The Higher Education Cooperative Purchase Consortium
|
|
|
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
|
|
Volume 3, Issue 11
|
|
|
|
|  |
|
|
Technology Tidbits
News on Educational Technology and the Internet
by Judy Brown
EDUCATION NEWS
================================================
SCALE THE E-LEARNING CURVE/ SCORMING THE
MARKET
Industry,
agencies line up behind emerging standard for e-learning. At first, there were
two standards for videotape technology: VHS and Beta. In the end, there was
VHS. "When VHS became a de facto standard, the videotape industry took off
like a shot," said David Grebow, a marketing manager for Armonk, N.Y., IBM
Corp.'s e-learning business, IBM Lotus Mindspan Solutions. Grebow compares the
advent of the VHS standard to the emerging e-learning standard known as SCORM.
Buyers of e-learning products and services--especially federal agency
buyers--are demanding that their vendors build to SCORM, which stands for
Sharable Content Object Reference Model.
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/17_16/cover-stories/19382-1.html
THE BENEFITS OF SCORM
SCORM, or
Sharable Content Object Reference Model, was developed by public- and
private-sector organizations under the auspices of the Defense Department's
Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative. The initiative began in 1997 to
promote cooperation among government agencies, industry and academia to develop
e-learning standardization.
http://washingtontechnology.com/news/17_16/cover-stories/19380-1.html
IMPLEMENTING PDAS IN A COLLEGE COURSE: ONE
PROFESSOR'S PERSPECTIVE
Personal digital
assistants (PDAs) have been a mainstay in the business world for several years,
but their adoption in higher education is relatively recent. In the fall of
2001, the University of South Dakota became one of the first universities to
implement a full-scale PDA program, giving faculty an opportunity to study how
the devices can be integrated into college teaching and learning. Here, Doug
Peterson shares his experience from the past year.
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=6897
HANDHELD DEVICES: TOWARD A MORE MOBILE
CAMPUS
Personal
computing is on the move—if slowly—from the desktop to a more mobile
environment. Handheld devices, connected wirelessly to the campus network, will
certainly change the way we work and communicate. But how soon, and when? Here,
Mary Fallon offers an overview of the acceptance and use of handheld devices on
campus.
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=6896
A DIGITAL REPOSITORY WILL REVOLUTIONIZE
THE WAY RESEARCH IS SHARED AND PRESERVED
Every year MIT
researchers create at least 10,000 papers, data files, images, collections of
field notes, and audio and video clips. The research often finds its way into
professional journals, but the rest of the material remains squirreled away on
personal computers, Web sites, and departmental servers. It’s accessible to
only a few right now. And with computers and software evolving rapidly, the
time is coming when files saved today will not be accessible to anyone at all.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/atwood1202.asp
WHY SHARE ONLINE COURSE MATERIALS?
Earlier this
year, I had the opportunity to talk with a group of faculty members working
with the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium. I mentioned in passing my
belief that in the coming years, faculty would be engaged less in developing
their own online courses and instead would be using course materials developed
elsewhere. One of the faculty members was confused. "What do you
mean?" she asked. "How could I use someone else's material to teach
my courses? How could those materials be relevant for my students? Why would I
want to do that anyway?"
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=6904
PREPARING TEACHERS TO USE LEARNING OBJECTS
Teachers play
important roles in technology-rich classrooms, making decisions that
significantly affect students' learning. Initially, teachers decide "if,
when, and how" they will use technology in the classroom (National Council
of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000, p. 26). Those decisions include selecting
learning objects that enlarge and enrich their repertoire of instructional
techniques for presenting content.
http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=961
BILL WOULD EASE COPYRIGHT LIMITS FOR
E-LEARNING
Likely changes to
U.S. copyright law this fall would give schools and higher education
institutions new rights to use copyright materials over the Internet and in
other technologies used for "distance learning." The provisions of
the Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization Act, called TEACH, would
amend the Copyright Act of 1976. The House tacked the measure on to the Justice
Department reauthorization bill before passing that appropriations bill in
September. The Senate, which passed TEACH as a separate bill in 2001, adopted
the Justice Department bill along with the TEACH provisions on Oct. 3.
