News 11-06-2001
Featured Sessions at Upcoming Syllabus fall2001
Featured sessions at Syllabus fall2001 are designed to appeal to a broad audience.
We're excited to present two keynoters who are true movers in education technology
with exceptional track records in IT on campus.
Carl Berger, of the University of Michigan, will examine the next "killer
app" in higher education, and Kathy Christoph, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
will talk about the transformation of teaching and learning with technology-on
your campus.
A featured panel, moderated by MIT's Phil Long, will consider what Open Source
means for higher education. And the TLT Group's Steve Gilbert will offer a featured
track covering several facets of the digital realm in higher education. The
conference will be held at the Sheraton Ferncroft in Danvers, Mass. November
29-December 2. Register online at <http://www.syllabus.com>.
Educause Awarded Management of Dot Edu Domain
The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) awarded a five-year contract to the non-profit Educause organization
to manage the .edu Internet domain name for the higher education community.
Under the agreement, first reached last April, Educause will protect the reliability
and integrity of the .edu domain for colleges and universities. A key piece
of the agreement would make U.S. community colleges eligible for .edu domain
names for their Internet addresses. Previously, only four-year colleges and
universities were eligible for the distinctive .edu tag. Educause will accept
applications for new registrations during a 60-day "sunrise" period
when newly eligible institutions can apply for an .edu name without the rush
of a first-come, first-served process.
For more information, visit: <http://www.educause.edu/edudomain>
U. Minnesota Moves to IP-Based Voice System
The University of Minnesota is finishing the first phase of what is expected
to be the largest geographically distributed IP-based voice architecture in
the U.S. When finished, the system, which is being provided by Dallas, Texas-based
Intecom, Inc., will include the school's Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses and
consist of six IP nodes, connect more than 210 buildings, and offer 40,000 lines
for students and faculty. The company's PointSpan system is designed so that
each of the six nodes can operate independently if a network outage occurs.
The IP-based architecture also means that change orders can be programmed easily,
via a single database.
Austrian University to Offer Degree in Wearable Computing
The Graz University of Technology (TUG) said it plans to offer the first undergraduate,
graduate and post-graduate degree programs for wearable computing and related
technologies. The degree programs, which will be offered in the Electrical Engineering
department, are being supported by Fairfax, Va.-based Xybernaut Corp., a provider
of wearable and mobile computing technology. The programs will include courses
in computation, communications, signal and video processing, project and change
management and man-machine interface, as well as its traditional core courses
in math, physics and electronics. The Graz University of Technology in Graz,
Austria, was founded in 1811, and was the first university to confer a degree
of doctor of technical sciences in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1901.
For more information, visit: <http://www.iti.tu-graz.ac.at>
or <http://www.xybernaut.com>.
UCLA Med Explores Telemedicine Surgical Training
UCLA's School of Medicine and Computer Motion, Inc., a developer of surgical
robotic systems, will collaborate to combine surgical robotic systems with telemedicine
to allow surgeons to guide surgeons in-training through complex surgical procedures.
"This could be the world's first tele-collaborative surgical system,"
said Dr. E. Carmack Holmes, chairman of the department of surgery at UCLA. "We
hope to develop a program that mimics a flight simulator to help train future
surgeons." The work is being supported by a $2 million research grant from
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Technology
Program. In September, doctors using the system performed the world's first
transatlantic telesurgery when a surgeon operating from a console in New York
removed the gallbladder of a patient in France.
For more information, visit: <http://www.computermotion.com>.
WVU to Deliver IT Courses Via Videoconference
West Virginia University at Parkersburg will deliver associate degree courses
in computer and information technology via teleconferencing to WVU in Morgantown
in January. The project, funded by a $85,000 grant from phone giant Verizon,
will enable the Parkersburg campus to transmit courses to WVU's Center for Information
Technology Workforce Development in Morgantown and other locations in the state.
WVU Parkersburg will also provide access to training for IT certifications.
"This grant will allow us to extend our capacity to deliver courses and
programs as well as certification training beyond the traditional classroom,"
said Joseph Badgley, WVU Parkersburg dean of academic affairs. "In effect,
we will be able to deliver to the most rural areas of West Virginia -- anywhere
where people want IT skills and training."
Texas A&M Signs Security Research Partnership
Texas A&M University has partnered with a security technology company to
explore new approaches to securing Internet transactions and netork data storage.
The research will be focused on the technology of "process-based security"
developed by Systems Advisory Group Enterprises (SAGE), Inc. With process-based
security, access to computer resources is based on the process running, irrespective
of the user. Under traditional security models, the operating system checks
to see if the program user has right to access a particular resource. It may
then grant access to resources outside of their intended use. Dr. Steve Liu,
an associate professor of computer science at the university, will direct the
research.
For more information, visit: <http://www.sage-inc.com>.
Sun, Campus Pipeline Announce Joint Strategy
Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Campus Pipeline, Inc., a provider of web-based enterprise
software for higher education, announced an alliance to jointly market products
and services to the higher education market. Under the deal, the two companies
will jointly market the Campus Pipeline Web Platform and Luminis product family;
back the Sun One open standards architecture for higher education; and apply
Sun's iPlanet product suite as a communications platform for Campus Pipeline's
web integration products. John Lawson, chief information officer of Pepperdine
University, said "dedication to open standards" as represented by
the deal, "recognize(s) our complex integration needs and give us flexibility
in choosing the technologies that work best for our unique environments."
For more information, visit: <http://www.sun.com/edu>
or <http://www.campuspipeline.com>.
HP Inaugurates Campus Notebook PC Program
Hewlett-Packard last week launched a program to provide college students with
notebook PCs and service support. The HP Campus Advantage program includes consultation,
notebook PCs, call center support, and leasing and financing options. Kevin
Learned, president of Albertson College of Idaho, which teamed with HP to offer
a similar program this fall, said such technology investments are increasingly
an important factor in students choice of school. "The ability for students
to have instant access to the tools and information they need ... is a very
appealing prospect," he said. HP said it will also be inviting schools
to participate in the Annual Laptop Symposium on January 11th at Villanova University
in Pennsylvania. The symposium helps schools drive creative uses for their technology.
For more information, visit: <http://www.hp.com/go/campusadvantage>.
Blackboard Announces e-Education Suite
Blackboard Inc. last week announced a series of product packaging enhancements
that will unify its three electronic education platforms under a single suite
of products. Customers can now choose between complete or independent licensing
of the three primary packages: the Blackboard 5 Learning System, the Blackboard
5 Community Portal System, and the Blackboard Transaction System. In explaining
the announcement, Eduventures research group director Adam Newman said, "much
as the administrative systems market moved from separate providers of human
resource, finance and student records systems into a common suite, we see the
e-Education segment of the higher educations technology market converging into
suites as well. By taking a suite approach, Blackboard is helping to define
the emerging paradigm for deploying Web services that touch the daily student
experience, such as Web course environments, community portals, and online commerce."
For more information, visit: <http://www.blackboard.com>.
Don't Miss This Event from 101communications
Syllabus fall2001 "Next Steps: Moving Forward with Campus IT"
November 29-December 2
Danvers, MA
Online registration available: <http://www.syllabus.com>
