Literature offering solutions to reduce student absenteeism can be divided into four categories: stringent state/community laws and regulations (parental sanctions, zero credit for missed work, suspensions, and police interventions); in-school programs to increase school effectiveness; use of computer technology to lasso truants and inform…

Provides a brief background of the Biological Abstracts' title index, "Biological Abstracts' Subject in Context" (BASIC) "Stop List," or compilation of nonsignificant words that were going to be automatically stopped from printing. Notes that the Stop List provided an improvement over the raw computer output of titles while…

The growing field of nanotechnology has received considerable attention as of late. The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative has committed billions of dollars toward research on the nanoscale, and proponents of nanotechnology claim that its benefits will range from curing cancer to ending poverty. This article takes a look at the possible…

This work presents a review of the development and application of computers. It traces the highlights of emergent computing technologies shaping our world. Recent trends in hardware and software deployment are chronicled as well as their impact on various segments of the society. The expectations for the future are also discussed along with…

Today, Mac computers offer schools an easy and powerful way to engage students in learning, foster 21st century skills and leverage existing software assets. Innovative software and hardware built into the Mac allows students to demonstrate their individual strengths--empowering them to be creators of content, rather than just consumers. Judging…

This paper describes the development of a business simulation combining a computer application with real experts to provide university students with an immersive experience in business management. It introduces a methodology that involves students in a process of interaction with other participants as well as benefiting from valuable feedback from…

This article presents systems that use speech technology, to emulate the one-on-one interaction a student can get from a virtual instructor. A web-based learning tool, the Learn IN Context (LINC+) system, designed and used in a real mixed-mode learning context for a computer (C++ language) programming course taught at the Université de Moncton…

The New Media Consortium's Horizon Project is an ongoing research project that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact in education and other industries around the world over a five-year time period. The chief products of the project are the "Horizon Reports", an annual series of publications…

Computer literacy has evolved from writing simple BASIC programs to using desktop productivity applications. The shift from mainframe to personal computer brought about the need to rethink computer literacy courses to introduce basic skills and familiarity using desktop productivity applications. While these skills remain important, the recent…

It is common to find students believing that they have a high skill level in computer use yet this does not normally include proficiency in the use of computer packages for data presentation. This exercise develops team work in data collection, requires the production of a simple spreadsheet, and the exporting of the data from that into one or…

With the advent of the computer and user-friendly statistical software packages, factor analysis has become accessible to most researchers. However, conventional factor analysis, or R-technique, is only useful for research concerning types or groups of variables. Educational and psychological researchers are often interested in types of people,…

This paper describes a personal computer spreadsheet set up to carry out hierarchical log-linear analyses, a type of analysis useful for institutional research into multidimensional frequency tables formed from categorical variables such as faculty rank, student class level, gender, or retention status. The spreadsheet provides a concrete vehicle…

Presents a simple matrix that is used for budgeting the machine time, people, and equipment necessary to maintain and enhance administrative systems as well as to develop new systems in an organized fashion. (Author)

The use of stored programs for solving statistical problems was introduced into a statistics course. Contrary to expectation the students did not enjoy the course more. They did become more aware of the importance of statistics, however. (SD)

A simulated chemistry experiment which has been programmed is described in detail. (Author)