To maximize the level of comfort that will facilitate an equal exchange of ideas instructors need to tailor their pedagogy to fit their audience. That means they must consider the extent to which their students have been exposed to computers. The University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) has a high percentage of "non-traditional" students.…

This document presents the proceedings and post-conference materials of the annual EDUCAUSE conference. The theme of this conference was "Thinking IT Through." Conference sessions are divided into six domains: Infrastructure and Basic Services; Teaching and Learning; Managing Information Technologies and Resources; Information Systems; New…

New technology, which is eliminating the barriers of time and distance, is also challenging the existence of traditional, geographically based campuses and curriculum based on textbooks. Universities need to update curriculum to conform to changes in the teacher's role from provider of knowledge to facilitator of life-long learning. Technological…

The essays in this book, by contributors from around the world, clarify predominant theoretical issues that pertain to virtual instruction, and offer practical suggestions for implementing these programs in any setting. Chapters include: "Mapping Space and Time: Virtual Instruction as Global Ritual" (Joyce W. Nutta and Carine M. Feyten);…

In a teaching experiment, 16 face-to-face and 11 e-mail Finnish university students engaged in an argumentation course. The 19 students of the control group did not study argumentation. The course involved two lectures, exercises with argumentative texts, and face-to-face or e-mail seminar discussions based on these texts. The topics of the texts…

This issue of the "Early Childhood Bulletin" explains the developmental and learning implications of play for very young children and outlines ways in which assistive technology can open doors to play for children with disabilities. The importance of incorporating assistive technology into a child's early intervention program through the…

The Technology Mentor Fellowship Program (TMFP), a consortium consisting of 6 rural East Texas school districts, 1 urban Central Texas School district, and Texas A&M University has designed an approach for integrating technology into teacher preparation programs that impacted over 5,000 minority, language-minority, and children of poverty and…

The instructional design that is imperative towards the design and development of a Web-based course environment is of primary consideration when a graduate-level course is the focus of attention. Further, a multimedia course that incorporates the theoretical as well as hands-on elements that must be consistently focused upon and updated is of…

This paper describes the evaluation of high quality learning designs, which are being selected for possible redevelopment in a National Project funded by the Australian University Teaching Committee (AUTC). The project focuses on "Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Their Role in Flexible Learning" and is evaluating…

This paper presents and evaluates different types of student assessment measures--including discussion-generating questions, multiple choice questions, essay questions, and authentic projects--for on-line courses. The paper asserts that assessment should mimic how students will be evaluated on the job site in the real world, meaning that they…

This paper presents information for educators on delivering an Internet-based course. The paper is divided into three parts. Part 1, "Teaching on the Web, What Is It?," lists advantages and disadvantages of face-to-face classroom instruction, traditional distance education, and Internet-based education which combines features from both…

The purpose of the Web Retargetable Course Generation System, or "ReCourse," developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts) is to facilitate both distance and on-campus learning via the World Wide Web. ReCourse's features include the ability to retarget a Web course for different levels of students, multi-user chat rooms, a…

This report summarizes findings and recommendations from the Road Ahead Program (1995-1997) of the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE), a nonprofit foundation of the National Education Association and funded by Bill Gates, cofounder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation. Twenty-two sites in 15 states were selected by the NFIE.…

The ParlEuNet (European Parliament Network) under development at the Joint Research Center of the European Communities is a Web-based information system that will provide a multimedia educational platform for 10 secondary schools across Europe. Schools, teachers and pupils will use the system to teach, learn about, and prepare collaborative…

This document, a summary of reports presented at the 1998 annual symposium of the Forum for the Future of Higher Education, covers a wide range of issues that are likely to influence how colleges and universities deal with such questions as what business they are actually in, what are their institutional strengths, how will they compete in a…