Faculty members are writing computer programs that could change the ways professors teach and students learn. Five examples of software are described including those for presenting mathematical concepts in architecture, staging a scene of a play, and an introductory course in plasma physics. (MLW)

No college or university last year joined the 14 institutions that already require students to buy computers. The reasons include: greater than expected costs of supporting required computers, lack of educational software, and adequency of computer laboratories are sufficient for the needs of most students. (MLW)

With little appropriate commercial software available, college faculty are creating their own specialized software and are willing to share it with colleagues. To fill the gap between creator and user, colleges, scholarly societies, grant-making organizations, and computer manufacturers have created a variety of software-dissemination programs.…

Faculty members who write computer software for teaching often find that their chances of getting credit for it during promotion-and-tenure reviews are slim. Software development needs to be considered scholarship just like research. (MLW)