Architecture for the Transparent University

Terry Calhoun, Commentator
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
University of Michigan

This week, we offer a guest opinion from G. Randolph Mayes, from Cal State-Sacramento. After our recent visit, during this summer's Syllabus conference, to leading-edge technology classrooms at Stanford, it is a lot easier to understand what Mayes is getting at when he talks about the "transparent university," meaning that when everything is digital, access can be wide open which has its pros and cons. Don't think for a moment though that Mayes is advocating on behalf of "big brother" legislators like Jack Hoogendyk (R-Kalamazoo), who has a list of 60 college courses in Michigan he thinks the legislature might want to ban.

We think that Mayes has folks like Hoogendyk in mind when he cautions that "[t]he university is not a place for children, and it is not a place for hypersensitive adults who lack a fundamental grasp of academic freedom, and the reality of learning at an American institution of higher education." Not only d'es Mayes make some good points about the value of educational transparency but, as he notes, in many ways such transparency is happening inevitably as the result of the application of information technologies...
Read more

Higher Education Hardest Hit by Sobig.F Virus

The timing couldn't have been worse - with students coming on campus in less than two weeks. The higher education community got hit hard by the worm-following Sobig.F virus. While the consequences have not been disastrous, staff resources, already stretched because of budget constraints, were hammered. (Chronicle of Higher Education)...
Read more [Access provided courtesy of The Chronicle]

Global Geeks Getting Free Education from MIT

Next month, MIT officially launches OpenCourseWare, starting with courses on nuclear engineering and political science. Lectures, handouts, and quizzes all online, for free. Evidence shows that geek-types from around the world are lining up to take advantage. (Wired)...
Read more

Fiscal Crisis Pushes Faculty Late Adopters Online

Apparently the current economic situation is motivating more faculty to go line. One Michigan State University economics professor says his online syllabus saved the institution $1,200 in copying costs. (State News Service)...
Read more

Microsoft: Big Manipulator on Campus?

Microsoft has spent half a billion dollars in five years on research and teaching projects at 1,000 schools. So where d'es the company? largesse on college campuses end and influence peddling begin. (The Washington Post)...
Read more

Washington State Adds Event Authorization to Cards

New technology, costing about $300,000, will reduce student sharing of tickets to major sporting events at Washington State University, Pullman. Instead of tickets, students' identification cards will be tagged for access to events. (The Daily Evergreen)...

Read more

Laptops: Three Months of Groceries, Plus Your Rent?

Clemson University provost Doris Helms says that as a percentage of total college expenses," a laptop costs today's student about as much as an engineering student paid for a slide rule in the 1950s. But students still see it as a big, necessary expense. (The Greenville S.C. News)...
Read more

Degrees in Our Future: Bachelors of Identification

A center at West Virginia University says it is the only U.S. higher education institution offering a degree in biometrics. (worldandicollege.com)...
Read more

New Mexico State Installs Emergency Alert System

New Mexico State has turned on an emergency phone alert system, which is designed to be used in situations such as hazardous materials spills or severe weather. In an emergency, it dials all phone lines in the NMSU system automatically...
Read more

Michigan Virtual University Technology Source

"The Technology Source" is a peer-reviewed bimonthly periodical published by Michigan Virtual University designed to provide articles that will assist educators integrate technology into teaching and managing....
Learn more

EDU Tools

A site was built to assist higher education in rational decision-making in reviewing options for course management systems. The site reviews each product by researching and describing more than 40 product features. The site also guides users through a number of processes to consider all the aspects of a course management system. . .
Learn more

UCI Engineering Prof Funded for Broadband Research

Professor Michael Green, associate chair of the department of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Irvine, was awarded a $270,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop new ways of optimizing the performance of existing broadband networking technologies based on CMOS circuit design...
Learn more

Case Western, Motion Computing Form Tech Partnership

Case Western Reserve University and Tablet PC maker Motion Computing have agreed to a four-year partnership in which Motion will collaborate on research, development and testing with the university. The agreement also enables Motion Computing to sell its M1300 Tablet PC and accessories to the university's students, faculty and staff.
Learn more