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If Blackberries and iPhones can digitalize the way we do business on the go, what impact does technology have on the way we learn? Working adults nowadays are trying to do it all: make a living, raise a family, and now more than ever, improve their level of education. These "nontraditional students" are an increasing population, and they are looking for quality and convenience to fit their schedule. They should take a cue from the generation of "Digital Natives" — individuals who have never known a life before the internet or digital technologies — and consider online and even virtual education. If working professionals can spontaneously run a presentation on their iPad or seal a deal through e-mail while eating in a restaurant, these "nontraditional students" should expand their educational experience beyond a textbook in a classroom.

So who are these students and what do they have to do with Greenville? With over 73 percent of all U.S. undergraduates falling into the "non-traditional" category, these changes reach far beyond city, state and even national borders. Research done by Ambient Insight suggests that, "in 2009, 44 percent of postsecondary students in the USA were taking some or all of their courses online and projected this figure would rise to 81 percent by 2014." Conservative estimates place world-wide electronic learning as being worth about $84 billion.

Since 1987, Greenville has offered undergraduate and graduate courses so that students did not have to travel to secure degrees. This initiative has grown into a consortium of eight schools located in the old McAlister Square on South Pleasantburg Drive and known as the University Center of Greenville (UCG).

Dr. Stephen Bronack, associate professor of Human Resource Development at Clemson University and the new founding director of SimHub Immersive Technology at UCG, says that the Center is "a model of how to do education differently. It is a place that gets the relevance, the social sides of learning and the importance of connecting those with expertise to those with needs. To do virtual learning well, you must have innovation in your DNA and you must understand the important role new media can play when it comes to connecting people and ideas."

But it is not just college students who are learning virtually. As with so many issues, the younger the person, the better the outcome for learning. This connection starts early with Clemson's Professional Development K-12 outreach program for Integrated Inquiry (PDI2), an organization that joined UCG in 2010. Building research partnerships with schools through their Math Out of the Box® curriculum that strives to teach a love of mathematics, this successful, nationally-known program has been approved for use in nine states and "in the 2009-2010 school year, classroom teachers, coaches and administrators from over 40 school districts in S.C. attended workshops provided by PDI2 at either UCG or in elementary and middle schools across the state."

In addition, Clemson's Gaming Across the Curriculum (GAC) initiative involves something we all love — games. But this takes gaming to the next level of learning and "how to use computer games and virtual worlds in academia." From their blog, as one member of the team states "our goal is to connect teachers across our campus and across the world to share their ideas, get people interested in games as teaching tools...we are always interested in talking to people who are getting students involved in their learning process with games and toys." Jan Holmevik and Cynthia Haynes, both assistant professors of English at Clemson University, are spearheading this effort to "understand that not only do we learn by writing, we learn by playing." For more information on this initiative, visit www.clemson.edu/ ccit/about/publications/facultydirections/ Fall09/gaming.html

Another impressive innovation that sounds like a movie is the use of avatars, which is defined as "a new personification of a familiar idea." At USC Upstate, the nursing program uses simulation labs in various courses at various levels. Called "low fidelity simulators," these manikins allow students to practice gastric tubes and IV sticks. The "high fidelity (HF) simulators" can respond to commands via computer and can be used in advanced scenarios such as respiratory failure or cardiac arrest. According to Darlene Amedolair, assistant professor and director, USC Upstate Bachelor of Science Nursing program at UCG, they are using an HF simulation "for the first med/surg class that includes students reacting to changes in patients that are post-op, have diabetes complications, congestive heart failure and dehydration."

The nursing students' virtual world will include a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) that is a hospital system that will provide "an interactive, guided client, family and health care team experience. Avatar robots will transport the student into a simulated hospital caring for simulated clients and their family. The avatar student would be able to develop skills and clinical reasoning without risking a patient's safety, nor causing undue stress on the student. The nursing students will be provided the opportunity to discuss and critique the real world experience through Virtual World." Virtual World is part of the Carolinas Virtual World Consortium that is a gamebased and simulated learning and training system.

With all this virtual and online emphasis, do students lose something in the translation of never seeing each other or the faculty? Evidently not.

Dr. Bronack teaches a 100 percent online 2-year degree program in human resource development and even though the students never "meet" they do develop a strong bond. This past summer, "more than two dozen of them chose to travel to Clemson from all over the U.S. so they could walk together at graduation and spend some time together. This was not a requirement of the program, it was a choice each made as a result of the close relationship they formed via interactions over media such as web conferencing and virtual worlds."

Refreshing to know that human development that includes virtual and real worlds are not exclusive but inclusive. Equally refreshing is that Greenville is a virtual leader in both worlds.