Information technology

Information technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information.

Today, the term information technology has ballooned to encompass many aspects of computing and technology, and the term is more recognizable than ever before. The information technology umbrella can be quite large, covering many fields. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as the management and administration of entire systems. When computer and communications technologies are combined, the result is information technology, or "infotech". Information Technology (IT) is a general term that describes any technology that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or disseminate information.

IT enabled Services

The Indian Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS), which started with basic data entry tasks over a decade ago, is witnessing an expansion in its scope of services to include increasingly complex processes involving rule-based decision making and even research services requiring informed individual judgment. It now offers services such as knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), legal process outsourcing (LPO), games process outsourcing (GPO) and design outsourcing among others.

The number of patent filings from Indian R&D centres has been growing over the years. More and more cutting-edge products are being developed in India. While outsourcing lower-level technical jobs to India has been a practice of multinational technology firms, the increasing reliance on Indian R&D operations is a growing trend. Aviation majors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin looking at setting up captive R&D centres in India. In fact, estimates by National Association of Software Services Companies (Nasscom) and Booz Hamilton say that engineering services outsourcing could touch US$ 40 billion by 2020.

India continues to have an edge over other outsourcing countries also because of the global confidence it inspires in terms of turn around time (TAT).

Growing at a rate of 30.7 per cent, with revenues of US$ 39.6 billion in 2006-07, the IT/ITeS sector's projected figures for 2007-08 stand at US$ 49-50 billion at a growth rate of 24-27 per cent, says Nasscom. Of this US$ 50 billion, a considerable chunk will be contributed by the domestic market. With the fast growing Indian economy being largely consumer-led, companies are now opting for BPO services to beat competition. Nasscom says the domestic BPO market is expected to grow to US$ 7.6 billion in 2011. The segment is growing at about 40 per cent CAGR.

The domestic BPO segment is growing at 35-40 per cent a year and employs 1,50,000-2,00,000 people. According to Nasscom, domestic BPO revenues almost doubled to US$ 1.18 billion in 2006-07 compared to US$ 600 million in 2005. The domestic market is expected to reach US$ 10 billion by FY08, at a growth rate of 20-22 per cent. Some global BPOs such as Aegis Communications Group, Firstsource Solutions, Infovision, Intelenet, IBM-Daksh are now aggressively looking at the local market for BPO business.

However, hardware still constitutes a large portion of the domestic pie at US$ 7.6 billion compared to US$ 5.6 billion from services, US$ 1.6 billion from software and US$ 1.2 billion from BPO.

ITeS/BPO exports grew by 33.5 per cent to clock revenues of US$ 8.4 billion in FY07, marginally higher than the growth of 33.3 per cent in FY06. India holds a dominant share of the global offshore IT-ITeS sector (65 per cent of the global market in offshore IT and 46 per cent of the ITeS market). However, at US$ 31.3 billion in FY07, Indian IT-ITeS exports account for less than 3 per cent of the global spend on IT and ITeS. If India maintains its current share of the global offshore IT-ITeS market, IT- ITeS exports from India will exceed US$ 60 billion by FY10 and US$ 86 billion by FY12. Further, growing at current trends, Indian IT-ITeS exports are projected to reach nearly US$ 330 billion by FY20 (nearly 14 per cent of the projected worldwide spend).

For exports, the US and UK are the largest markets. However, the share of Europe has been increasing steadily. For FY06, revenues from the Americas totalled 67 per cent, Europe 25 per cent and rest of the world, 7.7 per cent. This is an area, the ITeS sector is working on now - increasing its business from countries other than the US.


Information Technology Sector IBEF: February 21, 2006

Over the past decade, the Information Technology (IT) industry has become one of the fastest growing industries in India, propelled by exports (the industry accounted for more than a quarter of India’s services exports in 2004-05). The key segments that have contributed significantly (96 percent of total) to the industry’s exports include – Software and services (IT services) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) ie business services. Over a period of time, India has established itself as a preferred global sourcing base in these segments and they are expected to continue to fuel growth in the future.

