EDUCATION NEWS
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THE STANDARD BEARERS CLOSE RANKS
Collaboration is bringing the education community closer to long-held dreams of content portability and access to next-generation tools. For most educators, the various eLearning specifications and standards organizations seem far removed from the classroom. Certainly, many have heard of IMS, OKI, and ADL SCORM. However, most would have difficulty explaining how any of these key specifications might affect their online teaching. The reality is that several groups are producing specifications that will affect the way technology is used in online education.
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7359
 
BLOGGING COMES TO HARVARD
America's oldest institution of higher learning has hopped on the Internet's hottest new trend, hiring software developer Dave Winer to help get students and faculty blogging. Harvard University has given the former software executive a fellowship at its Berkman Center for the Internet and Society, part of Harvard Law School, in order to head up the new Blogs at Harvard Initiative. Winer, who studied math at Tulane University before collecting his master's degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin, will instruct Harvard students and faculty in the art of posting daily dispatches to the Web.
http://news.com.com/2008-1082-985714.html
 
SUN EYES SCHOOLS WITH $1B IN PRODUCTS
Sun Microsystems will give away licensed copies of its Solaris operating system and StarOffice productivity suite to educational and research organizations, and provide those customers with significant discounts to the price of its Sun Ray hardware, it said in a release. Based on an estimate of 100,000 academic users, Sun expects the total value of the offering to exceed $1 billion.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/02/24/HNsunschool_1.html
 
THE RIGHT BLENDED LEARNING COMPONENTS LEAD TO GREATER WORKFORCE PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE
NETg, a worldwide leader in corporate education and training and part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC, TSX: TOC), announced that phase two of the Thomson Job Impact Study, The Next Generation of Corporate Learning, further reinforces that a blended learning program incorporating a combination of e-learning, online instruction, simulations, texts, mentor/instructor support and live classroom-based training has the power to significantly increase employee productivity. These findings follow earlier study results that revealed blended learning is a far more effective approach to training than single-delivery methods alone.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?bw.022403/230555196
 
ONLINE COURSES WEAKEN HIGHER ED EXPERIENCE
For a few years, BSU has aggressively worked to create a stronger Web presence in the classroom. This has been done partly to diversify the educational options the university offers, keep up with the trends of many of the larger universities in the nation and meet the needs of the changing student population. On the surface, the benefits of a stronger technological presence--blackboard, power point, online courses, etc.--seem quite reasonable. Doing courses online, in part or in full, allows for more flexibility than ever before. Someone stationed in Alaska can take English 101 at BSU without the commute. Non-traditional students, such as working mothers, can get degrees around their schedules. Handicapped people and those home ridden can attend college. It seems great. But under this veneer of good intent lie serious questions about the pedagogical expediencies of going in this direction. The main threat posed to higher education by going this route is the loss of human contact, the loss of relationship.
http://www.arbiteronline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/02/27/3e5d6699cbf8b
 
THE NEED FOR DIGITAL ARCHIVING STANDARDS
Campus tour guides at Yale University are known to tell a story about Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, one of the world's great document repositories and home to a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type. Standing outside the Beinecke, the guides describe a remarkable mechanism that, should the terrible need arise, would cause its glass-encased central tower and its 780,000 volumes to withdraw deep underground, tucked away from any possible threat of destruction.
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7362
 
THE REUSABILITY PARADOX
Like many other fields, the so-called "learning object" community has frequently used metaphors to communicate with those outside it. In order to make them easier to grasp, learning objects and their behavior have been likened to LEGOs, Lincoln Logs, and a number of other children’s construction pastimes. These analogies continue to serve their intended purpose of giving those new to the field an easy way of understanding what learning objects theorists are trying to do: create small pieces of instruction (LEGOs) that can be assembled (stacked together) into some larger learning-facilitating structure (castle or spaceship). Unfortunately the metaphor seems to have taken on a life of its own.
http://rclt.usu.edu/whitepapers/paradox.html#external context
 
MICROSOFT EXPANDS RIGHTS MANAGEMENT TOOL
The software maker announces a new rights management technology for
Windows Server 2003 that would restrict the copying, printing or
forwarding of confidential data.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/cnet/stories/985496.htm
 
THE HARD LIFE AND RESTLESS MIND OF AMERICA'S EDUCATION BILLIONAIRE
John Sperling was born dirt-poor, fell in with Communists, and became a
union organizer who led a strike that ended in disaster. Today, he runs
the world's largest for-profit university--and a company whose shares
are defying gravity on Wall Street. So why do so many smart people say
such terrible things about him? And why does he relish their attacks?
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/68/sperling.html
 
