Interest in smart phones has attracted a new universe of students to computer science classes, says David Malan, a computer science lecturer who teaches Computer Science 50, the introductory class at Harvard. Mr. Malan gave his students a number of options they could focus on for their final projects, including writing traditional computer software and Web-based applications. Many chose to make cellphone apps.

Pepsi's Refresh Project, a first-of-its-kind experiment in social media that invests the brand in community-building projects, won't simply leave a legacy for the recipients of its financial grants. It's also a pivotal test case for other brands trying to navigate an ad-cluttered, cynic-rich marketing landscape.

Textbook buyback site MyBookBuyer.com has again engaged the students who sell textbooks through their online service to raise money for a worthy cause. MyBookBuyer challenged their users to show their support by joining their Facebook fan page, pledging to donate $500 when they hit 4,000 fans. They blew past their goal in eight days.

Text4Swap aims to become a viable alternative when it comes to the buying and selling of textbooks that college students are traditionally accustomed to. We can define it as a networking site which is centered on book-for-book swapping.

The next time a college or university considers an expensive upgrade to its network to accommodate growing demand, it might be good to remember that the increased demand isn't necessarily owing to greater use of the course management system or student retention program. According to recent research, more than three-quarters of all bandwidth consumed on campus is actually taken up with applications that fall into the categories of gaming, social networking, media, file sharing, and Web browsing.

Last fall, Abilene Christian University gave out free iPhones or iPod Touches to its first-year undergraduates as part of an attempt by the Texas college to transform its campus into a 200-acre Petri dish for studying the intersection of mobile technology and higher education. Now, the reviews from the first year of the experiment are in — and they are glowing.