On the Horizon On-Line is a strategic planning publication published in
print form by Jossey-Bass publications and published under contract in
online form by UNC-Chapel Hill on its Horizon Web page.

Below is a description of the September-October 1999 issue, which is now
available online at http://horizon.unc.edu/horizon/online/html/7/5/

You may be in an organization with an institutional online subscription
(http://horizon.unc.edu/horizon/subscribe.asp). If you are not, ask your
librarian to request a 60-day trial subscription, which will allow
everyone in your organization to have access to OTH On-Line without
logging on (your e-mail IP address does this automatically).

Please forward this announcement to colleagues who can benefit from a
print and Web-based periodical that focuses on signals of change on the
horizon that can affect educational organizations.

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ON THE HORIZON: The Strategic Planning Resource for Education
Professionals

IN THIS ISSUE

Space: The Final Frontier
Donald M. Norris
President, Strategic Initiatives, Inc.

The advent of virtual communication means more than just new ways of doing
things—it also means new concepts of physical space. Buildings designed
with face-to-face classes and business meetings in mind must be redesigned
as many of these activities begin to take place online. At the same time,
public spaces must satisfy the everpresent human needs for interaction and
community. Donald Norris surveys several campuses experimenting with
multifunctional and fused-use facilities, as well as some urban centers
recreating our concepts of museums, zoos, and public areas. For anyone
interested in the physical ramifications of technology, this article tells
where to look for new innovations.

Information Technology in Higher Education: The "Global Academic Village"
and Intellectual Standardization
Phil Agre
Department of Information Studies University of California, Los Angeles

Communications systems set up with different objectives in mind have
tended to use different language, different structures, different
equipment. But Phil Agre notices a trend toward "ontological
standardization": organizations now have to communicate with each other
using the same systems, so they seek to use the same models in reinventing
themselves. For example, schools have to standardize their use of terms
like "course" and "teacher" for prospective students making global
comparisons. Agre observes that such standardization can pose threats to
the uniqueness possessed by many educational institutions and reminds
educators to preserve their schools' identities as they incorporate new
systems.

Electronic Networking in the Future: An Interview with Judith V.
Boettcher, Part II
Judith V. Boettcher
Executive Director
Corporation for Research and Education Networking
James L. Morrison
Professor of Education
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Judith Boettcher tells editor James L. Morrison in this interview that
many educators, even those with technical experience, grossly underuse the
potential for electronic networking. According to Boettcher, "many
educators are still using Information Age technology with Industrial Age
learning experiences." Rather than using the same old classroom techniques
with new technology, she calls for educators to develop approaches
specifically for the Web. These new approaches may integrate features such
as "book Web sites," pocket computers, and audio equipment, and Boettcher
tells us how.


On the Tenure of University Presidents
Arthur Padilla and Sujit Ghosh
College of Management
North Carolina State University

University presidents shape the institutions where tomorrow's leaders are
trained, but few stay in these important positions for more than a decade.
Art Padilla and look at the statistics that describe the men and women
serving as university presidents: how satisfied they are, what risks they
take, what drives them out, and the effects of their tenure on the
universities they lead. Educators concerned about the balance of stability
and innovation in their institutions will want to consider Padilla and
Ghosh's analysis of the factors affecting the turnover at the top.


Democracy and the Academy
Laurence R. Marcus
Professor in Educational Leadership
Rowan University

In his last article for On the Horizon, Laurence Marcus suggests a change
in focus for the political debates over the democratization of the
academy. Rather than emphasizing the ideological battles on campus, Marcus
believes the educational politics should emphasize the balance between
accountability and autonomy that must be maintained for those debates to
be fairly adjudged. Universities have responsibilities to the communities
they serve and must be accountable, yet their unique purpose in society
also requires that they possess autonomy in the intellectual explorations
they pursue. Marcus explores the factors involved in achieving this
critical balance.




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