The OLPC Linux Based Laptop Wins International Design Award

 
The OLPC Linux Based Laptop Wins International Design Award
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/news/mobile/11401/olpc-linux-based-laptop-wins-international-design-award

"COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Yesterday, the Linux based One Laptop Per Child was presented an INDEX: AWARD for winning the Community category. The INDEX: AWARD is presented every other year, and in addition to the glory, each award comes with a €100 000 prize. INDEX: AWARD operates with five categories, which refer to the context for which the designs are intended: body, home, work, play and community.

99 % of children in developing countries leave school without having touched a computer. Without a computer-literate population, developing countries will continue to struggle to compete in a rapidly evolving, global information economy. The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) foundation aims to provide every child in developing countries with a laptop, but given the resources that developing countries can reasonably allocate to education, the design team behind the XO, also known as the $100 laptop, had to create an affordable, yet technically advanced solution.

The XO Laptop is about the size of a textbook and lighter than a lunchbox, making it easy for children to carry. XO is designed to be used in parts of the world where many classes are taught outside, and therefore it is sunlight-readable as well as shock and moisture resistant. In order for students to interact, a mobile ad-hoc network allows many machines to gain internet access from one connection and a maze-network connects all the laptops within reach. The XO can be hand-powered and comes with at least two of three options: A crank, a pedal, or a pull-cord. Plus, it features enhanced battery management for an extended recharge-cycle lifetime.

"Great design is a way to tell people that you value them," said Yves Behar, a Swiss designer who was part of the team behind the "XO" portable computer. Yves will donate the prize money to the OLPC.

OLPC have collaborated with several leading designers on the XO laptop, including Pentagram, Design Continuum and fuseproject. At the INDEX: AWARD ceremony in Copenhagen, INDEX: jury member Arnold Wasserman, chairman of the Idea Factory, praised the work of the cross disciplinary design team: "This team has applied the most admirable of all designer hallmarks; addressing a real need by refusing to accept that there was no available solution to the problem."

OLPC Chairman Nicholas Negroponte was pleased to have been recognized for emphasizing design in parallel with low cost. "There are two ways to make an inexpensive anything. One is to take cheap components, cheap labour, plus cheap design, to make a "cheap" product. The other is to use advanced manufacturing, large scale integration, very big quantities, plus good design, to make a low cost, high quality device. We focused exclusively on the latter and deeply appreciate being awarded the prize for it," said Negroponte.

The OLPC team consisted of Rebecca Allen, Christopher Blizzard, V. Michael Bove, Yves Behar, Walter Bender, Michail Bletsas, Mark Foster, Jacques Gagne, Mary Lou Jepsen, Nicholas Negroponte and Lisa Strausfeld.

Already, nations like Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Thailand and Uruguay have committed to buy the XO for their schoolchildren and the first laptops will roll of the assembly lines in October. Prices currently start at $135-175 USD, and the goal is to reach the $100 USD mark in 2008."

"The INDEX: Award does not categorize design according to traditional labels - visual design, apparel and industrial design - since these categories do not fully reflect the interdisciplinary approach employed in most interesting modern design. INDEX: asks that the nomination bodies think horizontally, across design categories and industries, when selecting their nominees for the five categories vital to human life; BODY, HOME, WORK, PLAY and COMMUNITY.

The winning designs are chosen by an international jury consisting of leading designers, design researchers, design writers and design thinkers from Europe, Asia and the U.S. All jury members have a great deal of professional experience from broad areas of the design industry and wide ranging experience from other internationally recognized juries.

Also, the focus on Design to Improve Life differentiates the INDEX: Award from other design awards, as design is evaluated in a much broader sense than traditionally, focusing not only on form, but also on the context of the design, e.g. ethical and cultural considerations, and impact, including the number of people affected, sustainability and level of innovation."

Asus Eee PC - $200 Laptop For Everyone

"Back when he first introduced his grand dream to the world - improving education through Constructionism, personified in a laptop for every child to learn and play with - Nicholas Negroponte picked an amazing marketing meme to express his dream's affordability: "$100 laptop".

In doing so, Negroponte subverted his original idea in the minds of many. Gone was an educational tool for children. In its place was the idea of an adult computer for $100. So while the One Laptop Per Child team was focused on a primary school student-centric design, everyone else was thinking about teenagers and adults using low cost computers.

