want to be. Computing is pervasive in our students' world.

What are some of your goals for anytime, anywhere computing?

What we're trying to do, in fact what's occurring at Rose-Hulman, is were squeezing more learning time out of the day, more educational opportunities tot the student and instructors. When students can extend their learning outside of the classroom, what we create are enhanced learning scenarios.

Enhanced learning scenarios? Can you elaborate?

We like our students to achieve a higher level of comprehension than they can master within the confines of a classroom. With portable computing they add to their in-class experience by continuing the lesson outside of the place and beyond the time in which a class is conducted.

Rose-Hulman is a pioneer in the use of technology, but it also has a reputation as a tough critic of technology.

It comes from our perspective. We think of students as our customers so we provide the best available technology that will help them learn. Our mission is to teach, to educate students, not just to have the best or latest technology on campus.

Still, that mission must require constant technology overhauls.

Not really. The technology is advancing at a rate much faster than we can adapt it to our curriculum, but we adopt technology only insofar as it helps us achieve our basic educational goals.

Our faculty is very cautious in the best sense of that word. When we change something it has to bring benefits to the students. Our reaction time is slow because we don't believe that the mobility solution has coalesced to its end-state, it hasn't stabilized. So we don't want to commit the institution to a finished technology if it hasn't finished its evolution. Products and technologies are finding their niches, but it hasn't happened yet. We encourage experimentation.

For example?

Well, Tablet PCs are being used in our Japanese language courses because of their excellent free-form handwriting recognition software. That's just one of the applications that we've identified that the tablets perform better than other [computers]. iPAQs are used in our laboratories for data measurement and real-time feedback in the classroom.

How does real-time feedback work with iPAQs?

The instructor might be explaining something in the classroom and asks for a vote from the class to see if they are getting the message he or she is trying to get across. The students can let the professor know what it is they need more locus on, for example. It allows for more engaged learning.

It sounds like you encourage technological experimentation.

That's true. One professor here is trying to create a paperless classroom. I'm not sure i would want to put that much work into it because I don't want to read everything on-screen. The younger faculty, of course, doesn't have the eyesight challenges some of us do.

How does mobile technology support Rose-Hulman's educational philosophies?

One way is we're convinced that collaborative, participatory learning yields better outcomes. With mobility solutions, students can participate whether they're present or not. And the students are all about technology. Our students complain about having paper books. They want online texts that they can highlight, search, make notes on and so on. No more carrying 10 books around.

Young people today are different. They are extremely comfortable with all forms of mobile technology.

Which is good because mobility solutions are all merging so form factors [e.g., ergonomics] will determine the winner and the consumers will vote with their pocketbooks.

Meaning?

Actually, we've already voted. We want a device we can clip on our belt and it will include phone, Internet, email, text, PDA, camera, mp3 player, video game, IM and word processing functions. If you want to know where technology's going, sit with college students.

So what is the Next Big Thing?

Sensors. Buildings will be built with all sorts of sensors. When you leave a room, the lights will go out, the computers will know it's you at the keyboard. Add sensors to mobile devices and you'll get location-based services. You could be walking down the shopping mall and your profile triggers a message to your cellphone that tells you denim shirts at The Gap are on sale. It may be too much for me but these kids want all the mobility they can get.