News Update 06-24-2003
Today's Issue Sponsored By:
* Best Practices, Innovative Solutions at Syllabus2003
Click & Gown: Web Commencement Exercises Are Here
Two predominantly online universities have gone all digital: from registration
to—now—commencement exercises. Strayer University, which focuses on
post-secondary education for working adults, has put together a full graduate
ceremony online. The ceremony includes Pomp and Circumstance audio, speaker
biographies, and closing remarks. During the degree presentations, each of the
2003 online graduate names will be read and the diploma along with their area
of concentration will appear on the screen. Macromedia Flash and RealNetworks
RealAudio and Streaming Media technologies were used to create the ceremony.
More than one-third of Strayer students take 100 percent of their courses online.
In another commencement Web cast, Capella University, an online
university headquartered in Minneapolis, conferred more than 550
degrees in an online ceremony. "But we really encourage people to come
to Minneapolis and walk across the stage," said Capella president
Michael Offerman. "There's no substitute for the feelings of success
and accomplishment that a graduation ceremony evokes."
The Strayer commencement is available at www.strayer.edu;
Capella's can be viewed at www.capella.edu
SPONSOR: Time is Running Out for Early Bird Savings—Don't Miss
the June 27 Deadline!
This summer's 10th annual Syllabus Conference offers five days of not-
to-be-missed keynotes, general sessions, breakouts, and more for
education technology professionals. Join us July 27-31 at the San Jose
Marriott and enjoy five new program tracks on topics of strategic
importance. Plus, a special day on the Stanford University campus will
allow you to experience the latest technology innovations first hand.
All this, including networking and exhibits, in Syllabus' traditional
collegial atmosphere. Only 3 days left to take advantage of Early Bird
discounts! Register today and save up to $200.
For details and to register go to: http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=1814.
Grant Fights Shrinking Enrollment of Women in Technology
According to the National Council for Research on Women, the percentage of
women enrolled in undergraduate computer science programs has drastically declined
over a 15-year period. In 1984, the percentage of science degrees earned by
women was 37 percent. The percentage dropped to less than 20 percent in 1999,
when 90 percent of high school students taking advanced placement tests for
computer science college credit were male. To help redress the balance, AT&T
announced $100,000 in grants to three Chicago-area universities to provide elementary
through high school girls with hands-on experiences in math, science, and technology
and to encourage them to pursue careers in those fields. The College of DuPage,
Loyola University Chicago, and Roosevelt University each will receive $25,000.
A fourth partner will be announced later.
U. of Miami Named Third Best Workplace for IT Professionals
Computerworld magazine ranked the University of Miami (UM) third in its list
of the best 100 workplaces for IT professionals. UM was ranked first last year
and is the only educational institution listed and one of only three corporations
that made the list from Florida. The list is based on a survey of more than
11,500 IT workers who were asked to rank organizations in the areas of benefits,
diversity, career development, and training and retention, another others.
The list is posted online at: www.computerworld.com/bestplaces2003
Wharton Online Partners with Economist.com on Seminars
Knowledge@Wharton, an online business and research journal of the
Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Economist.com are
partnering up to launch a series of Web-based briefings on business
topics of the day. The seminars will be accessible from both the
Economist.com and Knowledge@Wharton Web sites, and will reside in a new
section of both Web sites to be called The Global Business Report. Each
online seminar will feature Wharton faculty, journalists from Economist
magazine, and other industry experts. The format will include audio
interviews, readings, and online panel discussions. After each seminar,
Knowledge@Wharton will produce a conclusions paper highlighting
findings from the event.
Birthdays: Dotcom, Mathematica
The Domain Name System, or DNS, as the structure of ".com," ".edu," and
others is known, turned 20 on Monday. On June 23, 1983, the now-
familiar navigation system was tested for the first time at the
University of Southern California School of Engineering's Information
Sciences Institute (ISI) in Marina del Rey. Two ISI computer
scientists, the late Jon Postel and Paul Mockapetris, created the
system as part of the pre-Internet ARPANET project. Postel gave
Mockapetris an assignment to develop a stable system that translated
the numerical codes that identified Web addresses into names that were
easy for people to use and remember. Mockapetris, now chairman and
chief scientist at Nominum Inc., and Postel, who died in 1998, worked
out a plan for a system, which Mockapetris developed and coded. On June
23, 1983, the system was implemented and had its first test. It passed
with flying colors.
In other birthday news, Wolfram Research celebrated yesterday, June 23, the
15th anniversary of Mathematica software with the release of high-performance
Mathematica 5. Mathematica 1.0 was designed as a single system that could handle
all the various aspects of technical computing in a unified way.
Grants, Awards, Contracts in Higher Education IT
Oracle Corp. announced it would award five information technology
grants ranging in value from between $250,000 and $500,000 to
institutions in higher education interested in developing a campuswide
portal. The grants will be used to underwrite all external costs
associated with the implementation of the CampusEAI Oracle Portal
system, including software and services necessary to install and
operate the portal.
For more information, visit: www.campuseai.com/oracle/grantapplication.asp