The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Latest 7 Things You Should Know Focuses On New Learning Ecosystem

The LMS was once the undisputed center of the digital learning ecosystem. But on many campuses, the situation has changed such that the campus online learning environment might be better viewed as a continuum, with the LMS at one end and a student’s own collection of applications, tools, and websites at the other. This proliferation of tools has created a more robust and varied teaching and learning environment, one that is frequently managed actively by students or by faculty who are seeking alternatives not offered by local IT. The value may extend beyond students’ relationship with technology, helping them become better organizers and more savvy consumers as they assume more responsibility for their own learning. Read more at:
http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutNavig/251039

Texas Education Officials Say They Can Deliver The $10,000 Degree

Speaking today on a SXSWEdu panel in Austin, officials from a few Texas community colleges and universities said that $10,000 bachelor's degrees are available now — and more will be within the year. Perry's push has led to an increased emphasis on cooperation between community colleges and four-year universities. The result, he said, is a degree that meets Perry's target — and is even less expensive. At Texas A&M-San Antonio, Ferrar said, a bachelor's in information technology with an emphasis on cyber security will cost about $9,700. Read more at:
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/higher-education/college-presidents-say-10000-degrees-available-now/

Latest "7 Things" Explores LMS Alternatives

A traditional learning management system (LMS) provides a set of tools to manage learning resources, administrative functions, assessments, and grading. Alternatives to conventional LMSs include social bookmarking tools, document sharing applications, social networking sites, timeline tools, and media options available in the cloud. Institutions or individual faculty increasingly use various combinations of these and other resources to support their unique learning environments and goals and to perform all of the functions of a traditional LMS tool. Read more at:
http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutLMSAl/207429

Macmillan Introduces The DynamicBook

In a kind of Wikipedia of textbooks, Macmillan, one of the five largest publishers of trade books and textbooks, is introducing software called DynamicBooks, which will allow college instructors to edit digital editions of textbooks and customize them for their individual classes. Professors will be able to reorganize or delete chapters; upload course syllabuses, notes, videos, pictures and graphs; and perhaps most notably, rewrite or delete individual paragraphs, equations or illustrations. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/media/22textbook.html?adxnnl=1&ref=education&adxnnlx=1266840075-56Ke+xtp4cFIKRU1+qwkNg

Using Courseware Metrics To Identify Effective Teaching

Although course management systems capture a wealth of information about individual users and courses, none of the four systems that RIT Online Learning has used in the last 10 years (FirstClass, Blackboard, Prometheus, Desire2Learn) provided reports that were useful to better understand and identify effective online teaching and learning practices. For almost five years now, RIT Online Learning has generated detailed reports of our own to help identify factors that might be associated with effective teaching. The key metric used in the most influential reporting of this data is course “interaction.” Read more at:
http://www.magnapubs.com/issues/magnapubs_ff/5_4/news/601397-1.html?s=FF&p=MFCFEZ

Blackboard Is Victorious In Patent Lawsuit

Blackboard Inc. won its patent infringement suit against competitor Desire2Learn Inc.. A federal jury in Lufkin, Texas, ruled Friday that the D.C.-based software company's patent is valid, and that the company should be awarded $3 million in damages. In a letter to customers Friday, John Baker, president and chief executive officer of Desire2Learn, wrote: "We will continue to challenge the patent's validity and Blackboard's charges of infringement. We are currently evaluating our next steps." Read more at:
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/02/18/daily61.html

Blackboard Looks To Enable Text Messaging To Students

Blackboard has agreed to buy a text-messaging company for $182 million. Blackboard said Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based NTI Group will improve its ability to communicate with large groups as the online learning market grows. NTI's technology will also enable Blackboard to give universities and colleges a means to communicate to students and teachers if there is a tragedy or severe weather. Read more at:
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/01/14/daily3.html

Distributing Documents In Class Versus In Courseware

Students who receive course materials in class performed "significantly higher" on end of semester tests of their knowledge than those who received the materials via a course management system, according to a study by a researcher at Penn State. Even so, the study on the effects of three different "information distribution strategies" on student performance also found no significant differences among the three strategies on total points earned in the course or on student reactions to the learning experience. Read more at:
http://campustechnology.com/news_article.asp?id=20096&typeid=150

Blackboard Now Offers Assessment Help

Not content with their domination of the courseware market, Blackboard is branching out into a whole new area of software for higher education institutions - the assessment product. Blackboard announced a new module called the Blackboard Outcomes System. The system is designed to help institutions collect information needed for assessment and measurement of student performance. Read more at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/17/blackboard

Open Source Advocate Battles Blackboard's Patent

The Software Freedom Law Center said Thursday that it has asked the U.S. Patent Office to re-examine a patent awarded to education software company Blackboard. It claims that the patent is bogus and could undermine three open-source education software projects it represents--Sakai, Moodle and ATutor. "It's a junk patent that should never have been given by the Patent Office," said Richard Fontana, a patent attorney with the Software Freedom Law Center.  Read more at:
http://news.com.com/Open-source+group+wants+educational+patent+reversed/2100-7344_3-6139834.html?tag=nefd.top