UW NEWS - Additional Funding for the Pyle Center, Community of Science (COS) database
COPYRIGHT - Copyright and Fair Use Guide, Consortium of College and University Media Centers (CCUMC)
ETC. - Web Site Design for the Blind, APWare for Toddlers
GLOBAL REACH - Worldwide Education Research Group
FYI - Conferences, Institutes and Events

UW NEWS
Additional Funding for the Pyle Center
Community of Science (COs) Database

Thomas and Judith Pyle recently donated $400,000 to the Pyle Center Technology Endowment Fund. This is in addition to their initial $2 million building naming gift. The generous contribution will assure that the university distance education and conference center will have the latest in technology and will be acknowledged by the naming of two rooms after the Pyle family. Building construction will be completed in November of 1998. A cornerstone-laying meeting is scheduled for June 4 and a grand opening/dedication will coincide with the February, 1999 Board of Regents meeting. (Extension News & Ideas, 5-3, 2 April 98)

In a systemwide initiative, UW faculty and staff will add current knowledge and expertise to a World Wide Web database that will become part of a national "Community of Science" (COs). In this reciprocal effort, UW faculty and staff will also have access to databases created by other institutions. A new service, Funding Alert, will automatically match database entries and notify the participants. (Extension News & Ideas, 5-3, 2 April 98)

COPYRIGHT
Copyright and Fair Use Guide
Consortium of College and Univ. Media Centers (CCUMC)

The University System of Georgia has published a copyright and fair use guide, which includes the copyright areas of multimedia, distance learning and web based instruction. The guide can be found at: http://www.peachnet.edu/admin/legal/copyright/.

The CCUMC will bring together diverse points of view to negotiate an understanding of fair use for creating multimedia projects. For the full report and related materials see: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/confu/. This viewpoint strongly favors returning to the flexibility of fair use as established in the law, and not as defined in guidelines developed by private parties. Indiana U has also developed a new policy. For that policy visit: http://www.iupui.edu/it/copyinfo.

GLOBAL REACH
Worldwide Education Research Group

The Worldwide Education Research Group, Division for Eastern European Educational Affairs, is representing educational institutions from countries of the former USSR such as Russia, Ukraine, Maldova, Belorus, etc. by establishing and maintaining affiliations with educational institutions and organizations in the USA and Canada.

The group is developing international collaborative research programs, facilitating student and faculty exchanges with affiliated colleges, universities, academies and research institutes. It is providing high quality educational consultative service for individuals, who are interested in studying abroad with traditional and non-traditional educational approaches. Experts in educational structure and system in those countries, their advice might be useful and helpful for your educational activities (for example - foreign academic credentials interpretation and evaluation service, etc.). For further information email: smartway@juno.com

ETC
Web site Design for the Blind
APWare for Toddlers

There are a steadily growing number of the half-million blind people nationwide who regularly use computers for work, education and pleasure. Technological breakthroughs are occurring almost daily in text-to-voice scanners, Braille printers and specially designed software to help overcome the barriers of icons and other graphics of the visually oriented World Wide Web. Recently, Blind Industries and Services of Maryland in Baltimore opened a fully accessible site, including graphics, that contains information for both blind and sighted people at: http://www.bism.com/. The site was specifically designed to include graphics, "We didn't want just a plain boring screen because sighted people use the site as well." Creating the graphics-friendly site required "a lot of major revisions" of conventional Internet design concepts. (Washington Post 4 Apr 98)

Children's software maker Knowledge Adventure is introducing JumpStart Baby, described as "lapware" for infants aged nine months to two years. The program features an animated teddy bear that plays hide-and-seek to teach word recognition and is designed to give children "a great sense of satisfaction to do something and see a reaction," says Knowledge Adventure president Larry Gross. Gross notes that the product was created in response to numerous requests from parents who wanted to give their children a technological head start in life, but some early childhood experts warn that exposing children to the fast-moving images of computers and television is "the most likely culprit" in the rising number of attention disorders. Whether computer use by toddlers is beneficial or detrimental to their development has yet to proven by researchers, but as one industry executive puts it: "Parents think computers will help their kids get into Harvard." (Wall Street Journal 2 Apr 98)

FYI
Conferences, Institutes, and Events

The International Conference on Mathematics/Science Education & Technology, March 1-4, 1999 at the San Antonio Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas is issuing a Call for Participation. The conference is hosted by the University of Houston, University of Texas-San Antonio, and sponsored by the Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching (JCMST) and the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). For further information visit the Web sites: http://www.aace.org and http://www.aace.org/pubs/jcmst.

HTML '98 - Learn the Languages of the World Wide Web, April 20th - 21st, Westin Hotel, Waltham, MA. Sessions will include: HTML Basics Tutorial, UNIX & Security for the World Wide Web, Building CGI Scripts and JAVA Tutorial. You'll leave this session with the expertise to build Web pages using HTML for publication on the World Wide Web. Full seminar: $580, One Session $220, Two Sessions: $350, Three Sessions: $480. Group discounts and non-profit rates are available. For more information call: 703-461-3688, email: html98@eih.com or visit the Web site: http://www.eih.com

The Journal of Distance Learning Administration is seeking original manuscripts with specific focus or implications for the management of distance education programs. The online journal is issued quarterly and published by the State University of West Georgia. All articles will be reviewed by two or three persons with expertise in the area of focus. For the Web Address of Publication visit the Web site: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/jmain11.html. Manuscripts can be submitted in WordPerfect or Microsoft Word and should conform as much as possible to APA style. All submissions should be preceded by a header containing the title of the manuscript, the name of the author, any affiliations, mail, email addresses and telephone numbers. Articles may be submitted via email to: jgubbins@westga.edu. Deadline for the Summer 1998 issue is May 15. (AP 31 Mar 98)

The Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) will host its third annual summer Institute for the Management of Distance Education (MDE), June 1-5, 1998, in Boulder Colorado. This week-long residential program is designed for university and community college educators who have recently assumed major management responsibilities for distance education within their organizations. Institute fee is $1,650 per participant. This covers four nights single lodging, meals and all Institute instructional materials. The deadline for registration is April 30th. For further information call: 303-541-0306, email: SusanaFannon@wiche.edu or see Test: http://www.wiche.edu/Telecom/events /98mde.htm.

The 4th Annual Teaching, Learning and Technology Roundtable (TLTR) Summer Institute, "Visions, Paths and Support" will be held at the Phoenix Hilton, Phoenix, Arizona, July 11-14, 1998. The purpose of the Institute is to help colleges and universities improve teaching and learning through more thoughtful and cost-effective uses of information technology. To receive a registration form, price guide, and agenda call: 202-293-6440 ext. 51 or email: church@tltgroup.org.