Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 24, 1994                   TAG: 9411280012
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-14   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

CONFERENCE DRAWS BIG TURNOUT OF TECHNOLOGICAL-MINDED PROFESSORS

Expecting a modest turnout for a daylong conference on technology this week, the council was overwhelmed when more than 450 professors showed up, many with laptop computers in hand.

Interest in the conference - the first statewide gathering of Virginia faculty in years - ``spread like wildfire,'' said council staff member Evan S. Davies.

``People who are technologically advanced feel isolated on campus,'' he said. ``When they have an opportunity to get together, they jump on it.''

But more faculty must get on board if higher education is to keep pace with technological change, said Steven W. Gilbert, director of technology projects for the American Association of Higher Education.

``Half of today's entering freshmen have some kind of computer experience, and I'm not talking video games,'' said Gilbert. Faculty are not only less technologically adept, he said, but more than half the nation's professors lack direct access to computers.

Tight college budgets are partially to blame. But there also is a tug-of-war between technology and tradition, said Gilbert, a former math professor.

In Virginia and elsewhere, state officials are pushing long-distance learning and other technological strategies in anticipation of soaring student enrollments over the next decade. At the same time, colleges fear losing the mentoring relationship between professor and students.

The question is not which model should survive, Gilbert told the faculty forum, but how to strike a balance between the two. Electronic mail, for instance, allows professors and students to exchange ideas spontaneously but diminishes personal contact.

``I think the biggest issue facing us in the next 20 years is: When is it effective to get people together in the same classroom and when is it appropriate not to have them meet in the same room at the same time?'' Gilbert said.

``I don't want to say one is better than the other,'' he said. ``The back-and-forth between these two will force us to learn more about what we value in that face-to-face exchange.''