These segments have been evolving over the years into a sophisticated model of operations. Indian IT and ITES companies have created global delivery models (onsite-near shore-offshore), entered into long term engagements with customers, expanded their portfolio of services offerings, built scale, extended service propositions beyond cost savings to quality and innovation, evolved their pricing models and have tried to find sustainable solutions to various issues such as risk management, human capital attraction and retention and cost management.

A key demand driver for the Indian IT services and ITeS industry has been the changing global business landscape which has exerted performance pressures on multinational enterprises.

Some advantages and disadvantages of information technology

Before we can know about all the advantages and disadvantages of information technology, it is essential that we know what information technology is exactly, and why it has it come to play such a important role in our daily lives. Today information technology involves more than just computer literacy; it also takes into account how computers work and how these computers can further be used not just for information processing but also for communications and problem solving tasks as well. Our world today has changed a great deal with the aid of information technology. Things that were once done manually or by hand have now become computerized operating systems, which simply require a single click of a mouse to get a task completed. With the aid of IT we are not only able to stream line our business processes but we are also able to get constant information in 'real time' that is up to the minute and up to date.

The significance of IT can be seen from the fact that it has penetrated almost every aspect of our daily lives from business to leisure and even society. Today personal PCs, cell phones, fax machines, pagers, email and internet have all not only become an integral part of our very culture but also play an essential role in our day to day activities. With such a wide scope for the purpose of this article we shall focus on the impact of the internet in information technology.

Some of the advantages of information technology include:

Globalization - IT has not only brought the world closer together, but it has allowed the world's economy to become a single interdependent system. This means that we can not only share information quickly and efficiently, but we can also bring down barriers of linguistic and geographic boundaries. The world has developed into a global village due to the help of information technology allowing countries like Chile and Japan who are not only separated by distance but also by language to shares ideas and information with each other.

Communication - With the help of information technology, communication has also become cheaper, quicker, and more efficient. We can now communicate with anyone around the globe by simply text messaging them or sending them an email for an almost instantaneous response. The internet has also opened up face to face direct communication from different parts of the world thanks to the helps of video conferencing.

Cost effectiveness - Information technology has helped to computerize the business process thus streamlining businesses to make them extremely cost effective money making machines. This in turn increases productivity which ultimately gives rise to profits that means better pay and less strenuous working conditions.

Bridging the cultural gap - Information technology has helped to bridge the cultural gap by helping people from different cultures to communicate with one another, and allow for the exchange of views and ideas, thus increasing awareness and reducing prejudice.

More time - IT has made it possible for businesses to be open 24 x7 all over the globe. This means that a business can be open anytime anywhere, making purchases from different countries easier and more convenient. It also means that you can have your goods delivered right to your doorstep with having to move a single muscle.

Creation of new jobs - Probably the best advantage of information technology is the creation of new and interesting jobs. Computer programmers, Systems analyzers, Hardware and Software developers and Web designers are just some of the many new employment opportunities created with the help of IT.

Some disadvantages of information technology include:

Unemployment - While information technology may have streamlined the business process it has also crated job redundancies, downsizing and outsourcing. This means that a lot of lower and middle level jobs have been done away with causing more people to become unemployed.

Privacy - Though information technology may have made communication quicker, easier and more convenient, it has also bought along privacy issues. From cell phone signal interceptions to email hacking, people are now worried about their once private information becoming public knowledge.

Lack of job security - Industry experts believe that the internet has made job security a big issue as since technology keeps on changing with each day. This means that one has to be in a constant learning mode, if he or she wishes for their job to be secure.

Dominant culture - While information technology may have made the world a global village, it has also contributed to one culture dominating another weaker one. For example it is now argued that US influences how most young teenagers all over the world now act, dress and behave. Languages too have become overshadowed, with English becoming the primary mode of communication for business

The Premechanical Age: 3000 B.C. - 1450 A.D.

