EDUCAUSE News

The latest EDUCAUSE Quarterly is now available online, with feature articles on knowledge management at Ohio State University, effective data-collection efforts based on good questions, results-based interaction design to improve academic website development, and a study of asynchronous and synchronous e-learning methods.

EDUCAUSE Quarterly is also available via RSS feed. Click the orange RSS icon on the EDUCAUSE Quarterly home page to access the XML required to subscribe.

Academic libraries are committed to delivering new or improved learning spaces for students. Information/learning commons are de rigueur for libraries seeking to refresh and deepen their engagements with undergraduate learners. The most noteworthy learning environments provide enhanced productivity capacities; exposure to collections and digital information; skills training for knowledge creation; and development of information, verbal, written, and multimedia fluencies.

While it is tempting to mimic learning space solutions delivered by other libraries, such appropriation circumvents staff-owned discovery processes that create a deep understanding of, and commitment to, what is being built. Smart preprogramming assessment techniques that tap into user wisdom, learning habits, and research needs provide a helpful framework for identifying needed solutions.

The EDUCAUSE Board of Directors has selected officers for 2009: Lucinda T. Lea, Middle Tennessee State University, chair; Tracy Mitrano, Cornell University, vice chair; Thomas L. Maier, University System of Georgia Office, secretary; and Carrie E. Regenstein, Carnegie Mellon University, treasurer. Their one-year terms begin January 1, 2009. In addition, the board appointed Brad Wheeler, vice president for information technology, CIO, and professor at Indiana University, to a four-year term as an at-large member. EDUCAUSE values the expertise and perspectives these individuals bring to the association's governance. Read more.

Clifford A. Lynch, Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information, Edward Seidel, Director, Office of Cyberinfrastructure National Science Foundation, and Chip Elliott, GENI Project Director, BBN Technologies, will be the featured speakers at the Net@EDU Annual Meeting 2009: Cyberinfrastructure for E-Research, February 1–3, 2009, in Tempe, Arizona, with Working Groups through February 5.

The conference program will cover the latest developments in network and system security, regional and state networking, identity management, federal IT policy, converged communications services, and policies for national broadband connections. Register now for low early-bird rates.

Read about the key issues facing higher education in a rapidly changing technology landscape in the new e-book, The Tower and the Cloud, edited by Richard N. Katz, with contributing authors such as Yochai Benkler, Ira H. Fuchs, and Clifford A. Lynch, and a foreword by Diana G. Oblinger.  

The November/December 2008 EDUCAUSE Review—a theme issue focusing on the common good for higher education—is now available online. Read articles by Diana G. Oblinger; Joel L. Hartman; Colin Currie; Christine L. Borgman; H. David Lambert; Bryan Alexander and Alan Levine; Yochai Benkler; Clifford Lynch; the NSF Task Force on Cyberlearning; and Beth Forrest Warner and the 2008 EDUCAUSE Evolving Technologies Committee.

As with many institutional endeavors, successful practice in cybersecurity requires that the players (individuals and teams) operate in the context of a community that faces similar challenges, objectives, and goals. Several community-based organizations support higher education and research institutions in their cybersecurity endeavors.

The EDUCAUSE/Internet2 Security Task Force coordinates community work in the areas of governance, policy, data privacy and security, effective practice, awareness, and professional development. As an independent organization aligned closely with EDUCAUSE and Internet2, the REN-ISAC has primary focus on supporting situational awareness and operational protection and response, through the sharing of actionable information.

Ustream is an interactive web streaming platform that lets users broadcast their own channels on the Ustream network or on a third-party website such as MySpace or Facebook. Ustream offers a platform for users to host events, promote their own shows, or set up interactive conversations with participants across the globe.

The 7 Things You Should Know About Ustream, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s (ELI) latest brief in the monthly series, examines how Ustream’s broadcasting model offers an attractive new way for Internet broadcasters to connect with audiences, allowing dialogue between users and opportunities to build connections across the globe.

Browse the complete 7 Things You Should Know About… monthly series.

EDUCAUSE announces a new EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) study, The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008, by Gail Salaway and Judith Borreson Caruso, with Mark R. Nelson and an introduction by Nicole B. Ellison. This 2008 ECAR research study is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 ECAR studies of students and information technology. The study is based on quantitative data from a spring 2008 survey of  27,317 freshmen and seniors at 90 four-year institutions and eight two-year institutions. Because of the topic's critical importance, ECAR has made the full study, as well as key findings and roadmap, publicly available to all. Visit ECAR on the web.

Those unable to attend the EDUCAUSE 2008 Annual Conference are invited to listen to General, Featured, and Point/Counterpoint Sessions virtually in live simulcasts sponsored by Sonic Foundry. Check the EDUCAUSE 2008 website during the conference for further details.