http://edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=09copyright.h22
CORPORATE UNIVERSITIES: A POWERFUL MODEL
FOR LEARNING
Corporate
universities were first created in the late 1980s as an enhancement to
traditional training departments. This new approach was designed to align the
training arm of companies with the organizations’ vision and strategy. Critics
claim that higher education programs are too out of touch with businesses of
today, and they desire a training approach that closely parallels their
real-world concerns. Companies are recognizing that developing people is a top
priority in today’s competitive environment. Additionally, they recognize the
need to capitalize on technology to maximize the knowledge bases in
organizations.
http://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_feature.asp?articleid=51&zoneid=29
COLLABORATIVE TOOLS FOR E-LEARNING
When my colleague
Padma Medury and I conducted a survey on collaborative technologies and
groupware in 1990, little did we know the degree to which Web-based tools would
reshape and elevate this field. We discovered conferencing and collaboration
tools for real-time document sharing and editing, discussion forums,
brainstorming and idea generation, multimedia documents and group productivity.
We categorized these tools into different levels and types of interaction,
which resulted in a series of research studies published in “Electronic
Collaborators: Learner-Centered Technologies for Literacy, Apprenticeship, and
Discourse.” Since that time, there has been an explosion of collaborative tools
intended to enhance learning and productivity.
http://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_feature.asp?articleid=41&zoneid=30
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
================================================
HOW
PAPER IS BECOMING SUPER SMART
In the sincerest form of flattery,
PARC--the epicenter of innovation that produced the mouse, the GUI, and
Ethernet networking--is making some major strides towards commercializing a new
display technology that imitates the best properties of plain old paper. PARC
calls it SmartPaper, one of a rapidly growing number of new, competing display
technologies hitting the news and the market, all with a similar ambition: not
only to supplant paper by imitating it, but also to replace expensive LCDs--if
not in PCs, laptops, and TVs, then at least in cell phones, PDAs, and e-books.
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2896358,00.html
OPEN
SOURCE GLOATS OVER LEAKED MICROSOFT MEMO
Open source software advocates have
concluded that a leaked Microsoft memorandum detailing a survey it conducted of
IT professionals on their views of open source software shows that Microsoft's
public relations tactics on open source are failing and, to win out against the
software giant, open source software advocates just have to "stay the
course."
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/11/07/021107hnopensource.xml
INSTANT
MESSAGING GOES CORPORATE
Instant Messaging, that ever-popular chat
technology loved in the cubicles and cursed in the server rooms, is finally
growing up. AOL (parent company of this site) released its Enterprise AIM
Services this week, unveiling a version of its IM product aimed at the
corporate market. It's just an early salvo in what will likely be a pitched and
lucrative battle for AOL and its competitors in the IM space: Yahoo and Microsoft.
As with most major battles, the repercussions of this fight will be felt far
afield.
http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,45048,FF.html
IBM
UNVEILS "PIXIE DUST" HARD DRIVES
IBM is using an extra dash of pixie dust
to add gigabytes of storage to its notebook hard drives. Big Blue's pixie dust
manufacturing technique, officially called antiferromagnetically coupled (AFC)
media, adds a thin layer of ruthenium to the platters inside a drive. This
layer allows more data to be packed onto each platter. The newest Travelstar
drives add an extra layer of ruthenium to further boost data storage capacity.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-964711.html
NEW
PCS LIKELY TO CEDE SOME CONTROL TO OUTSIDERS
To thwart hackers and foster on-line
commerce, the next generation of computers will almost certainly cede some
control to software firms, Hollywood and other outsiders. That could break a
long-standing tenet of computing: that PC owners ultimately control data on
their own machines. Microsoft calls its technology "Palladium." Intel
dubs it "LaGrande." An industry group that includes these companies,
IBM, Hewlett-Packard and 170 others terms it "trusted computing."
