News 12-03-2002

Sponsor: We approach e-Learning a little differently

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East L.A. College Begins $200M Campus Makeover

East Los Angeles College (ELAC) will unveil this week a comprehensive campus redesign and details for a new $22 million Technology Center that builders say will modernize the college and revitalize the surrounding East L.A. community. The building will support nine academic disciplines, including graphic arts, architecture, business administration, computer science, engineering, and photography by providing high-speed network and high-tech systems. The Center is the first project under a master plan that includes construction of a performing arts center and a math and science complex. About $172 million of the project will be funded by Proposition A, a $1.2 billion bond measure L.A. voters overwhelmingly approved in April 2001.

Sponsor: Syllabus2003 Call for Papers Extended to December 15

Plan to present at the Tenth Annual Summer Conference on Education Technology held in the San Francisco Bay Area July 28-31, 2003. Proposals for breakout sessions, panels, and workshops are due December 15. For details and further information, go to www.syllabus.com/summer2003/papers.asp.

University Web Sites Short on Financial Aid Info

Most higher-education Web sites provide ample admissions and cost information to prospective students but fall short in amount of online financial aid and scholarship forms, specific information for parents, or online orientation programs made available, says higher-ed consulting firm N'el-Levitz. The firm's 2002 National Enrollment Management Survey showed that only 50 percent of four-year institutions provide students online access to financial aid applications, and even fewer provide access to scholarship applications. "It's clear…that the majority of respondents have made great strides in making basic pieces of information and processes available through their Web sites," said N'el-Levitz's Scott Bodfish. "Beyond that, most appear to provide students and parents with little additional, specific online content and information."

Power Network to Spark N.W. Economic Development

An energy company providing electric and natural gas service to four western states launched a higher-education grant program to jump-start technology-based economic development in the Inland Northwest. Known as the Virtual Possibilities Network Grants Project, the program will provide access to Avista Corp.'s fiber network over the next five years to a consortium of regional higher-education institutions. Initial participants include Eastern Washington University; Gonzaga University; North Idaho College; University of Idaho; Lewis-Clark State College; Washington State University; Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute; University of Idaho, Research Park; Whitworth College; and Community Colleges of Spokane. In April 2003, the project expects to begin accepting applications for projects that focus on incubation, education, and research and development.

For more information, visit: www.avistacorp.com

Blackboard, Datatel to Integrate Portal Services

Course management companies Blackboard Inc. and Datatel Inc., said they agreed to offer higher education customers an integrated version of Blackboard Community Portal System with Datatel's Colleague enterprise system. The Blackboard and Datatel system will provide a unified front-end for teaching, learning, and campus administration, with the Blackboard Community Portal System serving as the common user interface, the companies said. With the system, students can use one username and password to conduct campus business via a single, online destination, including administrative functions such as enrollment, course registration, and checking grades. About 248 colleges are now using a version of both Blackboard and Datatel, the companies said.

New Technology, Products for Higher Education

MEDICAL IMAGING—A firm that makes Internet-based imaging technology and a developer of secure networking solutions have collaborated to provide physicians with secure Web access to patient imaging data scattered across multiple medical centers and information systems. RealTimeImage Inc. said it integrated its iPACS medical image streaming with HX Technologies Inc.'s iHistory platform to enable rapid, clinical-quality, Web-based access to images in all digital formats and over various bandwidth links, from high speed LANs to 56K dial-up lines. The iHistory platform is currently undergoing testing at the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

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