EDUCAUSE News

The EDUCAUSE Live! Spotlight on Identity Management series is a six-month series that will feature one or two speakers from a campus that have analyzed or solved a problem in a way that many people will find instructive.

The summer 2008 EDUCAUSE Quarterly spotlights the complete findings of the 2008 EDUCAUSE Current IT Issues Survey as well as feature articles on open source software in education, a first assessment of a learning studio, and student use of clickers in library presentations. 

The May/June 2008 EDUCAUSE Review is now available online. It features Brad Wheeler on the need for providing answers that are good enough and quick enough in the Era of Certitude; John Windhausen Jr. on the demand for "big broadband" connectivity in the United States; a summary of the 2008 EDUCAUSE Current Issues Survey findings; and Chris Dede on Web 2.0 and the seismic shift in epistemology. 

2008 Top-Ten IT Issues in Higher Education

EDUCAUSE has published the results of the 2008 Current Issues Survey, which gathered responses from 589 primary representatives of EDUCAUSE member institutions, in the new issue of EDUCAUSE Quarterly, as well as a summary version in the latest EDUCAUSE Review. The articles identify the issues that IT leaders in higher education see as their most critical challenges. Read the press release and browse Current Issues resources, including the articles, recommended readings, and PowerPoint slides.

The interactive database component of the Core Data Service has been updated with 2007 data from nearly 990 institutions. This year’s participants can now view and compare their survey responses with those of their colleagues, using special tools that provide on-the-fly, question-by-question individual data, graphs, and analysis, including a trend analysis chart comparing aggregated data for the past two years for all participants or any peer group(s) that have been created.

In a recent survey, one-third of CIOs polled had a high-level architecture group. Of the remaining CIOs, one-third were planning to establish an architecture group in the next year or two. What role does architecture play in projects and strategic planning? Hear the perspective of an IT/enterprise architect as he talks about the practice and value of architecture. Learn about ITANA, a peer group where you can engage and learn more about architect as practiced in higher education.

In this free May 12 EDUCAUSE Live! web seminar, IT/Enterprise Architecture: What Is It, and What Value Does Leadership Find in Having an Architect at Hand?, presenter Jim Phelps, Senior IT Architect, University of Wisconsin–Madison, will share his thoughts about the practice and value of architecture.

As international culture and commerce become increasingly reliant on visual communications, visual literacy has developed into an essential skill for 21st-century college graduates. With advancements in technology and the digitizing of information, digital literacy has also grown in importance. Digital visual literacy (DVL) is the ability to critically analyze digital visual materials, create effective visual communications, and make judgments and decisions using visual representations of thoughts and ideas. These skills, which actively engage our cognitive processing of visual images, have evolved from concepts at the intersection of a range of established disciplines.

Ning is an online service where users create their own social networks and join and participate in other networks. No technical skill is required to set up a social network, and there are no limits to the number of networks a user can join. The 7 Things You Should Know About Ning, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s (ELI) latest brief in the monthly series, examines how Ning allows instructors to use social networks in a neutral setting to help facilitate a strong sense of community among students and encourage personal interactions that can lead to the creation of new knowledge.

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

• CAMP Shibboleth 2.0: Hands-on Technical Workshop
  May 13-15 * Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Advanced CAMP: Registering, Discovering, and Using Distributed Services in Academia
  June 19-20 * Minneapolis, Minnesota

CAMP Shibboleth 2.0: Hands-on Technical Workshop (May 13-15)

The CAMP Shibboleth 2.0: Hands-on Technical Workshop will complement the June 2007 Shibboleth CAMP by providing attendees with technical installation and configuration experience with Shibboleth version 2.0. Developed for campuses new to Shibboleth and those with existing implementations interested in upgrading to the 2.0 release, the workshop will offer attendees the chance to:

Network with colleagues and grow professionally by participating in EDUCAUSE as a committee member, conference blogger, proposal reviewer, session moderator, photographer, or ad hoc volunteer. To be considered in this year's volunteer cycle, apply online by May 15.

The EDUCAUSE Live! Spotlight on Identity Management series is a six-month series that will feature one or two speakers from a campus that have analyzed or solved a problem in a way that many people will find instructive.

The meaning of "student" is evolving at Duke University in response to many institutional and faculty outreach efforts. This trend is mirrored at many of Duke's peer institutions. In this free seminar on April 18, The Evolving Definition of “Student”: Identity Management at Duke University, presenters Klara Jelinkova, Director, Computing Systems, and Lynne O’Brien, Director, Academic Technology and Instructional Services, Duke University, will discuss the issues, concepts, and solutions surrounding identity management proposed and implemented at Duke University.

EDUCAUSE President Diana G. Oblinger’s article, “Growing up with Google,” has been published in Becta’s Emerging Technologies for Learning, vol. 3. Becta is a leading government agency for information and communications technology in education covering the United Kingdom. Download the article and learn more about Becta.

Today in many circles the mention of knowledge management conjures up fears of complex IT systems (often equated with failure) or a new initiative (often associated with vague requirements). How do you develop a knowledge management program that incorporates the essence of organizational learning and knowledge sharing without new tools or systems? The Johnson Space Center has embarked on such a quest to define a program that leverages the wealth of knowledge of 50 years of human space flight not only for today's workforce but also for generations to come.

In this free April 11 EDUCAUSE Live! web seminar, Knowledge Sharing: Some Myths and Ideas, and a Little IT, presenter Jean E. Engle, Chief Knowledge Officer, NASA/Johnson Space Center, will share her thoughts on the effective development of knowledge management programs.

Google Apps is a collection of web-based programs and file storage that run in a web browser. The applications include communication tools (Gmail, Google Talk, and Google Calendar), productivity tools (Google Docs: text files, spreadsheets, and presentations), a customizable start page (iGoogle), and Google Sites (to develop web pages). Google stores all of the files and content centrally and keeps a record of the different versions of a file. The 7 Things You Should Know About Google Apps, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s (ELI) latest brief in the monthly series, examines how Google Apps makes sharing content as simple as granting someone access, which facilitates collaboration, peer review of academic materials, and the collective generation of knowledge.

The challenge of web accessibility raises issues of both policy and technology. Join experts in each of these two areas in this free April 4 EDUCAUSE Live! web seminar, The Why and How of Web Accessibility, as presenters Harry Hochheiser, Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Sciences, Towson University, and Tracy Mitrano, Director of IT Policy and Computer Policy and Law Program, Cornell University, discuss this important topic.

Policy guru Tracy Mitrano says: "Developing a web accessibility policy has been one of the greatest but most rewarding challenges I have faced in creating an IT policy framework at Cornell. With the EDUCAUSE Live! audience, I would like to share some of the struggles and stories about that process and what accessibility, education, and the web have come to mean to me as a result."