FASTER: THE ACCELERATION OF JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING, James Gleick. Pantheon, 1999 - High-speed living has become a way of life and the toll it's taking is evident - we're becoming conditioned to expect results instantly. Television and radio sound bites pass for news. Fast-food restaurants now include express lanes and we no longer know how to play the waiting game. Fifteen seconds, yes Ð but beyond 40 seconds people become visibly irritated.

And, says Gleick, this faster pace is turning us into multi-taskers - composing email while we're on the phone, eating lunch while we're driving, etc. But, as this high-speed culture challenges our brains, we may well be able to adjust in ways we haven't had to in the past, except when we've been faced with war. The key is "good management." Use modern technology in an intentional way to maintain personal control and learn to decelerate by adjusting our perspective. Time after all, says Gleick, is not a thing that we've lost or ever had Ð it's what we live in. (The Futurist Ð March-April 00)

STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE ONLINE EDUCATION, by Gerald Baumgardner, Forbes Custom Publishing. A majority of U.S. colleges support some form of distance learning. Yet many struggle with how, why, and when to expand into the online learning market. Gerald Baumgardner has created an intelligent primer that will go a long way toward helping university administrators and directors understand WHY they might develop Internet learning programs and HOW they can manage and market them once they have been launched. Chapter 1 clearly addresses WHY a university might move into the online learning market. Chapter 2 addresses how university officials can undertake a needs assessment to determine if they SHOULD enter the market. Practical guidelines are given on how to carry out a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis in planning for the long-term appropriateness of launching an Internet education project. Subsequent chapters provide concise, intelligent summaries of how to manage online learning programs, develop and execute program and faculty evaluations, and address real and imagined concerns about quality and credibility in online learning. This slim book is essential reading for any university official who wants to learn how they can use online methods to build and maintain a competitive advantage in a new global e-education environment. Required reading as a part of any university's long-term planning process. (Virtual University Gazette, Vol. 3 No 3 3 Mar 00)