XplanaZine

Updates on: Australian schools, Berklee College of Music, University of Utah, Northcentral University, Pennsylvania State University, and The Community College of Baltimore County

Kevin Rudd has gambled on economic caution to win office and pledged he will make Australia the smartest nation in the world. The Labor leader’s education plan includes spending $1 billion to put a computer on every senior secondary student’s desk and connecting the nation’s 9,000 schools to super-fast broadband. — Herald Sun

In keeping with its tradition of staying at the forefront of music and technology, Berkleemusic, the continuing education division of Berklee College of Music, today announced the launch of the Berkleemusic Blog Network, a growing collection of online blogs where readers can get expert, up to the minute information from some of the most respected minds in the music world. — PR Web

Students gathered at the Utah State Legislature yesterday to advocate a bill that would eliminate the state sales tax on college textbooks. The Associated Students of the University of Utah sponsored a press conference to gain student and legislative support of the tax-cut bill they will introduce to the Legislature this spring. — Daily Utah Chronicle

Northcentral University (www.ncu.edu), an innovator in 100% online higher education, announced that Clinton D. Gardner, Ph.D. has been named the third president in the university’s history. — PR Web

With 80,000 students and 24 campuses across a state that’s intimately familiar with inclement weather, Pennsylvania State University clearly needs a reliable–and redundant–system of emergency notification. Read about how a text messaging initiative is being used to inform students of emergencies. — Campus Technology

George Washington University is deploying GW Alert, a system based on ActiveAccess from BIA Information Network, a private label campus security application installed on student, staff and faculty computers to alert students to campus safety events. — Campus Technology

The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) is expanding its e-learning activities by developing online and hybrid programs in health care. — Campus Technology