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):
![[updated]](updated.gif){kind=small}
.
![[new!]](newyahoo1.gif){kind=small}
![[new!]](newyahoo.gif){kind=small}
IT Curriculum, fall 1997. See the schedule for this fall's IT Curriculum at <http://libweb.uoregon.edu/it/>. Some of the most relevant presentations for instructors during the next 3 weeks include:
Making Presentations with PowerPoint Mon Oct 27 2:00 PM - 3:50 PM EC Arkin Intermediate Web Publishing: Designing for the Web Tue Oct 28 3:00 PM - 4:50 PM RSR Bell Managing a Majordomo List Wed Oct 29 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM EC Lynch Advanced Web Searching Mon Nov 3 1:00 pm - 2:20 pm EC Jenkins Introduction to Virtual Reality on the Web Mon Nov 3 6:00 pm - 7:20 pm EC Stirling System Maintenance & Troubleshooting: MacOS Tue Nov 4 1:00 PM - 2:50 PM IMCB Albrich Intermediate Web Publishing: Images Tue Nov 4 3:00 PM - 4:50 PM RSR Holman Hosting a Motet Conference Wed Nov 5 11:00 am - 11:50 am EC Lynch Quicktake 200 Digital Camera for Web Authors Mon Nov 10 10:00 am - 11:50 am SCI Holman Intermediate Web Publishing: Imagemaps & Access Counters Tue Nov 11 3:00 PM - 4:50 PM RSR Holman Using IP/TV to Broadcast a Class or Special Event Wed Nov 12 11:00 am - 12:20 am EC Miyake, Kuhn
Library without Walls. The University of California System announced last week that it would create a new library whose collection is entirely on line. The library will coordinate electronic-archiving projects on the system's nine campuses and will create a central data base of electronic materials that researchers can use from their own computers. (Academe Today, 10/15/97) <http://chronicle.com/infotech>. The new library will presumably function in part as a union catalog, unifying the extensive online collections of such libraries as U.C. Berkeley; see <http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/>.
Campus Computing Survey. Every year, K.C. Green (Claremont U.) compiles a survey of college use of instructional technology, a survey that provides perhaps the best data (and most interesting interpretations) available on what's happening in instructional technology around the country. For example, this year's survey finds that " almost one-third (32.8 percent) of all college courses use e-mail, up from 25 percent in 1996 and 8 percent in 1994. Fully one-fourth (24.8 percent) of all classes draw on resources available on the Internet, compared to 15.3 percent in 1996. And more than an eighth (13.4 percent) of all college courses use some form of multimedia resources, up from 8.4 percent in 1996 and 4 percent in 1994." (from email by Green to the AAHESGIT listerv). Copies of the 1997 Campus Computing Report will be available December 1 for $35 (postpaid) from Kenneth Green, c/o Campus Computing, PO Box 261242; Encino, CA 91426-1424. (Tel: 818/990-2212; Fax: 818/784-8008; <mailto:cgreen@earthlink.net>). For more detail on the preliminary conclusions, see <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/fcn/misc/campus_survey.html>.
Faculty Copyright in Electronic Course Materials? Do you own copyright to course materials you create, or does your institution? The law is unclear, and the stakes are rising with the creation of online course materials. For an excellent review of the issues that should be considered as an institution develops its copyright policies, see "Ownership of Electronic Course Materials in Higher Education," by Dan L. Burk, in the latest issue of Cause Magazine, on line at <http://www.cause.org/information-resources/ir-library/html/cem9734.html>.
The next Yahoo? Encyclopedia Britannica has launched a new site whose goal is the creation of a (Yahoo-like, but better organized and selected) subject guide to the most useful information on the Internet. The directory contains more than 65,000 web sites chosen by EB editors for their quality, depth, and reliability. See <http://www.ebig.com>.
Survey reveals impacts of e-mail usage. Researchers at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign recently completed an extensive research project that studied the impact of e-mail on human relationships and communication patterns. According to Alaina Kanfer, director the NCSA project, the initial findings show that e-mail users may need to rethink the way they use that technology. "We're finding that the world is getting thinner as it gets smaller," said Kanfer. "Our relationships are becoming more and more spread out, and as a result, communications could start to become more superficial." The preliminary results of the project show that e-mail users had significantly more communications with strangers and people outside their community, but those new, distant communications came at the expense of relationships with people closer to home. For more information, <mailto:alaina@ncsa.uiuc.edu>. (Internet Society Forum, 10/22/97)
Many, though not all, departments on campus make online copies of your class list available to the instructor. Having an online copy is great. You can be confident that your list of students in your course matches that of the Registrar. You can easily enter the list into an Excel (or whatever) spreadsheet and calculate grades. You can post grades as a computer printout with the last 4 digits of SSNs.