1. Writing and Alphabets--communication.

1. First humans communicated only through speaking and picture drawings.

2. 3000 B.C., the Sumerians in Mesopotamia (what is today southern Iraq) devised cuniform

3. Around 2000 B.C., Phoenicians created symbols

4. The Greeks later adopted the Phoenician alphabet and added vowels; the Romans gave the letters Latin names to create the alphabet we use today.

2. Paper and Pens--input technologies.

1. Sumerians' input technology was a stylus that could scratch marks in wet clay.

2. About 2600 B.C., the Egyptians write on the papyrus plant

3. around 100 A.D., the Chinese made paper from rags, on which modern-day papermaking is based.

3. Books and Libraries: Permanent Storage Devices.

1. Religious leaders in Mesopotamia kept the earliest "books"

2. The Egyptians kept scrolls

3. Around 600 B.C., the Greeks began to fold sheets of papyrus vertically into leaves and bind them together.

4. The First Numbering Systems.

1. Egyptian system:

§ The numbers 1-9 as vertical lines, the number 10 as a U or circle, the number 100 as a coiled rope, and the number 1,000 as a lotus blossom.

2. The first numbering systems similar to those in use today were invented between 100 and 200 A.D. by Hindus in India who created a nine-digit numbering system.

Around 875 A.D., the concept of zero was developed

The Mechanical Age: 1450 - 1840

· Early 1600s, William Oughtred, an English clergyman, invented the slide rule

• Early example of an analog computer.

· The Pascaline. Invented by Blaise Pascal (1623-62).

1. The First Information Explosion.

1. Johann Gutenberg (Mainz, Germany)

§ Invented the movable metal-type printing process in 1450.

2. The development of book indexes and the widespread use of page numbers.

2. The first general purpose "computers"

o Actually people who held the job title "computer: one who works with numbers."

Slide Rules, the Pascaline and Leibniz's Machine

. The Electromechanical Age: 1840 - 1940.

The discovery of ways to harness electricity was the key advance made during this period. Knowledge and information could now be converted into electrical impulses.

1. The Beginnings of Telecommunication.
1. Voltaic Battery.
• Late 18th century.
2. Telegraph.
• Early 1800s.
3. Morse Code.
• Developed in1835 by Samuel Morse
• Dots and dashes.

• Alexander Graham Bell.
• 1876
1. Followed by the discovery that electrical waves travel through space and can produce an effect far from the point at which they originated.
2. These two events led to the invention of the radio
• Guglielmo Marconi
• 1894

D. The Electronic Age: 1940 - Present.

• · Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)
• 1946.
• Used vacuum tubes (not mechanical devices) to do its calculations.
• Hence, first electronic computer.
• Developers John Mauchly, a physicist, and J. Prosper Eckert, an electrical engineer
• The Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania
• Funded by the U.S. Army.
• But it could not store its programs (its set of instructions)

1. First Tries.
• Early 1940s
• Electronic vacuum tubes.
2. Eckert and Mauchly.

1. The First High-Speed, General-Purpose Computer Using Vacuum Tubes:
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)
The ENIAC team (Feb 14, 1946). Left to right: J. Presper Eckert, Jr.; John Grist Brainerd; Sam Feltman; Herman H. Goldstine; John W. Mauchly; Harold Pender; Major General G. L. Barnes; Colonel Paul N. Gillon.

The First Stored-Program Computer(s)

• · Early 1940s, Mauchly and Eckert began to design the EDVAC - the Electronic Discreet Variable Computer.
• John von Neumann's influential report in June 1945:
• "The Report on the EDVAC"
• British scientists used this report and outpaced the Americans.
• Max Newman headed up the effort at Manchester University
• Where the Manchester Mark I went into operation in June 1948--becoming the first stored-program computer.
• Maurice Wilkes, a British scientist at Cambridge University, completed the EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) in 1949--two years before EDVAC was finished.
• Thus, EDSAC became the first stored-program computer in general use (i.e., not a prototype).

