IT Trends for Thursday, June 3, 2004

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Thursday, June 03, 2004

In This Issue

OPINION

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

Let’s Build More “Learning” into Even Basic IT Tools

In the past year, I’ve become a big fan and user of what University of Michigan members of the Sakai Project called WorkTools, which then became Course Tools the Next Generation (CTNG), and now is CTools. For those of you who have not experienced the nifty tools that are coming out of that project, I find it easiest to explain to people that it is “sort of like Yahoo! Groups, but without the ads.”

Lately, I’ve been wondering if maybe that tool and some of our other IT tools on campus shouldn’t have more advertisements built into them. By “advertisements” I mean “ads” that could provide regular learning experiences for users in how to become better, more efficient, and safer users. Not something like “This e-mail communication has been brought to you by the Diet Cola Company of America” inserted as a footer in each message your e-mail server transmits or receives. Well, I do mean the “inserted as a footer” (or header) part, but my suggested “educational messages” would read something like, “If you think you detect a security or privacy breach in University of XYZ online data, notify [email protected], and do not tell anyone else.”
Read more


IT NEWS

New Warning Pop-Up Alarms Towson U. Students About E-Mail Monitoring

It's not a new policy, or even a new implementation of old policy. But the pop-up window that Towson uses to let students know their e-mail is monitored is definitely catching their attention.
Read more

Everything IT Students Need To Know

A Web committee at U. Tennessee-Chattanooga is working to make IT information and problem-resolution more available to students, and easier to find. And maybe it'll help keep IT staff from having to answer generic university-type questions.
Read more

The IT Staffer as Hero!

The University of Seattle technology crew is praised for its dedication to customer service and its hard work. "To outsiders they are her'es - solving technology problems at the drop of a hat anywhere on campus under any pressure."
Read more

For Some, the Blogging Never Stops

In vacation on the beach at Key West, even in the bathroom, some bloggers never stop blogging. The case in point for this article is a senior IT staffer at Michigan State University. Do you know him? Do you read his blog?
Read more

India Has Big Plans for a Network of Internet2-Like Gateways

The Virtual Learning Campus (VLC)-India Mission is planning a network of regional broadband clusters of colleges and schools with close-knit, high-speed networks, using satellites and a physical backbone.
Read more

The Tablet: Big Machine on Campus?

Tablets haven't quite taken off yet. Microsoft and other companies seem to be gearing up for large-scale inexpensive or free campus giveaways (425 at U. Virginia alone), in the hope of attracting attention and users. But, the usual problems remain - among those, faculty who want to ban communications devices from classrooms.
Read more

Social Networking G'es Mobile at UCLA

SmallPlanet's CrowdSurfer technology, running on Nokia 6600 and 6230 phones, uses Bluetooth radio signals to find "friends" up to 100 feet away. Relationship information is made available via GPRS connections to the SmallPlanet.net Web site. Students meet new people with who they had previously, unknown to themselves, share come common bond.
Read more

Presbyterian College Addresses the Unique Situation of Higher Ed IT

"At most places of business, the hardware and software systems offered to an employee are already agreed upon by the IT department. Here, we have no control over what systems, devices or applications are brought into the network. It's a unique situation."
Read more

Techie Dreams or Student Nightmares?

Technology fees, what are they good for? Budget cuts exacerbate a situation at Middle Tennessee State University. Some students complain that IT staffers live in a parallel reality that has nothing to with staffers. Some faculty complained that the university's technology plan has skewed priorities.
Read more

Portland State University Web Site Redesign Is More Than That

With a miserly redesign budget of only $7K, the redesign is intended to be everyone's front door to PSU and will eventually merge with a student portal system, as well as a host of other back-end information connections.
Read more

LearnLink Defended at Emory University

Apparently, the Emory student network underperformed this past academic year. However, student criticisms are ill-founded, and students are part of the solution.
Read more

RESOURCES


Second Wave of Oklahoma Christian University Dell Laptop Initiative

Three years ago, OCU was the first institution in Oklahoma and one of only a handful that combined comprehensive, campus-wide wireless with laptops in the hands of every student and faculty member. The second wave upgrades those machines.
Read more


Case Competition for Future CIOs in British Columbia

Funded by SAP Canada, teams of students from various institutions applied theory to real-life business situations. Eight four-person teams competed in the contest's first year.
Read more


Science Middleware Initiative G'es Open-Source

The NMI, National Middleware Initiative, has swept across the U.S. and into other countries, developing and deploying open-source, open-standards middleware - so scientists can share data and collaborate on research - has released the fifth version of its software. NMI has also added two new development teams recently: the Open Grid Environments Collaboratory ( OGCE) and Common Instrument Middleware Architecture (CIMA).
Read more

DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS

Creighton U. Receives ‘Technology Innovator in Communications’ Award

General Cable and NextGen Fiber Optics recognized Roderick Brokofsky with the ‘Technology Innovator in Communications’ award. “The award recognizes communication market leaders that have demonstrated a high level of innovation in their approach to network design and cable system installations,” states Cedric Lindsay, Director of Marketing at NextGen Fiber Optics L.L.C. As Director, Telecommunications at Creighton University, Rick’s forward-thinking approach to their 21st century network infrastructure lead to the deployment of Blolite — blown optical fiber technology, as a financially strategic approach that provides built-in capacity. Award recipients typically adopt innovative products that contribute to the robustness of data and voice networks.

