News 03-07-2003
Sponsor: Faculty Best Practices: What are Colleagues Doing?
Discuss key issues and hot topics with the experts and your colleagues in the
Syllabus Forums at www.syllabus.com/forum.
David Brown of Wake Forest University leads a forum on faculty best practices
and how to use technology to improve teaching and learning. How are you using
asynchronous discussions? What tips to do you for others? Weigh in with your
thoughts and questions and see what solutions your colleagues might have.
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=529
Ball State Design Center Will Develop Digital Ed Applications
Ball State University opened the Center for Media Design, a $20 million research
initiative designed to be a hub for research, assessment, and development of
digital media applications in education, industry, and in communities. The Center
would provide a foundation for consumer testing on campus as well as in the
community. Other testing options include a "smart house," where real consumers
will be under observation while testing advanced technology products and a wireless
lab dedicated to researching the next best mobile products and content for market.
"The work going on here shows great promise in transforming how our faculty
uses technology to enhance the education of our students," said Ball State president
Blaine Brownell.
Microsoft Sends $15M Software to Historically Black Colleges
Microsoft Corp. announced a $15 million software grant to the Thurgood Marshall
Scholarship Fund (TMSF) technology initiative, a multi-year effort to raise
more than $100 million to upgrade technology at public Historically Black Colleges
and Universities (HBCUs). The software grant will be distributed to TMSF institutions
through a competitive process designed to identify the schools best prepared
to take advantage of the technology. There are currently 45 TMSF colleges. Congressional
Black Caucus member Rep. Elijah Cummings said the grant "will create a bridge
that will help close the 'digital divide' in higher education and provide the
necessary tools HBCUs need to compete in today's global economy."
New Jersey Dental School Rolls Out Wireless Curriculum
The New Jersey Dental School launched an electronic curriculum program using
wireless and DVD storage technologies to provide access to information by dental
students no matter where they are. Under the new curriculum, each freshman student
will be outfitted with a wireless IBM ThinkPad, enabling them to move around
without losing access to their information. Each student's curriculum and course
material can then be updated every six months at no additional cost. The system
will allow students to download information from their wireless Internet connection
at any time or place. Students also have access to e-mail from professors and
digital video on the latest tools and techniques. All of these services are
provided through a school-wide wireless network.
Ohio State's MicroMD Lab Deploys IP-Based Monitors
Ohio State University's MicroMD Laboratory, a center for developing microsystems
and nanotechnology devices, is using Netbotz, an IP-based monitoring system,
to help track the physical security and safety of the materials, equipment,
and personnel working in the laboratory. Shana Underberger, the lab’s manager
of information systems, said, "We have a number of isolated areas within the
lab. It's critical that we have an eye on all these places to make sure everything's
okay. Having the visual information about what's going on is a part of how we
constantly improve our processes." The system allows lab personnel to review
captured images to locate the source of a problem. Underberger said the group
is looking to eventually integrate the environmental information captured by
sensors on the monitoring appliance with their current building monitoring system.
"This will give us even more control about what's going on with all our systems
throughout the lab," she added.
U. Florida G'es With Linux Mainframe for Advanced Lab
The University of Florida has selected the Linux-only IBM eServer zSeries 800
as the heart of its Advanced Computing and Information Systems (ACIS) laboratory
at the school's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in Gainesville,
Fla. The university plans to integrate the z800 running z/VM, IBM's advanced
virtualization software, a 3.36TB IBM Enterprise Storage Server (code named
"Shark"), and a 32-node IBM eServer xSeries cluster running VMWare and Linux
to support its pioneering research in the emerging field of grid computing.
The goal of grid computing is to enable the secure, shared usage of geographically
distributed computing res