• The First General-Purpose Computer for Commercial Use: Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC).

3. ·
• Late 1940s, Eckert and Mauchly began the development of a computer called UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer)
• Remington Rand.
• First UNIVAC delivered to Census Bureau in 1951.
• But, a machine called LEO (Lyons Electronic Office) went into action a few months before UNIVAC and became the world's first commercial computer.

The Four Generations of Digital Computing.

· The First Generation (1951-1958).

1. Vacuum tubes as their main logic elements.
2. Punch cards to input and externally store data.
3. Rotating magnetic drums for internal storage of data and programs
• Programs written in
• Machine language
• Assembly language

Requires a compiler

· The Second Generation (1959-1963).

1. Vacuum tubes replaced by transistors as main logic element.
• AT&T's Bell Laboratories, in the 1940s
• Crystalline mineral materials called semiconductors could be used in the design of a device called a transistor
2. Magnetic tape and disks began to replace punched cards as external storage devices.
3. Magnetic cores (very small donut-shaped magnets that could be polarized in one of two directions to represent data) strung on wire within the computer became the primary internal storage technology.
• High-level programming languages

E.g., FORTRAN and COBOL

The Third Generation (1964-1979).

1. · Individual transistors were replaced by integrated circuits.

2. Magnetic tape and disks completely replace punch cards as external storage devices.

3. Magnetic core internal memories began to give way to a new form, metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) memory, which, like integrated circuits, used silicon-backed chips.

o Operating systems

o Advanced programming languages like BASIC developed.

· The Fourth Generation (1979- Present).

1. Large-scale and very large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs and VLSICs)
2. Microprocessors that contained memory, logic, and control circuits (an entire CPU = Central Processing Unit) on a single chip.
• Which allowed for home-use personal computers or PCs, like the Apple (II and Mac) and IBM PC.
• Apple II released to public in 1977, by Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs.
• Initially sold for $1,195 (without a monitor); had 16k RAM.
• First Apple Mac released in 1984.
• IBM PC introduced in 1981.
• Debuts with MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System)
• Fourth generation language software products
• E.g., Visicalc, Lotus 1-2-3, dBase, Microsoft Word, and many others.
• Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) for PCs arrive in early 1980s

MS Windows debuts in 1983, but is quite a clunker.

• Windows wouldn't take off until version 3 was released in 1990

Strategic Uses of Information Technology

Recent developments in information technology have transformed the way organizations conduct business. Today, companies are slashing costs using real-time electronic communications, improving customer intimacy by leveraging the Internet, and taking advantage of new business models such as distributed auctions and trading hubs. Yet many senior leaders lack the tools to assess and communicate the business impact that information technology can bring to their organization.

In this program, CIOs, CTOs, and senior general managers learn to identify, assess, and communicate the strategic competitive advantages enabled by information technology.

Content Overview

Strategic Uses of Information Technology takes a strategic, business-focused approach to information technology. The curriculum is non-technical and emphasizes frameworks for maximizing the value of an organization's existing information technology assets, as well as using information systems to reshape organizational strategy and culture. Recent case studies explore the best practices of top global companies that excel at creating value through information systems. Taking advantage of Stanford's position as the leading business school in Silicon Valley, the program also integrates into its curriculum a variety of industry guest speakers from innovative, market-leading technology companies.

Key Takeaways

• Frameworks for identifying the business value and strategic impact of information systems
• New methods for integrating information technology into the structure and culture of an organization
• Best practices and business models that leverage Internet, wireless, and networking technologies

Strategic Uses of Information Technology

Recent developments in information technology have transformed the way organizations conduct business. Today, companies are slashing costs using real-time electronic communications, improving customer intimacy by leveraging the Internet, and taking advantage of new business models such as distributed auctions and trading hubs. Yet many senior leaders lack the tools to assess and communicate the business impact that information technology can bring to their organization.

