High school students spend much of their educational journeys immersed in "old" literacies of paper, pencil, and print books. But outside of the classroom, they are exposed to information and communication technologies--such as blogs, wikis, Internet browsers, multimedia, social networking sites, and a wide range of software--each of which demand…

Protecting one's institution's technology assets and resources is all about maximizing return on those investments--and that means driving users to take full advantage of new technology rollouts, and not sapping or overburdening help desk resources because users are not fully versed in and encouraged to use new tools. That means one will need to…

Miscommunications and misunderstandings surrounding common words that have one meaning in library-speak and a different meaning in IT-speak are all too common. There are tons of books on communicating; one could spend a career reading them all. In this article, the author recommends one book that describes how to focus on phrasing questions in…

Information and communication technologies are today playing a very important role in transforming the mode of imparting education. The trend in educational system has seen a leaning towards upgrading and updating knowledge and ideas to face increasingly demanding in order to meet the rapid expansion of knowledge. Technology enabled teaching have…

The new faces on the help desk are younger, work for cheap, and may be the tech savviest in the building. This article describes how two IT training programs are teaching students valuable technology skills while providing schools with a much-needed lift to their troubleshooting teams. The programs--Generation YES and Mouse Squad--put students at…

Case study methodology was used to describe the challenges experienced in the development of a virtual component for a freshman-level undergraduate course. The purpose of the project was to use a virtual environment component to provide an interactive and engaging learning environment. While some student and faculty feedback was positive, this…

Christian Medical College (CMC), India, and Tufts University School of Medicine, USA, have developed an "institutional hub and spokes" model (campus-based e-learning supporting m-learning in the field) to facilitate clinical education and training at remote secondary hospital sites across India. Iterative research, design, development,…

Searching for relevant information on the web is an important aspect of distance learning. This activity is a challenge for visually impaired distance learners. While sighted people have the ability to filter information in a fast and non sequential way, blind persons rely on tools that process the information in a sequential way. Learning is…

Faculty at a small university discussed digital portfolios for technology support students who were entering the senior year without a portfolio that illustrated their knowledge and skills for potential employers. Business leaders expressed the need for graduates to demonstrate technological skills and other critical competency areas. Recent…

This article introduces Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF), a specification for data sharing among educational software applications that has grown to 10 disparate software applications. This new version (code name Columbus) is likely to give districts more vendors to choose from--maybe a lot more--because it will be arriving with a profound…

The Great Plains Distance Education Alliance (Great Plains IDEA) emphasizes the importance of a collaborative environment for instructors and students in distance education. The authors highlight a number of important principles for distance-education programs and point out similarities and differences when compared to traditional face-face-to…

Responding to the link between postsecondary education and economic productivity, government policymakers and private-sector and nonprofit groups are implementing a number of initiatives aimed at increasing educational attainment among the American public. By and large, these actions have taken place at the state level, which at first glance makes…

Despite the last few years' growth in awareness of open-source software in schools and the potential savings it represents, its widespread adoption is still hampered. Randy Orwin, technology director of the Bainbridge Island School District in Washington State and a strong open-source advocate, cautions that installing an open-source…

The Australian Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations has funded a rollout of the STELR (Science and Technology Education Leveraging Relevance) Stage One Project to 150 secondary schools in 2010. Participating schools will receive, at no cost, curriculum materials, class sets of supporting laboratory equipment, two…

Planning is necessary in selecting the appropriate digital asset management system for your institution. Key issues one should consider in planning: the objects to be stored, where they come from, and how they will be accessed; the end users; and the needed staffing levels for system maintenance. During the development of the system requirements,…