Provides an overview of computers in education: early computers and computer languages, computer-assisted instruction, micro worlds, microcomputers, intelligent tutors, intelligent tools, symbol systems, computer graphics, virtual reality, distance education via the Internet, distance mentoring, learning-on-demand, organizational learning via…

Describes Project TFA (Telecommunications For All), a 3-year research and demonstration project designed to bring modern text telecommunications technology into five classrooms of residential and day schools for deaf children. The project provided computers, software, online services, fax machines, advanced text telephones (TTY's), telephone…

Summarizes a paper prepared for the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) on the evolution of distance learning which begins by describing technological, the demographic, economic, political, and pedagogical forces involved. A new field is proposed called technology-mediated interactive learning (TMIL), which synthesizes distance learning,…

Discussion of online databases and their hardware and software requirements, interactive search techniques, and costs focuses on information services of interest to higher education. Bibliographic, full-text, and online conferencing databases are described, menu-driven and command-driven information systems are explained, and modems are discussed.…

Lists articles and books published in 1987. Selects the following headings: administration, aeronautical, architectural, CAD/CAM, civil, computers, curriculum, electrical/electronics, industrial, industry/government/employers, instructional technology, laboratories, liberal studies, manufacturing, mechanical, minorities, research, robotics,…

Provides an overview of electronic mail in libraries. Topics discussed include general business applications; interlibrary loan; acquisition and claims systems; document delivery; complete text journal databases; reference requests and answers; obstacles to electronic mail usage; telecommunications; cost factors; and the impact of voice mail and…

Discusses current trends that are predicted to intensify and to change library operations and the way society uses information technology. Trends discussed include focus on user needs; direct user access of electronic information; the obsolescence of first and second generation systems; a contention between optical products and online access; and…

Describes a project that aims at providing information retrieval services in which the user, connected to a network node, will be able to access databases in host information centers without the need to re-establish connections when changing databases. The current status of the project and planned network services are discussed. (eight references)…

Advancements in computer technology are making great changes in the way scholars go about their research, affecting access to information, control over information, the nature of inputs and outputs, costs, library staffing and services, and aspects of the character of the research itself. (MSE)

Identifies and discusses 10 overly optimistic claims for the use of computers in the classroom, and makes recommendations concerning each claim. Highlights include computer labs versus curriculum integration; the development of hardware versus software; the values of computer literacy; computer networking; computer education training; the use of…

Discusses information technology and its effects on developmental psychology and children's education. Topics discussed include a theory of child-computer interaction (CCI); programing; communication and computers, including electronic mail; cognitive science; artificial intelligence; modeling the user-system interaction; and the future of…

Describes Janet (the Joint Academic Network), a wide area network linking computers and users in the British academic community. Topics discussed include interactive working; file transfer; electronic mail; job transfer; and online access to library catalogs, bibliographic and numeric databases, and commercial online hosts in Great Britain or…

Varied ways in which colleges and universities are using the Internet to present their offerings to both their own communities and the public as well as to gain access to information is examined. Applications include presentation of institutional information, community data, media relations, electronic mail, internal communication, and…

Examines the need for pre- and inservice training programs to educate teachers about educational technology and teaching methods. Describes the use of telecommunications and word processing in a college course and assesses student perceptions of using technology. Course evaluations found that 204 of 213 students did not report any negative…

Reports on a study of how 13 chief executives in the Canadian publishing and telecommunications industries scan their environments for information and use it in decision making. Critical incidents of information use were analyzed according to their environmental sectors, information sources, and their use in decision making. (Contains 27…