Information Technology Initiative
The purpose of the League’s Information
Technology Initiative, as it has been from its beginnings
in 1984, is to help community colleges to improve teaching
and learning, student services, and institutional management
through the application of information technology and to serve
as an umbrella for a wide-ranging set of projects and activities.
Since its inception, this project has become
one of the best examples of successful technology transfer
between business and industry and the nation’s two-year
colleges. The annual
Conference on Information Technology, a centerpiece of
the program, attracts close to 4,000 participants annually
from countries all over the world, making it one of the largest
community college conferences in North America. Over the history
of the initiative, more than $35 million in equipment and
funds has made its way into community colleges. The project
has been so successful that it has spawned a number of related
efforts that have themselves become ongoing, self-sustaining
projects, including the multi-million dollar Project Synergy.
To leverage the impact of information technology
applications in community colleges, the League works continuously
with some 115 corporate
partners in a variety of efforts to assist community colleges,
including: sponsoring conferences, workshops, seminars, training,
and showcases for innovative technology-related activities;
disseminating information about model programs and practices
in community colleges through newsletters, monographs, and
special reports; and conducting focused special projects that
develop, demonstrate, or evaluate innovative technology-related
activities in community colleges.