In this program, CIOs, CTOs, and senior general managers learn to identify, assess, and communicate the strategic competitive advantages enabled by information technology.

Content Overview

Strategic Uses of Information Technology takes a strategic, business-focused approach to information technology. The curriculum is non-technical and emphasizes frameworks for maximizing the value of an organization's existing information technology assets, as well as using information systems to reshape organizational strategy and culture. Recent case studies explore the best practices of top global companies that excel at creating value through information systems. Taking advantage of Stanford's position as the leading business school in Silicon Valley, the program also integrates into its curriculum a variety of industry guest speakers from innovative, market-leading technology companies.

Key Takeaways

• Frameworks for identifying the business value and strategic impact of information systems
• New methods for integrating information technology into the structure and culture of an organization
• Best practices and business models that leverage Internet, wireless, and networking technologies

Specific Uses of Information Technology

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In collaboration with the staff at the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia and several other key contributors (Earl Mark, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Paul Schulhof, Caryn Brause and Marjorie Tether, Graduate Research Assistants), various techniques have been explored and utilized in this project. The techniques include the following:

This technology establishes an easy basis for visualizing the effects of urban growth and transformation. Various considerations including topographic conditions, land use patterns, zoning constraints and economic factors exert forces on the formation of communities. Computer technology helps to organize information and variables, thus assisting a community in considering multiple options in their planned (or sometimes unplanned) growth. Animation and simulation are used as tools in the collection and organization of research material and as a medium for the demonstration and involvement by the public in the results of the design and research work

Graphic Information System (GIS) for the study of housing and development patterns:

Current GIS technology can provide valuable imaging for housing development patterns. The process of charting growth and transformation begins to provide specific suggestions about ways that neighborhoods can develop with full recognition of their past conditions, building on the positive attributes that may have once existed. Many of these attractive qualities in the small town setting are currently threatened by "outside" forces and pressures. One of the most notable examples of this concern in Charlottesville is the area surrounding the University of Virginia Medical Center. This neighborhood has a rich tradition dating back to the early nineteenth century, yet its particular identity and attributes have been seriously challenged and threatened by the ever expanding Medical Center. In the more distant past, the Vinegar Hill neighborhood was decimated in the name of "urban renewal", eliminating one of the most important and vibrant residential and commercial areas of Charlottesville's African-American community during the nineteen-sixties. A careful recognition of patterns and particular local conditions provides a much more constructive model for developing and reinforcing individual neighborhoods. GIS technology and the other computer based approaches explored in this project can strongly promote public appreciation for the community's heritage.

Computer Aided Design (CAD) for geometric modeling:

Information from GIS is collected and primarily presented in a two-dimensional format. At the same time, three-dimensional modeling is important in demonstrating a more tangible and "real" simulation of familiar urban and topographic conditions. One example of this application involves the demonstration of current and future zoning constraints on building footprints and massing within various neighborhoods. Zoning laws are written documents and they currently require "translation" into three-dimensional terms. The public, politicians and planning departments seldom understand the specific physical and formal implications of the zoning laws that are currently written. Geometric modeling can demonstrate current conditions and new approaches that more convincingly approximate the familiar settings of traditional small town planning.

Geometric modeling also applies to work involving specific housing studies. A computer based approach is patterned on the "Sears Catalog House" from the early part of this century, in which various combinations of standardized assembly elements can be organized by home owners. The computer technology allows individuals to quickly visualize economical possibilities within a graphically defined "kit of parts" of housing options. Rather than relinquishing this process of "product development" and individual participation in the organization of housing options to free-market forces of speculative development, our design study proposes a more sensitive relationship between current affordable housing practice and traditions from the past. This connection between specific affordable options in housing and a relationship to familiar practices in the past reinforces the previously described role of re-uniting a neighborhood's development with patterns of evolution as identified through the GIS and urban design work.

