The Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are promoting various "citizen science" projects in which amateur naturalists make local observations of birds, butterflies, or natural phenomena and report their observations to interactive databases on the World Wide Web. Events such as the Great Backyard Bird Count motivate people…

One of the most beneficial uses for technology in the science classroom is data manipulation. During labs and other learning experiences, students can quickly put the data they collect into spreadsheets or databases. Then they can make comparisons, create graphs, draw conclusions, sort the data in new ways, and, ultimately, give their data…

The Taskforce for Higher Education Program Advancement (TFPA) represents five family and consumer sciences organizations, boards, and administrative groups. Its mission "to proactively and collaboratively strengthen FCS higher education programs" has yielded multiple initiatives including a new database. The TFPA Web Interface System…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducts a variety of surveys on elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education. Recently an Integrated Sampling Team has been formed to explore the possible gains from a greater integration of these surveys and from new technology. The team will investigate the feasibility and desirability…

This project was designed to develop a uniform statistical reporting system that could be used by all of the library departments at Chicago State University to collect statistical information, both for major statistical reports, and for the library's daily operations. It is noted that the statistical forms were designed to enable the staff member…

Various procedures, technologies, and products were developed by the Massachusetts Board of Regents and the Massachusetts Community Colleges in implementing the student followup component of the Vocational Education Data System (VEDS). The Board of Regents took the lead in coordinating the VEDS followup study among the 15 state-supported community…

The Education Data Improvement Project of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is described. The conceptual framework that guided its implementation is presented. The Education Data Improvement Project was designed to promote and facilitate the reform and refinement of the Center for Education Statistics (CES) national elementary and…

This volume of "Archiving Methodology" provides contractors with standards for developing project-level documentation. This volume is designed to acquaint a potential data user with the research and/or evaluative effort that generated the archived data. It serves as both an introduction to and an overview of a collection of data files by…

This report discusses the 1980-81 program and plans of the National Center for Education Statistics that involve collection and dissemination of data monitoring trends in education, and address key policy issues. The report identifies and describes the regular and special surveys being conducted in the areas of elementary and secondary education,…

The purpose of this project was to determine what the availability of educational data in the state department of education is and what strategies can be applied to improve state data systems and make the best use of them in making national and state educational decisions. The project involved two major activities: the design and implementation of…

This document describes the computerized procedures developed and utilized by Montgomery College (Maryland) to maintain records related to student academic progress. The new system was fully operable by fall 1972. Systems development included: (1) the conversion of past student records to a permanent grade history file; (2) the development of a…

This instructional manual for the use of vocational educators in Montana describes a continuing enrollment/exit/follow-up computerized survey of vocational education and provides instructions for its implementation. The survey is intended to make available information which will provide insights for evaluating and improving vocational education…

Higher education is now and will increasingly be faced with requests for data from a variety of sources to which it is accountable. Such data may ultimately be used in decision-making regarding the appropriation of public and private resources. Comparisons of costs and other measures among institutions will be the byword. Thus it is important that…

A study to provide the National Center for Educational Communication (NCE) with information that could be useful in making the ERIC data base more relevant to the needs of educators and more efficiently usable by them is discussed. Specific purposes of this project were to use an empirical field-survey study as an armature around which to: (1)…

Microcomputer uses by social researchers include writing programs, standard spreadsheets and data base management. In addition, microcomputers can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of information gathering by improving notetaking and organizing. Software developments will help make microcomputer data base management tools, now not…