Computer science visionary Alan Kay once said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” He may have been on to something – Kay is credited with conceiving laptop computers and the ubiquitous “windowed” graphic user interfaces that we all know so well. Likewise, NYIT continues to invent its own future, drawing on the talents of students, alumni, faculty and staff members, and its global community to become a leading institution of higher learning in the 21st century.

From the creation and launch of “teaching machines” in the 1950s to NYCOM’s virtual patients of today, NYIT has a rich history of integrating technology into the learning process. I’ve seen it myself through more than 30 years at this college. In 1974, when other colleges taught students in classrooms with desks and a chalkboard, I held classes each week in an NYIT computer lab. In 1984, when other academic institutions were offering the earliest versions of Word Perfect, we launched our first virtual campus. At NYIT, I also had the pleasure of teaching in one of the first networked PC labs in the United States.

Clearly, we’ve always been one step ahead. But for us to remain competitive in the 21st century, we must embrace change as NYIT strives to become a “great global university” of tomorrow. To invent the future is to create the academic and technological criteria that will define 21st-century educational excellence, even ones that do not yet exist. NYIT is committed to moving forward into a world where technology empowers students and teachers, where “global education” will simply be “education.”

NYIT will craft such a future through online initiatives that provide active, student-centered learning systems. Education will be the next “killer app” on the Web, and those who adapt the latest technology to the learning process are going to lead the transformation to the next phase of educational content delivery. In classrooms of the 21st century, there may be little difference between sitting 15 feet from an instructor and sitting thousands of miles away, participating in real-time with fellow classmates around the world.

Technology will enhance the communication between teacher and student to allow for a tailored educational experience. With these new modes of communication come new ways of thinking for both students and educators. But simply possessing new technology is not enough; the real teaching revolution happens when these advanced tools are implemented in ways that were previously impossible or unthinkable.

The NYIT experience in years to come will be defined by freedom of convenience, classrooms with no physical dimensions, 24-hour connectivity between classmates and professors, and an academic program that can be customized to match a student’s individual preferences. Educational boundaries that once existed will become obsolete. Traditional teaching tools, such as blackboards, wooden desks and spiral notebooks, must make room for holographic displays, wireless communication and pocket computers.

And that’s only the technology we can imagine today.

Sincerely,


Edward Guiliano, Ph.D.
President