http://rtnews.globetechnology.com/servlet/ArticleNews/tech/RTGAM/20021105/gtpc/Technology/techBN/
TABLET
PCS PUT NEW TWIST ON COMPUTING
Microsoft has finally come up with a
workable approach to pen-based personal computers, with the new Window XP
Tablet PC Edition software. Tablet PC hardware will be offered by several big
computer makers, including Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba, at prices ranging from
$1,700 to $2,400.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4464923.htm
APPLE
TO UNVEIL CHEAPER, FASTER IBOOKS
Apple Computer is expected to unveil
cheaper, faster iBooks, according to sources, in an effort to boost holiday
sales of its portable laptop. The Mac maker plans to drop prices by $200 across
the iBook line, bringing the price of the entry-level model under $1,000,
sources said. The new iBooks are also expected to be 100MHz faster than
previous machines, sources said.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-964443.html
FORGET
THE FILES AND THE FOLDERS: LET YOUR SCREEN REFLECT LIFE
Every piece of digital information you own
or share will appear (in the near future) in one universal structure. (Just ask
Bill Gates: as he said cogently last July, "Why are my document files
stored one way, my contacts another way and my e-mail and instant-messaging
buddy list still another, and why aren't they related to my calendar or to one
another, and easy to search en masse?") A universal structure demands
universal access: you'll be able to tune in this structure from any
Net-connected computer anywhere.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/07/technology/circuits/07soft.html
JUDGE
ACCEPTS MICROSOFT ANTITRUST SETTLEMENT
A federal judge approved Microsoft’s
antitrust settlement with the Department of Justice, essentially rejecting
calls by nine states for harsher sanctions on the company. Supporters of the
company hailed the ruling by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, but
the judge did close some loopholes in the settlement that will lessen
Microsoft’s control over the programs bundled with new Windows-based PCs.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/134567361_webmicrosoft01.html
MICROSOFT
MOVIE MAKER 2: THE SEQUEL
Software giant Microsoft on Friday
released its Windows Movie Maker 2 beta for Windows XP, a video editing tool
that promises to simplify home movie-making for consumers. The Movie Maker,
which comes with built-in support for Windows Media Video 9 compression, is
seen as Microsoft's latest response to the well-chronicled move by rival
RealNetworks to embrace the open-source community in the battle for control of
the digital media sector.
http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/1492351
NEW
OUTLOOK TO GIVE SPAMMERS THE BOOT
Microsoft is taking spam fighting more
seriously in the next version of its widely used Outlook e-mail and
contact-management software. Outlook 11 will, by default, no longer grab data
such as images from outside servers when previewing e-mail formatted like Web
pages. The ability to send and receive e-mail formatted in Hypertext Markup Language
(HTML) was at one time touted as a feature in Microsoft's e-mail programs.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-964166.html
A
LACK OF MONEY FORCES COMPUTER INITIATIVE TO CLOSE
When Stephen M. Case, then the chairman of
America Online, and many other high-technology executives announced an
initiative called PowerUP less than three years ago, they said that their
donated millions would help bridge the "digital divide" between rich
and poor. "We must take steps now so that in the Internet century, no
children are left behind," Mr. Case said. But tomorrow , with nearly 1,000
community-based technology centers financed across the country, the national
offices of PowerUp will close and the centers will be left to fend for—and
finance—themselves.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/30/technology/30POWE.html
NEW
MS OFFICE SHUTS OUT OLD WINDOWS
The next version of Microsoft's Office
software will run only on the latest versions of the company's operating
systems, Microsoft confirmed. A representative acknowledged that Microsoft
plans to offer the productivity suite, code-named Office 11, only for Windows
2000 with Service Pack 3 and Windows XP. Microsoft started beta testing Office
11 last week, but some early participants found that they had been dropped from
the program if they had planned to use older versions of Windows. They were
dropped because Microsoft doesn't plan to offer Office 11 for Windows 98, 98
Second Edition, Me or NT. The Redmond, Wash.-based company already dropped
support for Windows 95 with the release of Office XP in May 2001.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-963777.html
INTERNET RELATED NEWS
================================================
INTERNET2 PUMPS STREAMING MEDIA
For most Internet
users, streaming media means sound that cuts in and out and a choppy picture
viewed in a window the size of a deck of cards. But for Internet2 users, it's a
different story. On a lightning-fast network like Internet2, the streaming
media experience can take place at 70 Mbps, blaring from a 12-speaker
surround-sound system and sharp video on a 30-by-17-foot screen.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,56110,00.html
U.S., CHINA ANNOUNCE JOINT ELANGUAGE
PROJECT
American students
soon will be able to learn Chinese over the internet at no cost, thanks to a
new $3 million project spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) in
cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Education. U.S. Education Secretary
Rod Paige and Zhou Ji, vice minister of education for the People’s Republic of
China, signed a memorandum of understanding Oct. 21 to jointly build a
web-based system that will help students and educators learn a second language
free of charge online.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryalert.cfm?ArticleID=4033
PRIVACY GROUP FIGHTS P2P CRACKDOWN
The Electronic
Privacy Information Center is launching a counterattack against Hollywood's
efforts to crack down on student file-swapping. The privacy advocacy group is
sending letters to presidents of colleges across the country, asking them to
think before they install monitoring tools on university networks.
