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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2006 Pentagon Standards Evaluate Distance Education India Says No to Laptops for Schoolchildren Lack of Confidentiality Expected to Discourage Participation Brits Consider Prison for Identity Thieves PENTAGON STANDARDS EVALUATE DISTANCE EDUCATION The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has issued a set of principles drafted by a panel of school officials and DoD personnel that address distance education. The federal government spends around $100 million each year on distance education for members of the armed forces, and the principles were released as a "preemptive move" to ensure the quality of education soldiers receive for that investment. Gary Woods, director of educational opportunities for the DoD, said the principles may be the basis for requirements of any provider wanting to offer distance courses to soldiers. Woods said that as distance education programs evolve, he wanted to "make sure that we got out ahead of the curve." Before the draft was released, some institutions were concerned that the principles would eliminate them. However, Susan Aldridge, president of University of Maryland University College and one of the members of the panel that drafted the guidelines, said, "Any university that is serious and running a rigorous program would be able to meet these standards." Michael Sciarini, assistant professor of business at Saint Leo University, said his institution already meets the standards set forth in the draft. Chronicle of Higher Education, 25 July 2006 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/07/2006072501t.htm INDIA SAYS NO TO LAPTOPS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN The government of India announced that it would not buy laptops from the One Laptop per Child program, the brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte. Negroponte's idea is that furnishing every schoolchild in developing nations with inexpensive laptops--$100 each--will be a boon to education and will help those countries close the technology gap with the developed nations of the world. The program, which has support from AMD, Google, MIT, Nortel, and Red Hat, is expected to begin shipping machines after it has orders for between 5 and 10 million. According to Indian Education Secretary Sudeep Banerjee, however, the country's Ministry of Education did not see pedagogical value in the laptops. "We do not think that the idea of Prof. Negroponte is mature enough to be taken seriously at this stage," he said, adding that "we need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools." Separately, however, Nigeria announced that it will order 1 million of the computers. The Register, 26 July 2006 http://www.theregister.com/2006/07/26/india_says_no_to_olpc/ LACK OF CONFIDENTIALITY EXPECTED TO DISCOURAGE PARTICIPATION Responding to ongoing concerns about copyright violations taking place on campus networks, a House subcommittee requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct a survey to determine what steps are being taken to address the issue. Unlike other GAO surveys, however, this one does not guarantee confidentiality of respondents, and this has many observers concerned that the response rate will be so low as to render the results misleading or wrong. When contacted about the apparent lack of confidentiality, officials at the GAO confirmed that the House subcommittee had insisted that data on individual institutions be identified in the results, though it was not clear whether those data would be made public. Officials representing the higher education community noted that even when an institution has nothing to hide, knowing the responses will be attached to individual schools tends to discourage participation. Inside Higher Ed, 25 July 2006 http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/07/25/gao BRITS CONSIDER PRISON FOR IDENTITY THIEVES British legislators are considering amending the Data Protection Act to allow for prison terms for identity thieves in addition to the fines currently allowed by the law. The proposal followed a report from Richard Thomas, data protection watchdog information commissioner, which argued that the existing penalties are insufficient to deter potential identity criminals. The amendment would allow for prison terms of up to two years for those found guilty of intentionally misusing personal information; individuals who mistakenly disclose or otherwise mishandle personal information would not be subject to the new provisions. Thomas welcomed the proposal, saying it would serve to discourage those who might be considering identity theft. A review of the proposal will run through October. CNET, 25 July 2006 http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-6098246.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. 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