Virginia Tech dorm becomes a learning experience

During his first week at Virginia Tech, Frank Shushok Jr. toured a 1960s-era residence hall that was being renovated as a resortlike facility, complete with movie theater, gym, gaming room and a salon with affordable spray-tanning, reports the Washington Post. He was shocked.

 “I am operating under a completely different mental model of what residence halls are supposed to be,” said Shushok, the associate vice president for student affairs who is entering his third year at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. A residence hall should be “a place where students live so they can learn.”

Shushok instead proposed creating a “residential college” where undergraduates, graduate students and faculty could live together in a facility dedicated to learning……Read More

iPad beware: Android tablets gain foothold in higher education

Nearly 14 million Android-based tablets will hit the market this year, according to market research.

The Apple iPad’s reign as higher education’s computer tablet of choice might be put to the test as Seton Hall University announced a pilot program that will put Android-based tablets—the iPad’s main rival—in the hands of 350 students and faculty members.

Officials at the South Orange, N.J., campus announced the pilot initiative Aug. 23, just a day after the Lenovo ThinkPad tablets began shipping to business customers worldwide.

The multi-touch 10.1-inch Lenovo tablet features one gigabyte (GB) of memory, 64GB of internal storage, cameras on the front and back, along with Wi-Fi access and a 3G connection.…Read More