With the increasing complexity of technology and large quantities of data in our digital age, learning and training has become a major cost of employers. Employee competence depends more and more on how quickly one can acquire new knowledge and solve problems to meet pressing deadlines. This paper presents a practical method to use REU (Research…

The System for Program Information in Continuing Education (SPICE), an information system being implemented at The University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada), was designed to facilitate the collection, manipulation, and reporting of evaluative data from continuing education program participants. The objectives of the system include the following: to…

The exchange of comparable data among peer institutions is discussed as an effective means of providing institutional research data and promoting interinstitutional communication and cooperation. Principles and procedures that will lead to faster, smoother, and less expensive data exchange are explained. The Southern University Teaching Load Data…

This study of the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on the academic achievement of educationally disadvantaged students in grades 2 through 8 in four urban schools tested three hypotheses: (1) supplementary CAI programs are significantly more effective than non-CAI supplementary instruction approaches for disadvantaged students; (2)…

The Educational Quality Indicators (EQI) initiative was a collaboration between Alberta Education (Alberta, Canada) and 12 school jurisdictions to develop and implement indicator systems to measure the success of the educational enterprise. Ten concurrent collaborative projects were conducted between 1989 and 1992 to develop indicator systems for…

A classification and taxonomy are used to analyze responses from systems analysts in real-world situations. Systems analysts were given a questionnaire in attempt to: (1) determine whether requirements descriptor terms are created and used in real world situations so that they might classify domain processes and objects; (2) if terms are used, try…

This paper reports on a transaction log analysis of 51,473 queries from 18,113 users of Excite, a major World Wide Web search engine. Approximately 2,500 of these queries were from the use of relevance feedback. Given the high level of research activity and historical success of relevance feedback in assisting users in locating relevant…

User perception of data importance and the economic feasibility of hardware and storage devices will determine the future direction of online systems. A retrieval system's functions are ultimately dictated by database design. Early online sytems were designed for bibliographic information limited to citations only using sequential files. When…

Proceedings from the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers that pertain to planning and management techniques, and systems development are summarized. The names and addresses of conference participants are included. (SF)

The study described in this paper produced a comprehensive model for the design of micro- or minicomputer systems containing concepts and practices that educational administrators can use for the successful design of school district computer systems. This report focuses on the methodology used to build the model, which included the following…

An automated management information system was developed for planning and scheduling unit training in a U.S. Army infantry division. The primary goal of the project was to test the feasibility of the concept for a computer-based management information system. Specific objectives were to integrate information on personnel, training, and logistics…

While university researchers have long made use of the complex research-oriented applications of the computer and have discussed its utilization in the instructional process, in the early stages of computer use in higher education, two-year colleges made little or no use of its advanced research capabilities, and limited its use to business and…

Reported on is an allocation mechanism that combines the decentralized efficiency and incentive features of a market system with the responsiveness of the centralized allocation structure to the overall goals of the university. In this system, decentralized "management centers" are automatically allocated only those income and expense items they…

A Personnel Utilization System has been designed at Broward Community College, which combines payroll, personnel, course, and function information in order to determine the actual duties performed by personnel for the amount of remuneration received. Objectives of the system are (1) to define the tasks being performed by faculty, staff, and…

This handbook for institutional researchers focuses on describing methods and techniques for conducting and merging external and internal analyses in order to produce an expanded vision of alternative future environments. Such vision is needed for the formulation of strategic long-range plans. Section 1 begins with a discussion of how an internal…