Science and Technology

University Roles in Technological Innovation in California

C. Judson King
2007

California has achieved considerable economic success through technological innovation and the formation of businesses based upon those technologies. This paper addresses some of the roles of universities in that success story. It starts with some measures of the contributions of innovation and a robust university structure to the California economy, drawn from the biotechnology and wine industries. This is followed by an exploration of some recent partnership structures involving universities with industry and/or the state government. Emphasis is on the University of California,...

The Regulation of E-learning: New National and International Policy Perspectives

Diane Harley
Shannon Lawrence
2007

The universe of postsecondary education is expanding. It is an era of rapid demographic and labor market changes, increased competition and shifts in institutional form (e.g., the rise of for profit degree granters, the hybrid form of nonprofit/for-profit partnerships, corporate universities), and new forms of delivery driven by emerging technologies. In nearly all of these cases, the pace of innovation and establishment of new institutional forms outstrips the ability of regulators or policy makers to stay ahead of the curve.

To better understand the complex interplay of public...

Why Study Users? An Environmental Scan of Use and Users of Digital Resources in Humanities and Social Sciences Undergraduate Education

Diane Harley
Jonathan Henke
Shannon Lawrence
2006

This paper presents an overview of a two-year study funded by the Andrew W. Mellon and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundations that (1) mapped the universe of digital resources available to undergraduate educators in the humanities and social sciences (H/SS) and (2) examined how a better understanding of the variation in use and users can benefit the integration of these resources into undergraduate teaching. In order to address questions around user demand and resource sustainability, we used a variety of methodologies that included an extensive literature review; discussions with and...

Virtualpolitik: Obstacles to Building Virtual Communities in Traditional Institutions of Knowledge

Elizabeth Losh
2005

Digital collaborations are often stymied because institutions of higher education are increasingly divided between two cultures: the culture of knowledge and the culture of information. Campuses primarily remain institutions of knowledge, although practices of information acquisition can no longer be ignored, especially since the advent of networked computing and study with digital texts. Yet the traditional division of labor and the ownership of intellectual property within the academy are threatened by digital collaborations; and the claims of information theory, which is...

Virtualization Of Research Universities: Raising The Right Questions To Address Key Functions Of The Institution

Thomas Pfeffer
2003

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the variety of information and communication technology (ICT) applications at traditional universities and to integrate them into a holistic picture of the institution. Using the distinction of three key elements of scholarly activity (research, publication, education), it suggests a functional perspective of the organization as a way to raise questions for the assessment of ICT applications in universities. This may lead to a better understanding of the different rationales in research, publication, and education. Acknowledging...

University Teaching as E-Business? Research and Policy Agendas

Diane Harley
Gary Matkin
Michael Goldstein
Sally Johnstone
Peter Lyman
Roger Geiger
Hal Abelson
Vijay Kumar
Robert Lapiner
Phillip B. Stark
Geoffrey Cox
Andy DiPaolo
Julius Zalmanowitz
Kurt Larson
2002

After reviewing the transcripts of the meeting, we decided that their high quality warrantedasking individual authors and respondents to review and revise their contributions in lightof the discussions. The results of their efforts form the basis of this collection. Althoughboth they and we have done significant editing of the original transcripts, we did notattempt to force the papers into one editorial style; rather, each represents the style andperspective of its author. Some authors chose to rework their talks into formal papers, andsome authors chose the extemporaneous tone that...

The Roles And Experience Of Inventors And Start-Ups In Commercializing University Research: Case Studies At The University Of California

Robert A. Lowe
2002

This chapter from the author's dissertation summarizes findings from case studies of university-based start-up firms. The case studies contribute descriptive accounts to support and illuminate emerging empirical research on this specialized set of start-ups. The case studies highlight several interesting findings related to the special role of inventors and the university in developing the technology as well as how the operating experience of these firms compares and contrasts with standard beliefs about start-ups. For example, the case studies document the stark contrasts among...

Investing In Educational Technologies: The Challenge Of Reconciling Institutional Strategies, Faculty Goals, And Student Expectations

Diane Harley
2002

The Higher Education in the Digital Age Project (HEDA) is concerned with the policy implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for higher education. This paper specifically analyzes some of the ways in which ICTs are being employed as possible solutions to the triad of pressures facing US research universities: (a) holding down costs, (b) providing access to an increasingly diverse demographic, and (c) maintaining quality. It presents a brief review of activities taking place throughout the US, and discusses some of the pressures that US research universities...

BIBS: A Lecture Webcasting System

Lawrence A. Rowe
Diane Harley
Peter Pletcher
Shannon Lawrence
2001

The Berkeley Internet Broadcasting System (BIBS) is a lecture webcasting system developed and operated by the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center. The system offers live remote viewing and on-demand replay of course lectures using streaming audio and video over the Internet. During the Fall 2000 semester 14 classes were webcast, including several large lower division classes, with a total enrollment of over 4,000 students. Lectures were played over 15,000 times per month during the semester. The primary use of the webcasts is to study for examinations. Students report they watch BIBS...

Neoliberalism, Performance Measurement, and the Governance of American Academic Science

Irwin Feller
2008

The international thrust of neoliberal liberal policies on higher education systems has generally been to reduce governmental control over the operations of universities in de facto exchange for these institutions assuming increased responsibility for generating a larger share of their revenues and for providing quantitative evidence of performance. Differences in the structural and financial arrangements of the U.S. higher education and academic science system from those of other countries — especially the greater importance of private research universities and the modest share of...