The UNC effort to make new technology an effective teaching tool begins with the Carolina Computing Initiative, created in 1997 by the late Chancellor Michael Hooker. Hooker also appointed Marian Moore that year as UNC's first vice chancellor for Information Technology.
The CCI is designed to make high-quality and affordable technology accessible to all University students, faculty and staff by requiring every incoming freshman to own a laptop.
Provost Robert Shelton said the CCI is only a small part of a much larger picture.
"The CCI is an extraordinarily positive step, but it is not an end in itself," he said.
UNC officials are negotiating with local Internet service providers on an agreement that would provide discounted high-speed Internet services for the UNC community off campus. Another goal is eventually to make wireless networking available anywhere on campus. Last year its availability expanded to 13 new classrooms and four public areas.
Shelton said programs like the CCI have been implemented at other universities around the country, but have not always succeeded because faculty must take the initiative to incorporate technology into their classes.
"The big challenge for the University now is to ensure it provides the content behind the technology," Shelton said.
He called the program the first step in a process that will require a number of other initiatives to make technology a successful classroom tool at UNC. Since the CCI's inception, the University has developed several new resources to assist faculty in makng use of technology.
University officials are now working to merge the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Center for Information Technology as a way to combine teaching efforts with new technology as it becomes available.
