__ __ __ __ __ __ web's eye view 03-31-98 | | /| / /| | /| / /| | /| / / alan levine | |/ |/ / | |/ |/ / | |/ |/ / Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction |__/ |__/ |__/|__/ |__/|__/ http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/ ..............New bag of URLs.......http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/bag/ ============================================================================== Where Has the Time Gone? ------------------------ Wow. We just checked and saw that it was 3 months since our last WEv mailing. Oh, well... we had not heard any complaints. Remember that we now send out our web tidbits via an Internet listserv (and we are still waiting the full conversion of A1 to Steak Sauce status). Do you have something neat you're doing on the web? Have you come across sites that are simply astounding? Are you a-waash in all of the erb hype? Send anything intersting to us via the "Bag of URLs" web form at: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/bag/drop.html The info sent here is processed by some our nifty web systems to be automatically compiled, HTML-ized, and emailed to you. We are first to admit... we know but a fraction of what is out there. Find the Maricopa Sites ----------------------- Treasure hunt time.. see if you can find any "maricopa.edu"'s in this presentation: Building a Student-Centered Web Site "This presentation summarizes findings of a national study which reviewed the home pages of 100 U.S. community colleges. Participants will be provided a profile of the most common features of community college pages. This profile is contrasted with what a sample of GTCC students indicated were their needs and expectations. Participants will be asked to brainstorm their perceptions of what students needs. They will also be asked to share the innovative aspects of their local college's web site." http://technet.gtcc.cc.nc.us/league/website/ Newsy Items ----------- Major Study Finds IT Worker Shortages Continue To Threaten U.S. Companies Berkeley, CA--Extensive information technology (IT) worker shortages exist throughout the US despite aggressive retraining and hiring programs, according to the preliminary findings of a major study released today by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech). Without decisive action now, the shortfall could send the financial prospects of many companies both in and out of the IT industry into a sustained tailspin. ITAA released its second annual IT workforce study at the National Information Technology Workforce Convocation, an event to facilitate broad-based solutions to the worker shortage. The Convocation was produced by ITAA, the US Departments of Commerce and Education, and the University of California at Berkeley. The latest study was performed by ITAA and Virginia Tech. http://www.itaa.org/ From EduPage: U.S. DOE SAYS COOKIES AREN'T BAD FOR YOU The U.S. Department of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Capability has issued an information bulletin stating that privacy advocates' fears over the use of cookies -- a popular technique for tracking Web site visitors -- are unfounded. The claims that Web cookies may be used to gather information on "passwords, credit card numbers, and a list of the software on your computer" is not even "close to the truth," according to the bulletin. In fact, information that is gathered via cookies -- usually a user's numerical Internet address, browser type and operating system -- can also be recorded in a Web server's log files. "Cookies just make it easier. [A server] cannot find out your name or e-mail address, or anything about your computer using cookies," says the bulletin. (TechWeb 16 Mar 98) Distance Learning Grab Bag -------------------------- Tennessee Online Community College Consortium (TOCCC) Several community colleges in East Tennessee listed are working together to develop on-line courses that will be the basis for an eventual online degree. http://toccc.rscc.cc.tn.us/ Harvard Launches Free Cyberclass The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School has partnered with NetResponse, a strategic Internet consulting company, to launch the university's first online course, "Privacy in Cyberspace." The course will attempt to answer Internet privacy questions, including civil procedure, copyright issues and the implications of computer technology for personal privacy. The general public can register for future courses free of charge at The Berkman Center's Web site. http://www.berkmancenter.org/ From EduPage: DISTANCE LEARNING BY NEARBY STUDENTS College and university administrators are finding that their distance learning programs are immensely popular with on-campus students, who see them as a convenient way to earn credits. In the State University of New York's online program, 80% of the participants are full- or part-time students living on a SUNY campus, and at Arizona State University, only 3% of the distance education students live in another state. The trend presents problems for administrators, who face decisions about how to pay for both online and on-campus education at the same time, and how to balance teaching loads for professors who teach both. "What happens to traditional teaching? As universities put so many resources into online education, are we going to take away from our efforts in the traditional classroom? That's troubling," says one administrator. (Chronicle of Higher Education 27 Mar 98) Take a Tour Several of the campuses participating in the California Virtual University have created online tours of their virtual courses to help prospective students become acquainted with the technology behind online and distance education. http://www.california.edu/tour.html Stanford Online Demo and Survey Results Available The Stanford Online service allows Stanford engineering and science courses to be available anywhere, anytime, and on-demand in order to accommodate the needs of busy professionals. The Stanford Online service digitizes and compresses graduate courses and stores them on a video server, making Stanford classes available to company-sponsored students as well as campus students in an on-demand, video-streaming environment. Students can interact with the instructor, teaching assistant, and/or other students asynchronously from their computer while at work, home or while traveling. All course materials are also available through the web. Over 500 students enrolled in courses offered through Stanford Online during the fall of 1997. Data collected from industry students during the beta version of Stanford Online in the Spring Quarter of 1997 indicated the following: * 82% said they would not have registered for a course if it was not available on-line. * 100% said they would watch another course using on-line technology. * 100% found the ability to watch the course on-demand was worth lower video quality. * Lack of live 2-way interaction did not limit their ability to learn. Additional information and a Stanford Online demo can be found at: http://stanford-online.stanford.edu For the Web Developers ---------------------- "The Web Authors' Tip du Jour" is a daily feature set to appear on the ITS home site every weekday throughout March. This tip is a very brief general recommendation to promote good Web design, based on published research, specific needs of Maricopa, and/or observations Matrix has made while experimenting with various systems. (Look also for some of Bobby Sample's original cartoons!) http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/its/ Test Pilot was chosen by Earthweb's Java application rating service to receive an editor's choice award. It is a tool for the development and deployment of online tests and surveys. It requires NO knowledge of HTML or web development issues. One can generate tests with true/false, yes/no, multiple choice, fill in the blank and many other question types that can be automatically scored and recorded. Test Pilot consists of a Java Servlet and a runtime database for Windows or MacOS. Connect to the Biomedia web site to see examples of it running under MacOS, Windows NT and UNIX at: http://biomedia.bio.purdue.edu/TestPilot/ World Wide Web Courseware Developers Listserv Web Site contains information of interest to persons developing courseware that is to be delivered in part or totally over the WWW. http://www.unb.ca/web/wwwdev/