CD-Rom promises to remove the drudgery from finding the right course at the right institution, writes Lawrence Alster. Early each summer, school and college libraries are filled with students surrounded by books, concentrating furiously and feverishly taking notes. A collective fit of studiousness? If only, say their teachers. No, this is the season for higher education applications. These students are choosing the best place to spend what might be the most important three, or even more, years of their lives.
Many find it a time-consuming and confusing (let alone expensive) business. If picking the right course is bad enough, deciding where to take it can seriously risk prospectus fatigue. It’s no way to make such an important decision.
Such, at any rate, are the thoughts of the publishers of two new university information services on CD-Rom, both of which were launched at this month’s BETT ‘95 technology in education show.
From Hobson’s Publishing comes Which University on CD-Rom (Pounds 45 plus VAT), a development that permits with impressive clarity and immediacy access to information on 180 higher education institutions. By mouse-clicking around the screen, users can select the institution which most matches their needs according to various search criteria (degree subject, location, accommodation, size of student body and others).
While most of the institutions limit their presentations to various key facts, seven in all offer vivid and lengthy (as much as 15 minutes) multimedia displays with videoclips, sound and graphics; more such displays will be added in spring and autumn of this year.
As publisher Richard Nash explains, the system is designed to run in tandem with ECCTIS, the courses information service, giving users a “one-stop information shop”. By the end of January, the system will be active in more than 200 schools.
Mr Nash says: “The schools get the workstations free of charge for a year, along with a modem that enables us to download updates on institutions as well as to record usage of the system. This means we can let institutions know how their presentations are being received.”
Well, one hopes; at Pounds 15,000 a slot, universities and colleges will be keen to know if their money has been well spent. Mr Nash has few doubts: “Students do respond to information put across in this way. They belong to a video age, and expect the high standards of presentation that are used here.”
Even the very best stand-alone presentation is now no longer enough, he says. “Students have to know they’re interested in such a presentation before they can access it. With Which University, a student does not have to go anywhere near a university to find if it meets a list of preferences.
Most of its information having come from the university and college authorities themselves, it would be surprising if Which University was anything other than what it is: colourful, lively, and largely orthodox. Push-CD 95 (Pounds 99 includingVAT), developed by McGraw-Hill, provides a marked contrast.
In an often wacky, irreverent style that echoes the printed Push guide, this CD-Rom offers very much a student’s-eye view of higher education. Again, clicking the appropriate icons enables would-be students to place any of 128 institutions in order of suitability according to preferred criteria; all that remains is to take in a short audio-visual presentation on a specific college or university.
While much of the statistical information is drawn from official databases (though not without controversy: the “flunk rates” quoted have drawn accusations of inaccuracy), opinions are not. These come from students at the universities themselves and are delivered in irreverent style against a background of funky music: “Some unies rock, they just never stop. The babes are hotter than chilli, the guys cooler than ice cream,” gives the flavour.
Anna Smith, product manager at McGraw-Hill, says: “Students who want information on courses can use ECCTIS with the guide,” says . “However Push-CD’s main emphasis is on looking at the whole lifestyle of universities. It’s very much the unofficial version, written by students for students. ”
Jenny Ertle, electronic publishing manager at McGraw-Hill, elaborates. “Johnny Rich, who edited the original book, wrote the scripts and then asked students to take matching photographs. So users get a warts-and-all view of the university. For example, if there’s a gasworks in sight of campus, we don’t crop it off.”
The benefits of both CD-Roms seem obvious: quicker access to information, entertaining visuals and sound, plus print-outs as required. Impressive, though not as much as the technology now common in the United States.
Mr Nash says: “There, a student can click on an infozap button for a departmental brochure from a university. They’re also working on a system called ‘apzap’, where you can send your application direct to the institution down the wire without the bother of all those application forms.”
It sounds like science fiction. But so did CD-Roms once. Before long, the traditional prospectus could be as much a relic of libraries past as chained newspapers.
