Every institution needs a vision to focus the hopes and work of its members. Recent data indicate that use of applications of information technology in conjunction with teaching is spreading faster than any other form of curricular change. There is no longer any question about whether or not information technology will become an integral part of education. The biggest challenge is to reduce the growing gap between the educational "haves" and the "have nots" and to build more effective learning communities. Making quality education widely available with and through information technology in the next decade is one of the keys to improving the quality of life for everyone. This will require increased investments and annual expenditures at every level.

Does your institution take full advantage of educational technology? James Garner Ptaszynski believes that colleges and universities should be striving to overcome the challenges that keep them from fully adopting information and instructional technologies. In this article, Ptaszynski outlines some major factors which inhibit institutions from embracing the tools that could expand the breadth and range of education.

Ray Brown focuses his attention on the emergence of Valley City State University (North Dakota) as a leader among universities in the integration of technology and instruction. He highlights a commitment to planning, focus on professional development, commitment to universal access for all college constituencies, and partnerships with public schools and communities as key to the success of VCSU.

The University of Minnesota recently began using Microsoft?s BackOffice to streamline the storage of operating data. With funding for public institutions of higher learning being increasingly called into question, BackOffice helped to minimize complex storage methods (for multiple legacy transaction systems) by identifying data necessary for university business and planning needs and aggressively leveraging existing and emergent technology to develop a system specifically suited for the University.

Microsoft Word 97 gives you everything you need to create professional-looking documents, communicate your ideas, and share information -- on the printed page or across intranets and the Internet. The innovative new tools in Word 97 make it easy to get powerful results fast!

The University at Buffalo has developed a web site aimed at providing articulate information to UB faculty/staff/students as well as prospective UB students.