The report of the 2007 EDUCAUSE Current Issues in higher education information technology is now available online. The survey, now in its eighth year, asks "campus information technology leaders to rate the most critical IT challenges facing them, their campuses, and/or their systems." As it has been in five previous years, funding was ranked as the number one IT issue. Included in the top ten issues listed were faculty development, support, and training (number 6) and course/learning management systems (number 9). The report and related readings are available at http://www.educause.edu/2007IssuesResources.

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. The current membership comprises more than 1,900 colleges, universities, and educational organizations, including 200 corporations, with 15,000 active members. EDUCAUSE has offices in Boulder, CO, and Washington, DC. Learn more about EDUCAUSE at http://www.educause.edu/.

PROPOSED SOLUTION TO "BROKEN" COLLEGE TEXTBOOK MARKET

"Most debates over high textbook prices devolve into a blame game . . . Publishers go after excessive profits, bookstores stock too few used books, professors ignore prices and switch books on a whim, colleges fail to guide their faculty members, and students are not smart shoppers. Such claims are unproductive, the [Education Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance] says, though it sides more with students than with publishers." [The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 1, 2007]

After a yearlong study, the Committee, an independent panel that advises the U.S. Congress on student aid policy, has released "Turn the Page: Making College Textbooks More Affordable," a report that addresses the problem of rising prices of college textbooks. Long-term solutions would entail an "infrastructure of technology and support services with which institutions, students, faculty, bookstores, publishers, and other content providers can interact efficiently. This infrastructure would consist of a transaction and rights clearinghouse, numerous marketplace Web applications, and hosted infrastructure resources. . . . The hosted infrastructure would ensure that all systems interface, support a registry of millions of learning items, provide marketplace services to thousands of campuses and millions of users, and process hundreds of millions of transactions for both fee-based and no-cost content."

The report and related materials are available at http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsfa/edlite-txtbkstudy.html.

PAPERS ON MOBILE LEARNING

Mobile learning is the theme of the current issue of the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. Papers include:

"Mobile Distance Learning with PDAs: Development and Testing of Pedagogical and System Solutions Supporting Mobile Distance Learners" by Torstein Rekkedal and Aleksander Dye, Norwegian School of Information Technology

"The Growth of m-Learning and the Growth of Mobile Computing: Parallel Developments" by Jason G. Caudill, Grand Canyon University

"Mobile Learning and Student Retention" by Bharat Inder Fozdar and Lalita S. Kumar, India Gandhi National Open University

"Instant Messaging for Creating Interactive and Collaborative m-Learning Environments" by James Kadirire, Anglia Ruskin University

"m-Learning: Positioning Educators for a Mobile, Connected Future" by Kristine Peters, Flinders University

The issue is available at http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/issue/view/29. Papers are available not only in HTML and PDF formats, but you can also download and listen to them in MP3 audio versions.

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL) [ISSN 1492-3831] is a free, refereed ejournal published by Athabasca University - Canada's Open University. For more information, contact Paula Smith, IRRODL Managing Editor; tel: 780-675-6810; fax: 780-675-672; email: irrodl@athabascau.ca; Web: http://www.irrodl.org/.

HUMOR IN ONLINE CLASSES

"A recently published study examined the intentional use of humor in two otherwise identical sections of an online psychology class . . . Statistical comparisons at the end of the semester showed no difference in final grades between sections, but did show that students in the 'humor-enhanced' section earned more participation points by more frequent participation in online discussions. Students in the 'humor-enhanced' section used the interactive class features more (including email and discussions), and were more likely to reply to other student's questions in the discussions."

In "Using Humor in Online Classes" (Educator's Voice), Gail E. Krovitz presents some tips and cautions for instructors who are considering incorporating humor into their online classes. The article is available at http://www.ecollege.com/news/EdVoice.learn.

Educator's Voice is published monthly by the eCollege Instructional Design Team. For more information contact eCollege, eCollege Building, 4900 S. Monaco Street, Denver, CO 80237 USA; tel: 888-884-7325; fax: 303-873-7449; Web: http://www.ecollege.com/.

NEW CHRONICLE COLUMN ON SCHOLARLY WRITING/PUBLISHING

This month The Chronicle of Higher Education launched a new monthly column on the writing and publishing process in academe. The column is written by Rachel Toor, formerly of Oxford University Press and Duke University Press. The first column is at http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2007/06/2007060101c/careers.html.

The Chronicle of Higher Education [ISSN 0009-5982] is published weekly by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc., 1255 Twenty-third Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037 USA; tel: 202-466-1000; fax: 202-452-1033; Web: http://chronicle.com/.