Web Seminars Contributed by EDUCAUSE, CMS, and EDUCAUSE Live!

The dispute between Blackboard and Desire2Learn over patenting course management software has highlighted a variety of questions about patents and patent enforcement in higher education. What role should patents play in academia’s highly collaborative, not-for-profit, revenue-strapped environment? As both producers and consumers of patented inventions, higher education has interests both diverse and deep. In this session, a respected patent litigator and leading CIO will explore key areas of patent law and discuss higher education's options and opportunities.

In the past couple of years, teaching and learning has fallen from the CIO's top-ten list. This session will examine today's top-ten most pressing challenges within teaching and learning, drawing on insights provided by the members of the EDUCAUSE Advisory Committee, and will offer a look into possible future efforts.

What are the information technology uses and skills of undergraduate students, how does their use of these technologies contribute to their undergraduate experience, and how does IT add to their learning? Answers to these questions are provided by 18,039 students at 63 higher education institutions in their responses to surveys for the 2005 ECAR study. Comparisons will also be made between ECAR 2004 and 2005 study results.