Digital image archival systems for compiling data about the built environment:

This aspect of work ties into the Digital Image Center (DIC) in the Fine Arts Library at the University of Virginia. Ongoing work in the DIC supports this research project in several ways. Documenting the urban history of Charlottesville involves digital imaging technology. For example, digitized urban plans of comparable settings within North America have been considered as we explored initial settlement patterns and the changes that occur under the influence of individually identified factors. The DIC promotes more synthetic and perhaps unexpected associations among urban precedents than those that might be identified through traditional graphic, statistical, and representational approaches. In the area of housing, the DIC assists in collecting and cataloguing options and combinations that one can extract from the vernacular architectural history and vernacular traditions of this region.

Uses of Technology

Instructional technology creates a whole new world of possibilities for teaching and learning. As William Geoghegan pointed out in 1994, however, only a very small proportion of faculty are actively using instructional technology, and these tend to be "innovators" or "early adopters" rather than "mainstream" faculty.

Although there has been an increase in the percentage of faculty using technology since 1996, Kenneth Green in his report of the 1996 National Survey of Information Technology in Higher Education notes that the percentages of college courses using various kinds of information technology resources remains relatively low:

Multimedia             11%         

E-mail                 25%         

Presentation Handouts  28%         

Commercial Courseware  19%        

CD-ROM Materials        9%         

Computer Simulations   14%         

Computer Lab/Classroom 24%         

WWW-based Resources     9%

As the Director of Duquesne University's Center for Teaching Excellence and co-chair of Duquesne's Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable, I have been very much involved in assisting our faculty to envision ways to use technology to enhance their teaching and student learning. I've found that mainstream faculty are most likely to use instructional technology if they see it as a solution to a particular problem they face in their teaching, rather than a "gimmick."

Kozma and Johnston (1991) conceptualized ways in which instructional technology can support learning:

• enabling active engagement in construction of knowledge,
• making available real-world situations,
• providing representations in multiple modalities (e.g. 3-D, auditory, graphic, text),
• drilling students on basic concepts to reach mastery,
• facilitating collaborative activity among students,
• seeing interconnections among concepts through hypertext,
• learning to use the tools of scholarship, and
• simulating laboratory work.

I have found that our faculty find this type of conceptualization helpful in seeing *why* technology might be a powerful tool in enhancing learning. Lynda Barner West, Director of Duquesne's computer center, and I have identified a few examples of each of these uses of instructional technology to help our faculty understand the meaning of these categories and the rich possibilities they represent

Making Available Real-World Situations

• A Right to Die? The case of Dax Cowart presents the actual case of a severe burn victim, including footage of the injuries and treatment, and interviews of the patient, his physician, and a lawyer. Students of ethics and medicine are challenged to decide whether or not they agree with the patient's wish to stop his painful treatment and die. They are then presented with conflicting arguments.
  http://www.routledge.com/routledge/indepth/dax_main.html
• A physical therapy professor creates a World Wide Web site providing a self-contained lesson on rheumatoid arthritis. Included at this site is a video of an actual patient history interview, x-rays, and photos as well as text.
  http://www.duq.edu/PT/RA/RA.html

Providing Representations in Multiple Modalities

• Mathematica software enables students to see a graphical representation of any function. By changing equations or using different values for variables, students develop a deeper understanding of mathematics by viewing changes in the graphical representations.
  http://www.mathematica.com/
• A key understanding in pharmacy education is that the action of drugs depends on the "fit" between particular molecules in the body and the molecular structure of drugs...in a kind of "lock and key" relationship. However, students often have difficulty visualizing molecules as three-dimensional objects. A pharmacy professor uses molecular modeling software to create self-paced assignments which require students to manipulate molecules, developing visualizing ability and understanding of drug-receptor relationships. (Contact: Dr. Marc Harrold, )

