EDUCATION NEWS
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LAPTOPS WILL COST SCHOOLS TO PARTICIPATE
School districts will have to lease laptops--and kick in $25 per pupil--to participate in Freedom to Learn, Michigan's plan to provide wireless tools to sixth-graders. The program--which kicks off in January--allows schools to lease laptops or other wireless devices such as Palm Pilots. Michigan has 132,000 sixth-graders. The state would provide grants of $250 per pupil to districts to lease the devices and expect districts to provide $25 per pupil.
http://www.freep.com/news/education/laps18_20030718.htm
 
THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL GAMES IN EDUCATION
In recent years, electronic games, home computers, and the Internet have assumed an important place in the lives and children and adolescents. New media are causing major changes in the nature of learning. There is a vast gap between the way people learn and the way in which new generations approach information and knowledge. Nonetheless, in the formal educational setting the new media are still under-represented.
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_7/gros/index.html#author
 
DISTANCE LEARNING'S POPULARITY TAKES A BIG JUMP
Educators say it is those students, adults taking advantage of Internet technology to wedge undergraduate or graduate degree programs into their lives, who are driving the growing popularity of distance learning. A study released by the U.S. Department of Education found students enrolled in nearly 2.9 million college-level distance education courses in 2000-01, more than double the enrollment of 1997-98. While distance learning can mean taking courses through audio or video feeds, schools that offer such courses are most likely to use the Internet, the study found.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/07/18/distance.learning.ap/index.html
 
SIMULATION SOFTWARE BEATS TRADITIONAL APPROACH IN ONLINE COURSE
Students in an online class who learned networking through a commercially available simulation scored higher and retained more course information than students taught with a traditional network-diagramming software package, says a Penn State researcher. "Those students also demonstrated better understanding of the networking concepts and indicated they spent more time on course assignments," said Brian Cameron, instructor in Penn State’s School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST).
http://live.psu.edu/index.php?cmd=vs&story=3416
 
KEY TECH PROGRAMS AT RISK AS HEA DEBATES BEGIN
As Congress begins debate this summer over a series of bills to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA), lawmakers will be asked to decide how much leadership the federal government should provide in making technology an important part of the teacher education process.
http://eschoolnews.com/news/ssunreg.cfm?ArticleID=4507&ul=%2Fnews%2FshowStory%2Ecfm%3FArticleID%3D4507
 
SCHOOLS URGED TO TEACH '21ST- CENTURY' SKILLS
A new organization called the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has issued a report and a free planning guide to help educators incorporate specific "21st-century" skills—such as problem solving, critical thinking, and communication—into the core curriculum of schools to better prepare students for today’s technology-infused workplaces.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/ssunreg.cfm?ArticleID=4506&ul=%2Fnews%2FshowStory%2Ecfm%3FArticleID%3D4506
 
BOOMERS, GEN-XERS, AND MILLENNIALS: UNDERSTANDING THE NEW
STUDENTS
An essential component of facilitating learning is understanding learners. The learning styles, attitudes, and approaches of high school students differ from those of eighteen- to twenty-two-year-old college students. The styles, attitudes, and approaches of adult learners differ yet again. How well do college and university faculty administrators, and staff understand these differences? How often do they take the differences into account when designing programs or courses? [PDF]
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0342.pdf
 
NEXT-GENERATION EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY VERSUS THE LECTURE
Despite the waves of IT-driven transformation sweeping through the higher education system, many obsolete academic structures remain obdurately intact. Among these, a leading candidate for the title "most worthy of change" is the large lecture found in such under-graduate staples as the introductory courses in psychology, sociology, physics, chemistry, and biology. Even though it contradicts most of the tenets of high-yield instructional technique, the large lecture persists--mainly because it is cheap and pragmatically useful: the economics of scale generate a surplus that supports low teacher-student rations in major classes. [PDF]
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0340.pdf
 
BUILDING A LEADERSHIP VISION: ELEVEN STRATEGIC CHALLENGES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
Higher education institutions around the world face the growing problem of relevance as they enter the twenty-first century. With the international economy evolving toward a global network organized around the value of knowledge, the capacity of people and organizations to use technological developments wisely, effectively, and efficiently has emerged as a critical societal concern. People and nations are relying on colleges and universities to help shape a positive future. However, to capture the advantage of this more central focus and role, higher education institutions will need to transform their structures, missions, processes, and programs in order to be both ore flexible and more responsive to changing societal needs. [PDF]
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0341.pdf
 
COURSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND LEARNING PRINCIPLES: GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER...
Because the first set of CMS applications was developed by faculty, it was often assumed that these systems reflected sound teaching and learning principles. But of course, faculty are concerned with more than pedagogy. Also, technology often takes on a life of its own, as was once embodied in HAL and is now present in the often overzealous automated assistants on our desktops! Once coded into an application, pedagogical theories and philosophies often cannot be differentiated from the tools. What is coded is what you get (WICIWYG).
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7888
 
LEARN ABOUT SCORM WITH THE ACADEMIC ADL CO-LAB'S SCOURSE
Anyone who feels stymied by technical acronyms like SCORM, addled by ADL and API, and exasperated by XML Binding may find help online in the SCOurse project. Comprised of a collection of shareable content objects or SCOs, the SCOurse teaches about the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative and SCORM. SCOs (also known to TTT readers as learning objects) are bits of educational content that might include web pages, simulations, online quizzes, or anything that appears on a computer screen for instructional purposes.
http://www.uwsa.edu/ttt/articles/scourse.htm
 

 
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
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TWIN FLAWS HAVE SECURITY PROS WORRIED
Security experts worried that a flaw in Microsoft Windows and another in Cisco's ubiquitous network routers could lead to serious Internet attacks. The two flaws--both made public--affect a large number of computers and devices connected to the Internet, and that could make the two weaknesses prime targets of attack, said Oliver Friedrichs, senior manager for incident response at security software firm Symantec.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-1026910.html
 
YAHOO PLANS TO BUY OVERTURE FOR $1.6B
Yahoo! Inc. snapped up Overture Services Inc., the pioneer of pay-for-placement online search results, in a $1.6 billion deal that fortifies the Internet powerhouse for a looming showdown with Google and Microsoft.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53226-2003Jul14.html
 
SENSITIVE SENSORS
Get those gigs. The State University of New York at Buffalo's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department has developed sensors that could boost hard drive capacity by a factor of 1,000—without also driving up price. As manufacturers develop hard drives designed to cram ever smaller data bits onto disk platters, the bits' magnetic fields get weaker. That makes it increasingly difficult to detect and reliably read data. More sensitive sensors would allow manufacturers to raise hard drive density without worrying about pushing magnetic fields below readable levels.
http://www.cio.com/archive/071503/et_development.html
 
NEW OPENOFFICE ON THE THRESHOLD
The first major upgrade of OpenOffice moved a step closer with the introduction of a near-final version of the revamped open-source software. A "release candidate" version of OpenOffice 1.1 is available now through the Web site of the organization behind the productivity package.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-1025908.html
 
SONY SHOWS OFF REDESIGNED CLIE
Sony has lifted the lid on a new Clie personal digital assistant, its smallest to date, that packs both wireless LAN and Bluetooth networking as well as a new Sony-developed processor designed for use in handheld computers. The design of the PEG-UX50 is a departure from previous PDAs, which are typically slab-type devices that feature a few buttons or sometimes a small keyboard underneath the main display. The new Clie looks something like a shrunken notebook computer and consists of two slabs, one with a display and the other with a keyboard, hinged together lengthwise. This form factor makes it similar, albeit at a different size, to some of the Zaurus PDAs from Sharp.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111606,00.asp
 
DELL HALTS AXIM SHIPMENTS
Dell has halted shipments of its Axim personal digital assistants after discovering a software glitch that affects users of PDAs shipped with Microsoft's new Windows Mobile 2003 operating system. The problem lies in the firmware of Axim handhelds shipped with the new operating system, says Jess Blackburn, a Dell spokesperson. The problem code was developed by Dell, and is not part of Microsoft's operating system, he says.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111610,00.asp
 
MICROSOFT BUDDIES UP WITH NEW OFFICE
"Open to new ideas. Plays well with others." Microsoft is getting this unexpectedly good feedback from other software companies as it readies the next version of its Office desktop application package. The most notable new features in Office 2003 include the ability to save documents in XML (Extensible Markup Language) format in addition to in Office's native file format. This should allow data to be read by other software, such as corporate databases and customer relationship management (CRM) tools.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-1026592.html
 
