***************************************************** Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. *****************************************************
TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, MAY 04, 2005 Dartmouth Nears Completion of Network Convergence NSF Working on Cyberinfrastructure Plan GAO Calls for Improved Online Training for TSA Apple Works for School iBook Deal DARTMOUTH NEARS COMPLETION OF NETWORK CONVERGENCE Dartmouth College expects this fall to complete a project begun in 2001 to converge the school's phone, cable, and wireless systems into a single network. When finished, the network--described as the first of its kind at a U.S. university--will give students and faculty wireless access to the university's online services, including cable television and telephone, from anywhere on campus. In addition, the network will allow users to create individual "channels," which can include various forms of video content with a cable-quality signal. Channels could be set up, for example, to let students view video snippets of lectures when choosing classes. Having a network that allows students to watch cable programming any time, from anywhere on campus, including during class, has some worried about keeping students focused on studies, but university officials are optimistic that the network will offer compelling tools for professors to hold students' attention. Dartmouth said it saved more than $2 million by installing its new network when old systems needed to be replaced, and the network reportedly saves close to $1 million each year on maintenance and other costs. New York Times, 4 May 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/technology/techspecial/04zezima.html NSF WORKING ON CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE PLAN Arden L. Bement Jr., director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), this week told attendees of an Internet2 meeting in Virginia that the NSF is developing a plan to support development of the nation's cyberinfrastructure, including that of colleges and universities. Bement said that funding for cyberinfrastructure is "one of the most important investments of the 21st century," though the announcement was short on specifics. The NSF's Cyberinfrastructure Interim Working Group submitted a report to Bement that reportedly outlines the details of the plan, but the agency said it will not release the report until some issues are cleared up. In his comments, Bement noted that higher education in particular is in need of improvements. What he described as six-lane superhighways for data "are reduced to two-lane roads at most college and university campuses." Such "information overload," as he called it, impedes research from being conducted efficiently. Still, Bement noted that money for the NSF "is not plentiful" and that it will likely be even scarcer in the future. Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 May 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2005/05/2005050401t.htm GAO CALLS FOR IMPROVED ONLINE TRAINING FOR TSA A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) calls for improvements to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) training procedures, including ensuring that all training locations have high-speed Internet access. Many airport training centers currently do not have such access, according to the report, making monitoring of training and recertification difficult. The GAO found that because of problems in the training programs, officials at TSA have no way to track training that employees receive or even to determine who is responsible for ensuring TSA employees have proper training. TSA has made some improvements to its training programs since September 2003, according to the report, but the GAO said the TSA currently lacks appropriate plans to implement needed improvements. Federal Computer Week, 4 May 2005 http://www.fcw.com/article88762-05-02-05-Web APPLE WORKS FOR SCHOOL IBOOK DEAL A tentative deal between Apple Computer and the Cobb County School District in Georgia could see as many as 63,000 iBook computers going to teachers and students in the district. The school board has already given its approval to the purchase of 17,000 iBooks, for all teachers and for students at four high schools. If approved, the program could be expanded to include all students in the district. Apple's efforts to persuade school districts to provide a computer for every student--what it calls its one-to-one solutions--are aimed at regaining ground in the education market that has been lost to companies selling Windows-based products, most notably Dell. In 2001, Apple signed a four-year deal with the Henrico County Public Schools in Virginia, only to see that contract given to Dell last week when it came up for renewal. Officials of Cobb County said they were aware of the situation at Henrico when they selected Apple but that the problems with that contract had been overcome. Henrico wanted the Microsoft Office software suite on their computers and didn't have it, according to Jay Dillion, a spokesperson for Cobb County. "We ... required Apple to pre-load Office on all our iBooks." CNET, 2 May 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-7342_3-5692363.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 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] ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE RESOURCES The EDUCAUSE Resource Center is a repository for information concerning use and management of IT in higher education. To access resources including articles, books, conference sessions, contracts, effective practices, plans, policies, position descriptions, and blog content, go to http://www.educause.edu/resources ***************************************************** CONFERENCES For information on all EDUCAUSE learning and networking opportunities, see http://www.educause.edu/31 ***************************************************** COPYRIGHT Edupage copyright (c) 2005, EDUCAUSE