Simulating Laboratory Work

• A.D.A.M. (Animated Dissection of Anatomy for Medicine) is a simulated human being with all anatomical structures from skin to bone. Students can explore various facets of human anatomy by simulated dissection, learning how structures relate to one another.
  http://www.adam.com/
• In analytic chemistry, actual infrared and mass spectra are displayed as if created by an instrument. Students can query the system to determine the cause of a peak or investigate different types of compounds. Instrument simulation permits the student to gain experience with otherwise unavailable analytic techniques.
  http://www.falconsoftware.com/sdeck.html

Factors Influencing Faculty Use of Instructional Technology

Although shortage of equipment, facilities, and institutional support may play a role in inhibiting use of technology, Geoghegan (1994) argues that the most important reason for limited use is in the human realm. He puts forth a model of innovation and change which indicates an approximately normal distribution when number of new adopters are plotted against time. Along this continuum, he identifies five categories of adopter: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. There can be a "chasm" between early adopters and the early majority, such that the innovation is never adopted by the mainstream.

In the case of faculty and use of instructional technology, Geoghegan contrasts early adopters, who are risk takers, more willing to experiment, generally self-sufficient, and interested in the technology itself with early majority faculty who are more concerned about the teaching/learning problem being addressed than the technology used to address it, view ease of use as critical, and want proven applications with low risk of failure. Thus, University support groups should include staff with good pedagogical understanding and basic knowledge of a wide range of academic and professional disciplines.

A survey carried out at Western Michigan University in 1993 (Spotts and Bowman, 1993) lends credibility to Geoghegan's ideas. Factors identified by more than half of the respondents as important in influencing the use of instructional technology were: availability of equipment, promise of improved student learning, funds to purchase materials, compatibility with subject matter, advantages over traditional methods, increased student interest, ease of use, information on materials in their discipline, compatibility with existing course materials, university training in technology use, time to learn the technology and comfort level with technology.

Why use Instructional Technology?

• Students can be actively engaged in learning, leading to greater time on task and greater depth of knowledge
• Student learning can emphasize continuous improvement of a piece of work, a concept sometimes called "D.I.A.T." or Doing It Again Thoughtfully (Steven Ehrmann, final report of Project Flashlight)
  http://www.learner.org/edtech/rscheval/flashlight/toc.html
• Students can work more collaboratively with one another
• Students can be given more practice with feedback
• Students can examine their existing conceptions and update or modify
• Learning materials can be provided to match the learning style of the learner
• Self-paced learning may be possible, with study and practice until the student reaches his/her "personal best"
• Classroom dialogue can extend beyond the time and space constraints of class time
• Students can learn by working on complex, open-ended, realistic (or real-world) tasks
• Faculty can restructure their role, using individual and peer-group work or technology for some purposes, thereby freeing time to make their unique contribution to student learning
• Perhaps most importantly, faculty find rethinking their teaching an energizing and regenerative experience!

World Wide Web sites related to Pedagogical uses of Information Technology

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/teachdemo

James O'Donnell, a classicist at the University of Pennsylvania, created this page to introduce, describe, and exemplify new Internet-based resources for teaching that are already available and easy to use.

http://www.udel.edu/apa

The American Philosophical Association provides references for software to use in teaching philosophy, as well as pointers to Internet and World Wide Web sites with philosophical content.

http://biology.uoregon.edu/Biology_WWW/BSL/BSL.html

The Biology Software Laboratory at the University of Oregon develops educational software tools for Macintosh computers which encourage deep concept construction and open-ended scientific inquiry. They focus on investigation of student-generated questions based on scientific and social issues, allowing students of diverse abilities to work independently or in groups, exploring all levels of concepts, investigative methods, and critical thinking skills.

http://www.lehigh.edu/~ddm2/m301.html

Senior-level strategic management course integrating corporate-level, business- level, and international-level strategies. Students are actively involved with Internet learning experiments and use the Web to locate business resources worldwide. Syllabus, lecture notes, assignments, student work, and links to related materials.

http://www.oit.itd.umich.edu/WIP.html

The University of Michigan's Office of Instructional Technology provides an overview of "works in progress," projects in a wide range of disciplines which enhance learning through use of technology. Includes multimedia databases, tutorials, practice with feedback, simulations, gaming, interactive role playing, developing and testing of hypotheses, animation, and case studies.

