This post comes from the New York Times. There’s been a lot of activity on the technology-and-education front this week. First, One Laptop Per Child, the nonprofit project to bring computers to the developing world’s child, announced an innovative campaign to jumpstart its program.

Today, Intel announced a new initiative to rapidly broaden the reach of its program, Intel Teach. The Intel effort, started in 2000, focuses on training teachers around the world to use personal computers as a tool in classrooms. The company announced at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York that its program, up to now based on face-to-face instruction for teachers, would add a hybrid online program. In the past, Intel Teach involved 40 hours of in-class training for teachers. The new online offering will include eight to 12 hours of face-to-face instruction, and the rest over the Internet, at the teacher’s convenience. Click here to read the rest of this article.

This post comes from CNNMoney. Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) and Wimba today announced a definitive agreement to distribute Wimba Collaboration Suite Express(TM) to Blackboard® K-12 schools and districts in the United States, Canada and Mexico. This strategic alliance will provide new and existing Blackboard Learning System(TM) clients (including Blackboard Learning System — Basic Edition clients) access to the Wimba Collaboration Suite Express, at no additional cost.

The Wimba Collaboration Suite Express facilitates online access to voice, video and instant messaging tools (among other tools for today’s 21st Century learners) for instructors and students to enhance teaching and learning.

Under terms of the agreement, Blackboard will distribute the Wimba Collaboration Suite Express, which includes limited versions of Wimba Classroom(TM), Wimba Voice(TM), and Wimba Pronto(TM) to its K-12 clients. The new partnership provides a unique benefit to members of the Blackboard K-12 community who will gain easy, free access to the industry’s leading multi-modal solution for virtual and blended classes, professional development, and intercession and tutoring. Click here to read the rest of this article.

This post comes from the Chronicle’s Wired Campus Blog.

China’s attempts to filter Web surfing might well be keeping citizens away from sites about Falun Gong and the Tiananmen Square incident. But even if the Web blockades are working, that doesn’t mean they’re especially staunch.

In fact, researchers at the University of New Mexico argue in a new study that China’s fire wall is surprisingly sievelike. Instead of simply blocking certain Web pages, the nation watches data passing through the Internet and filters out banned words and Web addresses on a case-by-case basis. According to the New Mexico researchers, that system allows Chinese Web surfers to browse freely, at least on occasion, and it causes the fire wall to become “particularly erratic” when a lot of people are online.

Still, there’s little doubt that the online surveillance restricts the flow of information: As the researchers told BBC News, many Web users censor their own searches for fear of the government’s prying eyes. —Brock Read

This post comes from Military.com.

Learn to separate the myths from realities when it comes to online coursework.

Military education counselors have noticed an increasing number of their students signing up for online distance learning courses. A recent report by The Sloan Consortium confirms the rising popularity in online education. The report shows the following substantial increases in online enrollments over the last few years:

• 2002 = 1.6 million enrollments*
• 2004 = 2.3 million enrollments*
• 2005 Fall term = 3.1 million enrollments*

Although the number of students enrolling in online education is growing, some servicemembers and veterans still fear going “online” for their education. One possible cause for student wariness may be the number of “urban myths” that circulate about the online education experience. The following is a list of urban myths regarding online education:

Myth: Students are not as satisfied with online education.

Busted: At least 97 percent of students surveyed said they were “at least as satisfied.” According to the Sloan Consortium — this is true for all types and sizes of institutions.

Myth: Online Education is a flash in the pan — It won’t be around for the long term.

Busted: According to the number of enrollments noted above the rate of growth has increased. In addition — chief academic officers believe in it. Online education isn’t going away anytime soon.

Myth: An online degree is not real.

Busted: An online degree from an accredited school is just as real as a degree you would earn by traditional means. In fact, many traditional education programs allow students to take online or hybrid courses — courses that combine online and classroom time. In most cases your diploma will not even reflect that it was earned online.

Myth: All online courses require students to log-on at the same time every week.

Busted: Most online courses are now offered in an asynchronous format, which allows students to log on when they are able, not all at the same time.

Of the many online education myths at least one has been substantiated:

Myth: Online students need self-discipline.

Confirmed: Online students need to be focused on their goals and need to have self-discipline to do well. Think of online education as a trade-off; what is gained in flexibility must be made up for in personal drive and determination.

This post comes from The Chronicle. Despite its image as an all-American city, downtown Peoria, Ill., home of Bradley University, is also a place of strip clubs and violent crime. For undergraduates, it’s a risky environment in which to conduct field research. Edward L. Lamoureux, an associate professor in Bradley’s multimedia program, saw a better place in the virtual world Second Life.

This fall he is teaching his second ethnography class online in a computer-created environment featuring buildings, lakes, and avatars — digital characters who fly from place to place, chat, and form communities. The program is Bradley’s first foray into using Second Life as a platform for education. Students have analyzed, among other topics, online hackers (known as “griefers” in Second Life) and avatar fans of musicians who perform in Second Life. Click here to read the rest of this article.

This post comes from eSchoolNews. With a lot of intricate back-and-forth on the legal front lately, online-learning enthusiasts might be forgiven for wondering whether a high-stakes patent dispute between Blackboard Inc. and Desire2Learn Inc. (D2L)–two companies that make enterprise software for web-based course management–will be resolved anytime soon.

In a recent development, a magistrate judge in a federal district court in Texas challenged terminology involved in Blackboard’s claims in a patent-infringement lawsuit against D2L–invalidating some of the claims, at least for the time being. Some observers saw the magistrate’s opinion, which was issued in early August after a hearing and arguments by both sides, as a major setback for Blackboard, but the company disagreed with that interpretation.

In a separate action, the federal agency that originally granted the patent has agreed to re-examine it–a process that takes an average of about two years to complete. Meanwhile, it is far from clear which party, Blackboard or D2L, might hold the upper hand if and when the lawsuit ultimately goes to a jury. A trial is currently slated for February, and the discovery process has begun. Click here to read the rest of this article.

This post comes from the Greentree Gazette. More often than Microsoft would prefer, universities are simply refusing to upgrade to its new Vista operating system, fearing the switch offers little more than a headache.Margaret McFee, a senior systems administrator for Harvard University’s Physics Computer Services, typifies university IT administrators who are saying ‘thanks, but no thanks.’

”Our bottom line is, ‘Do we need this? Is this worth the effort?’” McFee says. “The answer continues to be ‘No’ each time we re-visit it.”

Such anti-Vista backlash is also in full swing at Princeton, where its Desktop Systems Council has posted a notice on the university website urging its computing community to hold off upgrading to Vista until 2008. Oregon State, Miami University and the University of Pennsylvania, among others, have published similar ‘wait-and-see’ cautions online.

Like many businesses, these and other institutions have given Vista’s initial release a test drive, and have discovered that much of their hardware – as well as many of their software apps – simply don’t work with Vista. Click here to read the rest of this article.

This post comes from Workforce Magazine. Earlier this year, the medical device company Guidant Corporation decided to promote a longtime employee to the title of vice president, employee development, the equivalent of a chief learning officer, or CLO. The Indianapolis company’s executive staff thought that the time was right to better organize training and developmental opportunities and match them more closely with the business goals of the organization, as well as offer employees a map for reaching their own career aspirations.

“We felt we could be better at telling employees, when they start here, how they can grow and develop professionally,” says Barbara Reindl, vice president of the St. Paul-based Cardiac Rhythm Management Group, Guidant’s largest division.

“We get many employees who just got out of college and want to have an idea of what kind of career they can have at Guidant,” she says. “We want to be able to say, ‘This is the curriculum if you want to be a manager.’ We’d really love to create a feeling among new hires that they’re joining a learning organization, but it’s not as well marketed here as it is at Motorola and other learning organizations.”

Susan Norton, who became head of employee development in August, has begun talking to divisional vice presidents about their training and development needs and how they should be strategically organized to meet business challenges.

One of Norton’s discussions resulted in the creation of a three-day workshop where Guidant managers from around the world had an opportunity to hear senior executives address leadership issues, network among themselves, and spend their evenings informally talking with other managers from all levels of the company. Guidant has held the workshops in Brussels, St. Paul, and California, and has received positive comments from managers about the program. Click here to read the rest of this article.

This article comes from the Business Times.

Question:

I recently read an article about the return on investment (ROI) of continuing education. It was refreshing to see some people talking about learning within the context of business, that learning can be a business driver. What are your views on the relationship between learning and business? What can be done to demonstrate that a positive relationship exists?

Answer:

One of the biggest issues facing human resources professionals today is the need to train and develop the organization’s employees. The development of a skilled and educated workforce is seen as an ongoing priority that is being woven into many organization’s strategic plans.

Let’s be clear on this point from the beginning: training and development is big business today. It has been estimated that more than $60 billion is spent annually on training for approximately 50 million employees in the United States. A confluence of events, including global competition, an infusion of information, and rapidly changing technology, has fueled the need for continuous learning in organizations. Many experts have come to believe that learning and competitiveness are now interdependent in this information age. After all, companies are facing more competitive challenges with fewer people, and those people must learn how to work harder, smarter, faster, and better. Click here to read the rest of this article.

This post comes from the Chronicle’s Wired Campus blog.

The New York Times today began to pair its articles, multimedia offerings, and even its reporters with faculty-created course material from about a dozen institutions, letting professors use the new resource for both credit-bearing and continuing-education courses.

The project puts the newspaper’s Knowledge Network on an interactive Web platform called Epsilen Environment, developed at Purdue and Indiana Universities. Epsilen works like an academic version of Facebook, says Felice Nudelman, director of education at the newspaper. “Faculty members can put up profiles, including résumés and important papers, and work they would like reviewed by their peers,” she says. “They can form working groups around topics of common interest.”

They can also develop courses around those topics, and students at different universities will have the chance to participate. Mount Holyoke College, for instance, is developing course work around the art and craft of film; Northern Kentucky University is creating a series of studies on women and entrepeneurship.

The cost for universities to participate varies, Ms. Nudelman says, but can be as low as $1 per student per year.­—Josh Fischman