The annual Campus Technology Innovators awards recognize higher education institutions that take true initiative--even out-and-out risk--to better serve the campus community via technology. These top-notch university administrators, faculty, and staff demonstrate something more than a "job well done"; their vision and leadership have…

Video-heavy distance learning programs can put a strain on the campus network. This article describes how three institutions are managing bandwidth to ensure high-quality service for eLearning students.

Mary Jo Garcia Biggs never really considered herself much of a technophile. Sure, the assistant professor at Texas State University-San Marcos knew her way around a web page, but for years, she was painfully aware of all of the technologies she didn't know much about. More times than not, the limitations of her knowledge frustrated the heck out of…

When it comes to getting the most out of IT, the majority of two-year schools face very real challenges. For starters, community college budgets are generally smaller than those of most four-year schools. Then, of course, there's the issue of refresh: Because students come and go every two years, there's the expectation that schools will…

Multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) are gaining momentum as the latest and greatest learning tool in the world of education technology. How does one get started with them? How do they work? This article shares 13 secrets from immersive education experts and educators on how to have success in implementing these new tools and technologies on…

Everyone seems to have a different definition for "Web 2.0," but most people agree the phrase describes a second generation of web-based communities and hosted services that aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users. Technically speaking, these new technologies include blogs, wikis, folksonomies…

Building access control (BAC)--a catchall phrase to describe the systems that control access to facilities across campus--has traditionally been handled with remarkably low-tech solutions: (1) manual locks; (2) electronic locks; and (3) ID cards with magnetic strips. Recent improvements have included smart cards and keyless solutions that make use…

In many classrooms, movies are a special occasion--a tool that creative teachers intersperse with regular lessons to supplement the everyday curriculum and make learning fun. At the nine school districts served by the Monroe 2-Orleans Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in Spencerport, New York, movies are becoming part of the…

In the early days of computer technology, few, if any, school districts had chief information officers (CIOs). Information Technology (IT) was handled by computer or technology coordinators, many of whom were classroom teachers with passing interests in computers and associated high-tech gadgets and gizmos. As districts began embracing CIOs, the…

Computers on wheels, or COWs, combine the wireless technology of today with the audio/visual carts of yesteryear for an entirely new spin on mobility. Increasingly used by districts with laptop computing initiatives, COWs are among the hottest high-tech sellers in schools today, according to market research firm Quality Education Data. In this…

Advocates of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) say it saves money on long distance calls by sending them over the Internet, improves communication by eliminating the Private Branch Exchange (PBX), and offers a host of neat features such as call forwarding, e-mail accessible voicemail, and more. When it comes to measuring the dollars-and-cents…

True excellence in technology implementation emerges when IT, administrative, and academic leaders link IT to mission-critical institutional objectives, investing in hardware and software to serve an explicit purpose and a distinct population of users. This article illustrates that at public institutions of higher education in New Hampshire as…