News 03-11-2003
SAS Higher Education Road Shows
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=639
SAS is hosting complimentary, half-day events for college and university leaders
designed to provide insight for strategic enrollment and human capital management.
To learn more and register to attend an event visit: http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=639
UC Davis Introduces Minor in Tech Management
UC Davis Graduate School of Management said it would introduce this fall an
undergraduate minor in technology management designed to give engineering and
science graduates an edge in the high-tech business arena. The minor will combine
business and management skills with the students' knowledge of engineering and
science. "Students taking the minor will learn from leading academics in technology
management," said Donald A. Blodger, assistant dean of admissions and student
services. "And as graduates, they will already be ramped up to contribute where
business and technology meet." It is the first minor at UC Davis to require
students to apply as part of a selective admissions process. Anticipating high
demand, the school is requiring students to apply online for 50 to 70 spots
offered in the fall quarter.
For more information, visit: www.gsm.ucdavis.edu/TechMinor/
eLearning Systems: How do you differentiate between products?
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=630
Join the Syllabus online community and discuss key issues with your peers in
the Syllabus Forums at www.syllabus.com/forum. A variety of topics are posted,
from eLearning Systems to Faculty Development. Sharon Gray, Augustana College,
Sioux Falls, S.D., leads a forum on how prospective users can differentiate
between eLearning products and decide which best fits their needs. Check out
the responses, weigh in with your thoughts and experiences, and learn from your
colleagues.
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=630
Faculty Honored for Using IT with Under-Served Students
The American Association of Community Colleges awarded its annual IT Faculty
Technology Awards to Susan Gaer, a professor of English as a Second Language
(ESL) at Santa Ana College, and Joyce Hawkins, who teaches Wake Technical Community
College’s information systems diploma program at the North Carolina Correctional
Institution for Women. The $5,000 awards, which are supported by Microsoft Corp.,
are made to those who have helped their students succeed with the help of IT.
Gaer taught beginning ESL students how to use the Internet to comparison shop
and to develop video stories using family photos. Hawkins put together a program
for prison inmates to solve typical business problems using spreadsheet analysis,
database management, and other computer basics.
Austin Nanotech Summit to Link Higher Ed, Biotech Sectors
Austin, Texas, community economic leaders are trying to pull together local
educators, government leaders, and business executives to attract investment
in nanotechnology in the area. The Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council
will host a technology summit next week at Southwest Texas State University
in San Marcos, Texas, to explore ways local nanotech, infotech, and bioscience
interests can tap the federal government’s $1 billion nanotech funding stream.
Noting there are over 200,000 university students and faculty, and hundreds
of IT, nanotech, and biotech companies in the area, council member Victor Boyer
said, "A key goal of the Summit would be to bridge the information divide between
educators, government leaders, and business executives in these rapidly converging
industries."
For more information, visit: www.thecorridor.org
Cal State Fullerton Outsources eProcurement System
California State University-Fullerton has contracted with an application service
provider -- rather than manage its own IT application -- to provide electronic
procurement services for the 32,000-student campus. The school chose Long Beach,
Calif.-based AcquireX because it wanted to save the time and the expense of
purchasing a software package with related implementation and maintenance costs,
according to chief financial officer Sherri Newcomb. "As we expand the number
of qualified vendors in our catalog, we will provide improved procurement services
to the campus, as well as realize savings in the costs of products …," she said.
The system is a fully hosted purchasing application that allows for custom catalogs
with the university's strategic suppliers. The system provides access to suppliers
using one interface, workflow, budget code allocation, order tracking, and reporting.
New Products: Plug-In Turns Office Docs into Tutorials
Testing and assessment software supplier Questionmark released a program that
would make it easy for educators to launch quizzes, tests, surveys, or questionnaires
from Microsoft Office files. The Questionmark Perception Office Connector, which
works within Microsoft Office 2000 and Office XP applications, enables authors
to open a wizard that guides them through the process of linking to assessments.
Later, people viewing the document can link directly to the quiz, test, or survey,
answer the questions, receive feedback, and get online coaching. Feedback can
be diagnostic and prescriptive, the company said. The document or file that
contains the link can also remain open while the reader completes the assessment.