Technology has exploded in instruction, as new computers, smartphones, and tablets area unit free that may offer college and students higher opportunities to show content and learn new material.
While technology will probably improve connections between students and educators, there should be challenges on the school\'s finish with providing web access and support for all.
U.S. News & World Report is highlight schools and universities that stand out in these areas with its first-ever ranking of the foremost Connected schools. questions about on-line services were enclosed in U.S. News\'s survey of colleges for the 2013 Best schools rankings, printed in Gregorian calendar month 2012. Of the 1,471 colleges that provided U.S. News with property information, 278 scored high enough to be numerically hierarchal.
Maine\'s Bowdoin faculty, a National humanities faculty, took the No. one spot within the inaugural ranking. the college provides its one,778 students with discounts for laptops, 24-hour laptop labs, wireless access from anyplace on field, LAN access all told quarters rooms, and personal cloud storage, among alternative technology offerings. Earlier this year, the faculty replaced each wireless access purpose across field, encompassing ninety five buildings, with Cisco\'s 3600 series wireless access points—considered the world\'s quickest wireless technology.
Bowdoin scored seventy nine.9 out of one hundred on a \"Connectivity Index\" that takes under consideration the school\'s web speed and access for college students and college, technology resources on the market on field, likewise as AN institution\'s mobile applications and cloud storage services.
With a smaller student body and throw money endowment than alternative larger schools and universities, Bowdoin might not be the primary college several would consider because the most connected establishment within the country. however among the highest twenty five colleges on the foremost Connected list, twelve establishments support AN collegian enrollment of fewer than five,000 students, and nineteen have fewer than ten,000 students.
While web access seems to be a customary resource on faculty campuses, it isn\'t continually on the market to students everyplace at some colleges. Among the highest twenty five colleges on the foremost Connected list, solely 3 universities don\'t offer Wi-Fi to one hundred pc of all on-campus housing facilities. Northeastern University in capital of Massachusetts, the seventh-ranked university on the list, offers Wi-Fi to only fifteen p.c of its dormitories and field housing.
Although it\'s going to be easier for a smaller college to supply web access for its educational population, some establishments conjointly stand out by mobilization students with technology for tutorial use. Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton Hall University in New Jersey, the fifth-ranked college on the foremost Connected list, for instance, provides incoming freshmen with laptops and smartphones—a program that Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton Hall started this year.
Geographically, colleges within the Northeast did notably well within the Most Connected rankings. Among the highest twenty five colleges, thirteen schools and universities reside within the Northeast region, together with four colleges in Pennsylvania and 3 colleges in the big apple. Six colleges reside within the Southeast region, four area unit settled within the West, and one college from each one resides within the geographic area and Southwest regions.
Colleges and universities on the foremost Connected list area unit hierarchal supported four composite measures, every price one fourth of the general property Index: web speed, web access, applications, and resources. colleges that scored a fifty or higher within the Index are hierarchal.