Developing a blueprint for success requires that teachers, administrators, students, parents, and community members focus on the purposes for investing in technology. Planners must define universally shared technology goals, establish program accountability measures, budget for staff development, and ensure district leadership and support for…

Describes the decision-making and planning processes at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington to unify technological initiatives and participate in a virtual university experiment with three Japanese universities. Discusses the use of technology in education, and expresses faculty attitudes and concerns. (LRW)

To understand how a school uses technology, administrators should examine various data on students' computer skill development; staff development records; student anecdotes; lab logs; technology use plans; and software-acquisition, repair, and budget records. Technology implementation should mirror different classroom and subject-area needs and…

Asserting that an effective information technology (IT) planning process helps leaders determine appropriate roles for IT in learning, teaching, research, outreach, and management and predict how these might change over time, this article offers suggestions for such planning. Examples are: (1) set a general direction and broad objectives; and (2)…

Discusses portal technology in higher education, including planning, design, technical, and financial issues. Highlights include determining the customers; marketing possibilities for the university; ownership issues; data design; effective cost structuring; security issues; adaptability; content; and customer input and feedback. (LRW)

Supplements a previous column's laundry list of bad technology ideas with further provisos: fixating on processor speed; relying on user support; developing non-visionary long-range technology plans; leaving people out of long-range planning; and concentrating technology at the center of a network. (MLH)

Provides a conceptualization of a communication and information system's infrastructure in order to help campus leaders plan more effectively. Discusses its elements, creating access to information, infrastructure maturity, infrastructure assessment, and technology planning for higher education. (EV)

Describes the connectivity features and options of modern campus communication and information system networks, including signal transmission (wire-based and wireless), signal switching, convergence of networks, and network assessment variables, to enable campus leaders to make sound future-oriented decisions. (EV)

This article proposes a framework that can help institutions break down and analyze the costs of online learning so they can make decisions about how to improve the cost-efficiencies of online education. The framework involves looking at costs across elements (which include the two stages of development and delivery plus administration of the…

Distance learning is appealing to small business owners, employees, municipalities, state establishments, non-governmental organizations. Distance-learning are ideal for people who have a full-time job or other commitments, who can't take time off to study full time. This might be a professional who needs to update his knowledge or skills, or a…

Technology, one of the important factors that influence success in schools, should be planned and used effectively in schools. Technology planning is significant because it gives information about the current situation and of the target future goals as well as because the present technology should be used effectively. This study focuses on the…

This paper explores how rural communities with limited financial resources and technical expertise can have a useful Web page along with the ability for community and business leaders to maintain this presence. The tools to be employed are not new to the Web, but they may be considered "cutting edge" when it comes to a rural community's…

Most universities have invested in extensive infrastructure in the form of computer laboratories and computer kiosks. However, is this investment justified when it is suggested that students work predominantly from home using their own computers? This paper provides an empirical study investigating how students at a regional multi-campus…

In a first-of-its-kind survey, the Greaves Group queried more than 900 school administrators last year about technology needs. The result, America's Digital Schools 2006, is a comprehensive look at how schools are adapting to the new world their students inhabit--and how they're going to fund it. This article presents the key finding from the…

Integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into teaching and learning is a growing area that has attracted many educators' efforts in recent years. Based on the scope of content covered, ICT integration can happen in three different areas: curriculum, topic, and lesson. This paper elaborates upon the concept of ICT integration, and…