A survey of 95 first-year and 91 fourth-year dental students concerning informatics and computer applications in dentistry investigated knowledge of terms and concepts related to hardware, software, electronic communication, and dental applications; opinions concerning use of the technology; and extent of experience in 4 areas of use. (MSE)

Development of Arizona State University's computing architecture, designed to ensure that all new distributed computing pieces will work together, is described. Aspects discussed include the business rationale, the general architectural approach, characteristics and objectives of the architecture, specific services, and impact on the university…

The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School introduced a "distributed" organization for managing computing support services. The hybrid structure combined elements of centralized computing and departmental computing by placing computing personnel in the departments, under central management. The program covers a wide range of support…

It is argued that, with the emergence of new technologies, the traditional missions and "domains" of academic libraries and campus computing services need to be adjusted to support collaboration. Specific collaborative projects linked to strategic plans are recommended over forced mergers or overly ambitious multigoal projects. (MSE)

Urges community college librarians to become leaders in library instruction by developing aggressive teaching programs using high-technology information resources, such as compact disc read-only-memory (CD-ROM), telecommunications, and on-line databases. Discusses training, hardware, software, and funding issues. (DMM)

Describes Orientation Express, a Macintosh Hypercard program developed at Pima Community College (Arizona), which guides students through Pima's West Campus Library and its services. Illustrates various computer screens that appear as part of the program. (DMM)

Newly developed electronic data interchange (EDI) standards for exchanging academic records between colleges and universities are explained. It is argued that implementation of the new standards in college registrar and admissions offices can improve speed, costs, and accuracy and provide a prototype for a variety of campus business applications.…

Maricopa Community College District (Arizona) connects multiple facilities with a digital voice, data, and video wide area network. The network has been achieved through a conscious strategy of managing change and leveraging vendor partnerships. Organizational structure has also evolved, creating new job functions and need for retraining and staff…

The demands placed on the networks transporting the information and knowledge generated by the increased diversity and sophistication of computational machinery are described. What is needed to support this increased flow, the structures already in place, and what must be built are topics of discussion. (KR)

The changes in the relationship between the computer and user from that of an isolated productivity tool to than of an active collaborator in the acquisition, use, and creation of information, as well as a facilitator of human interaction are discussed. The four paradigms of computing are compared. (KR)

The University of Massachusetts has adopted user data groups (groups of information users whose function is to address data issues rather than applications or operations) to help develop an institutional culture supportive of more advanced information technology. The university is treated as a corporation and its five campuses as divisions. (MSE)

This article traces the development of reading methods for blind/visually impaired persons, including paper braille, recordings, radio reading services, computerized telephone services, personal computers, books on compact disks, and scanning systems. Technological trends that may decrease accessibility to text materials are also noted, such as…

The historical development of evaluation in higher education is traced, and current views on assessment options are discussed. A case is made for longitudinal computer-based program monitoring by defining the approach and presenting a case study. Advantages and disadvantages are examined. (Author/MSE)

A successful one-year medical information system pilot project responded to 240 questions by 47 physicians in 10 rural Alberta (Canada) communities. On average, each physician submitted 5.1 questions, and each community submitted 24 questions. Physicians received responses in a median of 7.3 hours or could conduct their own searches. (Author/MSE)

Uses Derive as an instructional tool to investigate asymptotic behavior of rational functions. Activities focus on reducing manipulation and computation and on generating multiple examples to focus on discovery of the concept rather than a summary of rules. (MLN)