Industry Briefs

News

GOIN’ GLOBAL, MATE.

eLearning systems giant WebCT (www.webct.com) is expanding again, adding a “down under” office in Sydney, three senior-level execs, and five new resellers. Meanwhile, the roster of new WebCT Vista international higher ed customers grows—the University of Vienna (Austria), University of the Aegean (Greece), and Nagoya University (Japan) have recently come on board. Other institutions—the University of Birmingham (UK) for one—are upgrading their WebCT systems to meet the demands of eLearning programs.

Hobsons’ acquisition of Academic Engine creates an organization that can now “guide students from prospect to alumnus” via enrollment management technology and natural- language Q & A.
CONTENT EXCHANGE TAKES OFF.

WebCT and MERLOT (www.merlot.org), a free online learning resource, have partnered to give WebCT users access to 10,000 indexed learning objects, thus enhancing the learning content exchange. The MERLOT Web site will be optimized for WebCT users, and the WebCT materials will be augmented by MERLOT, say WebCT spokespeople.

CENTRALIZE, CENTRALIZE.

Penn State University’s (PA) Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology (AERS) department has selected the Web-based service desk product FootPrints from UniPress Software (www.unipress.com), to centralize its IT Help Desk. AERS deployed Footprints to track and manage all incoming IT support requests from AERS staffers, faculty, and graduate students. The AERS ITS Help desk staffers can now track and manage calls via trouble tickets, quickly refer to FAQs for answers, and utilize a knowledgebase to collaborate on problem resolution.

SMALL ENVIRONMENT, BIG COLLABORATION.

Educational technology firm and provider of collaboration software, DyKnow (www.dyknow.com) has partnered with the University of Richmond (VA) to increase “wired” collaboration between students and faculty via DyKnow Vision collaboration software. Despite the small liberal arts setting, says DyKnow President Laura Small, “Richmond is setting up the perfect environment to show that liberal arts subjects can benefit greatly from DyKnow’s collaborative features.”

M&A

PAPERLESS PARTNERS.

Jenzabar Inc. (www.jenzabar.com) an eLearning system provider, has partnered with document imaging group Feith Systems and Software Inc. (www.feith.com), allowing Jenzabar to offer imaging, workflow, and records management to colleges and universities using Jenzabar’s software—part of its Total Campus Management (TCM) system.

HOW TO BOOST ENROLLMENT.

To strengthen its enrollment management technology (EMT) product line, higher ed communications and recruitment technology provider Hobsons (www.hobsons.com) has completed the acquisition of Academic Engine (www.academicengine.com), an Internet software development firm showcasing a natural language question/answer system. Hobsons spokespeople note that the merger creates an organization that can now “guide students from prospect to alumnus.” The merger also adds 150 new higher education clients to Hobsons’ 650.

PEOPLE

TWO AGAINST INTRUSION.

Kenny Van Zant (formerly of Cisco Systems’ broadband access team) and David Sikora (President/CEO of infrastructure software firm Pervasive Software), have been appointed to the board of directors of TippingPoint Technologies Inc. (www.tippingpoint.com), provider of networked-based intrusion prevention systems.

SWITCHING GEARS.

Former Sun Microsystems exec William Malik has joined enterprise researchers Aberdeen Group (www.aberdeen.com) as VP of Technology Research, driving Aberdeen’s CIO’s Strategic Agenda research programs.

Featured

  • abstract illustration of a glowing AI-themed bar graph on a dark digital background with circuit patterns

    Stanford 2025 AI Index Reveals Surge in Adoption, Investment, and Global Impact as Trust and Regulation Lag Behind

    Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) has released its AI Index Report 2025, measuring AI's diverse impacts over the past year.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Launches Claude for Education

    Anthropic has announced a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

  • lightbulb

    Call for Speakers Now Open for Tech Tactics in Education: Overcoming Roadblocks to Innovation

    The annual virtual conference from the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal will return on September 25, 2025, with a focus on emerging trends in cybersecurity, data privacy, AI implementation, IT leadership, building resilience, and more.

  • From Fire TV to Signage Stick: University of Utah's Digital Signage Evolution

    Jake Sorensen, who oversees sponsorship and advertising and Student Media in Auxiliary Business Development at the University of Utah, has navigated the digital signage landscape for nearly 15 years. He was managing hundreds of devices on campus that were incompatible with digital signage requirements and needed a solution that was reliable and lowered labor costs. The Amazon Signage Stick, specifically engineered for digital signage applications, gave him the stability and design functionality the University of Utah needed, along with the assurance of long-term support.