UPFRONT - OmniSight Revisited
ED ISSUES Florida Gulf Faculty/DE Concerns, Reclaiming ID
ETC.E-print/Print?
NEW TECH TRENDSSingle Electron Transistors
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS Wisconsin DE Conferences
FYI News, Conferences, Institutes

UPFRONT
OmniSight Revisited

OMNISIGHT REVISITED - After reading the NEW TECH TRENDS section in the June issue of DESIEN, Robert Skorczewski, Outreach Program Manager, Office of Outreach & Extension, UW-Green Bay emailed the company and asked for more information. Following is the answer he received:

Bob, First of all, thank you for your inquiry and request for more information. We have received a very good level of interest on the OmniSight System stemming from Ilia's article.

I commend you on your grasp of the OmniSight concept. Reading through your previous emails to your colleagues, I see that you understand the extensive benefits that the system provides. You are correct in saying that the OmniSightTM simplifies videoconferencing/distance learning sessions (in addition, it can be used to archive single-site meetings by connecting it to a standard VCR). It is ideal in the setting that you describe, providing a hands-free/hassle-free control capability, 360-degree viewing of all remote participants and an instantaneous speaker tracking capability. Also, since the video coming from the OmniSightTM is a single composite signal, just as your existing camera, it is designed to plug into an existing videoconferencing system. In fact, an existing camera can be utilized as an additional video source; this is an ideal capability for the graphics camera as mentioned by Ron Weseloh (UW-Stevens Point) in his email of July 2. The user can switch between sources with the OmniSight.

We are now in the Beta Test stage with the OmniSightTM that will finalize the system design; we are expecting to begin shipping the product in October this year. We will be selling the OmniSightTM through the reseller channels so I can't quote you an exact price, but I can tell you that the list/suggested retail price is $18K. If displays/monitors are required, these are additional. Discounts for quantities of systems will depend on the reseller, of course. We plan to begin receiving orders in August. Until then, we are accepting Letters of Interest, which will establish a position in the cue for orders.

I invite you to check out our web site at www.i-sight.com. Here you will find more information on the OmniSightTM as well as iSight (including other original technologies and patents). Please phone me at 972.714.3588 or drop me an email at kevin@i-sight or kpc1st@aol.com to let me know of anything additional that you may need. I look forward to hearing form you soon.

Kevin Callaghan, President, iSight, Inc.

ED ISSUES
Florida Gulf Faculty/DE Concerns, Reclaiming ID

FLORIDA FACULTY CONCERNS - A recent survey of faculty at Florida Gulf Coast University - designed and built as a testing ground for Internet-based distance learning - found 54% of faculty disagreeing with the statement that "distance learning is an effective alternative to traditional instruction," while only 29% of students disagreed. Professors' complaints focused on the extra amount of time teaching a distance learning class requires, primarily due to voluminous e-mail and chat room exchanges. As a result the union leaders plan to ask administrators to give more credit for teaching large distance-learning sections.

The professors also questioned: the effectiveness of electronic classes for younger, less motivated students; the appropriateness for classes that require hands-on training, the lack of faculty input into the process and the loss of control over content when it is adapted with the assistance of team talents, making intellectual property rights less clear-cut.

Administrators believe that the concerns relate to the stresses cultural changes are having on the traditional university and to adjustment and management of learner-centered, larger classes. The believe that these concerns will be resolved as faculty learn how to work with larger numbers of students, integrate interaction and manage responses.

In the wake of the survey, the university is considering faculty focus groups to explore the concerns. At present 16% of FGCU courses are taught on the Web, with the hope of boosting that percentage to 25%. Distance Learning is viewed as a promising way to handle the wave of students who are expected to lift enrollments at the state's public universities 35% or more by 2010. Distance learning could help limit spending needed for new buildings. (Wall Street Journal 15 Jul 98)

 

RECLAIMING INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN "We need to wake up and recognize that information is not instruction. There is this belief that all you need for learning is information and collaboration: Put enough people and enough information on the Web, and learning will happen...There isn't enough guidance and structure there [on the Internet] for someone to learn a systematic body of knowledge." These and similar remarks were made by instructional technology pioneer M. David Merrill in a recently-published interview ["Wake Up! (And Reclaim Instructional Design)" by Ron Zemke in TRAINING, vol. 35, no. 6, June 1998, pp. 36-38, 40, 42]. Merrill, professor of instructional technology at Utah State University, has been a researcher, teacher, and practitioner in instructional design for over three decades. He is a critic of what he terms "wild speculation and philosophical extremism" in instructional design. Last year he (along with others from Utah State's ID2 Research Group) wrote "Reclaiming Instructional Design," a paper which attempts to steer the field of instructional design back to its scientific roots. The paper is available on the Web at: http://www.coe.usu.edu/it/id2/reclaim.html

ETC.
E-print/Print? No More Media Elite, Catalog of OnLine Textbooks

E-PRINT OR PRINT? - As scholars increasingly post drafts of articles on the net for peer comment, scholarly journal publishers are asking which version of an article - electronic e-prints or the print piece - is the "authentic" one? E-prints appear to be gaining favor, as more and more journal publishers agree to publish articles that previously appeared in e-print form. "We do think that the (e)-print server concept is very much the wave of the future," says Mark Mandelbaum, director of publications for the Association for Computing Machinery. ACM is finalizing plans for its own e-print server, to speed up the peer review process. (Chronicle of Higher Education 17 Jul 98)

