This report provides recommendations for a comprehensive telecommunications policy for Florida that focuses the state's technological resources on the accomplishment of specific educational goals. The recommendations are based on a review of the relevant literature, a survey of approximately 950 community college and university faculty, and a…

Providing inservice education for rural special education personnel is often a problem. Educational technology offers inservice and preservice education at rural sites and brings the "rural context" to university classrooms. This paper presents three models that employ technology to prepare personnel to serve rural children with…

Rural areas lag behind urban areas in access to information technologies. Public institutions play a critical role in extending the benefits of information technologies to those who would not otherwise have access. The most successful rural telecommunications plans address barriers to use, such as unawareness of the benefits, technophobia, the…

The Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space held a hearing in Billings, Montana, on rural America's access to the National Information Infrastructure (NII) and uses of NII in the provision of rural education and services. An Assistant Secretary of Commerce discussed the development of the Internet, problems in rural access to the…

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 constitutes a major overhaul of telecommunications law and will have a major impact on rural residents, communities, schools, libraries, and hospitals. This paper presents 68 key points from the Federal Communication Commission's Universal Service Report and Order, Section X: Schools and Libraries, which contains…

Institutional research has long relied on surveys to learn about student experiences. This study describes and evaluates two methods of using electronic mail to gather information from students about their experiences. Data were based on two case studies conducted during spring 1996 and fall 1997 at a 5,000-student state university. The report…

This study examines the problem of high school students as future leaders entering the adult world unprepared in the areas of global and international issues. The study was conducted with 145 students, teachers, and administrators in a private high school with university affiliations in a large suburban area. Eventually two students became the…

This paper briefly identifies a number of contemporary pressures for change which condition the way universities will behave and which provide both opportunities and threats for the future; it then goes on to consider the implications for distance education universities. Pressures on universities include such factors as the growth of other…

This report describes the second-year activities of Austin (Texas) Community College's development of a curriculum for a degree in Telecommunications Technology (Electronics) involving an articulation agreement with Leander Independent School District. Specifically, the report describes: the planning of five credit courses for telecommunications…

A study investigated the introduction of an experimental school-centered and neighborhood-oriented communication system in a small midwestern town. It was anticipated that normal parent-teacher-school communication would be enhanced by the electronic messaging potential of the system. Researchers observed the entire adoption process from the…

To make effective use of a two-way interactive distance education system, classroom design should be a primary consideration. A properly designed classroom will enhance content objectives and increase acceptance of this type of instructional delivery. This paper describes key considerations for optimal design. Construction considerations include…

The educational uses of familiar technologies such as telephones, computers, television sets, videocassette recorders, and radios as well as more sophisticated technologies like satellites, microwave television, and fiber optic systems are discussed. This guide explains how these telecommunication technologies operate, explores the possibilities…

Beginning this annual report is a letter to the OCLC membership from OCLC President and Chief Executive Officer, K. Wayne Smith. Statistical data are then presented in tables and/or graphs for OCLC programs and the system's financial status for fiscal years 1990/91 and 1989/90; the growth of the OCLC Online Union Catalog from 1971-1991 in terms of…

Nineteen papers concerning various aspects of distance education and distance education research are presented in this document. The papers are: (1) "Introduction, Celebrating Difference in Research in Distance Education" (Terry Evans); (2) "Discourse or Discord? A Dilemma of Distance Education" (Philip Juler); (3)…

African studies computer resources that are readily available in the United States with linkages to Africa are described, highlighting those most directly corresponding to African content. Africanists can use the following four fundamental computer systems: (1) Internet/Bitnet; (2) Fidonet; (3) Usenet; and (4) dial-up bulletin board services. The…