Industry Briefs
NEWS
TO THINK OR NOT TO THINK?
Through a new teaching and learning initiative, Liberty University
(VA) is providing 350 IBM (www.ibm.com)
ThinkPad T41 notebooks to its faculty and staff, enhancing teaching methods
and exposing students to new computing skills. Under the new initiative, students
can get discounts on IBM ThinkPad T41 and R51 notebooks, both equipped with
wireless, security, and manageability features.
SENSOR THIS, SENSOR THAT.
Olympus Corp. (www.olympus.com),
maker of imaging and information-related applications, is providing Purdue
University (IN) with $1.05 million to finance a three-year camera-and-sensor
project. The project will “monitor and enhance the well-being of people”
in their living environments. According to Purdue reps, the miniature sensors
monitor body movements, creating alerts to help to guide the vision-impaired
and the elderly.
With Ctrax, kids can legally download music on campus.
MORE PURDUE NEWS.
On a trial basis, Purdue is offering Ctrax—a digital music service from
Cdigix (www.cdigix.com)—at
no cost to students living on-campus who subscribe to the ResNet Internet provider.
The university has been working closely with the Campus Action Network (CAN)
to provide digital music access “in a legal manner” to the campus,
and Ctrax enables LAN-based legitimate music access to a million or so songs
from major and independent labels. Students living off-campus and faculty will
have to pay a minimal fee for the service.
LIGHTS, CAMERAS, ACTION!
Osram Sylvania (www.sylvania.com),
the North American lighting operation of Osram GmbH, has provided the University
of Colorado-Boulder with $50,000 per year to further develop its lighting
education program. The grant will offer the university an opportunity to integrate
coursework in lighting engineering and technology with that in design and architecture.
The first course for lighting students will be offered in Fall 2005.
ASSESS/MEASURE LEARNING OUTCOMES.
SunGard SCT (www.sungardsct.com),
provider of software and services in higher ed, Questionmark (www.questionmark.com),
producer of testing and assessment software, and The Master’s
College (CA) have successfully integrated the SCT PowerCAMPUS administrative
system with Questionmark’s Perception testing and assessment software.
Now, the new system will help other institutions measure learning outcomes.
M&A
ENTERPRISE APPLICATION ALLIANCE.
As part of a new alliance, the enterprise application software provider PeopleSoft
(www.peoplesoft.com), and IBM (www.ibm.com),
the information technology and middleware platform provider, will collaborate
to deliver PeopleSoft applications integrated with IBM middleware. It is the
largest alliance in the history of the two companies.
PEOPLE
ELEARNING INNOVATOR RECOGNIZED.
Murray Goldberg, business entrepreneur and adjunct professor at the University
of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC), has claimed the $100,000 EnCana
Principal Award for his work with eLearning and its communities. The EnCana
Principal Award is given to Canadian resident citizens who have demonstrated
innovative talent in developing and successfully marketing a new concept, process,
or procedure. Goldberg helped to pave the way for WebCT (www.webct.com)
and other course management tools. The Manning Awards (www.manningawards.ca)
give out more than $3 million in recognition money each year.