This second, more mainstream idea is now coming back around to One Laptop Per Child in the form of competition from Intel. First there was the Classmate PC, which is a quick OLPC catch-up computer that sacrifices much to make a sub-$300 price point but at least pays lip service to Dr. Negroponte's original education idea, even as the OLPC pot called the Intel kettle black.

Now there is the ASUS Eee PC and it doesn't even pretend to be a pure education play. Oh yes, it does borrow heavily from OLPC with its tagline of "Easy to Learn, Work and Play" but do not be fooled. This is not a computer for children. This is One Low-Cost Laptop For Everyone.

With such a broad target, there are going to be instant winners and losers. The first winners will be anyone who wants a low-cost computer and can afford the $200-300 price point. This includes students and adults in the developing world who are not part of OLPC's target market of young children and might find the Sugar UI to be childish anyway. They are now going to be seen as a viable market, one even giants like Intel should focus research, development, and production resources to serve."

Laptop With a Mission Widens Its Audience - New York Times

In November, you’ll be able to buy a new laptop that’s spillproof, rainproof, dustproof and drop-proof. It’s fanless, it’s silent and it weighs 3.2 pounds. One battery charge will power six hours of heavy activity, or 24 hours of reading. The laptop has a built-in video camera, microphone, memory-card slot, graphics tablet, game-pad controllers and a screen that rotates into a tablet configuration.

Click here to see OLPC Video.

And this laptop will cost $200.

The computer, if you hadn’t already guessed, is the fabled “$100 laptop” that’s been igniting hype and controversy for three years. It’s an effort by One Laptop Per Child (laptop.org) to develop a very low-cost, high-potential, extremely rugged computer for the two billion educationally underserved children in poor countries.

The concept: if a machine is designed smartly enough, without the bloat of standard laptops, and sold in large enough quantities, the price can be brought way, way down. Maybe not down to $100, as O.L.P.C. originally hoped, but low enough for developing countries to afford millions of them — one per child.

The laptop is now called the XO, because if you turn the logo 90 degrees, it looks like a child.

O.L.P.C. slightly turned its strategy when it decided to offer the machine for sale to the public in the industrialized world — for a period of two weeks, in November. The program is called “Give 1, Get 1,” and it works like this. You pay $400 (www.xogiving.org). One XO laptop (and a tax deduction) comes to you by Christmas, and a second is sent to a student in a poor country.

The group does worry that people might compare the XO with $1,000 Windows or Mac laptops. They might blog about their disappointment, thereby imperiling O.L.P.C.’s continuing talks with third world governments.

It’s easy to see how that might happen. There’s no CD/DVD drive at all, no hard drive and only a 7.5-inch screen. The Linux operating system doesn’t run Microsoft Office, Photoshop or any other standard Mac or Windows programs. The membrane-sealed, spillproof keyboard is too small for touch-typing by an adult.

Find this article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/technology/circuits/04pogue.html?_r=1&em&ex=1191729600&en=3dc2ce6b6d434d21&ei=5087%0A&oref

 

Nicholas Negroponte - Keynote at Harvard University

Nicholas Negroponte keynote at Harvard University
Posted by Charbax in Nicholas Negroponte on August 13, 2007 - 9:31 am |

Nicholas Negroponte speaks about the One Laptop per Child project (OLPC) at Internet and Society 2007, a conference at Harvard University, Berkman Center for Internet and Society.  For more information, click here:
http://olpc.tv/2007/08/13/nicholas-negroponte-keynote-at-harvard-university/

Video: Yves Behar

One Laptop Per Child

Here is a video from Yves Behar, the designer of XO

Click here 

 

Open Source is a Strategic Imperative

Techworld.com - London,UK
By Myles Burke, CIO UK The acquisition and deployment of open source
software is now a strategic imperative for UK business, according to
research released ...
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsID=9549&pagtype=all

See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm%3FnewsID%3D9549%26pagtype%3Dall

Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report

The Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report was
commissioned and executed by Waugh Partners, with the financial
support of sponsors, NICTA, IBM and Fujitsu.
We worked closely with psychometricians and statisticians provided by
NICTA, our primary research partner, to ensure the end-to-end quality
of the research. While our sponsors and supporters provided feedback
at numerous points throughout the project lifecycle, this report is the
result of independent analysis by Waugh Partners. It is based on data
collected through a pair of online surveys held between October and
December 2007.

