This paper describes the development of a campus wide information system (CWIS) at Metropolitan State College of Denver (MSCD) in Colorado. The paper discusses the background of the college, its computing environment, interactive voice response system, and information technology plan. The CWIS was first implemented on gopher. Gopher was…

Franklin Pierce College (New Hampshire) has established an information technology (IT) major which combines courses from the computer science, graphic communications, and mass communication disciplines to conform more closely to the reality of technology in the late 1990s. Information technology brings together tools from these disciplines for the…

Learning communities are collections of autonomous, independent individuals who are bound together by natural will and a set of shared ideas and ideals, and who are engaged by influencing each other within a learning process. This definition depends on a new concept of community, technology, and learning, in which relationships occur via many…

Internet job banks have grown into a huge, global employment exchange. More than 1 million job openings are now advertised on 5,000 Internet sites. Employers can fill jobs faster and at less expense; job seekers can circulate resumes cost-free to employers across the country. Employment tools for job-seekers range from job listings to career…

This document describes the accomplishments of the Iowa Distance Education Alliance (IDEA). The Iowa Distance Education Alliance (IDEA) is a partnership involving educational institutions across Iowa that received funding from the federal Star Schools Program to demonstrate the use of the Iowa Communication Network's (ICN) fiber optic technology…

To make effective use of a two-way interactive distance education system, classroom design should be a primary consideration. A properly designed classroom will enhance content objectives and increase acceptance of this type of instructional delivery. This paper describes key considerations for optimal design. Construction considerations include…

The Communication Tech and Policy section of the Proceedings contains the following 14 papers: "Interactivity Reexamined: An Analysis of Business Web Sites" (Louisa Ha and E. Lincoln James); "Newspaper Size as a Factor in Use of Computer-Assisted Reporting" (Bruce Garrison); "The Rural-Urban Gap in Community Newspaper…

This paper critically analyzes problems and issues related to learning with open, technology-based environments. Theoretical assumptions that underlie learning in this type of environment are clarified in the first section. The second section addresses imitations in adaptive capabilities of technology, including: the learner relies upon feedback…

This essay describes the struggle to maintain access to significant research and scholarship at a time when both the volume and price of information have increased nearly three-fold in the last decade. The discussion, which is derived from a roundtable of presidents, chief academic officers, university librarians, and policy and legal experts,…

Over the past seven years, Northern Arizona University (NAU) has implemented NAUnet, a professional-broadcast-quality, two-way audio, two-way video instructional television (IITV) system. The IITV system provides a face-to-face environment where students and faculty can see and hear each other and engage in discussion. Recently, several courses…

The benefits of Internet activities for teaching of foreign languages, for example the use of e-mail as a non-threatening environment for language output, and using the Web to integrate language and culture, have become apparent in the last few years. This paper describes WebCT as a user-friendly integrated Internet environment for the teaching of…

A survey was conducted of 205 information systems departments to determine information about existing distance education programs, plans for future distance education programs, faculty selection and training, and advantages and disadvantages of distance education. Of the questionnaires returned by 46 information systems departments, only 12 were…

This publication describes some of the key technologies of distance education in the context of teacher education at Armstrong Atlantic State University, Georgia. The technologies permit college-to-school and school-to-school links, cross-cultural communication, and other expanded forms of communication. Section 1 examines distance education…

This research-based professional development course is designed by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory to offer participants ways to connect technology with teaching and learning, and to examine ways to apply technology innovations to instruction and to improving teaching and learning. In the six, 2-hour sessions, participants (who…

The aims of this research were to: investigate teachers' needs for knowledge and skills in relation to the effective use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and suggest ways of enhancing future design and delivery of self- and staff-development in order to increase and improve the level of ICT use in Scottish schools. First, a…