Home > Web/Portals

Web/Portals

Focus on Institutional Culture Drives Faculty Technology Adoption at Genesee CC

10/8/2008

Too often, institutions spend precious resources implementing a learning management system and associated collaboration, teaching and learning tools, only to find that a relatively small percentage of faculty use the tools to any significant degree. At Genesee Community College (GCC), we have achieved high faculty usage of online learning tools by focusing on institutional culture.

The Institutional Path for Change in This Age: Andragogy, not Pedagogy

10/8/2008

Our ontology about teaching and learning is no longer workable. It is time for a change from pedagogy to andragogy and evidence-based learning.

Coming to Terms with Cloud Computing

10/7/2008

Is "cloud computing" the next big thing in IT, or are you just a victim of "cloud wash?" Recent statements by Oracle's CEO Larry Ellison and software-licensing contrarian Richard Stallman zeroed into the phrase.

Yahoo Fixing Zimbra Bug, Integrating with Exchange

10/6/2008

Web-search advertising giant Yahoo plans to resolve a password security vulnerability identified in late September in its Zimbra open source e-mail and collaboration software. On Wednesday, a Yahoo spokesperson stated by e-mail that the problem will be addressed in a few weeks' time.

Amazon To Host Microsoft Solutions in the Cloud

10/3/2008

Amazon announced Wednesday that it is conducting a private beta test of Microsoft's server products running on Amazon's hosted computing platform, which is called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). Amazon expects to offer companies the ability to run their applications on EC2 using Microsoft Windows Server or Microsoft SQL Server sometime in the fall, according to an announcement issued by the company.

Integrated Collaborative Environment Leverages Web 2.0

10/2/2008

Here's a bit of trivia for your next high-tech happy hour: A "nog" (in addition to being a Christmas favorite) is a wooden block built into a masonry wall so that joinery structure can be nailed to it. For the founders of Piscataway, N.J.-based startup Bluenog this obscure bit of carpentry nomenclature was the perfect metaphor for an integrated software suite that includes a content management system (CMS), rich portal features and business intelligence (BI) capabilities.

Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students

10/1/2008

Blogging can be an effective tool for learning, but its benefits shouldn't be taken for granted. It takes careful planning and skillful management to make it work in an educational setting. Here are five of the most common mistakes for instructors to avoid when incorporating blogs into instruction.

The Generative Nature of the Digital Economy and Its Challenge to Educators

10/1/2008

With digital technologies and Web 2.0 surrounding us, information -- and knowledge generation -- is abundant as never before. This creates some big changes for higher education: With no scarcity of information or collaboration opportunities, "seat time" in a classroom is no longer just about delivering content. Trent Batson asks, "How does a teacher reclaim the value of students coming to class in this time?"

College Crime Gets Google Maps Mashup at UCrime.com

10/1/2008

UCrime.com, which provides crime mapping and alert services for colleges and universities, announced that it has doubled to 200 the number of schools it covers.

Second Life Mashup Helps Boost Distance Ed Retention at Huntington JC

9/30/2008

Huntington Junior College (HJC) in West Virginia has gone public with its year-long early-adopter use of Campus Management's CampusLearning, a suite of services that provides for real-time, two-way integration between proprietary portals and student information systems and the Moodle open source course management systems.

Serena Acquisition Takes Aim at Microsoft Project

9/29/2008

Serena Software acquired Projity Wednesday and is promoting that company's software as an open source alternative to Microsoft Project.

Lecture Capture: No Longer Optional?

9/25/2008

Lecture capture has been gaining momentum in recent years, but that momentum is being outpaced by student demand. According to new research released this week by the University of Wisconsin-Madison involving about 7,500 undergraduate and graduate students, an overwhelming 82 percent of students said they would prefer courses that offer online lectures over traditional classes that do not include an online lecture component. The researchers also pointed out the implications for these findings extend well beyond the classroom.

Duke Deploys Portal from To Manage Board Business

9/25/2008

Duke University has selected BoardVantage for the electronic distribution of written materials to the University's Board of Trustees.

First Look: Adobe Creative Suite 4

9/23/2008

Adobe debuted Creative Suite 4 Tuesday, with all-new versions of its major development, design, publishing, and video/motion graphics applications, along with new and modified pricing and licensing schemes for both K-12 and post-secondary education. We have a inside look at the new features in each of the core applications, along with preliminary findings based on a pre-release of the Creative Suite 4 Master Collection.