 

http://census.waughpartners.com.au/census-report-2008-r1.pdf 

Waves of Innovation: From Open Source to Open Learning

 Waves of Innovation: From Open Source to Open Learning
By Sam S. Adkins 

There are now waves of new learning products hitting the global education and training industry. On the surface it appears like open source technology is the most significant wave. It is certainly getting the most attention. Yet, big-picture analysis reveals that open source products are just part of the story. There are larger socio-economic trends at work that transcend open source.

These trends can be conceived as a concurrent series of innovation waves that go beyond the concepts and business models of open source software licenses. In each of these waves, there are several layers of paradigm shifts that change the way we view technology, business models, learning design, and the needs of the learners. Viewed in this perspective all of these waves are necessary and are all contributing to a profound evolution of the industry. These waves of innovation represent a shift from centralized sources of learning technology to widely distributed peer-to-peer learning communities.

More information at: http://www.learningcircuits.org/2007/0707adkins.html

Proposal - Educational Initiative

tba

Applied Learning Technologies Institute

 

 

The Arizona State University, University Technology Office, Applied Learning Technologies Institute (alt^I ) is dedicated to the advancement of higher education through research, collaboration, and action. The Institute brings together faculty, researchers, students, and professionals, working hand in hand with programmers, engineers, designers, and support staff, toward a common goal; ensuring the success of all learners.

Recognizing that insight, flexibility and contact are essential to the development and continuous refinement of an effective learning environment, alt^I functions in concert with the University Technology Office to enable a use inspired, research supported mechanism for innovation. At our core, alt^I is comprised of colleagues from a wide spectrum of backgrounds and experiences, from instructional designers to server-side programmers, graphic artists to applied researchers, gifted students to exceptional faculty and instructors, and a variety of hybrid talent in between. alt^I is an intentionally eclectic mix of expertise, experience, and perspective.

More information at: http://alti.asu.edu/

International Association for Distance Learning

Resources available from the International Association for Distance learning

http://www.iadl.org.uk/resources.html

 
International Association for Distance Learning
http://www.iadl.org.uk

CLO Media

 More Info:

http://www.clomedia.com/industrynews.php

Call for Proposals or Papers

Call for Papers

 

 due September 15, 2007  

Abstracts for presentations from knowledgeable professionals in industry, government, military, and academia are solicited to provide presentations which would be part of a comprehensive conference program on the latest learning technologies as they are being applied to training, education and job performance improvement, including ways to implement technology, descriptions of education and technical skills applications, e-Learning, enterprise management, and instructional systems design, together with Knowledge Management systems. The submissions should be in the form of individual presentations, panel discussions, and pre-conference tutorials.

More information, click here: http://netscape.compuserve.com/homerealestate/package.jsp?name=fte/whitebread/whitebread&floc=LIV-1_T

Learning Circuits

Our Mission and History

ASTD launched Learning Circuits in January 2000. Its goal was to promote and aid the use of e-learning, creating a body of knowledge about how to use technology efficiently and effectively for learning. It delivers a fully interactive Website with discussions, demos and resources, and articles on a weekly basis. A bi-weekly opt-in email newsletter, LC Express, sends news, teasers, and links to subscribers. There are nearly 500 articles currently on the Website.

Readers-at-a-Glance

The core of Learning Circuits's readers are CLOs, trainers and training managers, line-of-business managers, technology and multimedia developers, training suppliers, and consultants. The 2003 survey finds that more than half (51%) of our readers are managers:

• training managers, 22%
• project managers, 15%
• product or division managers, 14%

Data shows that while 56.4% of our readers come from training, many work in departments outside the training function. Many readers work in HR (13.1%), IT (5.1%), sales and marketing (4.7%), and research (3.6%), among others.

Top vertical sectors include
• higher ed, 13%
• government, 10.6%
• financial services, 8.1%
• healthcare, 7.1%

More information at: http://www.learningcircuits.org/

 

eSchool News

If you have 30 minutes a month, you can learn everything you need to know about school technology by reading one great newspaper...eSchool News.

Dear Educator,

Keeping pace with school technology is tough! After all, who knew that being an educator meant you needed to be a student of technology?

Using technology effectively in schools is essential to providing quality education and preparing students for the challenges of the 21st century. And one of the best ways you can stay on top of school technology is reading how successfully schools are doing it day in and day out.