LIBRARY SERVICES FOR REMOTE LEARNERS
[T]he complexity of remote resource support increases significantly in
the post-secondary realm, where the strongest developments in distance
education are taking place. The challenge for academic libraries is to
strive to provide equivalent services to all faculty and students,
whether they be on campus or remotely situated; they also have to decide
the extent to which some needs of remote learners may be unique. On top
of this, today's ideas of lifelong learning and serial career paths
predicate the provision of resource services well beyond the initial
phase of formal education.
http://webtools.cityu.edu.hk/news/newslett/LibraryRemote.htm
 
 
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
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TABLET PCS: AN OVERNIGHT SENSATION
After just three months, it's quickly becoming clear that the new technology is gaining wider acceptance than even Microsoft expected. When Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled Windows XP Tablet PC Edition in November, 2002, he predicted that in five years, tablet PCs will be the most popular type of personal computer.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2003/tc20030226_5785_tc024.htm
 
LOVGATE WORM IS ON THE LOOSE
A new variant on the Lovgate worm began spreading, posing as an authentic-looking business e-mail, according to security researchers. Lovgate.C spreads from an infected machine using the MAPI Windows functions by answering recent mail with an infected reply. The worm comes packaged in mail with the subject: "I'll try to reply as soon as possible. Take a look to the attachment and send me your opinion!"
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,901393,00.asp
 
MACROMEDIA RELAUNCHES PRESEDIA
Macromedia has folded Presedia's online presentation tools into its product portfolio and is launching them as Macromedia Breeze, it said. Web development software maker Macromedia, of San Francisco , last month acquired Presedia, a privately-held Sunnyvale, Calif.-based maker of a tool that converts PowerPoint presentations into Macromedia Flash presentations for easy online distribution.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/02/24/HNpresedia_1.html
 
CHINA TO VIEW WINDOWS CODE
Microsoft signed a pact with the Chinese government to reveal the Windows source code, making China among the first to benefit from its program to allay the security fears of governments. In addition, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates hinted that China will be privy to all, not just part, of the source code the government wishes to inspect. The Chinese government and military have previously stated their preference for the rival Linux operating system because its source code is publicly available.
http://news.com.com/2100-1007-990526.html
 
NEW DNA COMPUTER FUNCTIONS SANS FUEL
In 2001, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel announced that they had manufactured a computer so small that a single drop of water would hold a trillion of the machines. The devices used DNA and enzymes as their software and hardware and could collectively perform a billion transitions each second. Now the same team, led by Ehud Shapiro, has announced a novel model of its biomolecular machine that no longer requires an external energy source and performs 50 times faster than its predecessor did. The Guinness Book of World Records has crowned it the world's smallest biological computing device.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=000A4F2E-781B-1E5A-A98A809EC5880105
 
RECYCLERS PLEDGE TO CUT E-WASTE
Consumers wondering about the most environmentally conscious way to get rid of those old computers gathering dust in the basement now have a short list of recycling companies to turn to. 16 electronics recycling firms announced that they have signed a pledge to uphold stricter standards for processing electronic waste, including old computers, cell phones, televisions and monitors that contain hazardous materials such as lead and mercury.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57802,00.html
 
MICROSOFT'S ACQUISITION STRATEGY MATURING
Hit a midlife crisis, buy a new sports car, or so the old saw goes. So what kind of purchases might rev up a middle-aged company? Microsoft, now in its 28th year and the world's most valuable company, started 2003 with the purchase of two small, private Silicon Valley companies. Many Microsoft watchers predict other acquisitions could follow as the company uses its $40 billion cash hoard to reach for new areas of growth, especially at a time when it's likely to find technology assets at bargain prices.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5298643.htm
 
THE LINUX UPRISING
How a ragtag band of software geeks is threatening Sun and
Microsoft--and turning the computer world upside down.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_09/b3822601_tc102.htm
 
MICROSOFT SERVES THE 'NET GENERATION'
Microsoft plans to begin testing a radically new instant messaging and
communications product next week aimed at teenagers and young adults who
grew up using the Internet. The new software, threedegrees, creates a
peer-to-peer social group where young people can chat, share photos,
listen to music and meet friends. Concurrent with the beta, Microsoft
also plans to release the Windows Peer-to-Peer Update for Windows XP.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-984816.html
 
