Trends of Colleges and Universities and WWW Development

"Virtualization" is one of the major trends in the development of today's institutions of higher education. The first signs of this process could be clearly observed on the Net. Although few people graduate from a university via a computer alone, more and more individuals are choosing a place to study and, in some cases, even applying to it.

Several aspects of academia have already been "virtualized" and are represented on the net in such places as Columbia University's ILTweb. However, the visual image of a university (interactive campus tours), the admission process (on-line applications), and the life of an institution (school publications) are another important aspect of academia. These sites represent the frontier of a university's trail Webwards.

Campus tours.

These allow visitors to see the campus without traveling many miles. Buena Vista College and California State University are good examples of campus tours. They have nice graphics and are not too confusing with lots of detail and unnecessary images. Idaho State University and Bucknell University's interactive maps may be easily understood although the images are not as professional as provided by the home pages of the first two universities. Interactive map can be an interactive mess sometimes as in the home pages of California State University, Pomona or, worse, at The University of Montana. There is some space for experiment with interactive maps on the Web. University of Washington gives a quite interesting and challenging example having "posted" a constantly updated view of the University on the WWW. A clickable map could be greatly improved by connecting it to different cameras on campus.

College Periodicals.

Publishing college periodicals on the WWW is an efficient method of disseminating information to all constituents with whom the university needs to communicate. Connecticut College has an online magazine that is well beyond its peers. Almost as flashy as a shiny paper version, this magazine provides alumnae, students, parents, friends, and employees with information of important campus activities as well as feature stories that breed campus pride. The gazette of Ursinus College is another example of this recent enterprise.

On-line Applications.

The success of the American university of the twenty-first century may depend more and more on the degree of its accessibility through the WWW. It is important that the virtual presence of a university is well represented but nice pictures and an abundance of information often is not enough. It is very important that one would have the option to apply, or even study at a university online.

The following are some of American Universities that could be already applied to on the Net:

Online applications, class discussions, and faculty/student interaction through e-mail are the first signs of progress and the first endeavors to transform a physical institution into a virtual one.

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last updated: May 18, 1995