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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 05, 2003 File-Swapper Amnesty Program Campuses Take Drastic Measures to Fight Viruses Quality of Online Courses Expected to Eclipse In-Class Courses Automated Essay Grading: Making the Grade? FILE-SWAPPER AMNESTY PROGRAM The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) will reportedly announce an amnesty program next week aimed at individuals willing to admit having downloaded and shared copyrighted music files. Those who sign the amnesty form--admitting their past activity and promising to delete copyrighted files and not to engage in future illegal file trading--would be shielded from prosecution by the RIAA. The deal will not be available to any of the more than 1,500 people for whom the RIAA has already served subpoenas. Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation noted that because the RIAA does not represent all copyright owners, the agreement would not protect individuals from prosecution by other copyright holders. The amnesty offer, von Lohmann said, is "not the kind of agreement that most people's lawyers will embrace." San Jose Mercury News, 5 September 2003 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6694357.htm CAMPUSES TAKE DRASTIC MEASURES TO FIGHT VIRUSES Responding to a recent rash of computer viruses, many colleges and universities are taking unprecedented steps to limit the damage to campus networks and to encourage students to be responsible computer users. Institutions have little control over the many student-owned computers connected to college networks. With the flood of students returning to school for the fall semester, many campuses are having to figure out a way to clean student computers of viruses and to ensure those computers remain protected from future viruses. At Oberlin College, which has required that all student computers be screened for viruses, 90 percent of computers running Windows operating systems had a virus. Oberlin is considering fining students $25 if they spread a virus. The University of North Texas is charging students $30 each to clean their machines, and Salisbury University took down its whole network for residence halls for a day. Of the current situation, John Bucher, director of information technology at Oberlin, said, "When you're drowning you try to do something quick." Wired News, 4 September 2003 http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60299,00.html QUALITY OF ONLINE COURSES EXPECTED TO ECLIPSE IN-CLASS COURSES A survey conducted by Babson College and the Sloan Consortium indicates growing respect among some college administrators--including presidents and chief academic officers--for the quality of online courses. One-third of the roughly 1,000 survey respondents expect the quality of online courses at their institutions to surpass that of in-class courses within three years. Fifty-seven percent said the quality of Web-based classes already rivals that of in-class teaching. Some administrators, however, particularly at private baccalaureate institutions, remain skeptical of online teaching. One-third of the respondents said Web-based courses would not become a significant part of the teaching at their institutions. Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 September 2003 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2003/09/2003090401t.htm AUTOMATED ESSAY GRADING: MAKING THE GRADE? Several companies offer computer tools to grade student essays, and various schools around the United States, including some colleges and universities, are using such grading tools to reduce teacher workload and improve student writing. One tool called Criterion, developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), is being used by Camden County College in New Jersey. Criterion scores essays based on factors "learned" from human readers and also provides students with feedback on grammar, style, usage, and organization. Anthony Spatola, chairman of the English department at Camden, said students appreciate the feedback, and he believes the tool helps students improve their writing. Officials from ETS acknowledged that the system theoretically could give a high score to an essay that exhibited certain linguistic characteristics but lacked a logical argument. Students' taking the time, however, to fool the system is unrealistic, they argued. Such automated systems have ardent detractors, including Julie Cheville of Rutgers University and the local director for the National Writing Project, who said automated grading systems "orient students to errors, not to meaning." Cheville argued that "Vacuous student essays can receive high marks only because they are error-free." New York Times, 4 September 2003 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/04/technology/circuits/04grad.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EQ" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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