URL: 

http://www.eschoolnews.com/

25 Web Sites to Watch

 

Organizers, Searchers and Optimizers

The Web has so much information that it's hard to keep track of everything. These sites will help you pull content together and move around the Internet more efficiently.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132787-page,3-c,sites/article.html

Nano-learning (n-learning)

Nano-learning (n-learning) is the future

 On our way to the airport for my return flight to Melbourne recently, Bob Corderoy and I were talking and reflecting on the increasing number of terms that we were introduced to in the last few years purporting to describe new and innovating ways and theories of describing the teaching and learning process. We took out our crystal balls and would proudly proclaim that "nano-learning (n-learning) is the future".

So, what is n-learning?

This is the next BIG thing in the natural regression progression: from learning, distance learning (d-learning), flexible learning (f-learning), electronic learning (e-learning), blended learning (b-learning), and of course the most recent addition, m-learning.

More information at: http://elearningrandomwalk.blogspot.com/2005/11/nano-learning-n-learning-is-future.html

 

Motorola Swings to a Loss

 

Motorola Swings to a Loss
As Handset Sales Slide

Motorola Inc.'s mobile handset struggles continued in the second quarter, indicating the telecommunications equipment maker will likely take several years to turn itself around.

Motorola is attempting to rebound from a string of disappointing quarters bogged down by pricing pressure and an aging product portfolio. After a murky forecast for the year, Wall Street appears to be resigning itself to the notion that a recovery is further off than previously expected.

"We remain on the sidelines as Motorola's issues are likely to extend into 2008," said Philip Cusick, an analyst at Bear Stearns, in a note. "We believe management is taking appropriate steps, but the problems are far steeper than many imagined."

More information at: http://support.remote-learner.net/index.php

AZ News and Information

Arizona Department of Education

Academic Achievement Division 

News and Information

http://www.ade.state.az.us/asd/

Engaging the “Social Networking” Generation

 

How to Talk to Today’s College-Bound Juniors and Seniors

The Internet has changed the college recruitment landscape in nearly a blink of
an eye. Many of the rules of enrollment have been rewritten or even discarded
as prospective students turn to the Web as their source of college information.

More information? Use this link: https://www.noellevitz.com/NR/rdonlyres/425D56C3-9ACD-4A90-9782-F70ED7AC3CF2/0/EExpectationsClassof2007.pdf

Moodle

Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities. You can download and use it on any computer you have handy (including webhosts), yet it can scale from a single-teacher site to a 50,000-student University. This site itself is created using Moodle, so check out the Moodle Demonstration Courses or read the latest Moodle Buzz.  

 

For more information about Moodle, use this link: http://moodle.org/

Second Life

Introduction

Second Life is an internet based, virtual reality in 3D, entirely build by its own residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 7,760,554 people from around the globe. Developed by Linden Lab, a downloadable client program enables its users, called "Residents" to interact with each other through motional avatars, providing an advanced level of a social network, Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade virtual items and services from one another. Residents can also own or rent land and build virtual buildings there for their online presentation.

The possibilities and fast development is reason for more and more companies and organizations to have an online presence in Second Life.

More information at: http://www.madcarters.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Use of Social Networking Tools

 

eSchool News Online reports that "96 percent of teens use social-networking tools
Survey reveals schools have a huge opportunity to harness technology for instruction "

More information at: http://www.eschoolnews.org/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=7304

 

Web 2.0

In studying and/or promoting web-technology, the phrase Web 2.0 can refer to a trend in web design and development — a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services (such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies) which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users. The term gained currency following the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.^[2][3] Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use webs. According to Tim O'Reilly:

"Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform." ^[4]

Some technology experts, notably Tim Berners-Lee, have questioned whether one can use the term in a meaningful way, since many of the technology components of "Web 2.0" have existed since the early days of the Web.^[5][6]

An IBM social-networking analyst, Dario de Judicibus, has proposed a different definition which focuses more on social interactions and on architectural implementation:

"Web 2.0 is a knowledge-oriented environment where human interactions generate content that is published, managed and used through network applications in a service-oriented architecture." ^[7]

 

Source: Wikipedia.com 

 

 

 

Webkinz

Webkinz World is where tweens can care for your virtual pet, answer trivia, earn KinzCash, and play the best kids games on the net!

 

More information at: http://www.webkinz.com/

 

Open Source or Free Applications

A wide variety of free tools are available for eLearning!

Learning technologies in the spotlight!

The Association for Learning Technology's annual conference, ALT-C 2008, brought together over 700 delegates and more than 100 speakers from all over the world. Catherine Dhanjal reports on some highlights from the conference.

Here are some highlights from the ALT conference: a report on two presentations from the business sector, and a fascinating seminar on the divide between businesses who use internet and communications technology (ICT), and those who don't.

More at: http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=191719&d=680&h=608&f=626&dateformat=%25e-%25h-%25y

The Future Online Learner Report

The Future Online Learner report explores the results of a recent survey conducted for the purposes of identifying future trends in adult online higher education and informing program development and marketing decisions. A national sample of adults who are not currently enrolled but are interested in continuing their education participated in the survey.

Diagnostics Plus, Inc. © 2007

More information at: http://www.diagnosticsplus.com/web/knowledge_center/PP/executive_summary.pdf

Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MUVE (plural MUVEs) refers to online, multi-user virtual environments, sometimes called virtual worlds. While this term has been used previously to refer to a generational change in MUDs, MOOs, and MMORPGs, it is most widely used to describe MMOGs that are not necessarily game-specific. A number of the most popular and well-known MUVEs are listed below, although there are a number of others. Modern MUVEs have 3D isometric/third-person graphics, are accessed over the Internet, allow for some dozens of simultaneous users to interact, and represent a persistent virtual world.

Where You Can Find Good, Cheap Tech Help

RAYMUND LANDEZ
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal.

From The Wall Street Journal Online

Most small-business owners can't afford consultants or an IT staff. For tech support, they draw on other resources: neighbors, friends, relatives -- anyone they know who might have a handle on a tech issue they don't understand.

But there are other sources that small businesses can turn to for reliable, inexpensive and even free tech support.

We interviewed technology experts about where to find the best help. We also asked small-business owners where they go to find the latest and most comprehensive tech information. In the process, we discovered not only what some consider to be the most helpful Web sites on tech matters for small businesses, but also government services that offer free consultations, and a business school whose students give free support to local companies facing network-security issues.

In other words, a lot of free help is available. Here's how to find some.

ONLINE

Arvind Malhotra, associate professor at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, says he typically directs entrepreneurs to three starting points online. The first is baselinemag.com, the Web site of Baseline Magazine, a publication of New York-based Ziff Davis Media Inc.

The site focuses on how companies use information technology through news analysis and case studies and features tutorials and tools, including calculators that can help a business figure out the return on investment of tech projects.

Prof. Malhotra's second pick: CIO.com, the online arm of CIO magazine, published by International Data Group's CXO Media Inc. of Framingham, Mass. This site is geared toward chief information officers, but it's chock-full of information on new technologies, the professor says.

Next comes Informationweek.com, the Web site of InformationWeek magazine published by CMP Technology, Manhasset, N.Y. Informationweek.com is rich with news and other information that can give a broad overview of what's happening in the IT world, says Prof. Malhotra, who teaches classes on information technology and business innovation.

Last year, CMP also launched smallbizresource.com, a free technology-information resource for small businesses. It has articles about what computers to buy, what software is best for certain tasks, and evaluations of new technologies.

The site, which has generated almost two million page views so far this year, says it also provides tutorials on a range of topics, including setting up a wireless network.

"We're targeting people who work at home, at a home office or who don't have a dedicated IT staff," says Cora Nucci, editor of smallbizresource.com. While most of the information comes from the site's writers, there are links to other Web sites, too.

Recently launched Biz Tech-Connect (biztechconnect.com) offers free online tech training and information geared toward women and minority entrepreneurs. Faye Lone, founder of Faye Lone Creative Native Designs, based in Alexandria, Va., says she logs on to the site at night after her kids go to bed. Lately, she has been reading about financial-management software for her own Web site, fayelone.com, where she sells high-end Native American art and her interior-design skills. Biz Tech-Connect flags and reviews products Ms. Lone has found useful. Tutorials there have helped her learn how to design a more professional-looking and business-oriented Web site.

Biz Tech-Connect was founded through a partnership of Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and AT&T Inc., and is managed by the Information Technology Association of America, Arlington, Va.

Small businesses also can find free tools online from big companies like International Business Machines Corp., which encourages entrepreneurs to test emerging technologies from its labs. At ibm.com/alphaworks, for example, users can find a Web application called IBM Development Engagement Service, or DevEngage. This is a tool, found at services.alphaworks.ibm.com/devengage, with a simple user interface, largely using click and drag functions, that helps streamline daily tasks.

