The development of the Internet and the online collections accessed by it has created major adjustments in all library functions, including collection management and budgeting. The authors share how two public libraries have come full circle in electronic collection management, beginning with early selection, followed by current weeding programs…

The events of September 11, 2001, the terrorist attack that destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York changed the world, and while the effects were much reduced in faraway Australia, they became immediately apparent online. Any view through the global window was likely to be changed, an impossible to anticipate. To me,…

Classroom practice in the real world has become increasingly incommensurate with the lived experience of students. Young people, consisting of all age cohorts and class fractions, have never known their world to not include the Internet. They have been utilizing this technology since before they started kindergarten, whether it was in games that…

Baby boomers are epitomised by the phrase "wanting it now". This large group of the population is better educated, more technologically literate, generally wealthier than any previous generation and has high expectations of quality services and products. Just as they have led other social revolutions, baby boomers are expected to revolutionise the…

This paper focuses on the adult education and adult learning characteristics, advantages of educational technology for adult learners; explains the using of computer based educational technologies such as; Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI), computer assisted interactive learning and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in adult education;…

Electronic resources are transforming the way librarians work. New technological skills have been added to the librarian's tool kit. Some libraries have undertaken large-scale organizational reconfigurations to meet the challenges of the digital environment. Yet libraries still rely on traditional functions such as acquisitions, cataloging, and…

In 2003, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), recognizing the need for a standard definition of distance education, issued a monograph that posed a definition of distance education as "institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separated and where interactive telecommunications systems are used…

This paper analyzes the positioning of technology education within the tradition of classical liberal arts education. The author proposes ideas for mutual enrichment of classical liberal arts disciplines alongside technology education. He contends that technology education is general education for a technological world. His proposition is to…

Distance learning has significantly changed over the years from a social, pedagogical, and technological perspective. The compatible bonding of telecommunications technologies and social constructivist learning principles premised a pedagogical ecology that has challenged traditional teaching practices, faculty and student roles, institutional…

The research project, UK Children Go Online (UKCGO), is conducting a rigorous investigation of 9-19 year-olds' use of the Internet, comparing girls and boys of different ages, backgrounds, etc., in order to ask how the Internet may be transforming, or may itself be shaped by, family life, peer networks and school. It combines qualitative…

Using a new methodological tool, the authors analyzed a large number of texts on information and communication technology (ICT) and education, and identified three clusters of views that guide educationists "in the field" and in more academic contexts. The clusters reflect different fundamental assumptions on ICT and education. The authors argue…

This paper explores the role played by communication technologies and study orientations in the amplification and reduction of transactional distance in blended learning. Factor analysis and structural equation modelling of different communication modes (face to face, email and telephone) revealed that students experience at least some…

This article addresses an important need--the dissemination of information relating to technology as a public relations tool--and the associated exigency for administrator and teacher technology training. Specifically, we identify the increased expectations for the performance of school leaders and teachers, as well as unresolved issues in public…

The nation's social agenda for improving education and training has converged with national economic forces (Hornbeck & Salamon, 1991). The emphasis on lifelong learning of the workforce through education, training and development, demands for ever-improving productivity and significant technological advancements have required new tools to…

There is a digital divide occurring on every possible level: locally, nationally, and globally. Many people argue that the digital divide unfairly equips wealthy citizen and their children with more information and opportunities than those with lower incomes. In addition, there is a big debate around the world whether technology has benefited…