Microcomputer Use In Higher Education

An overview of the current status of new information technologies (NIT) in teaching, training, research, and administration of higher education internationally includes 25 papers: "The Impact of NITS of Higher Education" (C. Calude and M. Malitza); "Educational Implications of Artificial Intelligence" (M.A. Boden); "On Theory of Knowledge" (L. Iliev); "Computer Technology and Education" (L. P. Steier); "New Information Technologies: The Role of Artificial Intelligence" (G. S. Pospelov); and "The Challenges of Cognitive Science and Information Technology to Human Rights and Values in University Life" (M. Pellery); "Computers at Stanford: An Overview" (P. Suppes); "The Use of the Personal Computer in Education at the University of Buckingham" (J. E. Galletly); "End User Computing--A Challenge for University Organization" (P. Baumgartner and S. Payr); "The Influence of Informatics and the Use of Computers in the Content and Methodology of Higher Education" (H. Mohle); and "Informatics in Higher Education in Switzerland" (excerpt from a report on informatics issued by the Federal Ministry for Education and Science); "Searching for Patterns of Knowledge in Science Education" (A. Kornhauser); "Medical Educational Computing" (D. Ingram); "Patient Simulation by Computer--C.A.S.E.S., Software for the Construction of Computer Patients" (H. A. Verbeek); "Microcomputers in Statistical Education: the Buckingham Experience" (E. Shoesmith); "Courses in Computer Graphics in Faculties of Mechanical Engineering in Czechoslovakia" (J. Novak); "On the Way to Chaos--An Analysis of a Family of Logistic Models" (T. Kinnunen); "Educational Technology and the New Technologies" (P. W. Verhagen and T. Plomp); "A Knowledge-Base for Instructional Design" (F. C. Roberts); "Facilities Concerning the Infrastructure for Development of CAI in Advanced, Further, and Higher Vocational Education in the Netherlands" (R. van Asselt); "Some Thoughts on Structures, Objectives, and Management of Centres for Computation Sciences and Software Technology" (D. Bjorner); and "The Social Impact of Technology: An Issue for Engineering Education" (A. Bitzer and R. Sell); and "The Emergence of Institutional Research and the Use of Microcomputers: New Roles for Institutional Researchers in Western Europe Higher Education Institutions" (E. Frackmann); "The Student Information System of the University of Helsinki" (A. Heiskanen); "The Impact of Information Technologies on University Administration" (R. Bouchet); and "An International Centre for Computers and Informatics (ICCI) to Promote Third World Development" (M. Munasinghe). (SM)

An in-depth look is presented at how institutions are currently planning for microcomputers. The question is not whether the computer network on campus and between campuses will be the single most important technological event of the century for higher education, but rather how it will occur. Six sections include: the coming of age of microcomputers: a growing challenge to planning in postsecondary education (profound change and challenge, environmental factors, and the purpose of this report); trends and issues (technology, management concerns, and government involvement); planning and use of microcomputers in postsecondary education: a national survey (policies for purchasing and using microcomputers, policymakers and decisionmakers, selection criteria for hardware and software, use of microcomputers, and financial and other commitments); planning process (muddling through, the reactive process, traditional long-range planning, environmental scanning, strategic planning, and tactical planning); examples of institutional planning (Brown University, Clarkson University, Drew University, Drexel University, University of Iowa, Lehigh University, Princeton University, and Stevens Institute of Technology); and conclusions and recommendations (a clear need, operating assumptions, recommendations, and judgments). Ten specific recommendations include: use strategic planning as the most appropriate planning model; involve all faculty and staff in planning the institution's information system and build institutionwide support; and aim for synergy. One figure, 12 tables, and 77 references are included. (SM)

Microcomputer-based labs, the use of real-time data capture and display in teaching, give the learner new ways to explore and understand the world. As this book shows, the international effort over a quarter-century to develop and understand microcomputer-based labs (MBL) has resulted in a rich array of innovative implementations and some convincing evidence for the value of computers for learning. The book is a sampler of MBL work by an outstanding international group of scientists and educators, based on papers they presented at a seminar held as part of the NATO Special Programme on Advanced Educational Technology. The story they tell of the development of MBL offers valuable policy lessons on how to promote educational innovation. The book will be of interest to a wide range of educators and to policy makers.

Originally published in 1989, this book differed from others on the topic of microcomputers and education at the time, in that it focuses on the influence that microcomputer technology has on children in their early years, specially pre-school and elementary ages. Microcomputers have the capacity to do great harm as well as good and a full explanation of the technical and philosophical issues involved will be of interest to a number of disciplines. Other topics explored are – the potential uses of microcomputer-technology in early childhood education and current research and theory building on microcomputers and early education. This book should be read by teachers, sociologists, psychologists and researchers in education.

Since the early 1980s, U.S. colleges and universities have become extremely important not only as computational research and development centers, but also as field sites for examining the relationship between technological innovation and sociocultural change. In spite of this, neither academic analysts of technological change nor the broader audience of computer professionals have a full understanding of higher education's catalytic role in shaping the so-called microcomputer revolution. This volume makes a major contribution to that understanding. In contrast to previous publications about computers in higher education -- most of which focus narrowly on technology deployment, use, and management strategies -- this volume takes a comprehensive look at academic computing as a sociocultural phenomenon. Conceptually and methodologically unique, it is the only collection of in-depth, mainly ethnographic studies of the "academic computing revolution" -- its consequences, meanings, and significance. Most of the contributors are university-based social scientists who have been at the forefront of studying computing in higher education, beginning over a decade ago. The volume consists of a series of case studies, developed during years of careful fieldwork and analysis, that document the open-ended, socially constructed, interpretively flexible character of computer-mediated academic work. Drawing on core ideas of cultural anthropology, interpretive sociology, and the social construction of technology, this book also makes a contribution to the growing, multidisciplinary study of technology and society. Work and Technology in Higher Educationwill inform not only educators and social scientists interested in computing and technology studies, but also academic administrators who want to understand the sociocultural context of technological change as a basis for better decision making.