Hundreds of universities, and a growing number of business schools, are making recordings of lectures, seminars and conferences available to the general public via Web sites such as iTunes and YouTube.
"It's not known exactly how much in uncollected taxes is due to states from
online sales, but a 2009 study from the University of Tennessee estimated that
it could total $10.14 billion this year, assuming total e-commerce sales of
$3.49 trillion. Only a fraction of this owed tax would result from consumer
purchases, however, because most e-commerce sales are from one business to
another."
It's the latest chapter in an evolving debate about the place of innovation in higher education. Is outsourcing teaching -- especially for huge and often poorly run introductory courses -- a way for colleges to catch up with other industries and rein in out-of-control costs? Or does it mean gutting what makes universities special?
This article talks about providing internet access and computer training to lower income families and non-computer savvy people being included in the National Broadband stimulus plan.
Article talks about how RIAA can have the federal government issue subpoenas by simply making allegations of infringement and requiring University administrators to turn over the IP address owners of the guilty parties. This ability conflicts with peoples' right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty. To fight this, the adminstrators are shuffling IP addresses among different individuals regularly so that they can honestly say that they have no identifying information to provide.
Article discusses how the RIAA is issuing letters to suspected copyright infringing music downloaders and sharers and asking them to turn themselves in and pay a reduced fine, which will still be in the thousands of dollars, or else they will sue them for all they have or might ever have. Lawyer from University of Southern California talks about how letters are actually just "cease and desist letters" and that suspected offenders might not want to turn themselves in because the RIAA might not be able to find out their identities otherwise since many schools ISP's are not keeping track of or releasing students' names, personally identifiable IP addresses, or other information.
This short article hits on a small portion of our course discussion material for the week-- academic integrity in online education. The article discusses some of the issues with cheating online, and makes some suggestions as to who the responsibility falls on. It also brings up some less-known issues surrounding online education, such as "diploma mills" and universities' negligence of their online students. Enjoy!
Mark, I found this article interesting. I totally agree that online learning has opened new avenues for con-men. I see ads and get spam mail regarding online degrees. I disagree with the last section on the cost of the online classes. Burks addressed this issue in a reply to someone on our class discussion board. It is more expensive than we realize to run an online class program. I wish I could call to mind some of the cost issues involved. Perhaps Burks will comment on this.
This article covers research by Turku University on the effects of cyberbullying. The text explains the possible negative effects that online bullying can have on the victims as well as the bullies themselves. I found it interesting and somewhat sad that teens can't get away from bullies anymore-- while being home and out of school was often a getaway from bothersome peers, that is becoming less and less the case.
This article relates to class discussions on social media and the classroom. It was in yesterday's Wall Street Journal's Personal Journal section. Major corporations are turning to universities and colleges to reach a younger, tech saavy generation to market their products. Instructors are anxious to work with these companies to let their students gain experience and knowledge of marketing with the new technologies.