A college education has not always been the birthright of every American. Only within the last half-century has widespread gender and racial discrimination been sufficiently vanquished to permit more than half the national population uncontested access to university degrees. But access alone doesn’t equate to achievement. Graduates still must struggle to define their roles in a rapidly changing world, one in which the rate of technological advance appears bewilderingly rapid and unstoppably pervasive.

Enter computer technology, with the promise of unprecedented access to information. Computers, we were told, would level the playing field significantly. Computers would make our lives easier to live, bring abundance, perhaps even peace of mind. Nothing, of course, is ever as simple as it seems. The reality of putting computers to work — in schools, in the workplace, at home — has been gratifying in many ways, yet frustrating in many others.

Educators are still sorting out the best ways to apply computer technology. It is not enough to graft computers wholesale upon existing methodologies and expect harmonious coexistence. Rather, genuine innovation must be met with an equal measure of creativity to guarantee against the computer’s devolution into mere fad, a curious footnote in history’s vast annals.

The stories that follow demonstrate how Old Dominion University is working to apply the promise and potential of computer technology to education. As yet, the tale is not fully told. But, as you’ll read, the beginning appears promising indeed.