News 02-28-2003
Hear the Latest Techniques from Colleagues on Syllabus Radio
Syllabus Radio features interviews with established leaders, creative thinkers
and education technology experts in higher education. Log on to http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=374
and hear Betty L. Black of North Carolina State University discuss pilot programs
using wireless handheld computers to increase interaction among students in
large, lecture-based classrooms. Log on and listen to this interview and others
covering the hottest technology issues on campus.
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=374
U. Minnesota-Duluth Builds Open Source Portfolio
University of Minnesota-Duluth chancellor Kathryn Martin said the university
was moving to an open source electronic portfolio system that will enable individuals
or the institution to adapt at will. The ePortfolio, which the university says
is the first portfolio system created with open source software, will store
educational records, work samples, resumes, and writing samples, as well as
legal documents and other personal records in a secure, network-accessible system.
Individuals will be encouraged to share program code changes with the university's
Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI) group. The ePortfolio system is currently
used by 23,000 students, faculty, and staff. Under the university's "Technology
for Life" plan, students may continue to use and enhance their personal ePortfolios
throughout their lifetime.
For more information visit: http://eportfolio.d.umn.edu
or www.theospi.org
Web-Based B2B Textbook Supplier Sales Skyrocket
The Thomson Corp. said sales of college textbooks through its business-to-business
Web site, Service Plus, has grown from $10 million to more than $104 million
in three years, an increase of almost 1,000 percent. The service provides U.S.
college bookstores with round-the-clock online account management tools, title
research capabilities and a powerful ordering function. The Web site is designed
to handle basic customer inquiries, such as pricing and availability, freeing
customer service representatives to handle more complex customer requests. Live
chat with a customer service representative is also available. Approximately
36 percent of stores' pricing and availability inquiries were answered through
the site in 2002. During the busiest ordering period in 2002 more than 10,500
online order-status inquiries were received.
Learning System Claims First SCORM 1.2 Certification
Avilar Technologies Inc. said its WebMentor Learning Management System (LMS)
has been issued the first certificate of compliance with the SCORM specification,
version 1.2, under the new certification program administered by the Academic
ADL Co-Lab in Madison, Wisc. To be certified, an authorized Certification Testing
Center must independently verify and validate the successful processing by the
LMS of the SCORM Test Suite, Version 1.2.3. WebMentor passed the test at Run
Time Environment level 3, which is the highest level of compliance, the company
said. The Center auditors certifying WebMentor are from the Madison Area Technical
College & UW-Learning Innovations of Madison, Wisc.
Online Provider Grows Curriculum to 1,700 Courses
RedVector.com Inc. said its library surpassed 1,700 online courses, double
the number of courses it offered 12 months ago. The company works with international
subject matter experts to develop online courses for continuing education, certification,
and licensing exam preparation. The company specializes in online education
for professionals in the engineering, architectural, construction, land surveying,
interior design, building inspection, and landscape architecture industries.
Its library includes courses on a wide range of subjects from toxic mold to
wetlands to project management. The company recently expanded to include areas
devoted to online certification courses and online licensing exam prep courses.
Awards, Contracts, Deals in Higher Education
MESSAGING—James Madison University (JMU) awarded Mirapoint Messaging
a contract to provide online messaging services for its 22,000 students, faculty,
and staff. JMU will use Mirapoint's Message Server M4000 and Message Director
MD400 to create a unified system that supports Webmail, anti-spam filtering,
virus protection, wireless access to e-mail and calendaring.
LINUX—Golden Gate University, a for-profit school for adult professionals,
said it standardized on Oracle9i Application Server and Oracle9i Database to
consolidate the university's 12 disparate systems into a single software infrastructure
on Linux. As a result, students, faculty, and staff, as well as 57,000 alumni,
are expected to have access to relevant university information through highly
personalized, user-friendly interfaces built on infrastructure software from
Oracle.
