7/15/2008
McGraw-Hill Higher Education announced Monday that it has entered into a contract with the University of Illinois to provide the Web-based ALEKS system in an effort to help increase accurate student class placements.
7/14/2008
Ed tech developer eInstruction has released Workspace-ExamView Edition, a new version of the Workspace digital classroom suite that couples ExamView's assessment tools with interactive classroom technologies, such as clickers and whiteboards.
7/10/2008
The Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is partnering with self-publishing firm Lulu.com to launch a new academic publishing imprint called ETC Press. All publications will be released under a Creative Commons license and will also have associated Web sites for collaborative authorship and discussion.
7/2/2008
Sun Microsystems's Project Darkstar and the Wonderland Toolkit for building 3D spaces show why virtual reality is better for education than video conferencing. And Project Wonderland has announced its first education space.
7/2/2008
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
6/30/2008
Students taking a course in venture capital at Wake Forest University have, over the last semester, benefited from the use of Recordant audio-capture technology that allows Web-based archiving, searching, and playback of course lectures. The university said one of the goals was to get students to close their notebooks and focus on comprehension, secure that they'd be able to access the captured lectures later on.
6/26/2008
This fall Lyon College, a four-year liberal arts school in Arkansas, will join the elite ranks of post-secondary institutions offering laptops to all incoming freshmen. The program is part of a larger initiative, called "The Lyon Experience," which aims to bring "additional value to the education" the school provides. How can a small college roll out such an ambitious technology program? It's all a question of priorities, according to Lyon College President Walter Roettger.
6/25/2008
The lightweight, mobile nature of podcasting has the potential of moving education beyond familiar constraints of coursework and promoting a level of networking and input never seen before. But challenges still exist. Can more be achieved with podcasting that would heighten student engagement and maximize knowledge building in instructional contexts? Can we move beyond the obvious in their use?
6/20/2008
This fall Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA and Discovery Education, which produces digital media-based learning, are launching a new online master's degree program in instructional media. The 30-credit instructional media program will prepare teachers to engage today's students in learning through digital media. Courses will focus on topics such as digital storytelling, using digital media in the classroom, using technology to support creativity and applying brain-based theories of how students process information to technology integration.
6/18/2008
A huge increase in freshman enrollment numbers for the fall semester has Loyola University in New Orleans pleased with its efforts to rebuild its student body after Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) is also looking at strong enrollment numbers, three years after the hurricane and its aftermath of flooding devastated New Orleans.
6/17/2008
Harbinger Knowledge Products has released version 7.0 of Elicitus, its e-learning authoring tool. The new release provides usability enhancements, including an embedded sound recorder.
6/16/2008
Digital education and learning-enhancement company Emantras announced its partnership with digital printer Odyssey Press. The partnership with Odyssey will add on-demand printing for end users of Emantras' REED (Rapid e-Book and e-Journal) platform.
6/11/2008
Panopto told us this week that it's releasing CourseCast v2, an update to the company's classroom capture system, and making it available to educators free through its Socrates Project beta program.
6/11/2008
Conducting disaster preparedness meetings among 14 Pennsylvania universities no longer requires hours or even days of travel time for university administrators. Instead, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is using interactive collaboration software from Wimba to conduct some of its state-wide staff meetings and training sessions.
6/9/2008
During his keynote address at Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) Monday, CEO Steve Jobs debuted the company's new iPhone 3G, an update to the popular mobile phone and computing device set for delivery July 11. Developers also took the stage during the keynote to show off new technologies arriving for the platform.
6/9/2008
Ed tech developer Elluminate Monday announced new collaborative learning bundles--the Elluminate Learning Suite and the Elluminate Next bundle--and launched a new tool for planning online learning sessions called Elluminate Plan! The company also told us it's revamping its education licensing structure, moving away from a concurrent user model to a structure based on the full-time enrollment of educational institutions.
6/4/2008
A core debate about learning design arises from the fear that, if we allow learners too much freedom, they will not learn the right things. Web 2.0 exacerbates that fear because it is beyond the control of educators.
6/4/2008
Paying for word processing software may soon be a thing of past if Microsoft competitors Adobe, Google and IBM have any say.
6/4/2008
The Web 2.0 wave on campus may have left academic computing units in its wake. Is anyone in charge of technology innovation?
6/4/2008
Print and digital instruction and reference materials provider Cengage Learning announced Monday that it has completed its acquisition of Houghton Mifflin College Division (HM College). After announcing the agreement to acquire HM College in December, the company recently received the regulatory clearances required to close the deal.
6/3/2008
A free clickstream recording Web service for researchers has launched, developed by two college graduates who had become frustrated by the inefficiency and redundancy of gathering research. iBreadCrumbs, created by California State University, Fullerton graduates Reuben Fine and Rey Marques, is an online tool that allows teachers, researchers, and students to save and share their research with others.
6/3/2008
The University of Arizona has brought video and animation relating to the Phoenix Mars Mission onto iTunes U, the education-focused portal hosted on Apple's iTunes. U Arizona is the lead on the mission, the first in a NASA program aimed at launching smaller missions to Mars designed to complement larger ones.
6/2/2008
Adobe Monday announced details of its forthcoming major revision to the entire Acrobat family: Acrobat 9. The company also debuted a new Acrobat.com collaboration beta site and announced an updated Creative Suite (version 3.3), which will incorporate the upcoming Acrobat 9 Pro software.
6/2/2008
Studiolo Systems has gone into beta testing with StudyRails.com, a Web application intended to help students improve their academic performance by optimizing their study habits. StudyRails provides step-by-step, personalized study plans, e-mail and cell phone study reminders and the blocking of social networking Web sites, software and games during study time.
5/29/2008
Education technology developer Smart Technologies this week announced a new version of its Senteo interactive response system, Senteo 2.0. The free upgrade is expected to be available in July.