Shared databases are used for knowledge exchange in groups. Whether a person is willing to contribute knowledge to a shared database presents a social dilemma: Each group member saves time and energy by not contributing any information to the database and by using the database only to retrieve information which was contributed by others. But if…

When the author read that the history department at Middlebury College had "banned Wikipedia" she immediately wrote to the college's president, Ronald D. Liebowitz, to express her concern that such decision would lead to a national trend, one that would not be good for higher education. She states that Wikipedia is not just an encyclopedia. It is…

In this article, we report the observed differential uptake and use of computer programs and activities of seven boys and girls of high, medium and low attainment in a classroom in the UK where over 40 children aged 10 and 11 have a networked PC on their desk all day and every day. We observed the detail of what happened in the small space between…

Library media specialists hear about Web 2.0 in numerous professional journals and during conference workshops. They know that using this aspect of the Internet is second nature to many of their students, and therefore they feel a need to become knowledgeable about this means of information sharing. What better way to learn about blogs, wikis, or…

Feedback theory proposes that feedback influences the behavior of a system and its parts and that is governed by rules. This exploratory study attempts to test this theory in a graduate-level class on leadership theory. Twelve students were asked to participate in five online discussions, each lasting one week. The questions for each discussion…

Purpose: This paper seeks to describe XML technologies and to show how they can be applied for developing web-based courses and supporting authors who do not have much experience with the preparation of web-based courses. Design/methodology/approach: When developing online courses the academic staff has to address the following problem--how to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe vector graphics for web lectures, focusing on the experiences with Adobe Flash 9 and SVG. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents experiences made during the development and everyday use of two versions of the lecture-recording system virtPresenter. The first of these versions is based on…

There is a significant variation in the managerial economics course in terms of the prerequisites, contents and delivery in the MBA programs of AACSB [Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business] institutions. In order to get detailed information on these aspects, we conducted a survey of 275 AACSB institutions and reported the results.…

The physics of sound is often studied in introductory physics class experiments involving a tube of resonating air. In typical setups, pistons control the length of a cylindrical space or a microphone is moved within a tube. While these activities are useful and can be made very quantitative, they don't directly demonstrate the sounds that are…

The idea of "slippery texts" provides a useful descriptor for materials that mutate and evolve across different media. Eight adult gamers, encountering the slippery text "American McGee's Alice," demonstrate a variety of ways in which players attempt to manage their attention as they encounter a new text with many resonances. The range of their…

This paper argues that concepts derived from affordance theories are highly useful in understanding the role of online technologies in learning. However, it is suggested that the value of this approach is maximised when the focus is moved away from the inherent properties of the technologies to the opportunities for learning provided by the total…

Back in the 1990s, when Bill Clinton was president and the internet was still a novelty, college recruitment was remarkably low-tech. Most prospective students visited high school guidance offices, wrote away for information about schools, attended college fairs, and visited campuses they were considering. Most admissions and recruiting activities…

In past years, higher education's financial management side has been riddled with manual processes and aging mainframe applications. This article discusses schools which had taken advantage of an array of technologies that automate billing, payment processing, and refund processing in the case of overpayment. The investments are well worth it:…

Illinois Wesleyan University created the Trust the Wisdom in Student Teams (TWIST) project to develop student teams into essential components of IT support. This article explains how and why to apply the TWIST concepts. When deciding if a student team is a good choice, to meet a particular institution's IT support requirements, several things need…

In spite of large expenditures on and increased access to educational technologies, a concern remains that computer-based technologies are not being integrated into regular instructional practices. While there is evidence to support the hypothesis that newer teachers' familiarity with technology leads to increased technology integration, a…