In order to help students make well-informed choices, reliable college ranking systems with comparable information about higher education institutions worldwide have been welcomed by many students. Because traditional college rankings had many methodological problems, a new type of user-based ranking, called "personalized college…

Mobile technology is a favorite discussion topic among senior IT leaders and higher education administrators. Mobile is the future for content delivery. Colleges and universities need to establish a strategy now and make the decisions necessary to take advantage of this communication opportunity. In this article, the author recommends making…

This article summarises research carried out between 2006 and 2008 by IPTS (Institution for Prospective Technological Studies) in collaboration with a consortium of experts from 10 member states, led by ICEGEC. The project gathered information on eLearning developments to assess drivers and barriers and to suggest implications for policy and…

This article focuses on the potential of free tools, particularly inquiry tools for influencing participation in twenty-first-century learning in science, as well as influencing the development of communities around tools. Two examples are presented: one on the development of an open source tool for structured inquiry learning that can bridge the…

Like many universities worldwide, the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa has joined the open educational resources (OER) movement, making a selection of teaching and learning materials available through its OER directory, UCT OpenContent. However, persuading and then supporting busy academics to share their teaching materials as OER…

As much as it is eagerly anticipated, freshman year is often a time of confusion, disorientation, and even alienation for many students. One in four college freshmen will drop out before completing sophomore year. The reasons for this high level of withdrawal vary, but a report suggests that new students often feel overwhelmed and unprepared for…

This article presents an overview of the e-learning in India. It describes the historical developments of e-learning and identifies major stakeholders and institutions that have initiated e-learning programs after the creation of the National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development constituted by the Prime Minister of India…

Describes efforts at the University of South Florida at Tampa and the University of Maryland--the Educational Outreach and eDorm projects, respectively--to use distance learning and videoconferencing to reach new markets, meet financial needs, reach new student groups, and support staff projects. (EV)

Describes the role of information technology (IT) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explaining that attention to the unique characteristics of an MIT education and incentives for sustainable change are central to its IT efforts. Discusses various IT initiatives, such as Project Athena, provision on campus, international efforts, and…

Describes the two very different support and training models employed by the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary in successfully confronting information technology challenges. (EV)

Highlights and provides information about the grant awarded to Bismarck State College, Bismarck, North Dakota by the National Science Foundation (NSF). (ASK)

Draws on the experience of Northern Michigan University's implementation of a mandatory laptop policy and offers practical guidelines for integration of technology in the classroom. Discusses a model with three components--technology, teamwork, and teaching--that helped faculty migrate to a new, more interactive teaching paradigm. (EV)

Describes how the College of Education at the University of Kentucky is implementing Internet communications training for pre-service teachers and for teacher professional development programs. (RS)

The Comprehensive Unified Physics Learning Environment (CUPLE) is a project that brings together innovative uses of the computer for physics teaching into a single, multi-purpose learning environment. The status of college-level introductory physics teaching is reviewed. In these courses, physics instructors have been forced to be satisfied with…

Discusses 30 institutions participating in a program exploring how large-enrollment introductory courses can be redesigned using technology to extend access to a new population of students without trading quality for cost savings. (EV)