Industry Briefs
News
GOIN’ GLOBAL, MATE.
eLearning systems giant WebCT (www.webct.com)
is expanding again, adding a “down under” office in Sydney, three
senior-level execs, and five new resellers. Meanwhile, the roster of new WebCT
Vista international higher ed customers grows—the University of
Vienna (Austria), University of the Aegean (Greece),
and Nagoya University (Japan) have recently come on board.
Other institutions—the University of Birmingham (UK)
for one—are upgrading their WebCT systems to meet the demands of eLearning
programs.
Hobsons’ acquisition of Academic Engine creates
an organization that can now “guide students from prospect to alumnus”
via enrollment management
technology and natural-
language Q & A.
CONTENT EXCHANGE TAKES OFF.
WebCT and MERLOT (www.merlot.org),
a free online learning resource, have partnered to give WebCT users access to
10,000 indexed learning objects, thus enhancing the learning content exchange.
The MERLOT Web site will be optimized for WebCT users, and the WebCT materials
will be augmented by MERLOT, say WebCT spokespeople.
CENTRALIZE, CENTRALIZE.
Penn State University’s (PA) Agricultural Economics
and Rural Sociology (AERS) department has selected the Web-based service desk
product FootPrints from UniPress Software (www.unipress.com),
to centralize its IT Help Desk. AERS deployed Footprints to track and manage
all incoming IT support requests from AERS staffers, faculty, and graduate students.
The AERS ITS Help desk staffers can now track and manage calls via trouble tickets,
quickly refer to FAQs for answers, and utilize a knowledgebase to collaborate
on problem resolution.
SMALL ENVIRONMENT, BIG COLLABORATION.
Educational technology firm and provider of collaboration software, DyKnow
(www.dyknow.com) has partnered
with the University of Richmond (VA) to increase “wired”
collaboration between students and faculty via DyKnow Vision collaboration software.
Despite the small liberal arts setting, says DyKnow President Laura Small, “Richmond
is setting up the perfect environment to show that liberal arts subjects can
benefit greatly from DyKnow’s collaborative features.”
M&A
PAPERLESS PARTNERS.
Jenzabar Inc. (www.jenzabar.com)
an eLearning system provider, has partnered with document imaging group Feith
Systems and Software Inc. (www.feith.com),
allowing Jenzabar to offer imaging, workflow, and records management to colleges
and universities using Jenzabar’s software—part of its Total Campus
Management (TCM) system.
HOW TO BOOST ENROLLMENT.
To strengthen its enrollment management technology (EMT) product line, higher
ed communications and recruitment technology provider Hobsons (www.hobsons.com)
has completed the acquisition of Academic Engine (www.academicengine.com),
an Internet software development firm showcasing a natural language question/answer
system. Hobsons spokespeople note that the merger creates an organization that
can now “guide students from prospect to alumnus.” The merger also
adds 150 new higher education clients to Hobsons’ 650.
PEOPLE
TWO AGAINST INTRUSION.
Kenny Van Zant (formerly of Cisco Systems’ broadband access team) and
David Sikora (President/CEO of infrastructure software firm Pervasive Software),
have been appointed to the board of directors of TippingPoint Technologies Inc.
(www.tippingpoint.com),
provider of networked-based intrusion prevention systems.
SWITCHING GEARS.
Former Sun Microsystems exec William Malik has joined enterprise researchers
Aberdeen Group (www.aberdeen.com)
as VP of Technology Research, driving Aberdeen’s CIO’s Strategic
Agenda research programs.