The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has several comments about technology and education, perhaps the most relevant being this one
The San Francisco Chronicle had an article December 1, 1997 about a plan by Cal State University to form a company with 4 corporate partners to install educational infrastructure.
The U.S. National Science Foundation has some guidelines on accessibilty of Web documents for those who are hearing/vision impaired.
David F. Noble has a paper called Digital Diploma Mills which raises some questions about this pell-mell rush to adopt information technology in teaching. Whether you agree or disagree, he makes some interesting points.
The Economist had a series of articles on the Future of Universities that make for interesting reading.
The NODE runs free interactive forums including one on The Copyright Conundrum. These forums are moderated and well focussed and, in addition to the discussions, have many valuable links on the topic under discussion. Another forum that is currently running is on Technology & College Culture. There is an upcoming forum on Tenure and Technology which should also be interesting. Another forum starting December 1 is Taking it to the Web: Putting Your Course Online.
There is a page of Best Practice in web course delivery from the Special Needs Opportunity Window project.
The Acadia Advantage is one of the leading efforts to integrate information technology into the curriculum in a pervasive way. They have several pages describing their work, including a description of the Introductory Physics course.
Why Universities Need Technology Strategies was a talk by Sir John Daniel (also published in the July/August 1997 Change magazine).
Opening remarks on slowness and being there from the AAHE TTLR sessions, mid-July/1997.
A discussion on alternative computer spaces.
Responses from an inquiry into institutional technology planning have been put in a web page. It includes links to Information/Instructional Technology reports from U.C.Berkeley:Instructional/Information, Stanford, U.C.Davis, U Wisconson (and here), California State University, M.I.T. (and here), Columbia, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
The AAHE has a process to aid thinking about technology issues. Here is the first stage of questions. This is a link to more related pages.
What is the role of ``Being There'' in education?
Here is a proposal to create a Virtual Computing School in collaboration with ACM, the main international computing society. Here is also work on a Standard for Educational Technology
Four years ago Peterson's "Distance Learning" guide counted 93 "cyberschools" where students could earn degrees without setting foot on campus. In 1997, the list had grown to 762. In "I Got My Degree Through E-Mail" [June 16, 1997 issue of FORBES], Lisa Gubernick and Ashlea Ebeling chart the rise of virtual colleges and summarize the reasons why the number of students who choose non-traditional paths to getting an education is increasing dramatically. The authors present viewpoints ranging from economists who hail cyberschools as the best solution for college education, to advocates for the superiority of in-residence programs. A list of Forbes' top 20 cyber-universities, along with Web links, is included in the article. The article is available online.
There is an interesting discussion (with some actual results) on the use of Interactive Engagement in Physics.
Equal Access to Software and Information is an American group working
to help the disabled in education. They recently pointed out that:
the latest decisions by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) make it clear
that colleges and universities are legally bound to provide equal
access to the web and to that institution's information. This means
that just as you have to have ramps for wheelchairs, you need web
design that enables access for the print disabled. While this may only
be a legal issue for American institutions, obviously
it is something we should be taking into account. Here is a link to info on some recent OCR
cases (although it's not all laid out very readably).
EASI also has begun an online workshop
series to help designers create more accessible web pages.
The Canadian Network for New Media Learning (CNNML), supported by the Office of Learning Technologies and Industry Canada, is an interprovincial, producer-run cooperative created for the purposes of marketing and distributing Canadian learnware (computer-based training and education materials).
Asynchronous Learning Networks is an eight-month old site that everyone involved in distance education should find interesting. The project is funded by a grant from the Sloan Foundation to Dr. John Bourne, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt University, and is designed to support research devoted to asynchronous learning networks.
Schoolhouse
Tech is a three part online dialog on high-tech education
published in the electronic magazine FEED
The debate begins with projections of what the panelists think
constitutes an ideal digital school. Part two tackles the question of
how schools can make the most of new technologies and presents several
examples of projects that are attempting to integrate technology into
schools. The final part explores the value of edutainment-style
software and the question of what well-designed software can do better
than a teacher. Readers are encouraged to add their own comments and
converse with the panelists in an online discussion forum.
Teaching and Learning on the WWW is a database of web based courses maintained by Alan Levine of Maricopa Comm. Coll. System.
The May 1993 Communications of the ACM was a special issue on Technology in Education. The articles themselves are worth reading, but here is a review of Technology in education (most articles). There is a separate review of the article Reading and writing in the 21st century in the same issue.
Technology Tools for Today's Campuses is a vast collection of comments, experiences and technologies (web, email, MUDs, MOOs, presentation software, etc.) on delivering courses in language, music, science, math, and social sciences, among others. This was sponsored by Microsoft and produced in collaboration with On the Horizon at the University of North Carolina.
Educational Uses for Information/Instructional Technology is a significant review of resources and approaches that can improve teaching and learning, written by Dorothy Frayer of Duquesne University.
Grace Johnson-Page (Marietta College, Ohio) identified and interviewed a collection of liberal arts college faculty using information technology in the hopes that their stories would "inform and ignite a spark in those faculty interested in using computers but not sure how or where to begin." Rethinking Teaching and Learning: A Reformation of Liberal Arts Education With Information Technology
In Top-Down Meets Bottom-Up: Making Ends Meet: A Faculty Perspective on Computing & Scholarship (EDUCOM REVIEW, vol. 32, no. 3, May/June 1997, pp. 38-43), James Noblitt, IAT Academic Chair, explores the relationship between administrators (the "top-downs") and faculty (the "bottom-ups") in the use of information technology for teaching and research. Both points of view have validity, and both must reconcile their differences to assure success in the institution. To advance this cause, Noblitt provides a set of questions for bottom-up innovators who are trying to gain administrative support for technology solutions, and he gives advice to top-down people to help them open a dialogue with their faculty.
COMPUTERWORLD's Leadership Series is a monthly publication on management trends, case studies of leading-edge organizations, and new ways of directing technology in the workplace. Although its declared audience is senior-level IS management in the private sector, the issues are also useful for anyone involved in leading the technology advances in educational institutions.
Privacy and the Handling of Student Information in the Electronic Networked Environments of Colleges and Universities. This white paper is the work of a task force created by CAUSE in cooperation with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. The paper identifies the challenges and opportunities of technology advances, presents a set of primary principles that underlie fair information practices, and recommends a process whereby a full spectrum of campus constituencies can be involved in discussions that will lead to a better understanding of campus culture and values.