Don't read this by e-mail! Instead, read the hypertext version of this newsletter: <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/fcn/news/current.html>. Contents:
Local and online events of particular interest to FCN members (see
also upcoming conferences and
IT Curiculum below):![[new!]](newyahoo1.gif){kind=small}
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The summer IT Curriculum schedule is almost finished and we're planning the schedule for fall. For the full schedule see <http://libweb.uoregon.edu/it/>.
Thursday, Aug 7 1:00 pm - 2:50 pm RSR Intermediate Web Publishing: Imagemaps, Access Counters, Applets
Every year the FCN does a brief orientation session for new faculty focused on use of instructional technology. In addition to some general overview material on the range of technologies in common use, we like to introduce the new faculty to two or three existing faculty members who have used a variety of instructional technologies (e.g. the web, e-mail, listservs, asynchronous conferencing, synchronous conferencing, etc.). These experienced faculty members talk briefly about their activities and give practical advice on using educational technology. If you're interested in participating, please let me know as soon as possible. The new faculty educational technology orientation is scheduled for Sept 17, 2-4pm; we hope to have our speakers lined up by mid-August.
Hervey Allen, of Computing Center micro services, reports (7/29/97) that the UO has purchased a site-wide site license for several commercial antivirus products:
The software is available on the CC's Public NT server and on AppleShare fileserver CC Public Domain. The software will also be available on the Duckware CD-ROM this fall. We have a three year license which includes all updates, upgrades, etc.
Microcomputer Services strongly recommends the use of this software as viruses, particularly macro viruses that are not stopped by most freeware antivirus packages, have become increasingly prevalent on the UO campus.
For background on antivrus software and how to get it from the CC's public servers, see <http://cc.uoregon.edu/~cchome/cnews/macroguard.html>. Note that the CC web pages may not yet be fully updated to reflect the latest round of software license purchases.
Delivering real time audio and video over the Internet is the goal of a wide range of current technologies. One technology that is seeing fairly widespread adoption on this campus is Precept Communications IP/TV viewer software. The software has the advantage of being compatible with experimental "MBONE" software developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force.and emerging multicast standards. Unfortunately, very little programming of interest to the average faculty member was available until recently.
That's beginning to change. In addition to programming from off campus, UO is now rebroadcasting SCOLA (the educational foreign language TV channel) from the UO Instructional Media Center, plus is broadcasting both KWAX (the UO's classical radio station) and KWVA (our alternative radio station). Audio and video quality are still quite low, but the Computing Center is working to improve the situation. Other initiatives are also planned -- see <http://cc.uoregon.edu/iptv/>.
Theses on the Web. Virginia Tech is the first American university to require that all graduate theses and dissertations be posted on the Web. The new rule is intended to make the latest graduate research more timely and accessible and to strike a blow against the steadily increasing subscription prices of scholarly journals. Journal publishers and other critics maintain that posting of documents on the Internet diminishes the effectiveness of the "peer review process" for reviewing original research, but Virginia Tech vice president Earving L. Blythes says that the publishers are part of the problem: "What we've seen is cartel-like behavior. Essentially, what's happening is the research and scholarly work is produced on campus; they want it published so they give it to publishers, who sell it at exorbitant prices." (New York Times 28 Jul 97; from EduPage, 29 July 1997)
Web pages for all courses. The University of California at Los Angeles promises that, by this fall, it will provide a Web page for every course in its liberal-arts college. The pledge amounts to a revolution in the way the university views the Internet. (Academe Today, 7/28/97). <http://chronicle.com/infotech>
Web-site closure at Northwestern U. hampers student research project. A student at NWU last month sent e-mail messages to 1000 Internet users asking them to take part in an online survey she had posted on a web site. After receiving a few complaints about the solicitation, the university's computer center shut down the web site without notifying either the student or the faculty member sponsoring the research. The faculty member complained on the "research@cmbc.com" mailing list, a list devoted to using the Internet for psychological research. The result? A political mess. For details of the tussle, see the Chronicle of Higher Ed at <http://chronicle.com/che-data/internet.dir/itdata/1997/08/t97080101.htm>, or the faculty advisor's (Joseph Walther) comments on the "research" mailing list, <http://www.cmhc.com/mlists/research/>.
FEDIX Opportunity Alert. Many of us have used the FEDIX on-line data base of grant announcements. From the same source comes another freebie: a monthly "Opportunity Alert" e-mail newsletter about new legislation, grant programs, and developments at federal agencies that affect colleges and universities. (Chronicle of Higher Ed, <http://chronicle.com/che-data/internet.dir/itdata/1997/08/t97080501.htm>). See <http://www.rams-fie.com/opportunity.htm>.
Words on the Web. Want to know what "ietf" stands for? Here's a web site that brings together links to a wide range of online dictionaries, including everything from general words to slang to specialized jargon. Give it a word and it will return links to numerous dictionaries with complete definitions. <http://www.onelook.com>.
One of the most common uses of educational technology these days is a class listserv. Such a mailing list can be used to send messages to students with updated course information, as a discussion forum to supplement or replace traditional "discussion sections", or even as a way for students to interact with outside experts of your choice. As a discussion forum, it works best in mid-sized classes -- classes of 15 to 70 or so.
It's very easy to set up a discussion list for your course using the "majordomo" software on darkwing. Just visit the Majordomo list application web page at <http://cc.uoregon.edu/mailinglists/newap.html>. Choose a list name, e.g. "health385", and fill out the rest of the form (write down the list password you chose so you'll remember it). Click "submit", and in a few days you'll have your list.
In your syllabus, tell your students the name of the list and that they must subscribe to the list by sending a message to "majordomo@lists.uoregon.edu" with one line containing "subscribe" and the name of the list. Tell them to post by sending e-mail to health385@lists.uoregon.edu (or whatever name you gave your list). Give any other course requirements and netiquette rules you want, perhaps requiring a small number of content-rich postings during the term but limiting the number of postings from any one individual to 2 or 3 per week.
(Hint: you probably don't want your regular e-mail swamped with hundreds of student postings. If you have a class of 60 and each student is required to post 2 messages per week, that's more than a thousand messages to read! Limit the number and size of postings. Even better, find ways to segregate your class-related and non-class e-mail, perhaps by getting yourself a second e-mail account just for class mail; some faculty have accounts on both darkwing and oregon just for this purpose.)
At the end of the term, request that the list be deleted by using the form at <http://cc.uoregon.edu/mailinglists/delap.html>.
For more information on managing majordomo lists see <http://cc.uoregon.edu/mailinglists/manage.html>. For ideas on using e-mail, see <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/edtech/mail.html>.
If your students need help using e-mail and mailing lists, some useful resources to point them to include:
This is a selected and somewhat idiosyncratic list of upcoming conferences relevant to educational tech., both "virtual" (online) and traditional. For conferences that require physical travel, my emphasis is on conferences in the Northwest and on those I find personally interesting. The Educom and CAUSE calendars, <http://educom.edu/web/calendar/calendarHome.html> and <http://cause-www.colorado.edu/information-resources/events.html>, contain a more extensive list of mainstream conferences. Virtual conferences and tutorials:
Traditional conferences and workshops:
We want PCs to be as smart as those sinks in public restrooms -- to know when someone's in the room.
Joe Belfiore, group program manager at Microsoft, speaking at last month's Windows Platform briefing in Seattle, WA.
The UO Faculty Consultants Network Newsletter is published (approximately) twice a month. If you have materials for inclusion in the newsletter you can send them to <mailto:jqj@darkwing>. This newsletter (as well as other FCN-related material) is available on line in <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/fcn/news/>.