Zend and Adobe Partner on RIAs at PHP User Conference

9/18/2008

This week, for the fourth year in a row, the once-obscure-now-ubiquitous dynamic scripting language, PHP, took center stage at the annual Zend/PHP conference in Santa Clara, CA. The big news at this year's show (also known as ZendCon) comes from Adobe Systems, which announced plans to collaborate with Zend Technologies, the show's sponsor and the creator and commercial maintainer of PHP.For the fourth year in a row, the once-obscure-now-ubiquitous dynamic scripting language, PHP, took center stage at the annual Zend/PHP conference in Santa Clara, Calif. The big news at this year's show (also known as ZendCon) comes from Adobe Systems, which announced plans to collaborate with Zend Technologies, the show's sponsor and the creator and commercial maintainer of PHP.

Is College Necessary in a Knowledge-Drenched World?

9/17/2008

Maybe you've heard people ask: "Who needs large lecture halls to learn? Who needs a sound studio or post-production facilities when you can have them on your laptop? If high-end lab equipment or scientific simulation software is also available via the Web, why do you need to visit a campus to run an experiment?" Is "Why attend college at all?" now a serious question?

Kadoo Launches Site for Managing, Storing, and Selectively Sharing Digital Content

9/17/2008

Kadoo has launched a site where users can manage, store, and selectively share their digital content from one place. The service was created by executives from Blackboard, which produces products and services for the education market.

Penn State Collaborating with Alcatel-Lucent on Video Social Networking

9/15/2008

The Pennsylvania State University and Alcatel-Lucent have announced an agreement to jointly develop a mobile video social networking application. The collaborative research team will be funded by the vendor.

Northern Michigan U Issues 6,000 Laptops to Students

9/15/2008

Northern Michigan University has deployed 6,000 Lenovo ThinkPad R61 notebooks to its full-time students to provide access to 724 Web-based classes this fall. This is the 10th year that NMU has issued ThinkPads to its student body.

Galveston College Revamps Constituent Services

9/11/2008

Galveston College has selected Datatel Colleague and Datatel ActiveCampus Portal solutions to replace legacy systems in use by the school. The College also licensed Colleague Student Retention Alert, a comprehensive offering of software and professional services that identifies and serves students who are academically at-risk.

34 Washington Colleges Move into Online Course Delivery

9/10/2008

The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges is rolling out a new system to deliver online classes, presentations, and meetings. The organization recently signed on with Elluminate to use that company's Elluminate Learning Suite across its 34 member colleges.

Driving Google Apps for Education

9/10/2008

Google Apps bus image

A humble little old bus left Google's Mountain View, CA campus Monday for a 5,000-mile trek across the US to visit 10 college campuses, beginning with southern California's USC. Of course, the 30-year-old bus was converted to biodiesel, updated with solar panels and other green features, stocked with tons of technology and wireless Internet, and given an adorable "Google" paint job. It departed on schedule, chock full of Google Apps for Education demos and tech experts (riding along or flying to meet the bus) with new ideas to discuss with students and faculty.

Kansas' Johnson County CC Moves to Angel for Blended Course Delivery

9/9/2008

Johnson County Community College (JCCC) in Overland Park, Kansas has adopted the Angel Learning Management Suite (LMS) to deliver online and blended courses. The largest of Kansas' 19 community colleges, JCCC chose to transition to the Angel LMS from Blackboard following a review of available products. According to a statement from the vendor, the college chose Angel for its stability, ease of use, and feature set.

Office Live Workspace: Shadowed by Google Docs?

9/9/2008

Microsoft last Wednesday touted the success of its online extension to Microsoft Office, a free browser-based application that's still in beta release. One million people so far have signed up to use the Microsoft Office Live Workspace Beta after six months of the beta's public availability, according to an announcement issued by the company.

Teachers Domain Expands Content for Educators, Adds New Editions

9/9/2008

Teachers Domain, a free online resource for educators, has announced expanded content in science, math, art, social studies, and language arts. The online library is also launching two new editions: Teachers' Domain College Edition, designed for higher education, and VITAL New York on Teachers' Domain, providing resources for New York teachers that are aligned with the state's core curriculum.