The Technology Source Archives

February 1999 // Spotlight Site

EDUCAUSE

http://www.educause.edu/

Note: This article was originally published in The Technology Source (http://ts.mivu.org/) as: "EDUCAUSE" The Technology Source, February 1999. Available online at http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1034. The article is reprinted here with permission of the publisher.

EDUCAUSE, a consolidation of the CAUSE and Educom associations, takes as its broad goal the development and implementation of information technologies in pedagogy, scholarship, research, and institutional administration. Specifically, EDUCAUSE sponsors international institutes and conferences on various topics related to educational technologies, offers expert advice on dealing with practical issues associated with institutional uses of technology (including, for example, "Y2K Problems You Should Be Asking"), and gives awards and fellowships for scholars and educators interested in informational resource management, as well as providing a wide range of traditional and online publications.

One of the most impressive aspects of the EDUCAUSE mission is the organization's vast array of seminar and conference offerings. For example, EDUCAUSE's National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII) is designed to contain the rising costs of education and improve standards of teaching and learning for wider and more diverse American audiences. NLII's 1999 meeting, to be held in New Orleans, promises to be a dynamic convergence of educators and administrators from around the world. The conference will focus on issues such as the increasing prevalence of distance learning, the use of digital libraries, the changing face of online copyright laws, and the problems university staff face in implementing and maintaining technological infrastructures.

Online, EDUCAUSE offers a good number of discussion groups organized by general interest (data administration, distance learning, and e-mail, among others) and focused within those groups on topics ranging from "Access Issues" to "Wiring and Cabling." Discussion threads are well-organized and well-archived, with abstracts and ordering instructions for related articles. EDUCAUSE's online journals are accessible and informative, with articles ranging from specific university profiles to strategies for attracting and retaining information technology staff.

The EDUCAUSE Web page is well-designed, easy to navigate, and informative. Better yet, EDUCAUSE is a dynamic organization, responsible for initiating and sponsoring numerous conferences and seminars, for maintaining discussion groups relevant to educational and information technologies, and for publishing interesting and instructive journals. Check it out!