Second, there is a compelling need for pedagogical tools for faculty that can be used by the majority who do not wish to be “course developers.” Today most faculty, while not being entirely comfortable with technology, understand the potential of the Internet. Yet, becoming an Internet “course developer” makes absolutely no sense for them given tight time constraints, their interests, or expertise.

Third the concept of classroom at the center of the learning interaction and engagement is not going away anytime soon. In fact, we are seeing a trend in marrying the online and classroom experiences – doing what we always have done, but better. This trend has been verified in the A-HEC (Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness) performed study on Internet-Supported Learning in which leaders in fully online programs continue to express a priority in developing hybrid programs (Abel, 2005, p. 41). This trend verifies the inherent realization of the importance of Tinto’s key factor of learning, the core of which still centers around the classroom experience. It is important to note that some appear to be searching for approaches that radically transform the classroom experience. While certainly interesting, these approaches violate the second screen and are unlikely to be adopted except in niche markets.

Lastly, online tools that link students, faculty, and the administration can be used for assessment to improve the quality of the student-faculty interaction. This is the third compelling need area. This is becoming a very active area that is being approached on several fronts:

• Tools that allow faculty to monitor student study interactions to determine which materials are most difficult and why.
• Tools that allow faculty to self-assess their teaching, in essence a better approach to course evaluations.
• Tools that allow administrators to determine which courses, under what conditions, are having retention or other problems.
• Tools that allow the obtainment of learning objectives to be better tracked within the context of a course or a curriculum – with a caution that this may gravitate only to niches that have well-defined learning outcomes and where it is a standard practice already to lay them out.