As Yogi Berra said, "Predictions are hard, especially about the future." In this article, the author offers a few forward-looking observations about the emerging impact of information technology on scientific research. Scientific research refers to a particular method for acquiring knowledge about natural phenomena. This method has two dimensions:…

Information technology can be a game changer in higher education, as it has been in other sectors. Information technology has brought about much of the economic growth of the past century, accelerating globalization and fostering democracy. This chapter explores many ways that information technology can be a game changer. Some are as simple as…

Twenty years into the transformation initiated by the World Wide Web, this author notes that institutes of higher education have grown accustomed to a head-spinning pace of technological and social change. Innovations that would have amazed us ten years ago are now merely passing news, as transient as a tweet. Music, video, and journalism have…

In 2011, "EDUCAUSE" appointed a research panel of IT leaders from nineteen representative member institutions to both identify and prioritize the top IT issues facing their institutions. In two focus group sessions in September and October 2011, the panel members were asked the question: "What is the single-biggest IT-related issue currently…

For years people have seen scholarly journals shift from paper to electronic versions. Today the e-reader platforms are improving at a rapid rate, prices for devices are plummeting, the e-content is becoming richer and more interactive, and the content publishers are developing capitalistic business models to respond to this disruptive technology.…

In this article, the author analyzes three common strands of current thought about education and the Internet. First is the idea that the instant availability of information online makes the memorization of facts unnecessary or less necessary. Second is the celebration of the virtues of collaborative learning as superior to outmoded individual…

Strong signs are indicating that higher education is finally on the verge of a long-awaited digital shift. Given that experts have been prophesying such a shift for more than forty years, with little if any real change, it's reasonable to approach such a statement with healthy skepticism. Various factors--some cultural, some technological--have…

On February 9 and 10, 2010, fifty leaders from colleges, universities, corporations, professional associations, and state networks met in Tempe, Arizona, to discuss cloud computing and the impending shift in the mix of where infrastructure, applications, and services are sourced. This group identified a set of actions that colleges and…

Each year, the members of the EDUCAUSE Evolving Technologies Committee identify and research the evolving technologies that are having--or are predicted to have--the most direct impact on higher education institutions. The committee members choose the relevant topics, write white papers, and present their findings at the EDUCAUSE annual…

The word "open" is receiving a lot of attention in education circles. For over a decade, "open" has been used as an adjective to modify a variety of nouns that describe teaching and learning materials. For example, open content, open educational resources, open courseware, and open textbooks are all part of the current higher education discourse.…

That technology evolves is a given. Not as well understood is the impact of technological evolution on each individual--on oneself, one's skill development, one's career, and one's relationship with the work community. The authors believe that everyone in higher education will become an IT worker and that IT workers will be managing a growing…