Explores issues arising from the massive social changes that will flow from the recently emerged information age to define a new approach to systems design. This approach will allow the creation of a better future while enhancing human performance, adding value to organizations, and creating just and ethical systems. (Contains 32 references.) (KRN)

This paper provides an analysis of approaches to quality assurance and of the management of quality in general management literature and considers its application to public education systems. Key components of a fully integrated approach to quality assurance and quality management for school systems are listed. (SLD)

Presents the perspectives of a parent and a pediatrician on managed health care for children. The parent's experience in obtaining care for her disabled child demonstrates many pitfalls in the system. The pediatrician stresses that advocacy for child health should promote child health through managed care, rather than protect children from managed…

Presents the main ingredients for successful computer-systems administration. Discusses training and ongoing support, change management for system upgrades, developing a problem-reporting form and keeping the documentation history, managing technical support, and having a disaster-recovery plan. (AEF)

Describes a two-year program using the characteristics of ecology as a framework for inquiry and learning. Discusses the framework as a model for the biological, social, political, historical, and cultural systems that make up the content of the grade 9-10 curriculum. (CCM)

To be useful for management decision making, the college or university's cost accounting system must capture and measure improvements. Activity-based costing (ABC), which determines more accurately the full costs of services and products, tracks improvements and should proceed alongside reengineering of institutional accounting. Guidelines are…

Focuses on two mental activities--reflection and metaphor--that can be used with communication to facilitate changes in an educational system. Discusses two contexts in which they are being used: (1) in individual thinking and writing; and (2) as part of a facilitated group activity. (AEF)

Evaluated nine diverse HIV/AIDS training programs to determine the degree to which programs produced changes in the way that health care systems delivered HIV/AIDS care. More than half the 218 trainees interviewed gave at least one example of a systems change. (SLD)

Discussion of user-relevance judgments in information retrieval focuses on findings from four separate studies of relevance judgments by 55 users conducting their initial online search on a particular information problem. Highlights include a theoretical framework, models of relevance, and implications for information-retrieval system design and…

Purpose--The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a learning organisation can be created within the framework of the family SME in Ireland. Design/methodology/approach--No comprehensive list of independent family businesses in Ireland was available. To overcome this problem a pragmatic approach was taken in the construction of a sampling…

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.

Implementation of information systems has lagged in many areas of clinical healthcare for a variety of reasons. Economics, data complexity and resistance are among the often quoted roadblocks. Research suggests that physicians play a major part in the adoption, use and diffusion of information technology (IT) in clinical settings. There are also…

Most policymakers, charter school operators, and others immersed in the charter school movement since it began in the early 1990s have focused their attention primarily on charter schools, not on the public bodies that license these schools to operate. As the charter school movement has grown, there has been increasing recognition that effective…

This paper, which updates and expands on the first edition (1981), begins by presenting a definition of instructional development (ID) and a discussion of its origins. A taxonomy for classifying ID models is then suggested, and it is noted that most ID models have been subjected to only a limited degree of testing. The 12 ID models that are…

Intended to enable an individual to converse with satellite antenna dealers and to select a dealer and acquire an antenna to suit his/her needs at the lowest cost, this edited version of a final project report provides detailed guidelines for purchasing of communications satellites distance education delivery systems and specific technical…