A recent paper appearing on First Monday reports on findings from a nationwide survey of Internet use by U.S. college faculty. The survey asked about general Internet use, use of specific Internet technologies (e??mail, IM, Web, etc.), the Internet??s impact on teaching and research, its impact on faculty??student interactions, and about faculty perceptions of students?? Internet use.

Some interesting quotes from the paper

1. Seventy??three percent of faculty reported that, in general, their communication with students had increased since they began using e??mail.
2. One respondent expressed frustration with administrators who “seem to devalue Internet teaching. They think I??m taking the easy way out when I teach online. They are so wrong. It??s especially hard to teach well online.”
3. Perhaps the most telling comments came from a faculty member who wrote, “I can??t imagine teaching without the Internet.”
4. As the faculty in this survey see it, the demands on them to use new technologies in the classroom will grow greater from two directions: administrators and students.

And from the conclusions:

“The findings show that institutions of higher education still need to address three broad areas (infrastructure, professional development, and teaching and research) to assist faculty to continue to make good use of the Internet in their professional work.”