EDUCAUSE Quarterly Articles

Mark Werner reviews Audience Response Systems in Higher Education: Applications and Cases, written by David A. Banks.

Thoughtful consideration of the issues relevant to cyberinfrastructure in higher education will help you pull out key points to discuss with specific audiences

Evaluating the IT department from the customers’ point of view determines strengths and weaknesses in IT performance

Appropriate policies and protocols can convert the often adversarial department-IT relationship into a partnership of shared goals

Using established practices for good communication eliminates the missteps that hamper the effectiveness of IT messages to the campus community

In order to evaluate student opinion as well as the impact on students of an active learning methodology of two face-to-face presentation styles, during a 50-minute session of library research skills, participants attended either a traditional presentation or a modified one, incorporating the use of the PRS. The Personal Response System is a wireless technology in which students, equipped with clickers, respond to a variety of questions posed by the librarian in the course of the presentation. Both types of sessions, offered by the same librarian, included the same research skills content.  Created for the purpose of evaluating various aspects of the library presentation, a questionnaire completed by all students was analyzed.  In the evaluation, the PRS group not only indicated a greater enjoyment of the session but found the presenter to be well organized.  The authors also discuss aspects of using clickers versus employing a traditional classroom setting.

Academia has adopted open source software for some online learning initiatives because it addresses persistent technical challenges

A smart campus depends on an overarching strategy involving people, facilities, and ongoing faculty support as well as effective use of technology

Tackling the problems behind excessive overtime prevents legal problems, staff turnover, and user dissatisfaction with the IT department’s customer service

The default design of commercial course management systems limits instructional creativity and pedagogical approaches, particularly for novice users

This is the entire issue of EDUCAUSE Quarterly Magazine, Volume 31, Number 2, 2008.

Security and ERP Systems are numbers 1 and 2; Infrastructure rises; Change Management, E-Learning, and Staffing move into top ten

Mara Hancock reviews In Advancing Campus Efficiencies: A Companion for Campus Leaders in the Digital Era, written by Sally M. Johnstone and her WCET colleagues.