Purpose: In today's educational landscape, technology has become an undeniable force in shaping pedagogical approaches and even the definition of learning itself. But this path contains many obstacles. Within the higher education ecosystem, the digital divide -- the disparity in access and use of technology -- is proving to be a significant…

Opportunities in education are lacking in many parts of the developed nations and are missing in most parts of the developing nations. This is, in significant part, due to shortages of classroom instructional resources such as quality teaching staff, hardware and software. Distance education (DE) has proved to be a successful teaching approach and…

Too often, organizations make the mistake of treating malware infections as a series of independent occurrences. Each time a malicious program is discovered, IT simply cleans up or rebuilds the affected host, and then moves on with routine operational tasks. Yet, this approach doesn't allow the institution to keep up with the increasingly…

In this era of political rancor when everything is a zero-sum game, it is refreshing to think that two parties could actually come together to create a win-win situation. That is exactly what is happening, though, as a number of universities take on the role of application service provider (ASP) for smaller schools. It is not all confetti and…

As higher education budgets tighten in the ongoing recession, colleges and universities have found themselves questioning, lengthening, and even eliminating tech refresh cycles. Yet how deep an institution cuts into its refresh program can compromise its ability to provide an up-to-date and competitive computing environment for students and a…

Most UK universities can trace their current management information systems back to significant investments made in the 1990s, largely fuelled by concerns about the millenium bug and a change from character interfaces to graphical user interfaces following the introduction of the personal computer. It was during this period that institutions also…

It is proposed to establish an Integrated Distance Education System in India by designing modern technology based information communication network, connecting all its ODL (Open and Distance Learning) institutions to the headquarters of the ODL system in India. The principle roles to be performed by such a system have been discussed; according to…

The concept of today's cloud computing may date back to 1961, when John McCarthy, retired Stanford professor and Turing Award winner, delivered a speech at MIT's Centennial. In that speech, he predicted that in the future, computing would become a "public utility." Yet for colleges and universities, the recent growth of pervasive, very high speed…

Current technology enables schools to provide remote or virtual computing labs that can be implemented in multiple ways ranging from remote access to banks of dedicated workstations to sophisticated access to large-scale servers hosting virtualized workstations. This paper reports on the implementation of a specific lab using remote access to…

Network externalities or alternatively termed network effects are pervasive in computer software markets. While software vendors consider pricing strategies, they must also take into account the impact of network externalities on their sales. My main interest in this research is to describe a firm's strategies and behaviors in the presence of…

Discusses computer networking and the cost effectiveness of decentralization, including local area networks. A planned experiment with a centralized approach to the operation and management of file servers at the University of South Carolina is described that hopes to realize cost savings and the avoidance of staffing problems. (Contains four…

Presents selection and design considerations to help libraries make informed decisions about hardware configurations of CD-ROM systems. Highlights include CD-ROM configurations, including single drive workstations, daisychains, and jukeboxes; network configurations, including remote access; microcomputer features; CD-ROM drive selection; and…

Discusses changes and improvements in the integrated services digital network (ISDN) that have caused ISDN to reemerge as a viable, cost-effective technology for use in home and office workstations. Reviews changes in demand, standards, availability, ease of use, and cost, and displays a diagram of a typical ISDN terminal adapter setup. (JMV)

The technology team in a suburban Cleveland (Ohio) school district saved thousands with do-it-yourself wiring work in four schools and the district office and kindergarten building. Classrooms, labs, and libraries have been wired, and selected areas in each facility are now being connected to the Internet. (MLF)

The commoditization of low-cost hardware has enabled even modest-sized laboratories and research projects to own their own "supercomputers." The authors argue that this local solution undermines rather than amplifies the research potential of scholars. CIOs, provosts, and research technologists should consider carefully an overall…