News 07-03-2001
Syllabus2001 Workshop to Consider Course Managers
Unsure about the differences among the many course manager products on the
market today? "Comparing Web-based Course Managers," a hands-on workshop offered
July 20 and 21 at the Syllabus2001 conference in Santa Clara, California, will
help instructors sort out their questions and find some answers. Led by Sharon
Gray, Instructional Technologist at Augustana College, the workshop will provide
an overview of online course development and delivery, including insights into
which features might be useful and why. Through hands-on exploration of various
course development products, participants will leave with a rudimentary working
knowledge of Web course development and delivery.
For more information about Syllabus2001, including complete descriptions of
all conference offerings, and an online registration form, visit http://www.syllabus.com/summer2001/.
IMS Establishes European Foundation
IMS, a global consortium of more than 300 educational institutions, commercial
entities and government agencies recently announced the founding of IMS in Europe--an
independent foundation incorporated in the Netherlands that will serve the needs
of e- learning organizations throughout Europe. A growing number of e-learning
agencies, vendors, providers and universities are joining IMS in Europe to help
develop technical specifications and involve the European e-learning community
in their global use. Recently many of these organizations convened in Sweden
and the UK to participate in an IMS Working Group on technical specifications
for Digital Repositories.
All of the specifications developed by IMS are available to the public without
charge through the IMS web site http://www.imsglobal.org.
Online Courses for Law School Professors
LexisNexis Web Courses, powered by Blackboard 5, allow law school professors
to create and manage online course content using any Web-connected computer.
Course materials can be created from existing Word or PowerPoint documents,
and new materials can be created using simple cut-and-paste commands. Professors
can also create links to LexisNexis legal research content, post announcements,
track Web site usage and gather student feedback. The service is free to law
schools and faculty. For more information, visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/faculty.
Ocular Networks to Sponsor Advanced Internet Lab
Ocular Networks recently announced its corporate sponsorship of the Advanced
Internet Laboratory (AIL) at George Mason University. The purpose of AIL is
to conduct research on high- performance, large-bandwidth Internet core networks.
The lab's current focus is on multi-protocol label switching, or MPLS, a sophisticated
routing and switching technique.
For more information, visit http://www.ail.gmu.edu.
Online Master's Program in Bi'ethics
The Center for Bi'ethics and Clinical Leadership at Union College and the Center
for Medical Ethics at Albany Medical College (AMC) have created a distance master's
program in bi'ethics, one of the first in the country. The program, slated to
start August 5, is designed for doctors, administrators, lawyers, nurses, and
researchers. The curriculum will draw on many real-life case studies, involving
such issues as euthanasia, transplant policy, reproductive technology, cloning
and DNA testing. Students in the program will be taught by professionals from
the Northeast Bi'ethics Consortium, created in 1999 as a cooperative effort
by Union College, Albany Med, Albany Law School, and the philosophy department
at the University at Albany. The curriculum will combine online instruction
with on-site meetings with instructors for practical experience in clinical
ethics. Organizers hope the format will allow more working professionals to
enroll in the program without having to take time off from their careers.
For more information, visit http://www.union.edu/.
LCD Contents Display on Digital Projector
MARGI Systems, a provider of multimedia products for mobile computing, recently
announced the availability of Macintosh support for the Presenter-to-Go Springboard
presentation module. Also newly available is the MARGI Mirror application, which
allows the contents of a Handspring Visor handheld's LCD to be displayed on
a digital projector or VGA monitor. The upgrades are available for download
by registered MARGI Presenter-to-Go customers at http://www.presenter-to-go.com.
Genomic Solutions Supplies Research Instruments
Genomic Solutions , a worldwide supplier of automated solutions for genomic
and proteomic research, announced it will provide advanced instrumentation used
in the "Molecular Biology of Aging" course at the Marine Biological Laboratory,
Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The course, running July 30 through August 18, 2001,
is part of the Laboratory's annual Summer Education and Research Program. Genomic
Solutions instruments used in the course provide automated hybridization and
imaging of DNA microarrays spotted on standard glass slides.
For more information, visit http://www.mbl.edu/.
Palm Awards $2.3 Million in Technology Grants
In its second round of grants from the Palm Education Pioneer (PEP) program,
Palm, Inc. recently announced it is awarding $2.3 million in Palm handheld units
to elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities to enable innovative
teaching and learning, and to gain insight into how handheld computers affect
teaching and learning. This research is expected to help determine best practices
for integrating handhelds into curriculum and teacher training.
For more information, visit http://www.palm.com.
Web Site for Math Students
Waterloo Maple, a provider of advanced software products for mathematics education,
research, and industry, recently launched a new Web site,
http://www.maple4students.com/.
The site offers free resources to students in mathematics, science, and engineering.
Content includes tutorials, course-specific examples, and general reference
information. Instructors can also take advantage of the site with links to educational
PowerTools, Waterloo Maple's suite of free, full-powered add-on packages. These
include complete sets of curriculum material for various college and university
level courses, including calculus, linear algebra, and engineering mathematics.
WebCT and Datatel Team Up
WebCT and Datatel recently announced an agreement to jointly develop IMS Enterprise
standards-compliant interfaces between Datatel's Colleague and WebCT's Campus
Edition course management system. The relationship affords an e-learning solution
that can be operated and maintained by a single group of administrators. The
agreement will provide synchronization of class sections student registration
(add, drops), grade exchange, and support for single-sign on for Web-based applications.
Scientists Calculate Fiber Optic
Scientists from Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs have calculated the maximum
amount of information that can be transmitted over optical fiber. The Bell Labs
team, whose scientific results appear in the British journal Nature, determined
that it is theoretically possible to send approximately 100 terabits of information,
or roughly 20 billion one-page e-mails, simultaneously per strand of fiber.
The Bell Labs scientists used an analogy from quantum physics, together with
ideas from information theory to make their calculations. They looked at telecommunication
systems that use wavelength division multiplexing--a technique by which lightwaves
of different colors are simultaneously transmitted over the same fiber, allowing
more information to be sent--and estimated how much information can be conveyed
from a transmitter to a receiver.
Agilent Provides Software to Colleges and Universities
Agilent Technologies Inc. recently announced that it is providing free copies
of its Advisor Software Edition network test software to qualified educational
institutions that offer advanced computer networking courses. The software can
be employed as a teaching tool at colleges, universities, and technical schools
worldwide to prepare students to face network challenges in the business world.
More than 400 institutions have already taken advantage of this offer, including
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of California
at Berkeley, Duke University, Stanford University, Purdue University, DeVry
University, and Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI).
For more information, visit http://onenetworks.comms.agilent.com/internetadvisor/J1955A_
product.asp (Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy
and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field.)
Don't Miss These Upcoming Events from 101communications:
