eLearning/CMS
- Will the CafeScribe Acquisition Give a Boost to Electronic Textbooks?
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4/16/2008
The digital textbook is one of those technologies that seem obvious but can take a long time to gain traction. In March, the concept got a boost when long-time textbook distributor and retailer Follet Corp. acquired Salt Lake City-based Fourteen40, and, along with it, CafeScribe, a Web site in its beta phase of offering electronic textbooks.
- Yale Pilots Digital Media Integration with Sakai
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4/15/2008
Yale University is piloting a new program that brings integration between its open-source learning management system, Sakai, and its digital asset and digital rights management system, C-Labs from Cdigix. Yale has used the Web-based DAM/DRM tool since 2004 to deliver online digital media to students in about 400 courses.
- UMass Signs Agreement with China To Offer Online Courses
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4/10/2008
As free-Tibet protesters continue their efforts to block passage of the Olympic torch on its way to Beijing for the opening of the Summer Games, one US campus has decided that the best approach to changing the course of history is by educating China's populace.
- U Wisconsin Expands Collaboration with Office Live Workspace
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4/9/2008
Students at the University of Wisconsin at Parkside can now enjoy file collaboration capabilities via a free software-and-service product from Microsoft called Office Live Workspace. The university, which last year outsourced its student e-mail accounts to Microsoft Live@edu, now offers students, faculty, and staff the ability to store, share, edit, and collaborate on documents in common Microsoft file formats.
- University of Houston Study: Hybrid Courses More Effective for Students
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4/8/2008
A technical report from a University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance researcher finds that students in a hybrid class that incorporated instructional technology with in-class lectures scored a letter grade higher on average than their counterparts who took the same class in a more traditional format.
- Desire2Learn Launches Web Services for Learning Management
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4/4/2008
CMS/LMS developer Desire2Learn this week launched Web Services 1.0, a set of Web-based enhancements for the D2L Learning Environment and D2L Learning Platform. Modules included with the 1.0 release include "organization structure management, enrolment management, and gradebook entry and lookup," according to the company.
- Blackboard Vows To Press On
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4/2/2008
Despite last week's apparent setback in the Patent Office, Blackboard is vowing not to go down without a fight even as Desire2Learn and the Software Freedom Law Center--the two groups that sought to have the patent revoked--celebrate victory. We have the first interview with Blackboard's chief legal officer, Matthew Small, since the action. He discussed Blackboard's plans moving forward and why he sees that patent as still being valid and strong.
- Tegrity Bolsters Classroom Capture with Campus 2.0
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4/2/2008
Ed tech developer Tegrity has released an update to Campus 2.0, the company's enterprise classroom capture and student achievement system. The new version adds a wide range of features, from new recording and editing tools to enhanced administrative and reporting functionality.
- Free Lecture Capture System Gains Widespread Academic Support
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4/1/2008
Software developer Panopto reported to us this week that hundreds of educational institutions have applied for its Socrates Project, which allows K-12 schools, colleges, and universities to adopt the company's CourseCast system at no charge. The program, launched late last year, is aimed specifically at academic institutions.
- Blackboard Bumps Learning Systems to 8.0
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3/28/2008
Blackboard this week brought its Learning System CE and Learning System Vista in line with Learning System Enterprise edition, bringing the entire line to version 8.0. The company said the new releases represent a major advance toward its goal of unifying the codebase of its learning tools and infusing them with Web 2.0 technologies.
- USPTO Rejects Blackboard Patent Claims
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3/28/2008
[Update 10] Blackboard's e-learning patent looks to be going down. The United States Patent and Trademark Office this week sent out a "non-final" determination on the reexamination of Blackboard's patent in which all of the claims on the patent were rejected. Blackboard still has a period of two months to respond to the determination.
- SUNY Community College System Adopts Desire2Learn for Course Management
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3/26/2008
Suffolk County Community College (SCCC), a three-campus community college in the State University of New York (SUNY) system, has selected Desire2Learn products to handle course management.
