The advent of new technologies and increased access to robust connectivity is reshaping the K-12 landscape for teaching and learning. School districts nationwide are leveraging digital instructional materials and resources to deliver transformative and impactful personalized learning opportunities for students and to enhance the administrative…

The advent of new technologies and increased access to robust connectivity is reshaping the K-12 landscape for teaching and learning. School districts nationwide are leveraging digital instructional materials and resources to deliver transformative and impactful personalized learning opportunities for students and to enhance the administrative…

Providing access to robust connectivity is critical to ensuring today's students are college and career ready. As such, federal, state, and district-level leaders have dedicated a significant amount of time, effort, and resources toward improving our schools' external broadband access, including both Internet access and wide area network (WAN).…

The purpose of this article is to revisit the basic principles of technology planning as applied to online education initiatives. While not meant to be an exhaustive treatment of the topic, the article is timely because many colleges and universities are considering the development and expansion of online education as part of their planning…

Broadband and bandwidth allocation is an essential technology planning activity that libraries should address on a continual basis. There are five key factors that will impact your network's performance: 1. infrastructure, 2. network load, 3. workstation performance, 4. prioritization of services, and 5. network management. The author thinks it's…

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing in which shared resources, software and information are delivered as a service that computers or mobile devices can access on demand. Cloud computing is already used extensively in education. Free or low-cost cloud-based services are used daily by learners and educators to support learning, social…

In many ways, specialized computer labs are the black holes of IT organizations. Budgets, equipment, employees--even space itself--are sucked in. Given a choice, many IT shops would engage warp drive and escape their gravitational pull forever. While Captain Kirk might have looked to Scotty for a fix to the problem, colleges and universities are…

In April, Asia officially ran out of Internet Protocol (IP) version 4 addresses--the computer equivalent of running out of telephone numbers. Over the next couple of years, the rest of the world will also run dry. Yet, unlike the Y2K bug that had some people convinced the sky would fall, this particular problem is generating little more than tired…

Mobile use of the Internet is on target to surpass fixed use by 2014. Three-fourths of all college/university students have purchased or intend to purchase an Internet-enabled handheld device within the next year. The smartphone market is changing almost monthly. Attempting to manage even just one or a few "devices" is becoming a lost…

For the generation of people whose classroom memories consist of chalk squeaking on a blackboard, weather-beaten textbooks and a ready supply of sharpened No. 2 pencils, the resources available to students in many 21st-century American schools may seem unfamiliar, even amazing. Computer networks with access to the Internet--wired or wireless--have…

Many university officials recognize the need to upgrade their older analog video surveillance systems. In a 2010 survey by "Campus Safety" magazine, half of university respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the quality and coverage of their current video surveillance systems. Among the limitations of analog closed-circuit television…

When asked to weigh in on what might be the next best thing in educational technology, the author scanned the horizon for the next gizmo or software advance that would eventually grow legs, rise up, and utterly transform the library profession. But what he saw was more about evolution than revolution. Sure, Windows Vista will become Windows 7, USB…

China is a huge country with a large population. Providing equitable and quality "e-education" or use of ICT (information and communications technologies) for teaching and learning in elementary and secondary schools across the country is a national priority. This article briefly sketches the context in China and the challenges relating…

An important step towards the successful integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in schools is to facilitate their capacity to develop a school-based ICT policy resulting in an ICT policy plan. Such a plan can be defined as a school document containing strategic and operational elements concerning the integration of ICT in…

A month ago, a French court ruled that internet access is a basic human right. Gordon Brown has said it is as crucial for people as electricity and water. Yet, 17 million Britons are still excluded from digital technology and an estimated 13 per cent of the population--some six million people--are both socially and digitally excluded. There are…