For instance, say your business orders lunch frequently from a local restaurant. You can build a Web-accessible online form where employees fill in their orders. The application tracks weekly or monthly costs, and helps the restaurant prepare the right orders in good time.

IBM handles the hosting of the application, which becomes accessible to a company after it registers on the alphaworks Web site.

"We are targeting business users with no technical skills," says Cynthya Peranandam, emerging-technology strategist for alphaWorks. The group uses feedback from users to potentially build a marketable IBM product.

GOVERNMENT

Another easy way to get tech help is from the federal government. In every state, current and prospective business owners can get management and technology support from Small Business Development Centers, which are partly funded by the Small Business Administration in Washington.

The Northern California Network of Small Business Development Centers, whose region covers the San Francisco Bay area, was a big help in the fall of 2005, when WeDriveU Inc., a San Mateo, Calif., chauffeur service, was looking to standardize the processing of driver assignments, invoicing and other e-commerce processes on a single online platform across its offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, as well as new locations this year.

For six months, Dennis Carlson, president and CEO of WeDriveU, worked with a Northern California SBDC consultant, who assessed the company's current systems and made recommendations. The SBDC then helped Mr. Carlson select a software provider and ensured its proper implementation. Everything the SBDC did was free.

"Because of them," Mr. Carlson says, "I had the confidence to buy the system," which cost $75,000.

"We know that business owners don't want to become tech experts," says Kristin Johnson, region director of the Northern California Small Business Development Center. "We want to make sure that the technology decisions they're making are financially sound."

The program works with 300 clients each year for as many as 40 unpaid hours per client on issues such as Web site security audits, financial management and technology purchasing decisions.

ACADEMICS

Sometimes students can be teachers, too.

This spring, the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis launched a cyber-security consulting program to help local entrepreneurs review and draft tech-security plans.

The university teamed up some 30 graduate and undergraduate business students pursuing accounting and information-systems degrees with nine small companies in the area, ranging from a two-person tax service to a midsize property-management firm.

One beneficiary was Indianapolis Appraisal Associates Inc., a real-estate appraisal company. The firm and its subcontractors, who sometimes work in remote locations, often exchange sensitive financial information electronically. Brett Martin, president of the appraisal company, says the students helped him devise a policy for ensuring that such communications were secure. They also helped make sure his Web site, www.appraisers.in, was in compliance with financial-privacy laws.

"I'm pretty computer-savvy, but I don't have time to dig into the details," says the 32-year-old Mr. Martin. "What's hard for a small-business guy like me is that it takes so many hours to read what you do for one thing. It's incredibly hard to keep up with."

Two students worked with Mr. Martin during the semester. They told him that he had an unsecured fax line that could present a liability unless a person in the office was trained to handle nonpublic information. They also suggested that files sent electronically be encrypted, and helped write a privacy policy for the Web site that tells consumers their personal information will not be shared with others.

"It was a good way to provide a student with a project and offer assistance to the community," says Eric N. Johnson, associate professor of accounting at the Kelley School of Business. Prof. Johnson, who also teaches the class in IT security assurance, says he plans to offer the program again next year.

Email your comments to sjeditor@dowjones.com.

Good News for Moodle

The American Association of Community College’s Instructional Technology Council (ITC) has just published its 2007 Distance Education Survey Results, covering data from 154 U.S. community colleges. And there’s a lot of interesting stuff in it. Here are the headlines that I drew from it:

More at:

http://mfeldstein.com/bad-news-for-blackboard-good-news-for-moodle/

Learning Impact 2007 Report

 

This report is provided to the general public of leaders and decision makers around the world focused on the same thing that IMS GLC is focused on: improving learning and education with the support of technology. It does not represent the views of any particular organizational participant and was not developed through sponsorship of any kind. This report reflects the best efforts of the IMS GLC staff to integrate an extremely diverse set of viewpoints and data presented at the Learning Impact 2007 conference, with industry backdrop gleaned from interactions with the IMS GLC Executive Strategic Council, Board of Directors, Members, and Subscribers.

We hope you enjoy this report and find it useful. We are always interested in your ideas and feedback. Most importantly, please join us for Learning Impact 2008 to be held 12-15 May at the Omni Downtown in Austin, Texas, USA. We are eager to add your name to the group of world leaders who are helping to set new and greater expectations for the role of technology to enable better learning.

More information? click here..