December 1997 No. 54

ISSN 1071-5223

About INFOBITS

Infobits is an electronic service of the Institute for Academic Technology's Information Resources Group. Each month we monitor and select from a number of information technology and instruction technology sources that come to our attention and provide brief notes for electronic dissemination to educators.

Digital Diploma Mills
Technologies for Learning Web Site
First Monday: Peer-Reviewed Internet Journal
Dynamic Philosophy Encyclopedia
Webzine on Integrating Information Technology in Higher Education
Instructional Technology Papers and Book Online

DIGITAL DIPLOMA MILLS

In "Digital Diploma Mills: The Automation of Higher Education" (October 1997) David F. Noble argues that recent events at two large North American universities "signal dramatically that we have entered a new era in higher education, one which is rapidly drawing the halls of academe into the age of automation. ... UCLA has spawned its own for-profit company, headed by a former UCLA vice chancellor, to peddle online education (the Home Education Network). ... in Toronto, meanwhile, the full-time faculty of York University ... ended an historic two-month strike having secured for the first time anywhere formal contractual protection against precisely the kind of administrative action being taken by UCLA."

While faculty concerned about their future employment might be expected to react unfavorably to inroads by outside commercial outsourcing providers, there are indications that students at both UCLA and York were less than enthusiastic as well. For example, the student handbook distributed annually to all students by the York Federation of Students contained a warning about the "dangers of online education."

The article is generating lively discussions in the listservs where it has been reprinted. You can read the complete article on the Web at http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue3_1/noble/index.html

Historian Noble is co-founder of the National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest and teaches at York University. He is author of America by Design: Science, Technology and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism (New York: Knopf, 1977, ISBN: 0-394-49983-2), Progress Without People: In Defense of Luddism (Toronto, Ontario: Between the Lines, 1995, ISBN: 1-896357-00-8), and The Religion of Technology: The Divinity of Man and the Spirit of Invention (New York: Knopf, 1997, ISBN: 0-679-42564-0). He is currently writing a book on the subject of his paper, entitled Digital Diploma Mills.

TECHNOLOGIES FOR LEARNING WEB SITE

The NODE/RÉDO, a network operated by a Canadian consortium of educational institutions, links post-secondary course and program developers, faculty, administrators, and learners interested in technologically-mediated teaching and learning. The Node recently launched a new collection of Web pages entitled Technologies for Learning (TFL) designed to help educators make informed decisions about learning technologies "by organizing and contextualizing information, critical analyses and the experiences of colleagues." Every month, TFL will feature information about a new teaching technology, such as integrated learning packages, groupware, assessment technologies, and Web development tools. TFL also includes an online forum for further discussion of the technologies and accepts informal papers on educator's experiences using technology in their work. TFL is located at http://node.on.ca/tfl/

For more information on The NODE/RÉDO, contact The NODE, Stevenson-Lawson Building, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B8; tel: 519-661-3249; email: tfl@node.on.ca; Web: http://node.on.ca/

FIRST MONDAY: PEER-REVIEWED INTERNET JOURNAL

First Monday is a peer-reviewed journal on the Internet whose aim is to publish original articles about the Internet and the global information infrastructure. First Monday will "follow the political and regulatory regimes affecting the Internet, examine the use of the Internet on a global scale, . . . analyze research and development of Internet software and hardware, study the use of Internet in specific communities, report on standards, and discuss the content of the Internet." The editorial board includes Edward J. Valauskas, founder and principal of Internet Mechanics, a technology consulting group advising schools, libraries, government agencies, and corporations on telecommunications, computing, and the Internet; and Esther Dyson, chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a member of the U.S. National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council.

Recent papers include "Changing the Galaxy: On the Transformation of a Printed Journal to the Internet" by Hans-Christoph Hobohm; "The Future of Multimedia in Education" by Allyn Radford; "Create or be Created: How the Internet Cultural Renaissance is Turning Audience Members into Artists" by William Butler O'Connor; and "The Challenge of Openness as European Union Information Goes Electronic" by Neville Keery.

First Monday is available at no cost on the Web at http://www.firstmonday.dk/

First Monday is published by Munksgaard International Publishers Ltd., Pernille Hammelsø, Journal Manager, Noerre Soegade 35, P.O. Box 2148, DK-1016 Copenhagen K Denmark.
For information on submitting papers, contact Edward Valauskas, Chief Editor; email: valauskas@firstmonday.dk

DYNAMIC PHILOSOPHY ENCYCLOPEDIA

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [ISSN 1095-5054], published by the Stanford University Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), is the first dynamic scholarly encyclopedia designed so that the authors of articles can update their subject matter as needed. Each online entry is maintained and kept up to date by an expert or group of experts in the field, making the publication responsive to new research. An entry is evaluated by an editorial board whenever it comes online or is significantly modified. Over 100 scholars have contributed so far, and the project leaders expect to have most of the encyclopedia completed within five years. The encyclopedia is available on the Web at http://plato.stanford.edu/

The Web site also includes a paper describing the creation and maintenance of dynamic encyclopedias. "A Solution to the Problem of Updating Encyclopedias" by Eric M. Hammer and Edward N. Zalta is available at http://plato.stanford.edu/solution/solution.html

For more information on the encyclopedia, contact Edward N. Zalta, Principal Editor; email: editors@plato.stanford.edu; Web: http://mally.stanford.edu/zalta.html

For more information on CSLI, contact the Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, Ventura 20, 220 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305-4115 USA; tel: 650-723-3084; email: csli@csli.stanford.edu; Web: http://www-csli.stanford.edu/csli/index.shtml

WEBZINE ON INTEGRATING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The Technology Source for Higher Education, published since March 1997 and edited by James L. Morrison (who also edits On the Horizon), features articles on the general topic of integrating information technology in higher education. Article categories include Vision, Commentary, Case Studies, Featured Products, and Web Site of the Month. The December issue's Commentary features an interview with Carol Twigg, Vice-president of Educom, focusing on the ways in which she believes the uses of technology in higher education will progress in the future. The Case Studies article explores the use of technology in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. The site also includes a collection of resources on online learning.

The Technology Source is available at no cost on the Web at http://www.microsoft.com/education/hed/news/
Readers can sign up for a monthly email announcement that describes the current issue.

For more information, contact James L. Morrison, Professor of Educational Leadership and Microsoft Scholar, CB 3500 Peabody Hall, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3500 USA; tel: 919-962-2517; fax: 919 962-1693; email: morrison@unc.edu; Web: http://sunsite.unc.edu/horizon/bios/Morrison.html

On the Horizon [ISSN 1085-4959] is a newsletter that examines trends and events affecting the future of education. For more information see http://sunsite.unc.edu/horizon/

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY PAPERS AND BOOK ONLINE

Robert Jensen, the Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, has a collection of working papers on the Web that cover instructional technology topics of interest to professors in any discipline. Two recent additions to the site are "Network Databases: Past, Present, and Future" and "Asynchronous Learning Networks." These papers and others are available on the Web at http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/

The site also includes an ongoing book project -- Electronic Teaching and Learning: Trends in Adapting to Hypertext, Hypermedia, and Networks in Higher Education -- that Jensen is co-authoring with Professor Petrea K. Sandlin, Director of Accounting Programs at Trinity University. The completed chapters are available at http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245cont.htm

For more information contact Professor Robert E. Jensen, Department of Business Administration, 715 Stadium Drive, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200 USA; tel: 210-736-7347; fax: 210-736-8134; email: rjensen@trinity.edu