http://www.sunsite.unc.edu/horizon/mono/CD/

Reports for a CD to be distributed by Microsoft describing uses of technology in colleges and universities. Organized by area: education, language and music, natural sciences, and social sciences.

http://edpa.coled.umn.edu/Stewart/TLHE.html

Articles and WWW sites related to use of technology for enhancing teaching and learning in higher education.

http://www.unc.edu/courses/newchalk

An online magazine featuring uses of technology by faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. New issues are posted bi-weekly with each issue focused on a particular use of technology. For example, the April 7, 1997 issue dealt with use of technology for writing to learn assignments.

http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture/index.html

Contains links to pages created by faculty worldwide who are using the Web to deliver class materials such as course syllabi, assignments, lecture notes, exams, class calendars, multimedia textbooks, etc. Organized by disciplinary area, from accounting through zoology.

http://www.staffs.ac.uk/cital/

Staffordshire University Computers in Teaching and Learning pages, designed to cover everything related to the use of computers and information technology in teaching and learning. Includes computer-mediated communication, hypertext, subject-oriented information, collaborative and cooperative learning, using the WWW for learning and teaching, and distance learning.

http://www.cause.org/information-resources/ir-library/html/cem9649.html

Article from CAUSE/EFFECT, Winter 1996, "Reengineering Higher Education: Reinventing Teaching and Learning." The premise is that successful reengineering in higher education must begin with teaching and learning, rather than administrative processes.

http://www.cause.org/information-resources/ir-library/html/cem9648.html

Article from CAUSE/EFFECT, Winter 1996, "Teaching Via Electrons: Networked Courseware at the University of Oregon." Describes the process of creating interactive networked course material, particularly for introductory science courses, and evaluates the impact on student learning.

Readings related to Pedagogical uses of Information Technology

Bender, R. M. (1995). Creating communities on the Internet: Electronic discussion lists in the classroom. Computers in Libraries, 15 (5), 38-43.

Berge, Z. L. and Collins, M. P. (Eds.). (1995). Computer mediated communication and the online classroom. Volume II: Higher education. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Boschmann, E. (1995). The electronic classroom: A handbook for education in the electronic environment. Medford, NJ: Learned Information.

Dolence, M. G. and Norris, D. M. (1995). Transforming higher education: A vision for learning in the 21st century. Ann Arbor, MI: Society for College and University Planning.

Geoghegan, W. H. (1994) What ever happened to instructional technology? Reaching mainstream faculty. Norwalk, CT: IBM Academic Consulting.

Guskin, A. E. (September/October 1994). Reducing student costs and enhancing student learning. Part II: Restructuring the role of faculty. Change, 26, 16-25.

Harasim, L. Teaching online: Computer conferencing as an educational environment. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Computer Conferencing, Ohio State University, June 1991. (Contact Linda Harasim, Department of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia)

Kozma, R. B. and Johnston, J. (1991) The technological revolution comes to the classroom. Change, 23 (1), 10-23.

Laurillard, D. (1993). Rethinking university teaching: A framework for the effective use of educational technology. London: Routledge.

Morris, P., et al. (1994) Valuable, viable software in education: Cases and analysis. New York: Primis Division of McGraw-Hill.

Perkins, D. N., et al. (Eds.) (1995). Software goes to school: Teaching for understanding with new technologies. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rosen, L. (June 2, 1995). The way to design creative software for the humanities. Chronicle of Higher Education, A48.

Rutherford, L. H. and Grana, S. J. (September 1995). Retrofitting academe: Adapting faculty attitudes and practices to technology. T.H.E. Journal, 23, 82- 86.

Spotts, T. H. and Bowman, M. A. (1993). Increasing faculty use of instructional technology: Barriers and incentives. Educational Media International, 30, 199-204