Companies have developed a dizzying array of new software tools designed to do everything from assessing and monitoring students' progress to supporting a blended-learning environment to supplying entire curricula, complete with online activities and homework assignments. Educators seem to have developed a taste for these new digital tools,…

Students' access to smartphones continues to grow. Use of tablets and e-readers continues to grow in the classroom. Whenever a large purchase of mobile devices is made for education, the very next question asked is, "Now what?" It is the planning for and using of the devices as part of an overall approach to the curriculum, locally, that…

Japan's postwar research and development (R&D) efforts have passed through several phases to bring the nation to what may be called "relative parity" with the United States. This document examines the characteristics of Japanese and U.S. R&D efforts. Topics compared include: national science resource patterns; science and…

A pilot survey of institutional research and planning (IR/P) functions at 78 U.S. colleges and universities yielded data on common and diverse tasks, products, and services; broad staffing and related operating expense requirements for these tasks, products, and services; and specific staff "person days" required to perform/achieve each…

A three-step plan for colleges and universities to use in financing technology is presented: (1) establishing an effective asset management program; (2) developing a life-cycle budget process that annualizes total technology costs into streams of longer-term perpetuities; (3) identifying and matching funding sources to meet total annual costs.…

Limited financial resources of colleges and universities make it more important than ever to develop a coordinated, institution-wide process to link academic priorities and expenditures with the technological infrastructure necessary to support objectives. Trade-offs must be made across the institution rather than simply within the traditional…

A statewide survey of the technology needs of 104 children with physical disabilities aged 0-5 years was conducted in Arkansas as a component of the grant application process of Public Law 100-407 (the Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988). The survey analyzed satisfaction with assistive devices technology…

This report presents a plan for improving higher education within Virginia focusing on controlling costs, improving educational quality, and increasing productivity. The report's three sections: (1) review the price higher education has paid in absorbing massive budgetary reductions and discuss Virginia's current standing among the states in…

The Commission to Study the Future of Community Colleges in Kentucky was established in 1988 to review the accomplishments of the Kentucky Community College System (KCCS) and to provide direction for the KCCS towards the year 2000. Developed as part of a collection of reports on the KCCS for use by the Commission in its work, this report provides…

This paper presents a complex, hybrid, method of cost analysis of online courses, which incorporates data on expenditures; student/course enrollment; departmental consumption/contribution; space utilization/opportunity costs; direct non-personnel costs; computing support; faculty/staff workload; administrative overhead at the department, dean, and…

The strategic indicators defined in this book, which builds on two earlier studies published by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, are intended to enable institutions to compare their position in key strategic areas with their peer institutions. Data for more than 100 key indicators was collected from nearly 1,000…