News 03-14-2003
Sponsor: Ektron
Are you challenged to effectively manage your Waeb content within a constrained
budget? Ektron offers FREE consultations, 30 day trials, and a unique component-based
approach to ensure lowest-cost-of-ownership. Discover why Duke, Vanguard and
others have chosen Ektron solutions.
Learn how we can help: http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=638
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=638
Alliance to Promote Community College IT Training
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), Bellevue Community College's
National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET), and Microsoft Corp.
have formed an alliance to create the Working Connections IT Faculty Development
Institute, which will provide advanced professional development training at
10 regional institutes involving 400 colleges by this summer. AACC president
George Boggs said the current budgetary crises within the states made the timing
of this new faculty development initiative important. "At a time when higher
education dollars are being slashed and some colleges are having to cut programs
or faculty, it is essential that new ways to support faculty development be
advanced," he said. Over a four-year cycle, the Working Connections IT Faculty
Development Institutes are designed to reach 90 percent of all IT faculty in
community and technical colleges.
Sponsor: Syllabus
eLearning Systems: How do you differentiate between products? Join the Syllabus
online community and discuss key issues with your peers in the Syllabus Forums
at www.syllabus.com/forum.
A variety of topics are posted, from eLearning Systems to Faculty Development.
Sharon Gray, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD,leads a forum on how prospective
users can differentiate between eLearning products and decide which best fits
their needs. Check out the responses, weigh in with your thoughts and experiences,
and learn from your colleagues.
http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=673
MIT's Deshpande Center Makes Tech Innovation Grants
MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation issued its first round
of grants in 2003 to MIT faculty in the school of engineering. The awards support
a wide range of emerging technologies, including tiny technology, information
technology, and alternative energy/innovations. The Deshpande Center is part
of the MIT School of Engineering and was created to serve as a catalyst for
innovation and entrepreneurship by supporting the research of MIT faculty and
students. The funded projects involved work in nanocrystal memory devices, digital
photography and video, a slow-down warning system for highways, image analysis
for digital cameras, and computer animation.
For more information visit: http://web.mit.edu/deshpandecenter
eCollege, Houghton Mifflin Strike Content Sharing Accord
Course management system developer eCollege formed a partnership with publisher
Houghton Mifflin Inc. to provide eCollege's customers access to Houghton Mifflin's
online supplements for introductory courses in business, humanities, mathematics,
science, social science, student success, and world languages. The titles will
be available via the eCollege AU+ course management system, and will enable
faculty to use the platform’s self-authoring and course development tools to
improve their online courses. "It's important that faculty members have access
to the kind of resources they need to best engage and challenge their students,
and we believe the Houghton Mifflin content can ideally support them in this
effort," said Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege.
SCT Sheds Last Non-Education Market Business Unit
Course management system developer SCT announced it had shed all of its non-education
market businesses. The company sold its energy and utilities business to Indus
International Inc. for $37.8 million. The divestiture follows the sale of two
other SCT businesses that served the manufacturing and local government markets,
and allows the company to focus solely on the higher education technology market.
Over the past year, SCT has acquired several companies to broaden its higher-ed
technology offerings. Those include Campus Pipeline Inc., Applied Business Technologies,
and the student information systems business from Sallie Mae. SCT chief Mike
Chamberlain said, "finalizing the sale of our energy and utilities business
was the last step in SCT's evolution to focus solely on serving the technology
needs of higher education."
New Deals, Awards, Contracts in Higher Education
DESIGN TOOLS—Ferris State University, which calls itself the largest engineering
technology school in the United States, is incorporating Autodesk Inventor Series,
a 2-D and 3-D software package that combines Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk
Mechanical Desktop software. Freshman and sophomore students, who had previously
only used Autodesk Mechanical Desktop software for 2-D drafting and an introduction
to 3-D design concepts, are now using Autodesk Inventor software to further
their skills.
LEARNING SYSTEMS—Syracuse University has adopted Blackboard Learning System
for campuswide use in supporting face-to-face classes. This spring, in the final
phase of a pilot program before going to the enterprise, Syracuse has 100 faculty
teaching 153 courses to more than 3,000 students using Blackboard. The school
said it is making the move because of Blackboard’s ability to scale from 3,000
to 18,000 users, as well as its support of open standards and its ability to
integrate with its PeopleSoft student information system.