Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera: ISU News, Interesting Links and So Forth
* Interested in showcasing your web course or an online
supplement for your on-campus course? Then, submit your
course to the World Lecture Hall, a portal to courses
offered by faculty at accredited colleges and universities
around the world. Please note: All course materials
submitted to the WLH are publicly available. Individuals
can browse, view, use, and search for course materials
through WLH without having to log on. If this is not a
problem for you, post your course here for all of those
individuals interested in your discipline - including
faculty, developers, and prospective students.
URL: http://wnt.cc.utexas.edu/~wlh
* The Internet Archive's Movie Collection is an amazing
array of over 45,000 ephemeral films. (The term
"emphemeral" refers to a genre of films/print materials
produced for specific purposes at specific times, and
includes advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur
films.) The collection is for everyone to use - free of
charge. Individuals are encouraged to download, use and
reproduce the films in whole or part, in any medium
throughout the world. Individuals are asked to credit the
archive. Each film is a cultural artifact. Take a moment
and view a few titles.
URL: www.archive.org/movies
* Sign up now. The nytimes.com now offers a News Tracker
Alert that enables you to create up to three personalized
alert categories. You define and set each alert by entering
in keywords or phrases - or even - a company's stock symbol.
Then, you will receive notifications each time that word,
phrase or symbol appears in a New York Times article. This
service is free.
URL: www.nytimes.com
* Sylvan Learning Systems plans to consolidate two of its
online businesses and acquire the National Technological
University, a provider of IT and engineering post-graduate
college programs. This move is part of Sylvan's plan to
look beyond the K-12 market to post-secondary markets,
including online colleges in the United States. Sylvan
already owns graduate-degree provider Walden University,
based in Minnesota and Florida, and Los Angeles' Canter
Associates, a creator of post-bachelor programs for
teachers.
Source: Maryland Daily Record (22 Feb 02)
* Information You Can Trust: The Librarians' Index to the
Internet (LII) is a searchable, annotated subject directory
of more than 9,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated
by librarians for their usefulness to users of public
libraries. LII is used by both librarians and the general
public as a reliable and efficient guide to Internet
resources. Sign up for the free weekly mailing that
includes information on the most recent resources added
to the LII. Approximately 12,000 subscribers from 85
countries participate in this service.
URL: www.lii.org
* The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington DC)
has a new web site. Created with Second Story Interactive
Studios, this "...innovative online premiere brings together
about half of Hirshhorn's collection, allowing Internet
users to view and research artworks and holdings that have
been previously inaccessible online and rarely on public
display. A few of the site's highlights include a rotating
display of individual artworks featured on every page; an
interactive educational component that teaches visitors of
all ages about the process of making art by allowing them
the opportunity to construct their own sculptures using a
palette of shapes, colors, and effects; and a cinematic
slide show of the Hirshhorn story that documents the history
of the institution..."
Source: Scout Report (Mar 02)
* Interested in oceanography? Visit the Office of Naval
Research Science and Technology site.
URL: http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/default.htm
* Your Genes Your Health is a multimedia guide to genetic
disorders including: Fragile X Syndrome, Sickle Cell
Disease, Marfan Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis, Hemophilia,
Duchenne/Becker Muscular Dystrophy, PKU, and NF. This
educational resource (sponsored by the Dolan DNA Learning
Center) not only provides information on these diseases
but also reveals how the disease is caused, inherited,
diagnosed, and treated - and a glossary of related terms.
URL: yourgenesyourhealth.org
Source: Scout Report (Mar 02)
* DNA from the Beginning is an animated primer on the
basics of DNA, genes and heredity.
URL: http://www.dnaftb.org/dnaftb/
Source: Scout Report (Mar 02)
* A New Deal for the Arts: During the Depression and
into the early years of World War II, the Federal
government sponsored a variety of art projects to
provide work for unemployed artists. This site is
pays tributes to this remarkable effort with "...a
unique selection of artworks, documents, and photographs
provided by the National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA). Within this collection, users may view paintings
such as Fishermen's Village by Edmund Lewandowski, History
of Southern Illinois by Paul Kelpe, Years of Dust by Ben
Shahn, Mine Rescue by Fletcher Martin, and many more.
URL: http://www.nara.gov/exhall/new_deal_for_the_arts/index.html
Source: Scout Report (Mar 02)
* The Louvre Museum plans to put all its exhibits online
by 2003, including the Mona Lisa, 35,000 exhibits, and
130,000 drawings that are not on public display because of
their fragility.
URL: http://www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm
Source: Reuters; ResearchBuzz (Mar 28, 02)
* E-Learning Forcast: According to META Group, within
the next two years, "...60 percent of organizations will
deploy e-learning systems. Whether the training is for
new employees, consultants, the marketing department,
customers, partners, or IT workers, e-learning tools and
practices have emerged as the vehicle for efficient
transfer and management of knowledge across the extended
enterprise."
Source: EDUPAGE (21 Mar 02)
* Paid programming is becoming more prevalent on the web.
For instance, AmericanGreetings.com has garnered
almost one million subscribers since it implemented access
fees for its popular card sites. Yahoo! is also moving to
subscription services and expects 50 percent of its revenue
to come from subscribers in 2004.
Source: Associated Press (17 Mar 02)
* The Free Assessment Summary Tool (FAST) is "...a simple
online tool that offers teachers an opportunity to assess
their students' impressions of their courses and pedagogical
methods. Rather than waiting for the end-of-the-course
evaluations, FAST allows students the chance to offer
constructive feedback about the course throughout the term.
This tool is a valuable resource that opens a proactive
dialogue between teachers and students. Interested users
may visit the site's frequently asked questions and user
tips for more information on the functionality of the
software."
URL: www.getfast.ca
Source: Scout Report (Mar 02)
* Merriam-Webster now offers a paid subscription service
to complement its free online service. Subscribers pay
for access to the complete, unabridged dictionary,
including more than 470,000 entries, as well as features
such as etymology searches, word games, and a monthly
newsletter. The free version contains fewer than half of
the word listings as the paid site.
Source: Cnet (18 Mar 02)
Thought for April:
Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.
- Albert Einstein
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