Like most American institutions of higher learning, Voorhees
College is boldly embracing the future. The small liberal arts,
historically Black institution in Denmark, S.C., has adopted
information technology to overcome the isolation that its rural,
out-of-the-way location has imposed on the Episcopal Church-affiliated
school.
With generous support from the family that founded the institution
in 1901, Voorhees has spent roughly $4 million over the past five years
building an information technology infrastructure that includes four
laboratories which host 150 computers. As a result of the investment,
faculty members and the 700 students enrolled at the college now have
access to electronic mail accounts, a state-of-the-art campus computer
network, and the Internet. In addition, the school’s administrative
operations have undergone automation with registration, planning and
budget functions converted to electronic formats.
Students at Voorhees are required to take a basic computing course.
They receive and complete class assignments via the campus network, use
the Internet for research, and communicate with their professors by
electronic mail.
“We decided at Voorhees that we did not want to limit ourselves. We
have recognized that the Information Age is upon us,” said Dr. Leonard
E. Dawson, president of Voorhees College.
The changes taking place at Voorhees College are common ones
occurring across the landscape of American higher education. For the
past decade or two, U.S. colleges and universities have been building
extensive computer networks, developing campus-based computer
laboratories and adding computer-based instruction to courses. Access
to computers, multimedia technology, and global networks, such as the
Internet, are considered the basic tools for participation in the
Information Age. But all this has required considerable
experimentation, innovation, and large-scale investment.
For the survey entitled Campus Computing 1996, respondents reported
that roughly one in four courses on their campuses used electronic
mail, an increase from one in five in 1995. The survey also revealed
that 67 percent of all undergraduates have access to the Internet, up
from 60 percent in 1995. Although Internet and World Wide Web access
for faculty was reported at 76.5 percent, that figure reflects
virtually no change from 1995.
When comparing types of institutions, the survey found that almost
80 percent of public universities had technology resource centers
compared to approximately 45 percent of private four-year colleges,
which have had the most trouble finding the money to pay for the new
technology. However, approximately 14 percent of private four-year
colleges have formal programs which reward instructional technology as
part of their promotion and tenure review compared to less than 10
percent of public universities with similar programs.
