The ongoing civil unrest in Egypt, in addition to the danger to life and property, also poses a threat to Egyptian antiquities and sites. Various news agencies and websites over the last few days have reported that various museums, including the Cairo Museum, have been broken into and artifacts stolen or damaged. Hopefully the situation in Egypt will stabilize soon. One good site for keeping track of this is the blog of Dr. Zahi Hawass.
RSM
My university recently began the process of migrating to Desire2Learn from Moodle. This transition was greeted by a fair number of complaints from faculty members since we had just made the transition from WebCT (purchased by Blackboard) to Moodle only 2 years ago, and this had been a very lengthy and painful process. So, since course management systems have been a hot topic at school, I have spent some time over the last few years following the various stories that have popped up in the news about Blackboard and its numerous lawsuits against other CMS companies (including Desire2Learn) and even the US Patent and Trademark Office. Now, Desire2Learn has filed a lawsuit of its own over its failure to win a contract in Utah. It is amazing how much time and effort these companies spend in litigation……..time and effort that might be better spent in improving their product.
RSM
As technology experts make predictions about the coming year, many are predicting the arrival of the tablet computer in huge numbers, including on campus.
I have to admit to being skeptical. So far, at least on my campus, I have seen only about 4 iPads – all being used by faculty. I remember a few years ago I began thinking that laptop usage in class was on the rise among students, but I have noticed in the last year or so a decrease in the number of student laptops in classes. Perhaps my campus is different from others – it is a public, state institution – but it really can’t be that far off from other schools. I think the introduction of technology into the classroom is great, but it does move slowly in academia, often very, very slowly – particularly with funds being so tight. Now, will I get one this year? Probably…..well, most likely.
RSM
Now that the holiday buying season is over, Amazon has announced that the Kindle 3 is its best-selling product of all time having passed the latest Harry Potter novel. Amazon is expecting to sell more than 8 million Kindles this year. Clearly the price drop helped spark sales, but the question I have is whether an e-reader can be successfully used at a university. While various universities have been experimenting with e-readers, nothing definite seems to have emerged as to their viability outside of experimental or pilot programs.
RSM