Providing online class lists is currently done by individual departments, not by the Registrar. Some departments doing nothing in this area, some send email to faculty with the lists, others provide a ready-made Excel spreadsheet all set up for grading.
Course lists are only one example of an area where using the network can increase faculty teaching productivity. To take another example, some faculty post grades on line (usually with some authentication mechanism to protect privacy).
I'm interested in putting together a workshop on "best practices at UO" in the general area of online course management. If you have examples of a technique you have developed or something your department is doing to assist faculty in the day to day management of your courses, I'd like to hear about it. Send email to <jqj@darkwing>.
Several large classrooms on campus have "LCD projectors" to allow projection of both video and computer displays. In addition, the IMC has carts with such projectors, and many departments have their own units. Most units allow you to hook up a PC (e.g. a laptop) and display "VGA" computer output at 640x480 screen resolution. The VGA spec uses what's called an HD15 connector, with 15 pins in 3 rows; on the back of a typical PC you'll find a female HD15 connector for video out. If you use your own PC with one of these units you'll probably want to change the desktop area (using the Display control panel in Windows 95) to 640x480 pixels. A few of the more modern units, e.g., those in PLC 180 and Willamette 100, work well at 800x600 resolution (what's sometimes called "super VGA" or SVGA).
If you want to use a Macintosh with one of these projectors, some additional issues become important. First, most Macs don't have a standard VGA plug for video out, but instead have a Macintosh-style adapter (a "DB15" with 15 pins in 2 rows). You'll need an adapter cable to connect the projector to the Macintosh. In addition to making the physical connection, the cable tells the Mac what kind of display is connected; after you hook up the projector it's vital to Restart the Mac so that the Mac will sense the type of display and adapt accordingly.
Mac PowerBooks are special. Some, like the 1400, have no external video at all (so you can't use them with a projector unless you install an extra-cost display card). Others, like the 3400, have a VGA connector and need no adapter. Still others, such as the 500- and 5300- series, have an unusual video plug in the back and need a "powerbook video adapter cable" (Apple part no. M3927LL/A) that has the powerbook video on one end and a DB15 on the other; if you own a powerbook, you should buy that cable so that you can plug in a standard Macintosh monitor or a Mac-to-VGA adapter cable.
Most adapter cables tell the Mac that the projector is a a Mac 640x480 display, though some tell it that the projector is a VGA, which is slightly different, and others have switches to let you choose. The adapter cables that say "it's a VGA" are often preferable because they allow you to switch VGA resolutions between 640x480 and 800x600, but some older Macs don't work with cables that claim to be VGA. If your Mac doesn't work with the cable provided, get technical assistance.
Once you've gotten your Mac hooked up, restarted, and showing an image on the projector, there are a few control panel settings that you can change. Some powerbooks have a "powerbook display" control panel that lets you either show the same thing on your powerbook screen and on the projector ("mirroring on") or treat the two displays as different and logically side by side. 3400 series powerbooks have a different set of options, with mirroring available only if the LCD projector supports 800x600 (otherwise the built-in LCD is simply disabled). On the Monitors control panel you'll sometimes find that you can change the settings for your display; for instance, if the Mac thinks it has a VGA attached you can change resolution from 640x480 to 800x600.
Confusing, eh? The bottom line is that most of the time all you need is the proper cable. Plug it in, restart your Mac, and you're in business. But there are enough things that can go wrong that you should always try using your computer with the projector before you try to teach a class, and should be prepared to ask for technical assistance if things aren't working to your satisfaction.
An 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:
Seen on the Internet:
For years, we thought that a million monkeys sitting at a million keyboards would produce the complete works of Shakespeare. Today, thanks to the Internet, we know that's not true.
However, Project Gutenberg is currently working on an online edition of the complete works, so maybe it's just a matter of time.
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/>.