- BSU's Entry into Second Life is Grounded in Emerging Media Expertise
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3/26/2008
Ball State University's Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts and Animation is leveraging years of innovation in 3D animation and virtual applications to support the university's entry into Second Life. CT interviewed IDIAA director John Fillwalk.
- Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award Established
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3/26/2008
The Sakai Foundation has announced the establishment of the Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award to recognize transformative education applications of Sakai.
- Homegrown Software Boosts Interactivity at Community College
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3/19/2008
In search of an inexpensive solution to engage students in challenging courses like physics and astronomy, a semi-retired professor has created a popular interactive software tool that reportedly increases classroom participation and boosts grades and learning.
- SAS Opens Up SAS OnDemand for Academics
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3/18/2008
SAS has broadened the availability of SAS OnDemand for Academics, a service that allows faculty and students to integrate advanced data analysis in their teaching and learning activities. Users register for the service, download a SAS software application via the Web, and then perform processing by connecting to a hosted server at SAS.
- Desire2Learn CEO Makes Case Against Blackboard Patent, Court Ruling
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3/17/2008
In this exclusive interview, John Baker, Desire2Learn's president and CEO, discusses the company's recent patent infringement case, its impact on the company and its customers, and the implications for education technology as a whole.
- Moodle Hacked at Oregon College
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3/14/2008
Umpqua Community College in Winchester, OR announced in February that its Moodle course management system had been hacked earlier in the year, potentially exposing student information. According to a statement from the college, there was no evidence that personal records had been affected. The school also noted that the IT department knew how the system had been compromised and had taken steps to address the security vulnerabilities, which included shutting Moodle down temporarily.
- On Heels of Injunction, Desire2Learn Releases New LMS, Repository, ePortfolio
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3/14/2008
Desire2Learn has released new versions of its Learning Environment and Learning Repository software, as well as its new ePortfolio product. The announcement comes on the heels of two legal setbacks in Desire2Learn's patent infringement case with Blackboard.
- Engineering Collaboration at Virginia Tech
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3/12/2008
What does it take to convert a soon-to-retire engineering professor enamored of the chalkboard into someone who loves a technology tool? For Virginia Tech Alumni Distinguished Professor Charles Bostian, it took a collaborative teaching tool that he is using in engineering classes as large as 180 students.
- Oxford Scholarship Online Expands Reach through ebrary
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3/10/2008
Oxford Scholarship Online (OSO) is making its digital collection of 3,000 Oxford titles available through ebrary, a California-based company that offers an online content management platform for libraries and publishers. OSO is a subscription service providing digital versions of books published through Oxford University Press, the publishing arm of the University of Oxford.
- Florida Institute of Tech Offers Degrees Online through University Alliance
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3/10/2008
The Florida Institute of Technology has introduced 11 undergraduate degree programs that will be delivered through University Alliance, a division of Bisk Education, a provider of online degree and certificate programs. The online program will go by the name of Florida Tech University Online.
- Georgia University Sets Up Gaming Lab
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2/29/2008
Southern Polytechnic State University's School of Computing and Software Engineering will be establishing a game design and development lab, which is expected to open in summer 2008. The lab will consist of 14 game development stations for the XBox 360, as well as a number of PlayStation 3 and Wii game consoles.
- Creating a Collaborative Syllabus Using Moodle
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2/27/2008
A "collaborative syllabus" is one in which the students have the ability to help determine the specifics of a course. Those specifics can be any element that a professor is willing to be flexible with and include such items as the objectives, grading, attendance policies, types of assignments, and so on.
- The Future of Web 2.0
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2/27/2008
Web 2.0 is changing the landscape of higher education IT and the application of learning technologies. Washington State University's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology Director Gary Brown explains why he thinks we're moving from collaborative learning environments (CLEs) and ePortfolios, to personal learning environments (PLEs) and worldware.
