News 10-23-2001
NASBE: Education Leaders Must Act on Ed Tech
In a report issued last week, the National Association of State Boards of Education
(NASBE) said an ad hoc education technology system is developing that threated
to deepen existing education disparaties. The report called on education leaders
to undertake wholesale revisions of learning standards, to bring assessments
on-line, and to ensure equity and access for all students in order to ensure
expansion of instructional technologies. The report, titled "Any Time,
Any Place, Any Path, Any Pace: Taking the Lead on e-Learning Policy," noted
that while the estimated $7 billion is spent each year on e-learning has resulted
in successful "islands of innovation," quality varies widely, and
poor and minority students are under-served -- if they have any access at all.
For more information, visit: http://www.nasbe.org
Wake Forest, Virginia Tech Establish Joint Biomed School
Wake Forest University and Virginia Tech announced plans last week to establish
a joint School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. The joint venture will
benefit both schools, administrators said: Wake Forest has long sought an engineering
program, while Virginia Tech would gain access to a medical school. Students
would be in residence at one or the other university, but courses taught at
one campus would be offered on the other via distance learning. Wake Forest
president Thomas Hearn said the new school would also help in the transformation
of Winston-Salem's economy.
For more information, visit: http://www.wfu.edu
or www.vt.edu.
UC San Diego Lauds Tech Innovators
UCSD Connect, a University of San Diego program to spur technology innovation
and businesss development in the San Diego area, last week announced finalists
for an award program it sponsors to identify innovative new products and technologies.
The finalists range from general technology-based applications to products that
integrate wireless and data networking. Among them are: Path 1 Network Technologies
Inc., which enables broadcast-quality video to flow over the Internet; and Zucotto
Wireless Inc., which makes a kit for creating wireless Java applications for
mobile devices. Fred Cutler, executive director of UCSD Connect, said this year's
finalists reflect "a growing trend of convergence" in the areas of
telecommunications, IT and life sciences.
For more information, visit: http://www.connect.org.
ACM Sponsors College Programming Contest
To help spur the next generation of information technology talent, the Association
of Computing Machinery is sponsoring a contest to gather more than 14,000 college
programmers around the world for a "battle of the brains" in computer
programming. The 26th annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest,
sponsored by IBM, will pit students against one another in a five-hour contest
to solve problems in old and new programming languages, including C, C++, Java,
and Pascal. The contest, started five years ago, has grown from 3,750 students
competing in 1997 to 14,000 this year. Regional contests now taking place around
will draw 2,800 teams from 70 countries during preliminary rounds. Sixty-four
teams will be chosen to compete at the 2002 World Finals, to be held March 20-24
in Honolulu, Hawaii.
For more information, visit: http://icpc.baylor.edu/icpc.
Cal Poly University Launches Educational Web Site
California Polytechnic State University has teamed up with a Singapore-based
electronics manufacturing services provider to launch a web site devoted to
the manufacturing arts and sciences, including design, prototyping, and automated
manufacturing systems. Cal Poly will sponsor the site with Flextronics Inc.,
a $12 billion company that provides operational services to manufacturers. The
site is an outgrowth of the school's focus in electronics manufacturing and
its policy of active collaboration with industry, said Mark Cooper, a manfacturing
engineering professor at the school. He said such companies had added four manufacturing
labs, a state-of the-art surface mount assembly facility, and a web site to
its curriculum.
For more information, visit: http://www.flextech101.com.
San Jose State to Offer Net Security Certification
San Jose State University has teamed up with an Internet security services
firm to offer students network certification in several popular security technologies.
VPN Dynamics, which provides services for virtual private networks, firewalls,
and penetration testing, is an authorized training center for Check Point Software
Technologies and Nokia. Together with SJSU, it will offer students courses leadiing
to certification as a Check Point Certified Security Administrator, Check Point
Certified Security Engineer, and for Nokia Internet Security Solutions.
For more information, visit: http://www.vpndynamics.com.
Suffolk U. Builds Boston Broadband Network
Boston-based Suffolk University has built a new campus-wide broadband network
spanning 14 buildings throughout the historic Beacon Hill district. The network
will support video-based learning, high-speed Internet access, and distance
learning applications. The network uses switching technology from San Jose,
Calif.-based Extreme Networks. School administrators said the network will provide
continuous secure services to every lecture hall, student house, cafeteria,
and lounge area on campus. Suffolk CIO Paul Ladd said the new network would
help the school "further guarantee our students an education that rivals
any in the country."
For more information, visit: http://www.suffolk.edu.
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