Archive for November, 2007

Conferences in the News - November 14, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 14, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Oracle OpenWorld, Leadership Summit and Education Forum, NCTE Annual Convention

The Oracle OpenWorld Conference in San Francisco is happening this week. OpenWorld is the premier Oracle event for business decision-makers, IT management, and line of business end users.– Oracle

The annual Leadership Summit and Education Forum, hosted by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) took place on Nov. 5 and 6. Called “What It Takes to Compete,” the forum invited state education leaders from around the nation to a series of sessions highlighting best practices and innovative approaches for using technology to transform instruction and create 21st-century learning opportunities. — eSchool News

From Nov. 15-18, thousands of K-12 teachers, college faculty, administrators, and other educational professionals, will gather to hear award-winning speakers, attend idea-packed sessions, share best practices, and test the latest teaching materials at the 97th NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Annual Convention in New York, New York. — NCTE

Research in the News - November 14, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 14, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Search capabilities for recorded lectures

Researchers in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a new Web-based technology that’s designed to take recorded classroom lectures to the next level through search capabilities. — T.H.E. Journal

Online Education in the News - November 14, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 14, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: blended learning, the Virtual School Symposium, and TutorVista

A new book, Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines (Wiley, 2008), summarizes the current theory behind blended learning but offers practical guidelines (with examples) on how to transform existing courses into the new framework. In this article, the authors answer some critical questions about blended learning.  — Inside Higher Ed

Educator Rick Tanski reflects on the Virtual School Symposium sponsored by the North American Council for Online Learning. He describes how educators must leverage the power of online education to improve the learning of students, and how technology should be integrated with the human experience. — Rick Tanski Blog

The most recent trend in tutoring is coming from India. Along with jobs for telephone operators, financial advisers and medical analysts, jobs for tutors are being outsourced. Companies like TutorVista, a two-year-old Indian tutoring company, use the Internet to communicate with customers all over the world. Students can receive tutoring in subjects such as English, calculus or economics, as well as help for standardized tests, such as the SAT or GRE. — The Lariat Online

Games in the News — November 14, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 14, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Second Life

At first glance it looks like a video game but once you start exploring the world of Second Life you find out that it’s much more. With millions of U.S. dollars being spent in Second Life it’s also caught the attention of some notable companies who have spent some real money to open up offices in the virtual world. Companies like CNN, World Bank, and Toyota, who sells virtual cars. Virtual worlds will undeniably play a role in big business as they continue to grow. — Charlottesville News

New Zealand — As part of the firm’s 10 year anniversary of its pro bono unit and to mark Pro Bono Week from 12-17 November, Lovells is hosting an exhibition in Second Life to showcase some of its pro bono work. — Law Fuel

Publishers in the News - November 13, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 13, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Cengage Learning, Elsevier

An agreement between ProQuest (www.il.proquest.com) and Gale (www.gale.com), a part of Cengage Learning (www.cengage.com; formerly Thomson Learning), will connect two digital research databases of early modern English books through cross-search technology. — Information Today

Elsevier’s Scopus announced that it has added new features to the abstract and citation database that are designed to further improve research productivity and support the researchers’ workflow. The new features include the ability to search for and browse through relevant content derived from cited references, additional and flexible clustering categories in the “Refine Results” feature, the inclusion of prepublished journal articles across all subject areas—said to be a first for any multidisciplinary abstract and citation database—and extension of the self-citation exclusion options within the Scopus Citation Tracker. — Information Today

Schools and Programs in the News - November 13, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 13, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Berklee College of Music, Johns Hopkins, Education for Advancement, and Capella University

Professors at the Berklee College of Music will use Notion Conducting from music instruction software maker Notion Music to teach more than 800 students enrolled in its 2007-2009 conducting program. — Campus Technology

Students anywhere can now study online to earn a master of science in biotechnology or bioscience regulatory affairs at Johns Hopkins through the university’s Advanced Biotechnology Studies program. The online degree programs, which received Maryland Higher Education Commission endorsement in October, will open for enrollment for the spring 2008 semester. — The JHU Gazette

Education for Advancement (www.efalearning.com) an education and career services provider is introducing a full range of flexible and affordable distance and online programs from accredited and globally recognized universities from the UK and USA into the Caribbean region. — Caribbean Press Releases

Online education is here to stay and there is every indication that it will continue to gain traction. Capella is beautifully poised to take advantage of this trend by utilizing an exclusively online delivery system and by focusing primarily on graduate programs. This article gives specific statistics on Capella and discusses the benefits of online education. — Seeking Alpha

IT News - November 13, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 13, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Cisco, Carnegie Mellon University, Yahoo!’s M45, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, OracleWorld, MySpace, Facebook, and Samsung Electronics

Cisco announced a venture capital initiative targeting the technology industry in Central and Eastern Europe. Cisco will pursue investment opportunities in technology-related start-ups in the region, both directly as well as indirectly through a regional venture fund. — CNN

Carnegie Mellon University will become the first higher education institution to work with Yahoo!’s M45, a new project announced yesterday by the Internet firm designed to advance distributed computing research and software development. — Campus Technology

Open source solution vendor Red Hat is collaborating with Sun Microsystems with the aim of creating a “fully compatible, open source Java Development Kit (JDK) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux,” according to an announcement issued by Red Hat. — Campus Technology

Cisco Systems Inc. did its part for Oracle Corp. users as the OpenWorld conference opened Monday, announcing a protocol it developed with the software company for running Oracle databases over larger server clusters. –  Computer World

Two consumer advocacy groups have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether new advertising initiatives announced last week by social networking sites MySpace and Facebook adequately protect consumer privacy. — Computer World

Samsung Electronics has unveiled four new data networking terminals for use on the commercial WiMax network operating in Seoul, South Korea. While the devices are specific to the South Korean market, they provide a glimpse of the kind of things consumers overseas might be able to get their hands on in the near future as WiMax is launched in other countries. — Computer World

Conferences in the News - November 13, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 13, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA)’s Education Forum, and Mobile Internet World

At the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA)’s Education Forum: What It Takes to Compete event, Andreas Schleicher with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlighted the uphill battle America must face in terms of educating our nation’s young people to compete in a global economy. — Market Wire

Mobile advertising is still in its infancy, and already it’s despised by some users of wireless devices. Nonetheless, it seems destined to become a major factor in the growth of the mobile Internet. The kickoff keynote address at the Mobile Internet World conference here today featured a Yahoo Inc. executive who has been testing advertising on mobile devices for the past year and expects to continue similar trials in 2008 to see what works and what doesn’t. — Computer World

Research in the News — November 13, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 13, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology

The Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology is now accepting abstracts for its special Fall 2008 multimedia edition, “Multimedia, Media Convergence, Digital Storytelling, Public Understanding of Science,” which seeks to explore innovative uses of technology and multimedia. — CTL Updates

Online Education in the News - November 13, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 13, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: National Distance Learning week, reputable online programs

Online education is growing at an unprecedented rate with more than a million adults getting a college degree online. To celebrate the growing trend of distance learning, the United States Distance Learning Association created National Distance Learning week, which runs from November 12th-16th. — PR Web

Online education has been chipping away at the stigma of the diploma mill long enough now that many traditional campus schools have adopted online components into their education programs. So, let’s be clear; there’s nothing wrong with an online education from a reputable, accredited institution. This article describes some advantages of online education tools. — World Wide Blog