Few professors teaching at community colleges today expect students to learn every nuance of every technological device they are likely to encounter throughout the course of their careers. Educators can expose students to enough of a base so that when the technology does evolve--and it will--they have the confidence and ability to adapt and…

Various elementary schools and middle schools across the U.S. have purchased one or more mobile laboratories. Although the wireless labs have provided more classroom computing, teachers and technology aides still have mixed views about their cost-benefit ratio. This is because the proliferation of viruses and spyware has dramatically increased…

Designed to help educators and policymakers consider the effective use of currently-evolving distance learning technologies, this policy brief examines: (1) the need for distance learning; (2) the most promising combinations of technologies (two-way television, one-way television with audio return, and audiographics); (3) the cost-effectiveness of…

Distance education (DE) is no longer an option that institutions of higher education might consider, but has become a reality that must be intelligently constructed and managed with dwindling resources. In California, DE has been recommended as a solution to deal with the state's postsecondary financial crisis. As the University of California and…

As the fifth largest school district in California, Santa Ana Unified School District faces the challenge of providing technology access to its more than 63,000 students and over 6,000 certificated and classified staff members. This article describes how the district found the solution in wireless computing, which is now being used as a highly…

A follow-up to the 1979 report, Using Instructional Media beyond Campus, this report describes a plan for making statewide use of available media for postsecondary education in California. The first of three sections provides a basic inventory of California's telecommunications resources, focusing on electronic means of transmitting information…

Reports results of a survey of California public schools that was conducted to determine their educational technology applications. Highlights include types of equipment used, including computers, video, and audiovisual; telecommunication facilities; curriculum areas using technology; student use of computer software programs; staff development;…

This paper examines how technology was used to enhance instruction in schools that are viewed as "promising" in their technology use by individuals in state education agencies. Four elementary, three middle and two high schools from Arizona, California and Nevada were examined. Extensive document review and telephone interviews were…