The Education Enterprise: Is it Manageable?
Wadi D. Haddad, Editor

Education systems are huge enterprises that are hard to manage, maintain and ensure quality of input, process and output. They need to undergo a structural re-engineering of their processes and techniques and to modernize their procedures and applications -- at different levels of decision-making and administration. Communication and information technologies must be an integral part of the restructuring design and application.

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Education Management Information System: What Is It and Why Do We Not Have More of It?
Kurt D. Moses, Vice President, Academy for Educational Development

An Education Management Information System (EMIS) is a comprehensive system that brings together people, process, and technology to provide timely, cost effective, and user appropriate information to support educational management at whatever level is needed. This article addresses applications for education, who needs what information, the process to follow, the challenges of EMIS, and some simple lessons.

Technology and the Management of Learning: The New Accountability
Lawrence Wolff, Inter-American Development Bank

Technology, especially increased computing power and the rapid transfer of data, are now revolutionizing the way schools and learning systems are managed and evaluated. Education is becoming a reliable system with memory.

Education and ICTs: Current Legal, Ethical and Economic Issues
Zeynep Varoglu and Cédric Wachholz, UNESCO

This article examines the legal, ethical and economic issues relating to education and the use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). It starts with an analysis of the current legal agreements governing trade in goods and services related to education and ICTs, followed by the ethical debates arising from the legal frameworks. It then explores the role of the private sector and questions the role of education - a public good or a commodity.

TechKnowNews

� “Smart Villages” to put Egypt on the Regional IT Map � South African Strategic Alliance to Bring Voice Interactive Distance Learning � IFC Invests in Information Technology Education in India � US Web-Based Education Commission Releases E-Learning Report �

Computer Simulations and Policy Analysis
Noel F. McGinn, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University

Simulations for policy analysis can be structured or unstructured. This article describes several of each kind of simulation and discusses how they are used and how their utility can be assessed.

New Technologies for Automated Essay Test Scoring
Richard Swartz, President, ETS Technologies

This article describes a groundbreaking automated essay scoring system developed by ETS Technologies.

HONDURAS: Smoothing the Process of the Project Cycle
Aimee Verdisco and Carlos Gargiulo, Inter-American Development Bank

This article describes the process of computerizing the project cycle of the Honduran Social Investment Fund in 20 municipalities.

Using Technology to Manage Education Information: ERIC and REDUC
Dr. Lee G. Burchinal, Assist Int'l Inc., Sergio Martinic, Center for Research in Development and Education, and Laurence Wolff, IADB

This article analyzes the evolution, scope and innovations of two different cases of the use of technology for managing education information.

EMIS Success In South Africa & Guinea: Insights From Practitioners
Luis Crouch and Jennie Spratt, RTI

Each case in this article represents a snapshot of a particular period in a country’s EMIS development as observed by practitioners in the field.

Technology for Successful Management and Accountability in US K-12 Schools
Marco J. Morrone, Product Manager, Project Achieve

Many successful teachers and schools are putting in long hours tying together standards, assessments, and resources. Automating as many aspects of this process as possible helps schools and teachers make these connections quickly and easily, leaving more time for teachers to focus on teaching.

National-Level Educational Support Systems: The United Kingdom's National Grid for Learning (NGfL)
Soledad McKinnon, George Washington University and Joanne Capper, The World Bank

The NGfL is a diverse and constantly evolving collection of Internet-based education resources targeted to K-12 schools, further education, higher education and lifelong learning. It contains resources and discussion forums for teachers, tutors, school and college managers, parents, and learners of all ages.

Electronic Environment for Management of Learning Systems
L.A. Plugge, S. Schoenmakers, and P.A. Kirschner, Maastricht McLuhan Institute, Netherlands

This article summarizes an in-depth review of electronic tools that enable flexibility and support of collaborative teaching and learning environments. The authors looked into 50 different electronic environments, reviewed nine of them and short-listed four environments that they considered well equipped to serve learning and teaching, particularly in developing countries and are susceptible for efficient use in a multi-lingual, multi-country, and multi-media network context.

Education Management Information Systems (EMIS): Guidelines for Design and Implementation
Luis Crouch, RTI, Mircea Enache, EMI Systems and Patrick Supanc, The World Bank

This article provides guidelines on mapping decision-making responsibility and priorities, design strategies, and implementation measures, and distills overarching lessons from international experience.

Education Management Information Systems (EMIS): Available Software and Guidelines for Selection
Kurt Moses, Vice President, and Vivian Toro, Director, Academy for Educational Development

This article addresses strategic choices regarding development or purchase of EMIS software, reviews a sample of available software, and describes seven steps for software selection.

No Strings Attached: Education Management Using Wireless, Internet and Smart Card
Editorial Staff

Wireless communications, Internet and Smart Cards can provide fast, reliable and cheap solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing education systems today.

WorthWhileWebs
Gregg Jackson, Associate Professor and Coordinator, Education Policy Program, George Washington

The Web is being used increasingly not only to provide information and instruction, but also to support policy development, planning, and management of educational systems. This article describes several sites that do that.

Orbiting The Dream: Satellites Open New Horizons For Africa’s Educators
Tressa Steffen Gipe

Imagine a small isolated rural village in Africa. The village schoolhouse receives current radio reports in the local language with events from around the world, and the teacher is able to email student and payroll records to the Ministry of Education in the capital. In the evenings the school doubles as a community media center filled with enterprising villagers checking grain and livestock prices in the capital, while others keep in touch with friends and family via email. Is it a dream or a reality?

On-line Distance Learning: The Experience of the International Institute for Educational Planning, UNESCO
Bikas C. Sanyal

IIEP launched a program of distance learning (DL) in various areas of educational management (e.g. the management of textbook production and distribution, refresher programs for former IIEP trainees, the management of university-industry partnerships, etc.), based on self-learning materials prepared by its faculty. This article deals with only one area – the training of human resources for university management.

AED: Technology as a Management Tool; A New Approach to Implementation

AED has been a leader in developing computer software programs for gathering and processing education statistics and the comprehensive training programs to teach ministry officials and educational administrators how to process, interpret, and use the data they gather. One of the foremost programs in education management information systems is ED*ASSIST.