IT's tough being a digital sign these days. Everyone wants a piece of action. From announcements to advertisements, menus to broadcasts, digital signs provide dynamic messaging tailored to locations and circumstances. With the advent of wayfinding technology, today's digital signs can serve up customized directions around campuses and all of…

Human performance technology (HPT), like other concepts, models, and frameworks that we use to describe the world in which we live and the way we organize ourselves to accomplish valuable activities, is built from paradigms that were fresh and relevant at the time it was conceived and from the fields of study from which it grew. However, when the…

In spite of tough financial times, resourceful school leaders devise ways to overcome challenges and improve education. To do this, they make strategic use of the resources they have. And they also cultivate learning communities. In this article, Elizabeth A. City describes how school leaders can make more strategic use of three essential…

Disclaimer: I have been an active "free" user of LinkedIn for 5.463 years with more than 3000 (1st degree) connections from all over the world. I have no vested interest in LinkedIn other than as a user of the services it provides. Despite the fact that LinkedIn was originally designed as a network for business professionals, not…

Colleges and universities have got a big problem: how to bake a wireless network as good as Mom's. The problem is that enterprise wireless networks "tend to be a little more finicky" than the home ones. While the home devices are plug-and-play, enterprise networks force IT departments to manage client issues such as drivers and settings. It's a…

In the tight budget atmosphere of recent years, schools may have chosen to do without a dean of faculty or, at best, to double- hat another middle manager with this responsibility. This is a mistake. That all private schools do not have a dedicated dean of faculty suggests a lack of emphasis on the very component of the school--the faculty--that…

State education agencies (SEAs) are under fire and face new expectations from all sides. The federal government, state legislatures and governors, and citizens themselves are calling upon the SEA to do "more"--more to improve outcomes for students, more to close the achievement gap, and more to meet the diverse instructional needs of students.…

Special education teachers, especially those that teach students with behavioral/emotional challenges, have high attrition rates stemming from stress, job dissatisfaction, and low motivation. The external factors in the school setting and job contribute to special education teachers' attrition and disengagement. A relationship between motivation…

In a recent issue of "Academe," Stephanie Goodwin and Susanne Morgan point out that faculty members with chronic illness are likely to find current accommodation procedures unhelpful, both because they might choose to remain silent rather than risk the stigma of disclosing a disability and because accommodations often do not meet their…

Internet protocol (IP) network-based cameras and digital video management software are maturing, and many issues that have surrounded them, including bandwidth, data storage, ease of use, and integration are starting to become clearer as the technology continues to evolve. Prices are going down and the number of features is going up. Many school…

The paper considers the extent to which the education sector has embraced performance management and performance-related pay. It contemplates the transfer and adaptation of performance management by the public sector as an audit mechanism for improving the performance, productivity, accountability and transparency of public services. The paper…

Half of servers in higher ed are virtualized. But that number's not high enough for Link Alander, interim vice chancellor and CIO at the Lone Star College System (Texas). He aspires to see 100 percent of the system's infrastructure requirements delivered as IT services from its own virtualized data centers or other cloud-based operators. Back in…

In 2011, "EDUCAUSE" appointed a research panel of IT leaders from nineteen representative member institutions to both identify and prioritize the top IT issues facing their institutions. In two focus group sessions in September and October 2011, the panel members were asked the question: "What is the single-biggest IT-related issue currently…

The members of the working group on National Educational Technology Policy continue to base their formulations around entrenched conceptions of education, retaining the language of teachers, students, curriculum standards, specified objectives and the like. Several of those participating in the panel examining the policy report in an earlier issue…

Distance education and its relationship to emerging computer technologies have together offered many promises to the field of education. In practice however, the combination often false short of what it attempts to accomplish some of the short comings are due to problems with the technology; others have more to do with administration,…