News 12-03-2002
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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.