Social reading can broadly be described as the experience surrounding the reading of electronic books, more commonly known as eBooks. Utilising eTextbooks and social reading at a university offers some powerful potential to engage students and help them succeed in their studies. A broad overview of the current landscape and recent initiatives…

That William and Mary is a small, traditional, liberal arts college does not exempt it from the need for interdepartmental coordination, efficient allocation of resources, and accountability. In conjunction with the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), the college undertook an extensive probe into information networks to see if the…

The hometown of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has created the Blacksburg Electronic Village, a community-based computer network linking businesses, schools, and individual community members. The university, telephone company, and town established the system collaboratively in 1992, and additional grants have come to the…

A review of externally mandated outcomes assessment activities and resulting innovations in freshman programs focuses on efforts in Tennessee and Virginia, in which higher education funding is linked to outcomes assessment. Areas examined include registration, advising, student-faculty contact, computer use, basic skills, staff development,…