Purpose: Foundation degrees, the new proposal for sub-degree vocational education in the UK, are characterised by innovation both in their design (curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment) and in the marketplace for which they are designed. This article argues that the development and delivery of foundation degrees carry a high level of risk,…

The evaluation reports in this series usually feature several products at once. The current review, however, comes at a time when one of the most widely used (and expensive) online learning management systems is undergoing a major change in its marketing strategy and corporate focus. "WebCT" is currently evolving to a new version ("WebCT Vista"),…

This article presents an account of the development of competency standards and profiles for primary teachers in Vietnam. The development project has taken more than four years and used a combination of consultative, actuarial, and item response modeling procedures to develop and validate a scale of teacher competence. In the overall project, more…

The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) serves a dispersed patron base, and its library has developed, over time, a circulation system for distributing physical research materials to its patrons throughout the United States. This article discusses the development of this system and its associated interface/database management system…

This article presents a project-based case study that was developed for students with diverse backgrounds and varied inclinations for engaging technical topics. The project, called History Places, requires that student teams develop a vision for a kind of digital library, propose a conceptual model, and use the model to derive a logical model and…

When Blackboard unveiled its U.S. patent for 44 features of learning management systems and then filed a patent infringement suit against Design2Learn, the response of the educational technology community was negative and swift. Stephen Downes discusses why many educators oppose Blackboard's proprietary claims to technologies long considered in…

This paper identifies several areas of database modeling and design that have been problematic for students and even are likely to confuse faculty. Major contributing factors are the lack of clarity and inaccuracies that persist in the presentation of some basic database concepts in textbooks. The paper analyzes the problems and discusses ways to…

While it is often argued that technology could act as a change agent and transform educational practices, individuals, communities, government and society holding their own ideological beliefs limit such a liberalisation of the educational system. To show that the use of educational technology is part of a dialectical struggle this article…

Education research experts Eduventures released a report in February 2007 on where U.S. districts are headed with large system management. "Trends in K-12 Enterprise Management: Are Districts Ready to Cross the Chasm?" provides a detailed assessment of the themes and the trends that are driving the market for K-12 enterprise management systems.…

A microcomputer can generate reports which allow park managers to better schedule crews, equipment and budget. Historical information on spending trends, man-hour distribution, and equipment useage are useful for reports and for justification of requested funds. Various potential uses of the computer data are described. (MT)

Contemporary higher education managers, in Africa, seem to have found themselves in a changed environment, with increased and increasing challenges, to operate and achieve success. Although, there is the existence of diversity in the label and typology as well as in the priorities and emphasis among the higher education systems in Africa, there is…

The authors present the case of one business college's use of project management techniques as tools for accomplishing Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International maintenance of accreditation. Using these techniques provides an efficient and effective method of organizing maintenance efforts. In addition, using…

One of the subjects that undergraduate students learning Object Oriented (OO) design find hard to apply is the construction of class hierarchies in general, and the use of interface classes in particular. The design process requires decomposition and reconstruction of problems in order to model software classes. The common attributes and behaviors…

Although data driven-decision making has been the mantra of school reform for the last 10 years, school leaders benefit from frequent discussions in how to engage teachers in the process. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to apply Reeves' (2004) framework concerning Antecedents of Excellence in creating a school culture that routinely uses…

Little is known about students' perceptions of online enrollment processes. Student satisfaction is part of the assessment required for accreditation, but evidence suggests that college administrators are oriented to retention and graduation rates rather than to consumer perception. The purpose of this descriptive quantitative study was to develop…