GAMING GOES TO COLLEGE
College students have got good game, according to a newly released study by Pew Internet & American Life (http://www.pewinternet.org/). The study says that computer, video, and online games "are woven into the fabric of everyday life for college students." The study also found that, in keeping with current trends in social gaming technology, games are much more of a social activity than previously suspected. Seventy percent of college students reported playing video, computer, or online games at least once in a while, and 65 percent reported playing games regularly or occasionally. Students cited gaming as a way to spend more time with friends.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1186662,00.asp
 
OPEN SOURCE TAKES ON EXCHANGE
OpenOffice.org gained a sister organization and Microsoft (Quote, Company Info) gained another open source competitor Thursday with the coming out party for OpenGroupware.org, an open source project developing groupware server software which competes with Microsoft's Exchange Server. Microsoft is already facing competition for its Office suite from the open source OpenOffice.org (OOo) development project and community, and the new OpenGroupware.org offering rounds out its competitive angle with a server-side attack.
http://huminf.uib.no/~jill/archives/blog_theorising/final_version_of_weblog_definition.html
 
MICROSOFT WHIPS UP .NET UI LIBRARY FOR TEACHERS
Microsoft continued its push to help acclimate academic computer science programs to its .NET Framework Thursday with a user interface that helps teachers and students use their Java- based curriculum with Visual Studio .NET 2003.
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/2233891
 
ADOBE DISCONTINUES MAC PROGRAM
Apple Computer Inc. differs vastly in many ways from longtime rival Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) But recently, it has found itself accused of similarly elbowing out software developers whose products compete with Apple's growing stable of applications. In the latest case of an outside developer abandoning the Macintosh platform, Adobe Systems Inc. announced that the newest overhaul of its flagship video editing program Premiere would no longer work on Macs. Adobe said the program would only be compatible with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030708/D7S5BCJO0.html
 
 
 
INTERNET/WIRELESS RELATED
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AOL ENDS TIES WITH MOZILLA BUT HELPS KEEP IT ALIVE
AOL said it laid off about 50 people, most involved in browser-development for AOL's Netscape unit. Meanwhile, AOL said it was ending its ties entirely with the Mozilla Project (www.mozilla.org). The project is a Netscape spinoff that is developing Mozilla--an open-source Web browser and suite of related software.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/6314306.htm
 
MAKING FRIENDSTERS IN HIGH PLACES
Friendster, the popular social-networking service that cleverly assimilates real-life social groups into a large virtual network, just keeps getting bigger. The service, which opened to the public in March and is still in beta, will hit 1 million users this week, and is expanding at a rate of 20 percent a week, according to the company.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59650,00.html
 
SECRETS TO THE BEST PASSWORDS
The use of good, hard-to-guess passwords can make it difficult for a malicious hacker to break into your computer account. Avoiding predictable keywords and using different methods to introduce variety into your passwords makes it easy for you to remember them but virtually impossible for others to guess them.
http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,82883,00.html
 
AOL 9 TO INCLUDE WEBLOG TOOLS
America Online is to integrate Weblog software into the next version of its service this summer, giving its 34 million subscribers a way into the increasingly popular medium. The online personal journals known as Weblogs, or “blogs,” have taken off in popularity over the past few months.
http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/938871.asp
 
AMERICANS LOG ON FOR HEALTH INFO
The majority of U.S. adults online—80%—use the Net to find health information. And most say it helps them get better health care, a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project reports today. About 93 million people go to the Net for health information, making health searches the third-most-popular use of the Internet, after e-mail and investigating a product or service before making a purchase, the study says.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-07-16-net-health_x.htm
 
RESEARCH FIRM SAYS WI-FI WILL GO BYE-BYE
According to West Technology Research Solutions
(WTRS), ultrawideband (UWB) will eventually beat out both the current Wi-Fi wireless networking standard and Bluetooth, while the open standard ZigBee protocol will enable every system in the house to talk to each other.
http://www.internetnews.com/wireless/article.php/2233951
 
SPAMMERS' FAKE SITES DUPE CONSUMERS
As millions of consumers are bombarded with junk e-mail, more of them are targets of identification theft. Customers of Best Buy, EarthLink and America Online are among recent targets of so-called phisher sites—bogus Web sites that fish for personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers from unsuspecting consumers.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-07-06-spam_x.htm
 
 
 
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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/schoolbuys.org is using these selections with permission. The selections from the weekly summaries were selected and edited by David Stuart of collegebuys.org/schoolbuys.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