Student retention has become a challenging problem for most of the academic institutions and it becomes more challenging with the increased use of Internet to convey information, deliver instructional materials, and make online instruction modality more interactive in educational environment. Even though the technologies for establishing a new…

Inside campus libraries and dormitory rooms, thousands of students connect to the Internet not only to study with online systems like Blackboard but also to watch movies and TV shows on Netflix. Computers, smartphones, wireless printers, tablets, iPods, Xboxes, handheld gaming systems, e-readers, smart TVs, Blu-ray players--students now bring an…

Alumni relations professionals need a method of measuring alumni engagement, including giving, that goes beyond counting event attendees and the number of Twitter followers. Social media are changing the way things have been done within the alumni relations profession, but that does not mean that people throw out everything they have done in the…

On September 4 2010, a massive 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Canterbury region in the South Island of New Zealand. The response from the University of Canterbury was immediate and carefully co-ordinated, with the university's web-based environment and a responsive site developed on the social media platform "Facebook" becoming…

Many university officials recognize the need to upgrade their older analog video surveillance systems. In a 2010 survey by "Campus Safety" magazine, half of university respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the quality and coverage of their current video surveillance systems. Among the limitations of analog closed-circuit television…

At the end of 2010, for the first time ever, smartphones outsold PCs. Mobile device adoption rates continue to rise rapidly around the world. A recent forecast by Cisco found that global mobile data traffic more than doubled last year, and by the end of 2012, the number of mobile devices in use will outnumber the world's population. In the United…

This study analyzed the content of college and university Web site home pages to determine the frequency of marketing messages that might persuade adult learners to enroll at the institution. The findings suggest that colleges and universities in this study do not have adult-oriented marketing messages and are giving scant attention to the…

East Carolina University recently hosted the first Virtual Worlds in Education Conference, a meeting held entirely in Second Life. The conference provided 135 faculty and administrators from around the world the ability to communicate and share their experiences on teaching, learning, and technology support in an online, multi-user virtual…

The increasing demand for online courses requires efficient and low cost production. Since the decision to develop online courses is often affected by financial factors, it is becoming increasingly important to determine, upfront, the cost of online course production. Many of the programs and educators interested in developing online courses…

This article describes electronic board portals and how they can contribute to the efficiency of the functioning board in delivering timely information for decision making. The electronic board portals are provider-hosted services that allow those who prepare board materials to organize and place on the Web a secure version of board packets, with…

Describes the University of California Berkeley's e-Berkeley initiative, a campus-wide, Internet-based effort to fundamentally transform the way the university operates, from daily business functions to the central mission of teaching and research. (EV)

As much as it is eagerly anticipated, freshman year is often a time of confusion, disorientation, and even alienation for many students. One in four college freshmen will drop out before completing sophomore year. The reasons for this high level of withdrawal vary, but a report suggests that new students often feel overwhelmed and unprepared for…

Describes the increasing trend of incorporating electronic commerce methods to purchasing systems at colleges and universities. Provides examples from the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University (Massachusetts), California State University at Fullerton, and the University of California at Los Angeles. (DB)

Explains how for Michael M. Crow, executive vice provost at Columbia University, knowledge is a form of venture capital. This means pushing Columbia beyond the usual role of creating knowledge and disseminating it in traditional manners, and instead taking the knowledge, incubating it, and projecting it using tools like the Internet. (SM)

Introduces a three-part feature examining the potential of the Internet to reshape higher education, commenting on four key drivers of change that have taken on new meaning for campuses as Internet use has accelerated: a renewed focus on learning and learners, the movement of technology from the back office to the front office, the search for new…