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The purpose of this paper is identify those characteristics of instructional technology that may influence a faculty member's willingness to integrate it in his/her teaching by drawing upon the diffusion of innovation literature. It then presents the results of a study, conducted at a small liberal arts college, on the effectiveness of a faculty training program that was designed to encourage faculty to adopt a course management system in their classroom-based, undergraduate courses. The training program was based on an approach that considers those factors that influence the adoption rate of technology, specifically the course management system, Blackboard.

IN THE SPRING OF 2000, the National Education Association and Blackboard Inc. commissioned The Institute of Higher Education Policy, to identify the benchmarks considered essential to ensuring excellence in Internet-based distance learning. The Institute’s study revealed that there were 24 benchmarks considered essential to ensuring excellence in Internet-based distance learning. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the extent to which the benchmarks in the Course Development, Teaching/Learning Process, Course Structure and Faculty Support categories of the Institute’s study are being incorporated in the policies, procedures, and practices of a random sample of institutions of higher education offering Internet-based distance education courses.

Studies on the morphological and physiological characteristics of two strains of Lineola longa showed that these aerobic bacteria form endospores, are Gram-positive and have peritrichous flagella. On the basis of these observations it was concluded that L. longa is, in fact, a Bacillus species. This conclusion was strengthened by the fact that both strains exhibited nutritional characteristics often encountered among the aerobic sporeforming rods, such as requirements for biotin and thiamine in the growth medium. The base ratio of the DNA purified from L. longa was found to be within the range reported for a number of species of Bacillus. Additional investigation of the nutritional behavior of L. longa indicated that neither strain studied used glucose as an oxidizable substrate or as a carbon source. However, fatty acids and amino acids were readily utilized for growth. L. longa, on the basis of its morphological and physiological properties, could not be identified with any of the established species of Bacillus. It is suggested, therefore, that L. longa be recognized as a new species within the genus Bacillus and that it be renamed Bacillus macroides.