Pervasive or Ubiquitous Computing

To facilitate the introduction of technology within the medical student curriculum, the Wake Forest University School of Medicine at the Bowman Gray Campus developed a strategic plan to provide ubiquitous computing throughout the medical school. Adherence to plan's standards in hardware, operating systems, application software, and networks created an effective operational environment, minimized training requirements, and produced a low total cost of ownership. The integration of technology into the medical school's curriculum has increased the ability to access information, thus enhancing the educational experience.

The author points out the positives and negatives to students having internet and computer access during class.

The first reviewer states "Although more of the book discusses K–12 environments, the book is beneficial to those in higher education who are trying to develop frameworks around which to think about technology's impact on students and faculty."

The second book reviewed deals with the basics of online teaching and how to be effective at it.

Students and faculty at all educational levels want anywhere, anytime access to a leading-edge, resource-rich computing, learning, and research environment—and CIOs and IT professionals want this visionary environment to be affordable, scalable, usable, and supportable. Responding to these competing needs and constraints, North Carolina State University has developed and implemented a next-generation computing strategy and architecture for the universal delivery of computing services. This environment is now in campus-wide production status. The architecture is highly uniform, extensible, scalable, malleable, sustainable, and supportable. Collectively, these characteristics combine to produce an innovative advancement with the potential to radically transform the access, functionality, and economic benchmarks for the current university computing paradigm.

The annual Horizon Report is a collaborative effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). Each year, the report identifies and describes six areas of emerging technology likely to have a significant impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression in higher education within three adoption horizons: a year or less, two to three years, and four to five years.
The areas of emerging technology cited for 2006 are:
• Social computing
• Personal broadcasting
• Cell-phone-accessible educational content and services
• Educational gaming
• Augmented reality and enhanced visualization
• Context-aware environments and devices
Each section of the report provides live Web links to example applications and additional readings.