ENHANCING EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX

There are two very interesting and sophisticated educational technology advancements that will be launched soon at the University of Phoenix. One is called "Program Maps," and the other is its new eBook Collection library service.

Program Maps is an online system that is based on areas of learning called domains. Within each domain are a number of competencies, which are the skills students should acquire in a given program. The competencies align with learning objectives. Assignments are based on learning objectives and they measure whether or not students have mastered the various competencies. The Program Maps are tied into all of this so that when a student clicks on a specific domain category online, he or she is informed about what exactly will be covered within the domain, what kind of exercises and or projects they will be responsible for, and how they will be assessed and measured in relation to learning objectives, and basically what they will learn.

The online Program Maps inform students about any particular educational pathway they might be interested in pursuing in a way that tells them exactly what he or she is going to be able to do when they graduate, says Kenneth Sherman, associate dean of the University of Phoenix Graduate Business Program. "It shows the quality of the curriculum and the integrity of the curriculum."

The eBook Collection is a library of hundreds of digitized books available for students to search, browse and read. Through partnerships with textbook publishers Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Thomson and Wiley, course developers and students at the University of Phoenix will be able to electronically search through a collection of textbooks to see which ones cover specific topics. "In essence what that will do is give the students the ability to not only access weekly readings, but they can pull up entire collections of books across undergraduate and graduate degree programs, go in there and search for key terms and concepts, and electronically pull up specific pages of those textbooks," says Sherman.

"We are broadening and enriching the quality of materials students receive," adds Craig Swenson, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Phoenix. "It is really cutting edge."

Dreamtools for Writers and Students Launched

Is your writing flat and colorless, lacking in pizzazz? Are you stuck for ideas or suffering from writer’s block? Do you wish you could better tantalize your readers with interesting facts and blow them over with your knowledge and intellect? If so, you might find Writer’s Dreamtools a useful resource at www.writersdreamtools.com.

Writer’s Dreamtools is a series of six different programs developed by award-winning copywriter/journalist/editor Larry Belling over many years. The consist of the following programs: Events Day-by-Day, History by Decades, Cliches and Catch Phrases, Collection of Lists, Slang Thesarus, and Quotes Witty and Wise. In addition there is a section of Internet humor. The two historical databases and web humor section are free. Cliches, Lists, Slang and Quotes are offered on a yearly subscription fee of $20 to individuals and $99 to companies.

A Call for High School Preparation for College and Work

Many high school graduates do not have all the skills they need to succeed in college-level coursework or workforce training, according to a new report by ACT titled "Crisis at the Core: Preparing All Students for College and Work."

The report shows that only 22 percent of the 1.2 million Act-tested 2004 high school graduates met all three of the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks in English, Math and Science.

To download the free report, visit www.act.org/path/policy/alert/index.html

ECAR Announces Study Analyzing Complex IT Issue Facing Higher Education

A key findings report on "The EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) Study of Students and Information Technology 2004: Convenience, Connection, and Control" by Robert B. Kvavik, Judith B. Caruso, and Glenda Morgan, can be obtained online in pdf format at www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ecar_so/ers/ERS0405/ekf0405.pdf

This study is based on quantitative data from nearly 4,500 freshmen and senior students at 12 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies today’s students are using, with what levels of skill they are using them, how information technology use contributes to the undergraduate experience, and what value the use of IT adds in terms of learning. The study also provides a review of and comparison with the 2003 ECAR study on faculty use of course management systems undertaken at the University of Wisconsin System.

A copy of the full study can be purchased through ECAR at www.educause.edu/ecar. Cost is $750 for EDUCAUSE members and $1,500 for nonmembers.

Penn State and Internet2 Announce Release of Academic File-sharing OpenSource Code

Plans for secure, high-powered, peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing technology for academia came one big step closer to fruition when, on September 28, 2004, Penn State and Internet2 announced the release of open source code for their collaborative software project, LionShare.

Funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, LionShare merges electronic file-exchange capabilities with information gathering tools into one dynamic application. Gary Augustson, Penn State’s vice provost for information technology, said "this is a technology that promises to significantly improve the way institutions collaborate and support each other’s academic
endeavors, while simultaneously ensuring a secure authenticated computing environment for researchers who use its file-sharing
capabilities."

The LionShare source code release will provide all interested programmers and developers with the opportunity to contribute valuable feedback and suggestions. Several educational and research institutions have expressed interest in Lionshare’s unique capabilities for resource exchange - including its ability to transfer audio, video, scientific simulations, text, documents, research papers, Web resources and a variety of other learning activities.

To learn more about LionShare and to access the new open source code, or to join the developers community, go to
http://lionshare.its.psu.edu/main/.