BackgroundHigher education is beginning to make increased use of the rapidly growing and expanding capabilities of technology. There are, however, numerous barriers to the integration of instructional technology into higher education. This paper describes a model for addressing those barriers. A review of the relevant literature and an analysis of the results of a questionnaire sent to higher education deans were used to develop the model.

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Purpose Pharmaceutical companies paid at least $3.91 billion to prescribers in 2013, yet evidence indicating whether industry payments shift prescribing away from generics is limited. This study examined the association between amount of industry payments to prescribers and generic drug prescribing rates among Medicare Part D prescribers. Methods A cross-sectional analysis was conducted among 770,095 Medicare Part D prescribers after linking the 2013 national Open Payments data with 2013 Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment data. The exposure variable was categorized amount of total industry payments to prescribers (i.e., meals, travel, research, ownership). The outcome was prescriber’s annual generic drug prescribing rate. Multivariable generalized linear regression models were used to examine the association between amount of industry payments and prescriber’s annual generic drug prescribing rates, controlling for prescriber’s demographic and practice characteristics. Results In this sample, over one-third (38.0%) of Medicare Part D prescribers received industry payments in 2013. The mean annual generic drug prescribing rate was highest among prescribers receiving no payments and lowest among those receiving more than $500 of industry payments (77.5% vs. 71.3%, respectively; p<0.001). The receipt of industry payments was independently associated with prescribers’ generic drug prescribing rate; higher payments corresponded with lower generic drug prescribing rates. Other prescriber characteristics associated with higher annual generic drug prescribing rate included male sex, non-northeast region, specialty, and patient volume. Conclusions Receipt of industry payments was associated with a decreased rate of generic drug prescribing. How this affects patient care and total medical costs warrants further study.

This study compared how people working in three different types of organisations in the United States (K-12 schools, higher education, and business) rank the importance of eight conditions that have been shown to facilitate the implementation of innovations. The study also sought to determine if the nature of the innovation (i.e., technology or process innovation) affected the rankings. Technology innovations are those that require the use of a new tool or product such as an innovative communications device or new piece of manufacturing equipment. Process innovations are those that require a new method or system such as a new method for performance evaluations or new budget approval process. A total of 635 participants completed an online instrument to determine their individual ranking of the eight conditions, 315 participants responded to questions specific to technology innovation while 320 responded to process specific questions. Analysis of variance was used to compare differences between the groups. Significant differences were found on five of the eight conditions in the technology sample and on seven of the eight conditions in the process sample. In addition, there were differences within groups based on the nature of the innovation. Change agents must adapt their strategies to account for the different rankings of the eight implementation conditions based on type of organisation and the nature of the innovation. The results of this study provide a framework for understanding and accounting for the group differences. This is the first study to address the prescriptive value of the eight implementation conditions.

INTRODUCTIONAs we enter a new century, two major forces -societal change and technological expansion -are exerting tremendous pressure on higher education. In regard to societal change, critics claim that higher education is not meeting the needs of a diverse student population, not keeping up with growing student demand, has become too costly and is not responsive to the changing skills demanded by employers (Daniel, 1996). At the same time that colleges and universities are coming under re for not keeping up with changing societal trends, a number of converging technologies such as high-speed networks, multimedia and innovative instructional techniques are beginning to change the way that colleges and universities operate (Katz, 1999). Even the most conservative university administrators, when faced with the mounting problems of higher education and the increasing potential of technology to address those problems, would admit that higher education is entering a period of relatively rapid change. As Duderstadt (1999 ) writes 'the real question is not whether higher education will be transformed but how and by whom' (p. 1).Many universities, in an effort to manage the transformation brought about by societal and technological forces, have begun to hire more technology professionals. One technology field that has seen an increase in hiring in higher education is Instructional Technology. Seels and Richey (1994) define instructional technology as 'the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes of learning' (p. 1). Instructional Technology, then, is primarily concerned with the application of emerging hardware and software technologies to the teaching and learning process. For the purpose of this paper we will use the abbreviation IT to refer to 'Instructional Technology' instead of the more widely used reference to 'Information Technology' which has more of an emphasis on the administrative and managerial applications of technology.As more institutions of higher education begin to make use of instructional technology, more job openings for IT professionals are being advertised. The purpose of this study was to determine the different types of instructional technology service jobs in higher education. Our goals for this study were to determine the types of job that are available, the responsibilities for each type of job, and the qualifications needed for each. This study is important because it will help universities develop IT positions by describing the types of positions that other universities are hiring. We also believe that our study will be useful to job SUMMARYThe purpose of this study was to determine the types of instructional technology service positions available in higher education. The authors collected and analysed 449 job announcements and, based upon an analysis of the position descriptions , were able to develop a taxonomy of service positions. The taxonomy includes eight categories: Instructional Technologist; Instructional Designer; Distance ...