In This Issue Current Issue Archives

March, 2008

The Edutech Report - March, 2008 - Full Issue PDF
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The State of Library and Computer Technology Fusion
By Thomas Warger
The common ground for library and computer technology collaboration exists in well-established professional organizations such as the Coalition for Networked Information and the Council on Library and Information Resources. Publications such as D-Lib Magazine and the Internet Scout Report are exemplars of information technology as a fusion of the library and computer worlds. In the organization of institutional support services, there is a steady trend among four-year colleges to merge computer support groups with libraries. Only a few universities have taken this path. Community colleges have generally not picked up on this movement.

Newsbriefs
EDUCAUSE Proposes New Approach to Broadband Development; 2008 Horizon Report Profiles Six Key Emerging Technologies

Online Resources: The Challenges of Discovery, Evaluation, Documentation, and Preservation
By Thomas Warger
The fastest-changing aspect of education today is the massive flow of online resources into curriculum. Methods of instruction have changed less dramatically than have the many sources and types of information in use in courses across the curriculum. The increased number and variety of materials in play result in part from faculty initiative, but also from student resourcefulness.

Beyond Command and Control: The CIO as the Ultimate Insider
By Thomas Warger
Everyone expects the chief information officer to be firmly in control of things. For most people, information technology is still something to be kept at a distance, taken for granted when it is working but a source of anxiety at the first hiccup. The CIO is the primary underwriter of the “five nines”— the 99.999 percent reliability standard that originated with the telephone dial tone. The game, in this view, is all about control: budget, personnel, technology, vision, vendors, projects.… Nothing can be allowed to go wrong.

Quotes of the Month
Online learning usability; Rate of change

Higher Education’s Stake in Public Access to the Internet
By Thomas Warger
While colleges and universities have largely addressed their own need for campus network access, they have a significant interest in the continued growth of public access. Their future students need to participate in information technology to prepare for higher education. Recruitment of students increasingly takes place via the network. Network-delivered education itself is growing in size and importance for institutions of higher education and is probably vital to the future expansion of educational opportunity. These institutions are also embedded in communities where their faculty and staff expect a high quality of life, including access to the best in modern communications capability.

Edutech Responds
IT as a Helpful Consultant; ERP Installation Friction; Color Printing Policies