This paper is a report on the findings of a study conducted on the implementation of a portfolio system at the University of Kentucky. Interviews were conducted with faculty members and university supervisors about the use of a portfolio management tool that had been implemented in the teacher education program. Factors such as small program size…

Two small studies, one an "eye-tracking" study and the other a "remote observation" study, have been conducted to investigate ways to identify two kinds of online learner interactions: users flicking through the web pages in "browsing" action, and users engaging with the content of a page in "learning"…

Electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) is no longer a new term in the area of educational research. It has been widely adopted by various tertiary institutions as a learning and assessment tool in different countries. A major feature of an ePortfolio is that it supports lifelong learning by archiving and showcasing selected artifacts from individual…

Many school business officials have turned to computer equipment leasing. A lease arrangement permits administrators to stretch annual budgets, to appropriate funds, and to easily upgrade or change equipment. Another alternative to high-cost computer purchase is to buy or lease used equipment. (MLF)

Debates the issue of investing in wiring schools for desktop computer networks versus using laptops and wireless networks. Included are cost considerations and the value of technology for learning. Suggestions include using wireless networks for existing schools, hardwiring computers for new construction, and not using computers for elementary…

The Association Supporting Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) is a group of people interested in small college computing issues. It is a blend of people from all over the country who use computers in their teaching, academic support, and administrative support functions. ASCUE has a strong tradition of bringing its members together to pool their…

Attempts to persuade friends and colleagues in the computers and writing community to do more to ensure that the Web pages (especially for classes) are accessible to people with disabilities. Raises this issue as a matter of some urgency in light of the surging interest in multimedia and visual rhetoric represented by this special issue. (SG)

The extent of school information systems (SIS) use, factors promoting successful SIS implementation, and the effects of SIS use were studied in Dutch secondary schools. Findings indicated that SIS use is not of the same intensity for all SIS modules and is not equally distributed across all types of respondents. (AEF)

The need for designing the next generation of web service-based educational systems with the ability of integrating components from different tools and platforms is now recognised as the major challenge in advanced learning technologies. In this paper, we discuss this issue and we present the conceptual design of such environment, referred to as…

Contextualised and ubiquitous learning are relatively new research areas that combine the latest developments in ubiquitous and context aware computing with educational approaches in order to provide structure to more situated and context aware learning. The majority of recent activities in contextualised and ubiquitous learning focus on mobile…

Java is an object-oriented programming language of the Internet. It's popularity lies in its ability to create interactive Web sites across platforms. The most common Java programs are applications and applets, which adhere to a set of conventions that lets them run within a Java-compatible browser. Java is becoming an essential subject matter and…

Discusses the development and evaluation of the Academic Counselling Expert (ACE) system designed to replace the faculty advisor and provide requisite advice to aviation students at San Jose State University (California). This computer-based counselling system was accessed by 65 students (Spring 1996 semester); most students acquired appropriate…

Open Source Software (OSS) has introduced a new dimension in software community. As the development and use of OSS becomes prominent, the question of its integration in education arises. In this paper, the following practices fundamental to projects and processes in software engineering are examined from an OSS perspective: project management;…

Loras College is a technology rich campus with a ubiquitous learning environment and about 1800 laptops in the hands of students, faculty, and staff. With a focus on the incorporation of technology into the curriculum the laptop program has been embraced by the campus since its inception in the fall of 2000. In 2003 a new campus strategic plan…

Sophisticated computerized school information systems (SISs) will have to provide school-based information relevant to the development of policies in areas where schools used to merely follow governmental guidelines. The large-scale research project in England, reported in this article, goes some way toward filling gaps in the knowledge on the…