"Monitoring the content of communications is fundamentally incompatible
with the mission of educational institutions to foster critical thinking and
exploration," EPIC wrote. "Monitoring chills behavior and can squelch
creativity that must thrive in educational settings."
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-964908.html
LOTUS, TERRA LYCOS IN INSTANT-MESSAGING
DEAL
Lotus Development
Corp., of Cambridge, is licensing its Sametime instant-messaging software to
the Web portal company Terra Lycos, bringing Lotus and its parent, IBM Corp.,
into the consumer instant-messaging business. Under the deal Terra Lycos will
introduce Sametime-based instant messaging by the end of the year. The service
will be free at first, but the company may introduce a fee-based version later
with additional features, a spokesman said.
http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/2002/11/01/im_deal.html
WARNING OVER E-CARD SPAM THREAT
The latest e-mail
scam is fooling users into spamming everyone in their e-mail address book with an
electronic card. Users receive a link to an e-card site FriendGreetings.com. If
they click on the link, they are invited to install some computer code in order
to view their e-card. Running the program also unwittingly gives their
permission to send a similar message to every one in their e-mail address book.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2367967.stm
GOOGLE: WHAT'S IT WORTH TO YOU?
After six months
of testing, Google publicly launched a new paid search service to help users
who don't have the tech savvy or time to perform Web searches of their own.
Google Answers is the Mountain View, Calif., company's latest effort to
differentiate itself in a crowded field and find new revenue sources. Other
moves include a foray into corporate search and the introduction of a news
aggregation service.
http://boston.internet.com/news/article.php/1490861
================================================
[NOTE: The selections above
are from the Academic ADL Co-Lab News Report, a limited-distribution, weekly
executive summary of trends, strategies, and innovations influencing the future
of learning and technology in higher education. It is prepared by the
University of Wisconsin System Office of Learning and Information Technology
(OLIT) in coordination with the Co-Lab. Collegebuys.org is using these
selections with permission. The selections from the weekly summaries were
selected and edited by David Stuart of collegebuys.org.]
[NOTE: This information is
provided for information purposes only. Mention or discussion of a product,
company, or person does not represent any official endorsement or criticism of
the same. All authors and organizations retain complete copyright.]
[SOURCE MATERIAL: The
reference as specific as possible is provided to a source for each summary.
When using an online link, ensure the URL has not been broken with a carriage
return.]
[ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Judy Brown
is the Emerging Technology Analyst for the University of Wisconsin System,
OLIT. Brown conducts research and consults for the 15-institution UW System.
She is Director of the Academic ADL Co-Laboratory at The Pyle Center in
Madison, WI. Until recently she coordinated the WTCS Hardware and Software
Purchasing Consortium and other statewide technology initiatives for 16
technical college districts comprised of 47 campuses. Brown was named one of
the Top 100 women in computing by McGraw Hill's Open Computing magazine
(December 1994). She writes a business technology column for the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel and is the coordinator of eWEEK's Corporate Partner Program.]
[COMMENTS &
CONTRIBUTIONS: If you want to offer material, or if you want to comment on the
contents, contact Judy Brown at judy@academiccolab.org
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Published by
Foundation for California Community Colleges
Copyright © 2002 Foundation for California Community Colleges. All rights reserved.
Please use the "Subscribe" box above to receive all future issues, and the "Send to a Colleague" tool to forward this issue to a colleague--especially purchasing officers, buyers, IT directors, heads of instruction or academic services, student services directors, heads of business services, department heads, foundation directors, etc.
|
SEND TO A COLLEAGUE
|
|
| |