Sponsored by:
LightPointe
Tired of T1's but finding fiber-optic cable too expensive for your LAN? Switch to optical wireless with LightPointe. We provide the speed of fiber with the flexibility of wireless. Point-to-point connectivity without the hassles or costly drain of licensing, permits, trenching. See why organizations such as Carnegie-Mellon University, New School University and Brooklyn Law rely on optical wireless from LightPointe.

Click here for details

Events


Syllabus2004 July 18-22, San Francisco: Technologies to Connect the Campus

Events Calendar

Sponsored by:
Looking at video surveillance to help improve student safety? Think digital. IBM Digital Video Surveillance.
IBM Digital Video Surveillance moves beyond traditional systems with an integrated, cost-effective approach to enhancing campus safety. Take advantage of “smart surveillance” features and automated data management functions that can save you time and money. Click here to learn how the IBM Digital Video Surveillance solution can help you reach your campus safety goals.

Click here for details

POLL

Should products and services from commercial publishers provide more of the functionalities of Course Management Systems, offering both content and course administration?
Yes
No


Sponsored by:
Printing solutions for 802.11 Wireless and Notebooks
Reduce support costs and simplify the print experience. No print drivers required. Ideal for student notebooks and 802.11 deployments in libraries, labs or residence.

Click here for an online demonstration. Free trials available.


NEW PRODUCTS

Jenzabar Offers New IBM Database

Shortly following the renewal of its long-standing relationship with IBM, Jenzabar announced that more than 30 percent of its customer base using IBM’s Informix Dynamic Server database plan to upgrade to the newest version. Some 300 colleges and universities across the nation run Jenzabar applications on IBM technology, representing a significant IBM customer install base in the higher education industry. Jenzabar CX, a fully scalable ERP solution designed specifically for higher education, is optimized for the Informix Dynamic Server database, an online transaction processing (OLTP) database supporting enterprise and workgroup computing. IBM released Informix Dynamic Server Version 9.4 to deliver enhanced performance, scalability, availability and data security for applications running on the database technology.
Read more

Cerience Announces New Version of RepliGo Version 2.0

Cerience announced that RepliGo 2.0, the next-generation of its content publishing solution for mobile devices, is now available for all supported mobile devices. This includes versions for Palm OS 5, Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Smartphone, Nokia Series 60, and Sony Ericsson UIQ. RepliGo translates virtually any desktop document or printable information into precise, highly optimized content for usage on PDAs and smartphones.
Read more

New Technology to Filter Spam from Purdue E-Mail

Purdue is rolling out a new spam-filtering service in response to a growing problem on the university’s network. Beginning June 14, the new service will be implemented for students who are enrolled in summer classes. The new filtering software is designed to save users time when they use their Purdue e-mail accounts. The filtering service will automatically scan incoming mail and quarantine messages that are identified as spam.
Read more

Gateway Notebooks Pump Up the Performance With Latest Intel Processor

Gateway 450 and Gateway M275 notebook PC lines with new Intel Pentium M processors designed for businesses, government agencies, educational institutions and students. The Gateway 450 is a mid-range performance and offers an optional built-in biometrics fingerprint sensor that can be used in lieu of passwords for identity authentication. The Gateway M275 is a convertible notebook that transforms into a Tablet PC by rotating the display on a hinge, then folding it on top of the keyboard for pen-based computing.


Sponsored by:
Can the Internet Survive? One of several thought-provoking keynotes at Syllabus2004 will address the issues surrounding security of the Internet and risks to its very existence. Jeffrey Schiller, a network manager at MIT, will propose strategies for securing the usefulness and effectiveness of the Web. Enjoy five days of education, networking and enlightenment at Syllabus2004, July 18-22 in San Francisco and on the campus of UC Berkeley. With an outstanding lineup of keynotes, featured panels, sessions, seminars and a visit to Berkeley, Syllabus2004 is the one education conference you can't afford to miss.

For complete conference details and to register,
click here
for details.


Sponsored By

The Impact of Wireless Network on Instructional Computing

Howard Strauss, manager of technology outreach as Princeton University

Despite the popularity of the technology, wireless is only beginning to show its potential uses for instruction. Howard Strauss comments about the use of the technology, both in the classroom and remotely.

Click Here to Listen

Sponsored By

Discussion of the Week:

As academic budgets shrink, wireless access and mobile computing labs sometime appear to be attractive alternative to building and supporting fixed-station computer labs. What has been your experience with funding and mobile computing? Be sure include information about your campus to put your comments in context.

Posted by Kathleen Schwarz
Programmer/Analyst
UC Riverside Graduate School of Education

Join the discussion now!


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