education

Blackboard gets a "C-" from open-source leaning education market

Ah, to be proprietary and free from those pesky open-source projects! This is almost certainly the feeling at Blackboard, the "Microsoft of Higher Education" which is coming under increased pressure from Moodle, Sakai, two open-source alternatives for course management, as The Chronicle of Higher Education suggests.

It used to be so easy to throw one's proprietary weight around. Blackboard has launched patent attacks on competitors and has been a tough competitor in a range of different ways. Still, open source is thriving.

Blackboard is heading for a showdown with the free-software movement, according to some observers. Although … Read more

Microsoft to tag conference-goers with RFID

Microsoft announced on Monday plans to track Australian delegates attending its annual Tech.Ed conference in Sydney using RFID tags embedded in conference badges.

Until now in Australia, human-targeted deployments of RFID tags have largely been limited to state prison systems. ACT Corrective Services said earlier this year that it had commissioned U.S. RFID provider Alanco and NEC Australia to install a Wi-Fi-compatible inmate-tracking system within its walls.

Microsoft's experiment will take place over the five days of next week's conference, although it could involve a relatively large sample size. The conference typically attracts no fewer than … Read more

Intel's Barrett laments R&D investment, likes no-frills computing

SAN FRANCISCO--In a speech here Tuesday, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett complained about a lack of R&D investment incentives in the U.S. while showing how low-cost computers and a little innovation can make a difference in the classroom.

Barrett lamented that the U.S. is not doing enough to spur R&D compared to the rest of the world. "You've got to have the right environment to invite investment in innovation, to invite investment in development," he said in his keynote address at the Intel Developer Forum. "This is my political statement of … Read more

A 'Second' chance to study abroad

These days, what can't be accomplished in real life is likely doable in Second Life. The virtual world even allows for study abroad.

According to an article in The Christian Science Monitor, several universities and even the U.S. Department of State are using Second Life to spread culture and experience to people who can't afford pricey semesters overseas. This year, Ohio University noticed that its virtual campus was party to many visitors from around the world. The foreign students interacted with the campus' avatars in an attempt to learn more about American culture.

Most notably, the idea … Read more

Studyrails keeps schoolwork on track, even if you're a flake

Studyrails is a relatively new tool for students who want to get their class schedule and study time synced up. It's mainly a calendaring tool, but thrown in is a mobile reminder service, and a forceful lock-out system that will keep you from slacking off on your computer when you're supposed to be studying.

The core calendar product is one of the more interesting efforts I've seen. After you've plugged in your class schedule, you have the option to schedule in study time. You guesstimate how much time you'll need for each discipline or project … Read more

Study: Social networks may subvert 'digital divide'

Social networks like Facebook and MySpace have reputations as time-sucking procrastination tools, but a new study from the University of Minnesota says au contraire.

Social networks build beneficial technological, creative, and communication skills, the study says, leading the researchers to actually describe social networks with the adjective "educational." Who knew?

"What we found was that students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today," Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies researcher from the school's College of Education and Human Development, said in … Read more

U.K. tech agency: Microsoft's no friend to schools

The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) said Monday that it has filed a complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft, alleging that its new Office 2007 file format will impede educational initiatives because it does not natively support open standards.

At issue is Office 2007's interoperability with the OpenDocument format (ODF), a rival office format that's largely supported by governments and educators. Instead of offering native support, Microsoft has released a converter that will let Word users open documents saved in the OpenDocument format. It has also funded other open-source translator tools

The government agency Becta, … Read more

RIAA reveals how it tracks college file sharing

A painstaking examination of how the RIAA goes about its business hunting down file sharers on college campuses is available online.

The Chronicle of Higher Education visited the offices of the Recording Industry Association of America and got a demonstration.

The RIAA employee, who declined to give his or her name for fear of receiving hate mail, said the organization has hired online copyright enforcer MediaSentry to do most of the heavy lifting. MediaSentry writes scripts to automatically hunt for the names of copyright songs and locate the IP addresses of computers sharing files, and forwards the information to the … Read more

Tech companies win small victory in H-1B push

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has given high-tech companies a piece of good news: foreign graduates of American universities won't necessarily be forced to go home before companies have a chance to hire them on temporary work visas.

The new rule announced late Friday will allow recent graduates with science, technology, engineering, or mathematics degrees to stay in the country for 29 months, instead of the previous 12 months, if they're participating in an off-campus on-the-job training program related to their field of study.

The "stopgap measure" appears to be directly related to persistent … Read more