Researchers, educators, and policymakers are focusing more on student engagement as the key to addressing low achievement, student boredom and alienation, and high dropout rates (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris 2004). As schools and districts seek to increase engagement, it is important for them to understand how it has been defined and to assess…

A computerized information system was developed from specifications of 40 data elements to provide a database for decision making about problems relating to new admissions standards on a multi-campus, open admissions university. For over 400 entering freshman, multivariate analysis of the data elements and other standard predictors was used to…

A research project underway at the University of Arizona is described, and the usefulness of the national data system of the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) to institutional researchers, as well as some drawbacks of the system, are considered. The need for institutions to have data on enrollment, budgets, and faculty/students…

Examines the implications of incorporating user-centered design within information systems design practices. Highlights include a definition of user-centered design based on human-computer interface; questions asked about users, including outcome, process, and task variables; and three criteria for when to use this approach in information systems…