THE FUTURE OF NOTEBOOK COMPUTING
As notebook computers and mobile technologies continue to evolve, it's
natural to wonder about the next big thing. Consider how quickly big
changes happen in this industry. Only five years ago, wireless
technology was used only by the Jetsons, many notebook PCs were still
too slow to serve as desktop replacements, and brawny shoulder muscles
were a prerequisite just to lift the things. Since then, notebooks have
become truly mobile -- light, thin, high-powered solutions almost as
common on desks as on airplane tray tables.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,890294,00.asp
 
 
INTERNET RELATED NEWS
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MONSTER.COM WARNS JOB SEEKERS ABOUT ID THEFT
Internet job board Monster.com, acknowledging a growing problem for online career sites, is e-mailing millions of job seekers, warning that fake listings are being used to gather and steal personal information. An e-mail message from Monster, which arrived in many users' computer mailboxes, cautions that "regrettably, from time to time, false job postings are listed online and used to illegally collect personal information from unsuspecting job seekers."
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5285264.htm
 
SPYWARE EPIDEMIC RALLIES CALL FOR ACTION
Those persistent types of programs, frequently operating on computers without owners' knowledge, have spread quickly in the last year, evolving as rapidly as anti-spyware software has been able to find them. EarthLink executives estimate that 40 percent to 50 percent of the Internet service provider's subscribers have running on their machines some kind of advertising or more-malicious program, which often monitors their behavior and sends the data back to the software's parent company.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-985644.html
 
XML IN HIGHER EDUCATION
SMIL (pronounced "smile") is an acronym for Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, an XML-based dialect for describing the layout and synchronization of multimedia applications. For educators, SMIL opens the door to sophisticated multimedia development.
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7361
 
MICROSOFT PUSHES XP PEER-TO-PEER TOOLS
Microsoft is pushing a new set of tools that will make it easier for developers to build peer-to-peer (P2P) applications for the Windows XP environment. But analysts have claimed that P2P adoption in the corporate space is still at least three years away. Microsoft this week released a beta version of the P2P software development kit, which includes improvements to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) to allow P2P applications to operate across corporate firewalls.
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1139133
 
MICROSOFT'S GREENWICH NEARS BETA
Microsoft hopes to ship Greenwich, its realtime communications technology, to beta this week, sources there said. As its name states, this technology will be the basis for realtime communications such as secure instant messaging and is slated to become part of Windows 2003 Server. That major operating system is now expected to ship to manufacturing March 12 , a slight slip from the Feb. 28 RTM Microsoft had expected until last week. But that slight delay should not impact planned general availability in April and the official April 24 Windows 2003 launch, sources said.
http://www.internetweek.com/webDev/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=6900452
 
HACKERS RUN WILD AND FREE ON AOL
Using a combination of trade tricks and clever programming, hackers have thoroughly compromised security at America Online, potentially exposing the personal information of AOL's 35 million users. The most recent exploit, launched last week, gave a hacker full access to Merlin, AOL's latest customer database application. As a security measure, Merlin runs only on AOL's internal network, but savvy hackers have found a way to break in.
http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57753,00.html
 
CALIFORNIA LAWMAKER WANTS TO SUE SPAM E-MAILERS
It's a daily ritual that almost everyone with an e-mail account performs: deleting "spam." Now, as online junk mail piles up—an estimated 320 billion spam e-mails will be received in the United States this year, according to Jupiter Research—a California lawmaker wants to allow those on the receiving end to sue spam senders. Democratic State Sen. Debra Bowen from Redondo Beach near Los Angeles, has introduced a bill making it a crime to send unsolicited commercial
e-mails to e-mail accounts in California, and allowing those receiving spam to sue for at least $500 per violation.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-02-19-spam-law_x.htm
 
NEW BLOCKER LETS YOU BILL THE SPAMMER
An Australian entrepreneur has created what may be the first antispam service that lets its users charge for the privilege of sending them e-mail. The concept has been discussed in technology circles for the better part of a decade, but Sydney resident Bernard Palmer, 59, has decided to try to turn the concept into a business. "Spammers aren't going to be sending many spams to you if you charge them 50 cents," Palmer said. "A spam would cost them $2 million."
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-985175.html
 
WHY DID GOOGLE WANT BLOGGER?
Forget war and strife, the only news that mattered on the Web was Google's acquisition of Pyra Labs, the scrappy San Francisco startup behind the Blogger weblogging tool. News of Pyra's sale for an undisclosed sum broke on Feb. 14, but details about the deal have so far been scant. Neither Google nor Prya is saying much about it. Evan Williams, Pyra's co-founder, blogged his day-to-day life for the last three years right up until it got interesting. Williams pulled his blog offline earlier this week.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57754,00.html
 
 
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[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