IT Trends :: Thursday, March 1, 2007

• 03/01/07

Opinion

Valentine's Day in The Pit

By Terry Calhoun

I can look back on various personal relationships over the years and, without regretting who I have become, regret having acted in ways that were less than thoughtful, and which hurt others. I'm sure that you can, too; maybe not if you are a Neocon . But boy, oh boy, there was a powerful event at UNC on Valentine's Day. And the way the adult world reacted to it was pretty interesting.

When I first read the stories, I was shocked at the apparent lack of sensitivity and obvious meanness of Ryan Burke, a senior at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who used Facebook and text-messaging to bring together a crowd of more than 1,000 students at The Pit, in the center of campus, to watch him abusively break up in public with his unsuspecting girlfriend of four months, Mindy Moorman, with the help of a women's a cappella group singing the Dixie Chick's "I'm Not Ready to Make Nice."...

IT News

First Look: Desire2Learn Essentials

By David Nagel

This week Desire2Learn introduced a new course management/learning management system targeted toward smaller institutions: those with fewer than 5,000 users. We have an exclusive first look at the new system....

Second Life To Get 3D Voice

By David Nagel

Second Life, the virtual world that's becoming increasingly popular in education, will soon add proximity-based 3D voice capabilities, according to developer Linden Lab....

Angel Learning Previews Angel LMS 7.2

By David Nagel

Education software developer Angel Learning has announced a new version of its learning management system, Angel LMS 7.2. The new release will add full learning outcomes management integration, as well as new communications tools. It's expected to be available in April....

Survey: Higher Ed Marketeers Fail To Use Popular Media

By Paul McCloskey

Despite the wave of social media such as FaceBook, blogs, and instant messaging invading higher ed campuses, fewer than 8 percent of higher-ed marketers use such alternative channels to reach prospective students, according to a recent survey by advertising and marketing firm Media Logic Inc....

Patent Office Grants D2L Reexam Request

By David Nagel

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) this weekend granted Desire2Learn its request for a reexamination of Blackboard Inc.'s e-learning patent. Desire2Learn is, at present, the defendant in a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by Blackboard in July 2006....

AdReply Targets Enrollment Campaigns

By Michelle Rutledge

XY Media Solution announced the launch of AdReply: a response tracker that gives real-time data for university and college enrollment campaigns. The immediate response allows schools to tweak their advertisement strategy when needed....

Extricom Offers $1 Million in WLAN Technology

By Michelle Rutledge

Extricom, a manufacturer of WLAN technologies, announced the start of its 2007 Education Grant program for higher education and K-12 schools. The grant will award a total of $1 million worth of wireless local area network (WLAN) equipment and discounts to schools....

Thomson Learning Embraces Sakai

By David Nagel

Academic publisher Thomson Learning this week announced that it's adopting technologies from Sakai Foundation for the delivery of its learning products for higher education....