Stanford iTunes
October 24, 2005
Stanford University is getting podcasting right. They've got lots of content already, and they're pulling it all together: academic, athletic and institutional podcasts are all presented on one page in Apple's iTunes.
Stanford is first. The trick now is to see how quickly other institutions pick up on this effective approach of speaking with one voice to the world. Here at Richmond, our Chaplain's Office is first to get its podcasts into iTunes, but more is out there and it should all be presented together.
Students and IT 2005: Convenience, Connection, Control, and Learning
October 23, 2005
ECAR has released a study, Students and Information Technology, 2005: Convenience, Connection, Control, and Learning, and while I think they use too many commas in their study title, the Key Findings and Roadmap provide good overviews of the study.
Among the more interesting findings in the study is that “most students prefer a moderate amount of technology in their courses.” The age breakdown for this preference is a bit interesting:
Surprisingly, the youngest students in the study (18- to 19-year olds) have the least preference for IT in courses (mean of 2.86 where 1 represents courses with no IT and 5 represents courses that use IT exclusively). The 30-39 age group has the strongest preference for the use of IT in courses (mean of 3.25). Seniors have a greater preference for IT in their courses than do freshman. (Roadmap, pages 2-3)
The other big takeaway from the study is that everybody loves course management systems. Well, 75%, which is close to everybody. What do students like most about CMS?
- Tracking of grades on assignments and tests, and accessing sample exams and quizes.
- Course administration - accessing course syllabi, turning in assignments online, getting assignments back from instructors, accessing online readings, and taking exams online. (Roadmap, page 3)
I guess I'm surprised at the way the study broke those two items down. It seems to read that students like CMS for 1) grades and 2) all the other features that a CMS might contain. But it is good to see these kinds of results in the survey.
We've been experiencing exponential use of Blackboard at Richmond this semester, with each week generating new highs in page view activity. We're experiencing almost twice as many page views this semester as we were in the spring. So somebody is enjoying something about CMS.
Visions of Science Photographic Awards
October 22, 2005
As featured on /. - The Novartis and Daily Telegraph Visions of Science Photographic Awards for 2005 have been announced. I always enjoy browsing through the award winners of contests like this - the images are always interesting.
I think I’m drawn to these kinds of events because they represent that cross-over between science and art. Be sure to take a look at the winner of the Art Meets Science Award - a picture of a barn as it looks to a migrane sufferer. If that’s what things look like when you have a migrane I am very happy not to have that affliction in my life (I do remember once when Jean was suffering a migrane and made me turn off a Mozart recording - she was seeing the music.
Of course I wish they made the images available in larger resolutions - some of them would be amazing desktop backgrounds - but I understand why they would only want to put lower resolution versions of the images on their site
