What's Happening In Technology Sectors
:: NEWS
CLICKER STANDARDIZATION. This fall, California State University- Long Beach is rolling out iClicker as its preferred student response system. Student response systems, or clickers, were already a popular teaching tool at Cal State Long Beach, and the initial demand for clicker standardization arose from students, who found themselves required to buy multiple devices for different courses. Cost, reliability, ease of use, and accessibility were primary criteria in the decision to standardize on the iClicker devices. Read more here.
CASE WESTERN'S Frank O. Gehry-designed Peter B. Lewis Building is one of three campus facilities piloting Cisco’s smart building networking technology.
SMART AND GREEN. Case Western Reserve University (OH) is piloting smart building technology from Cisco Systems in three campus buildings. The advanced networking solution allows all building systems, from access control to heating and ventilation, to be delivered over a single, converged, centrally managed IP network. By utilizing the technology to monitor building operations in real time, Case Western will reduce energy costs and carbon emissions in its classroom, research, and residence hall facilities.
IU FACULTY will experiment with integrating BlackBerry use into their pedagogy.
IU GOES MOBILE. Last month, Indiana University launched a twoyear pilot agreement with AT&T to deploy BlackBerry smart phones at the university's Kelley School of Business-- the first such agreement between the company and a university. To help faculty and students stay on top of academics and campus life while on the go, the BlackBerrys utilize IU's Microsoft Exchange e-mail and calendaring environment, as well as the school's existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server. IU and the BlackBerry Professional Services team will also create an application for the smart phone to allow integration with mobile enterprise systems. Faculty will experiment with integrating BlackBerry use into their pedagogy, and students will gain experience using the devices to manage their future business activities and mobile lives. Participating faculty and students are eligible for special pricing as part of AT&T's University Advantage Program.
MANAGING IT PROJECTS. In an effort to facilitate project management across its central IT organization, Carnegie Mellon University (PA) has deployed the Team-DynamixHE webbased project and portfolio management solution. TeamDynamixHE will enable IT administrators to manage projects, analyze project performance, and communicate easily with project team members. The solution's web-based dashboards provide a graphical display of current tasks and projects, as well as a means for team members to collaborate and securely share information. The system also can provide risk analysis and scorecard rankings to help improve project prioritization and visibility.
JOINT OPEN SOURCE EFFORT. Fedora Commons and the DSpace Foundation, two of the largest providers of open source software for managing and providing access to digital content, are joining their organizations. The combined organization, named DuraSpace, will sustain and grow its flagship repository platforms, Fedora and DSpace, as well as expand its offerings. A new DuraCloud hosted service, available for select pilot partners this fall, takes advantage of the efficiencies of cloud storage and cloud computing, and creates shared spaces for access and reuse of digital content.
ANALYZING DATA TO IMPROVE RETENTION. Western Kentucky University is using software from business analytics vendor SAS to help attract, retain, and graduate students. SAS and WKU are building a model that applies predictive analysis to identify trends and opportunities to increase enrollment, as well as determine why certain programs have low or high completion rates and identify student success pathways. Web-based reporting tools will enable WKU to provide academic decision-makers with critical data on enrollment, admissions, transfer students, academic offerings, student life, annual expenses, financial aid, faculty data, and degrees conferred.
HIGH-PERFORMANCE NETWORK. At Quinnipiac University (CT), tremendous growth in video use and other networked applications has led to an exponential increase in network traffic. To meet the demand for a high-availability network, the university is deploying 3Com's H3C core-to-core enterprise data networking solutions across three campuses, serving about 8,000 students, faculty, and staff. The network and its applications resources will be managed by one of 3Com's newest offerings, the H3C Intelligent Management Center, and secured using 3Com's Tipping- Point Intrusion Prevention System.
PORTAL IN THE CLOUD. The University of Arizona has selected CampusEAI Consortium's Enterprise myCampus, a software-as-a-service Web 2.0 campus portal solution, to provide students, faculty, and staff with access to their academic and social information all in one place. The university's myCampus portal features single sign-on integration with systems such as PeopleSoft, Kuali, and Desire2Learn; ERP integration for class schedules, grades, transcripts, and other info; targeted alerts to notify users of campus announcements; Web 2.0 tools including blogs, wikis, and profile pages; and IPTV, an ondemand video player. The portal is hosted on the CampusEAI Consortium Cloud, a 24x7x365 high-performance computer cluster, to reduce the utilization of the university's technical resources and ensure high availability, stability, and security.
OUTFITTING CLASSROOMS WITH HD. The Phoenix College campus of Arizona's Maricopa Community Colleges is installing Hitachi projectors in approximately 130 classrooms campuswide. For 50 of those rooms, Phoenix has selected the company's CP-WX625 3LCD projector, an HD model designed for use with widescreen-format laptops and imaging applications that use 16:10 aspect ratios. The CP-WX625 sports an HDMI terminal, allowing digital signals from DVD players/recorders and other HD sources to be transmitted digitally to the projector. Technologists turned to HD to enhance learning on campus: "Learning is a visual experience; higher-grade projectors and clear images provide a more immersive learning experience," asserts Mike Poplin, director of media services at the college.
:: PEOPLE
TO SMARTHINKING. Katherine Clark has joined online tutoring and academic support company Smarthinking as CEO. Clark was previously co-founder of Landmark Systems Corporation.
NEW BRADFORD CEO. Bradford Networks has promoted President and COO Gregg Bjork to serve as the company's CEO. Bjork succeeds Mike Gadoury, a Bradford founder who has been CEO since the company's inception. Gadoury will continue with the company in a leadership role focused on product strategy.
EPSILEN CHIEF EXEC. eLearning company Epsilen has announced the appointment of Jim Bowler as CEO. Bowler joined the company in January as an executive consultant, and previously served as CEO and president of two online professional development and data management companies, Classroom Connect and Harcourt Connected Learning.
CTO AT SUNGARD HE. SunGard Higher Education has named Darren Wesemann as chief technology officer. Wesemann previously served as president of SunGard's Infinity business unit within SunGard Financial Systems.
IU VP. Marie Kerbeshian has been named vice president for technology commercialization at the Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation. Kerbeshian assumes the post after serving as interim executive director and CEO of the University of Virginia Patent Foundation.