News 01-22-2002
Stanford to Develop Online Courselets for Grad Studies
The Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD), working with its School
of Engineering faculty, said it would develop a portfolio of online "courselets"
-- self-contained sets of Web-based learning materials and tools -- to support
online graduate courses in engineering, science, and engineering management.
The two-year project will be supported by a $400,000 grant from the Alfred P.
Sloan Foundation, with additional resources from Stanford University. Each courselet
will cover a specifically targeted "chunk" of material supporting
an existing course, material that would consume one to three hours of learner
time. Courselets will include self-assessment tools and will be indexed, guiding
students to study only areas they need. Jim Plummer, dean of the School of Engineering,
called the project "one that can equally benefit all engineering and science
students, regardless of location."
For more information, visit: <http://courselets.stanford.edu>.
University Group to Drive Signal Processing Tech
Texas Instruments announced last week a three-year, $3 million donation to
Georgia Tech, MIT and Rice University in Houston to bolster research in digital
signal processing, the technology underlying applications ranging from face
recognition to wireless video transmission. Rice University engineering school
dean Sidney Burrus said the money would help a research group looking into a
seamless protocol so that computer users can retain consistent network connections
while roaming from various locations. Another group is working on providing
enhanced multimedia services for wireless networks. Al Oppenheim, a professor
of engineering at MIT, called the program "a perfect example of how collaborative
relationships between universities and public companies should work."
For more information, visit: <http://www.ti.com/sc/university>.
Campus Pipeline Unveils Web Upgrade, Six Products
Education software developer Campus Pipeline Inc. unveiled an upgrade of its
Web Platform and six new products designed to extend the platform's capabilities
across the campus enterprise and to give users greater ability to customize.
The Web Platform 3.1 integrates on a central network campus applications including
student information systems, learning management systems, academic resources
and campus news. The new products provide handheld-device access, personalized
content delivery, and portal-building tools for groups, classes, and campus
organizations. The new version also includes a new Course Portal feature for
easier access to course tools, and portal content, directory, and messaging
server upgrades.
For more information, visit: <http://www.campuspipeline.com>.
Schools Broadcast Sports to Student, Alumni Desktops
The University of Oklahoma, Iowa State University and Texas Tech University
have begun webcasting a subscription-based video and audio sports programming
to the desktop PCs of fans, students, and alumni.
The weekly sports and campus-news
broadcasts are sent via a web video-streaming technique by CABC Inc., a Dallas-based
digital-media company. CABC said it establishes the online channel and handles
production costs until the subscriber base reaches critical mass. Thereafter,
the universities and CABC share costs and revenue. Steve Uryasz, associate athletic
director with Texas Tech, said the technology allows the school to send "...
high-quality broadcasts to fans at their desktops, and it's another way to raise
money for athletics."
For more information, visit: <http://www.cabcconnection.com/cabcdemos>.
Alabama to Develop Online Health Training Courses
The University of Alabama will partner with a developer of web learning programs
for environmental, safety and health (ES&H) professionals to produce online
continuing education courses. The company, GoTrain Inc., develops compliance-based
e-learning programs that address standards mandated by the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and
the Department of Transportation (DOT). The university's academic expertise
and educational ties to industry and government will be integrated with GoTrain's
instructional design, technology expertise, and market reach in "hardhat
and safety glass" industries to target the training needs of ES&H professionals
throughout North America.
Other Deals, Contracts, Awards, in Higher Education
Washington University Medical School/Cognos/Practice Diagnostic Systems.
Washington University School of Medicine has purchased Cognos Inc.'s data warehouse
technology and Practice Diagnostic System Inc.'s executive information system
to give its employees the ability to access and analyze critical financial and
productivity data at the school. The data is used to identify problems and trends
in billing, accounts receivable, marketing, and provider productivity. Cognos
and PDS deployed Cognos Impromptu and PowerPlay to employees in all 14 clinical
departments.
University of Michigan B-School/Fry Multimedia.
The University of Michigan Business School has picked Fry Multimedia to redesign
and reengineer its web site. The site will include customized sections for the
school's various constituencies, including current students, prospective students,
alumni, faculty and staff, recruiters and corporate supporters.
Leeds University/Interactive Intelligence.
Universatile Net Centres Limited, an job contact center based at Leeds University
in the U.K., has deployed interaction management software by Interactive Intelligence.
The software, called Customer Interaction Center (CIC), is designed to increase
sales productivity and improve customer service. UNCL uses CIC's PBX, automatic
call distribution, interactive voice response, unified messaging, reporting
and recording capabilities. The software supports more than 35 sales agents,
who are also university students, part of the university's plan to offer students
additional on-campus jobs while taking advantage of a relatively inexpensive
labor pool.
College of Notre Dame of Maryland/Datatel.
The College of Notre Dame of Maryland has picked Colleague, an enterprise
information management application for higher education from Datatel Inc., to
manage its administrative requirements. Colleague contains 35 integrated modules
to help plan, manage, and analyze university business processes. The College
of Notre Dame will replace its existing QuoData and PowerFaids software with
Colleague's Student, Finance, and Human Resource Management modules, as well
as Datatel's WebAdvisor.
