Opinion
- A Cheapskate's Guide to Free Security Software
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8/8/2008
Free is an attractive price. Read which packages were deemed "most useful" by a handful of experts.
- It IS about Technology: Integrating Higher Ed into Knowledge Culture
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8/6/2008
For more than twenty years, we educational technologists have talked about "integrating information technology into higher education." The implication was that education would stay the same and information technology would benignly slip in and cause no ruckus at all. This rhetoric no longer applies, if it ever did, and does a disservice to us as we work through the intricacies of this age.
- The Myth and Reality of Risk
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7/25/2008
The hackneyed advice from IT consultants and columnists is that security is all about risk management. But do our traditional measurements of risk reflect reality?
- The Evolution of Digital Learning Systems Through Customization
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7/23/2008
The changes and challenges that new technology has brought to teaching and learning are well documented. New technology has changed how people receive, understand, and apply new information and ultimately has changed student expectations and thinking skills.
- A New Form of Business for a New, Socially Conscious World
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7/23/2008
A recently retired CIO reflects on a new "socially conscious" way to do business.
- Semantic Search: Could the Web Think?
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7/16/2008
Semantics is a sub-field of linguistics that focuses on meaning making in language. Therefore, the Semantic Web we're still reaching for will be based on a set of definitions, languages, and standards that can base a search on the detection of meaning and not just on a simple character string. The Semantic Web will at least be smarter than the current Web.
- The Next Phase for Academic Computing
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7/16/2008
At a time when the most startling and exciting learning environments are being created in Web 2.0, the computing establishment on campus has enough to do just to keep the big pipes and big iron running. Innovation in learning around technology, therefore, needs a separate administrative support structure and a top-level advocate who reports in parallel to central computing.
- Mickey Spillane Versus Wiley Hacker
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7/11/2008
Who is qualified to conduct computer forensics: computer jocks or private eyes? A number of states are answering that question private investigators. Read on to see what this may mean to your campus.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
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7/2/2008
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- The (Campus) Empire Strikes Back
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7/1/2008
Adding to the slew of data security issues already plaguing college and university campuses is an onslaught of stealth malware and botnet attacks. What's a beleaguered network manager to do? Here, from UC-Berkeley's own network pro, a cache of helpful advice.
- Podcasting in Instruction: Moving Beyond the Obvious
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6/25/2008
The lightweight, mobile nature of podcasting has the potential of moving education beyond familiar constraints of coursework and promoting a level of networking and input never seen before. But challenges still exist. Can more be achieved with podcasting that would heighten student engagement and maximize knowledge building in instructional contexts? Can we move beyond the obvious in their use?
- The Educational Software Paradox: Can We Learn To Unlearn?
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6/25/2008
New "educational" software and applications are usually not as educational as one might think. As a whole, applications developed in the name of learning have ended up favoring the institution and preserving the status quo. Given existing dynamics, it could not be otherwise.
- Learning in the Webiverse: How Do You Grade a Conversation?
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6/18/2008
Academics have long talked of the "academic conversation." Now, Web 2.0 has called our bluff. We live in the midst of a non-stop world conversation. But, are conversational skills (in writing) important and, if so, how do we teach them?
- P2P Redux: New Twists and Turns
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6/13/2008
At the same time that RIAA has been bombarding campuses with P2P filesharing notices, questions are being raised about the underlying legality of the methods being used by the RIAA.
- Can We Trust Students to Learn in Web 2.0?
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6/4/2008
A core debate about learning design arises from the fear that, if we allow learners too much freedom, they will not learn the right things. Web 2.0 exacerbates that fear because it is beyond the control of educators.
- Firewalls: A Hammer in Search of a Nail
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5/29/2008
The use of a firewall to protect a local or campus network from external threats has become enshrined as "best practice." But how well does it really work, how much protection does it really provide, and what are the negative impacts on advanced applications?
- Social Networking: Learning Theory in Action
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5/28/2008
There has been a lot of recent debate on the benefits of social networking tools and software in education. While there are good points on either side of the debate, there remains the essential difference in theoretical positioning. Can social networking both as an instructional concept and user skill be integrated into the conventional approaches to teaching and learning? Do the skills developed within a social networking environment have value in the more conventional environments of learning?
- Frankenstein in the University
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5/28/2008
In our day-to-day encounters with new media, online education, and vendor software products, we may sometimes be tempted to believe that encroaching technology is controlling the way people teach and learn. Is there a monster in our midst, determining our actions?
- Building a Competitive Web Strategy for an Academic Site
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5/21/2008
In this fictional scenario, Trent Batson examines a typical department's struggle to redesign its Web presence, posing questions like: "We can't help but notice that social sites like YouTube and Facebook are awfully easy to use -- why can't our academic site be more like them?"
- Best Practices in Emergency Communications
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5/9/2008
Risk assessment doesn't cut much weight in the world of public opinion. In the aftermath of highly publicized violent incidents like those at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, higher education has come under increased scrutiny. In particular, students, their parents, and the general public want to know about the emergency notification procedures that campuses have deployed.
- Writing: It Ain’t the Same Anymore
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5/7/2008
E-mail is the ordinal form of this age. But in the collective conscience of higher education, the reference form when talking about writing is still the essay. Should e-mail writing instruction replace the teaching of essay writing?
- Mobile Learning in Higher Education
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4/23/2008
The term "Nomadic" has been used to describe current college students' culture of wireless and mobile connectedness in the sense that they are not "rooted" but incredibility flexible and fluid when it comes to their social connections and their virtual life culture. This refers not only to their uses of social networking tools but also to the reality that they are connected wirelessly in any situation and for any reason. They are essentially nomads when it comes to their life "space."
- ePortfolios: Hot Once Again
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4/16/2008
The question about ePortfolios is no longer "What is it?" Now, it's "How can we do it?" A Web-based ePortfolio provides the answer.
- The Social Web: Academic Zoning Rules
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4/16/2008
Trent Batson urges social Web site developers to offer options for managing use for academic purposes.
- Real ID: Coming to a State Near You?
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4/11/2008
The Department of Homeland Security has issued the regulations that will govern the Real ID Act that sets standards for drivers' licenses across the country. How will it impact you and your campus?
