A microarray experiment is presented that, in six laboratory sessions, takes undergraduate students from the tissue sample right through to data analysis. The model chosen, the murine erythroleukemia cell line, can be easily cultured in sufficient quantities for class use. Large changes in gene expression can be induced in these cells by…

The importance and attention given to information systems are relatively new phenomena in the history of higher education. This chapter documents the ascendancy of information systems in the scheme of institutional priorities and considers the strengths and weaknesses associated with vended and homegrown systems.

Academic libraries today are complex institutions with multiple roles and a host of related operations and services developed over the years. Yet their fundamental purpose has remained the same: to provide access to trustworthy, authoritative knowledge. Consequently, academic libraries--along with their private and governmental counterparts--have…

This author, in a Leadership column published earlier in EDUCAUSE Review (2002), urged institutional and IT leaders to "move beyond the rhetoric." The earlier article addressed the rapidly changing atmosphere in which higher education IT was evolving and the need to align the IT plan with the strategic direction of the institution in order to…

The use of computers within the school curriculum raises critical pedagogical issues. The Maddux (1991) classification of educational computer applications as Type I or Type II remains apposite. Type I applications simply reinforce existing teacher-learner paradigms, whereas Type II applications of ICT (Information and Communications Technology:…

The phenomenal growth achieved by the Indian IT industry in the last decade has become a global success story. Fuelled by the thousands of engineering graduate and postgraduate students emerging from the higher technical education system, it is on the verge of significant change. This paper examines the issues facing the Indian IT industry and…

This article reports on issues relevant for teachers and instructional designers anticipating using information and communication technologies (ICTs) in higher education, particularly those wishing to adopt a flexible learning approach aimed at improving the quality of the student experience. The data that are reported on span more than five…

At the beginning of a series of ICT (information and communication technology) initiatives in Scottish schools by the Scottish Executive and again, 2 years later, a survey of teachers and pupils provided evidence of the impact that these strategic investments had made on the classroom. The findings indicate that while there are innovative and…

Some aspects of biology, for example the Hardy-Weinberg simulation of population genetics or modelling heat flow in lizards, have an undeniable mathematical basis. Students can find the level of mathematical skill required to deal with such concepts to be an insurmountable hurdle to understanding. If not used effectively, spreadsheet models…

This article reports a study of the learning environments in computer networked classrooms. The study is unique in that it involved an evaluation of both the physical and psychosocial classroom environments in these computerised settings through the use of a combination of questionnaires and ergonomic evaluations. The study involved administering…

This paper examines the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its relation to the development of human capital in Malaysia as a country undergoing transformation into an ICT-driven and knowledge-based society. Education and training, being the key variable of human capital, is examined in terms of the government…

Objective: To lead a brief training session over a distance-learning network. Type of speech: Informative. Point value: 20% of course grade. Requirements: (a) References: Not specified; (b) Length: 15 minutes; (c) Visual aid: Yes; (d) Outline: No; (e) Prerequisite reading: Chapters 12-16, 18 (Bailey, 2002); (f) Additional requirements: None. This…

Concomitant with the many initiatives concerned with ICT curriculum integration are requirements for measurement of the student outcomes of that integration, in keeping with recent education priorities that emphasize outcomes and accountability. However researching and measuring the impact of ICT initiatives has been found to be a significant…

Given the current forms of economic production and corporate markets, the liberating and democratic potential of digital information is counteracted by the concentration of media ownership, as well as by policy, legislation, and the development of proprietary forms of technology. The notion of "intellectual property" produces artificial scarcity…

This article addresses issues central to the task of Internet governance and, especially, to the management of the Internet's core resources. Early conceptions of the Internet as a virtual space that required no regulation resisted initial governance activity. More recently, work by people like Lawrence Lessig has clarified the complex…