 

NO MORE MEDIA ELITE - The economist and journalist Robert J. Samuelson says that new communications and computer technologies threaten the incomes, social importance and political influence of the so-called "media elite" who run the TV networks and large newspapers. One evidence for his statement is a survey from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, showing a startling eclipse of TV networks' nightly news programs, which were regularly watched in 1993 by 60% of Americans over 18, compared to only 38% in 1998. Similarly, Internet use has soared: in 1995, 4% of adults went online to get news once a week, compared to 20% today. (Washington Post 8 Jul 98)

 

WEB CATALOG OF ONLINE TEXTBOOKS - Lynn Nelson, Professor of Sociology and Political Science at Virginia Commonwealth University, is creating the ConnecText Catalog, a registry where authors of online, university-level textbooks can list their works. The Catalog seeks to be a forum for bringing together authors of electronic publications and professors who are seeking texts for adoption in their courses. The initial listing of entries will be available by July 15, 1998. The service is free and can be accessed at http://www.connectext.com/

To submit information about your online textbook, complete the submission form at http://www.connectext.com/descrip.htm

NEW TECH TRENDS
Single-Electron Transistors/Quantum Leap, JINI Magic, Wireless Revolution, Tiny Turbines to Power Laptops

SINGLE-ELECTRON TRANSISTORS MAKE QUANTUM LEAP
Researchers at Yale University have created an ultrafast, single-electron transistor that could lead to the development of "quantum" computers the size of a thumbtack with supercomputer powers. The breakthrough involves inducing a tiny part of the transistor to "resonate" with the arrival of each electron. That resonance creates a way to track each electron and also gives an extra push to the electrons as they're moving through the switch, making it 1,000 times faster than any previous device. The first applications of the device will likely be in astronomy and microscopy. (Business Week 6 Jul 98)

 

JINI MAGIC - Sun Microsystems has announced a product, JINI, which uses Sun's Java programming language to allow "distributed computing" across potentially millions of digital computing devices, including palm-size computers, mainframes, telephones, TVs, stereos, kitchen appliances, automobiles, heating and air conditioning systems, etc. University of Pennsylvania computer scientist David Farber says: "We now have all the ingredients to build a distributed computing fabric which approaches science fiction. You will be able to sit with your laptop and it will be able to reach out across the network - and for the moments you need the power, it will become the largest supercomputer in the world." (New York Times 15 Jul 98)

 

WIRELESS REVOLUTION - The Yankee Group telecommunications research staff predict that by 2005 wireless phones will account for 20% of worldwide phone traffic, up from 4% in 1997. Evidence of this trend? BellSouth reports that in Louisiana 15% of its wireless customers don't have a regular phone and 65% use their wireless phones at home, up 56% from last year. (USA Today 10 Jul 98)

 

TINY TURBINES TO POWER LAPTOPS - Scientists at MIT's gas-turbine lab predict that sometime around 2000, engines the size of shirt buttons will begin replacing the batteries now powering handheld computers, cell phones and camcorders. Lab director Alan Epstein says a turbine-driven power pack could be made about 25% smaller than today's lithium batteries and last twice as long between refuelings. The MIT model resembles a miniature jet engine and runs on butane. The U.S. Army, which is funding the research, is planning to use the new engines to power GPS receivers, night-vision goggles and other military gear. (Business Week 13 Jul 98)

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wisconsin DE Conferences

DISTANCE LEARNING '98 - Just a reminder that the 14th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning is coming up August 5-7 at the Marriott Madison West. The program features more than 100 breakout sessions and workshops, emphasizing:

• Best practices for effective applications
  
• Planning and management guidelines
  
• Successful teaching methods
  
• Course designs for active and collaborative learning
  
• Audio, video and Internet/Web technology (also more than 50 exhibitors)

For the complete program, visit the Web site at http://www.uwex.edu/disted/distanceconf/deconf.html For a printed brochure e-mail distel@soemadison.wisc.edu with your postal address or call 608-265-4159.

 

GWETC CONFERENCE REMINDER - Make your plans now to attend the Governor's Wisconsin Educational Technology Conference (GWETC) at the Regency Conference Center in Green Bay on October 6-8, 1998. Conference Emphasis: Day One - Higher Education; Day Two - All Levels of Education; Day Three - PK-12. The Conference includes:

• Keynote speakers
  
• More than 120 sessions
  
• Practical applications of technology
  
• 60 plus exhibits that will feature best practices, innovative projects and the newest tools for teaching and learning and hands-on workshops and demonstrate new ways of using technology in education.

For further information call 608-164-9724 or visit: www.wetc-wi.org.

FYI
News, Conferences, Institutes

ED-MEDIA/ED-TELECOM 99 - The World Conference on Educational Multimedia/Hypermedia and Educational Telecommunications is scheduled for June 19-24, 1999 * in Seattle, Washington. The Call for Papers Deadline is October 11, 1998. The conference is sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) and is a multi-disciplinary forum for the discussion and exchange of information on the research, development and applications on all topics related to multimedia/hypermedia and distance education. It spans all disciplines and levels of education and attracts more than 1,000 attendees from over 50 countries. Companies or institutions offering multimedia/hypermedia products/services are invited to exhibit. Accepted papers will be published in the Proceedings Book and on CD-ROM. Selected papers will be invited for publication in several other journals, see: http://www.aace.org/pubs. Further information see: http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/call99.html