[ED-TECH] First Lunch and Learn, Monday, Feb 6, 12:20 PM - April Mann

Ed-Tech mailing list members,

 

Registration is now open for the first Lunch and Learn session for Spring 2006.  Go to www.snurl.com/aprilmann to fill out the registration form.  If you have trouble with that link, go to www.miami.edu/iac and click on the Lunch and Learn Series menu item.

 

April Mann, one of the 2005 Excellence in Teaching Award winners, will be talking about "The Personal Course Guide."  This is a learning activity that could be applied to every course, in my opinion, and it could increase in student learning.  What really makes this session exciting, to me, is that it focuses on student learning.  When teaching, we often focus on course content, teaching techniques, or assessment processes.  We often lack a clear answer to the question, "How do students learn in this course?"  In April's learning activity, students distill the most important information in the course as well as their learning goals, down to a single page.  This process, repeated during the course, helps them to learn what the course is about, and how it is relevant to their lives.  April will do a much better job of explaining things.

 

I encourage you to come and participate in this lunch and learn session.  The session will be recorded and made available on the www.miami.edu/iac > Lunch and Learn Series page for those who cannot attend,  

 

Lunch will be served. Registration is limited and required.  If you will be attending, please note the starting time (12:20 PM) and the location (Whitten Student Union, Room 226-A/Flamingo Ballroom).

 

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

 

 

Apple does coursecasting

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLE MOVES INTO COURSECASTING

Apple Computer will allow colleges to set up customized portions of the iTunes Music Store to distribute course content and other audio and video material. The free service, announced on Monday, will let institutions limit use of some materials to certain people and make other content available to all.

From 1/25/2006 Daily Report from the Chronicle of Higher Education

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

Rise in absenteeism

This report, from EDUPAGE, discusses a drop in attendance as lecture notes are posted on-line.  The pop quiz response seems totally wrong.  Rather than threatening the students, why not recognize that they can learn much of the material without hearing it live in a classroom.  How can the classroom time be used to enhance learning?  If the time is valuable, the students will attend, in my opinion. 

SOME FACULTY SEE DOWNSIDE OF TECHNOLOGY

Despite the obvious benefits of putting lecture materials online, some faculty have seen a sharp rise in absenteeism that results from students' having access to class content over their computers. Terre Allen, a communication studies scholar at Cal State Long Beach, said that when she posted most of her notes online, attendance in her classes dropped from about 65 percent to only about 35 percent. "Too much online instruction is a bad thing," she said. Faculty at other institutions have reported similar drops in attendance when lecture notes are available on the Web, and many have adjusted their approach to teaching in an attempt to deal with the change. Some, like Lee Ohanian, an economics professor at UCLA, only post selections from lecture notes. Others have resorted to giving more pop quizzes, including test questions that specifically are not covered in the notes posted online, and offering extra credit to students who show up for class.

Los Angeles Times, 17 January 2006

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-noshow17jan17,1,3883942.story

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[ED-TECH] Bill Gates and Steve Jobs keynotes

Ed-Tech list members,

 

You might enjoy watching Bill Gates' keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show and Steve Jobs' MacWorld presentation of the new Macintosh computers with Intel chips inside.

 

Bill Gates: http://www.microsoft.com/events/executives/billgates.mspx

Steve Jobs: http://macworld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/mw/index.html

 

Bill Vilberg

[ED-TECH] WMF Windows exploit

STATUS REPORT:

 

There is a new technique that "bad people" are using on the Internet in order to get things placed onto your Windows computer. 

 

The process occurs when you access a web page containing this "WMF exploit."  This can be done from ANY web browser, so Firefox users are not automatically safe. 

 

This can also happen if you view e-mail that has pictures or other objects from an infected site.  When the message is viewed, the material is stored on your computer.  The material can be of any type, including key loggers and other spyware. 

 

It affects all versions of Windows back to at least Windows 95.  It only affects Windows machines, so Macintosh users are safe, as usual.

 

RECOMMENDATION:

 

1. If you have a computer that is being managed by someone else, don't worry about it.  The manager of your computer has probably already taken steps to protect your computer.  UM has notified all system managers, so there is no need for you to notify your local manager.

 

2. If you do not have administrator privileges on your computer, you are apparently safe.  The installation of the bad stuff will fail, I guess.

 

3. If you have a computer that you manage, say at home or, in some cases, on your desktop at work, I suggest the following step.  

 

NOTES:  On Tuesday, January, 10, Microsoft is expected to release a patch for this exploit.  If you are reading this on or after that day, just run Windows update you should be protected.  I will update my www.snurl.com/mysecurity page as I gather more information.

 

And, of course, I am only making a recommendation.  This is something that I did on my computers, but I can't guarantee that it won't cause problems on your computer. 

 

Again, if someone manages your computer, DO NOT do this yourself.  He or she might have a different way of dealing with this exploit.

 

Finally, the patch listed below does not work with Windows 98 or Windows 95 or, I think, Windows ME. Check the listed web page for complete details.

 

ACTION RECOMMENDATION: Go to http://www.grc.com/sn/notes-020.htm and download Ilfak's WMF patch utility from GRC.  Install it.  Reboot your computer.  That will protect you. Once Microsoft offers a permanent patch, probably on Tuesday,  you can remove Ilfak's patch using Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.  There is also a program there to test whether you are vulnerable.

 

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)