Technology Happenings in Higher Education
:: NEWS
CAMPUSWIDE CLASS
CAPTURE. After an extensive beta
test last year, New Jersey Institute of
Technology has deployed TechSmith's newest lecture
capture and presentation solution, Camtasia
Relay, campuswide. Currently,
more than 70 of NJIT's faculty and
staff are using the system, and over
1,000 students are accessing the lectures
on-demand. Additionally, students
will be using Camtasia Relay to capture
their classroom presentations.
WEB VISITORS can 'tour' Harrisburg's new Academic
Center and 'interview' virtual students, faculty, and staff.
INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL TOUR.
Harrisburg University of Science and
Technology (PA) has unveiled a virtual
tour of its 16-story, $73 million Academic
Center.
Based on "Synthetic Interview" technology
developed by Carnegie Mellon
University (PA), the tour allows users
to travel throughout the structure and
"speak" virtually with faculty, staff, and
students. A person can ask any question
about the building, and the system
searches all possible questions in its
database for the best match, then plays a
pre-recorded answer. Harrisburg is the
first higher ed institution in the
country to use the Synthetic Interview
technology in an online campus
tour, and plans to expand on the
tour to showcase more of the university's
unique features to the public.
XAVIER U is using online videos to provide financial aid
info to students, parents, and guidance counselors.
VIDEO AID. Xavier University (OH) has created a series of online
videos, delivered by the Office of
Financial Aid as an introduction to
aid for students, parents, and guidance
counselors. The webisodes aim
to help prospective students understand
the financial aid process and
resources available to them in today's
difficult economy. The videos have been
posted here, as well as on Xavier's YouTube channel and Facebook profile.
OPEN MUSIC LIBRARY. Indiana
University has announced the release
of Variations, open source digital music
library software that enables institutions
to digitize audio and scores from
their own collections, provide those
materials to students and faculty in an
interactive online environment, and
respect intellectual property
rights. Key features of the system:
the ability to create bookmarks
and playlists for use in
studying or in preparing classroom
presentations, allowing easy
access to specific audio time
points or segments; and a flexible
access control and authentication
system, which allows libraries to
set up access rules based on their
own institutional policies.
SELF-SERVICE
SCHEDULING. The University
of Chicago has licensed Starfish
Connect educational support networking
software from Starfish
Retention Solutions, to streamline collaboration
between students and
faculty. Accessible via the institution's
Blackboard course management system, Starfish
Connect offers students self-service
scheduling of appointments with
instructors, advisers, counselors, and
other support services. To encourage
students to utilize the services available,
the system displays endorsements
from other students who have benefited
from the campus services. The
system also generates performance
data such as resource utilization, helping
the university optimize future
service offerings. Read more here.
GREEN GIVEAWAY. Mac terminal server enterprise
software company Aqua
Connect and thin client and network
appliance vendor
Bosanova have
announced a green campaign giveaway
valued at more than $17,000. Together,
the companies will be donating a
Mac terminal services thin-client lab
to a winning educational institution,
including licenses and maintenance
for the Aqua Connect Terminal Server
and Bosanova thin clients. The package
delivers green virtualized desktops
to Mac users. Entries can be submitted
here until May
31, 2009.
COMMUNITY COLLEGES
GROWING. Community college
enrollments are way up, budgets are
down, mid-year budget cuts are common,
and online courses and programs
are growing, according to a recent
national survey of 120 community college
presidents and district chancellors, conducted
by the League for Innovation in the
Community College and The Campus Computing Project, in partnership
with Pearson. Despite the economic downturn,
92 percent of respondents reported
that headcount enrollment on their
campuses has increased, compared to
one year ago. Forty percent of respondents
reported that online course
enrollments have increased by 5 to 10
percent, and another 31 percent reported
a gain of 10 percent or more in the
number of students enrolled in online
courses (compared to winter 2008).
DELAWARE VALLEY'S portal provides access to the
school's LMS, calendars, e-mail, chat, and more.
ON-DEMAND PORTAL. Delaware
Valley College (PA) has adopted
CampusCruiser from Timecruiser
Computing to
support online learning at the institution.
The on-demand solution will provide
a single entry point to college's
Blackboard learning management system,
and will connect users to integrated
calendars, e-mail, chat, blogs, and
message boards. It also will provide a
mechanism for users to send and
receive campus announcements; collaborate
online within communities,
clubs, and organizations; share content
and collaborate on projects; and conduct
polls and surveys. Read more here.
MOBILE APP CONTEST. AT&T has announced its second
annual Big Mobile on Campus
Challenge, a national higher education
contest for mobile application development.
The contest recognizes innovative
and creative mobile applications
that enhance academic performance,
build campus community, and help
improve campus operations. The Big
Mobile on Campus Challenge is
open to all full-time students and
full- or part-time staff (individuals or
up to four-person teams) at higher
education institutions in the continental
US. AT&T is accepting applications
in three categories: mobile
learning, mobile identity, and student
system integration. The winner (or
winning team) will receive $10,000;
two runners-up will receive $5,000
and a mobile device of choice for
each entrant. Deadline: Sept. 30, 2009.
See here for
contest details.
:: PEOPLE
CHANGES AT UMASSONLINE. After more than five years as CEO of
UMassOnline, David Gray has been promoted to the position of senior
VP for administration, finance, and technology at the University of
Massachusetts. Mark Schlesinger has been named
interim CEO of UMassOnline; he comes to the
new role from a four-year period as associate VP
of academic affairs, student affairs, and international
relations at the University of Massachusetts'
President's Office. A 16-person National
Search Committee has been formed to identify
and name a full-time CEO for UMassOnline.
NEW AACC BOARD MEMBER. Curtis Ivery, chancellor of Wayne
County Community College District (MI), has been elected to the
American Association of Community Colleges board of directors. As a board member, he will help promote community
colleges as the premier workforce development providers in the
US, and work to influence government and corporate funding policies
to support community colleges in taking on that responsibility.
TO INTERNET2 BOARD. Advanced networking consortium Internet2 has announced the election of four members to
its board of trustees: Michael McRobbie, president, Indiana University;
Mary Sue Coleman, president, University of Michigan; William Kirwan,
chancellor, University System of Maryland; and Cisco Systems technologist Stephen Wolff.