UPFRONT - Wisconsin ADL Co-Lab Looks at Intelligent Tutoring Systems
FOCUS ­ Intelligent Tutoring Systems by Dr. Kurt Steuck
LINES ­ Compiled from News Releases
WISCONSIN - GWETC Keynote Speakers Announced
ED ­ The State of Distance Education in the US, College Web Sites Gain Acknowledgment, Neural Networks May Transform College Planning, Four-Part Prediction Series (cont'd)
BIZ/ED ­ Free On-line University, Program Will Train Jobless for Tech Posts, The ABCs of e-Business
NEW TECH ­ Vision for Jerry
ISSUES - Rural Areas May Lag Behind, Dorgan Fears Digital Divide for America's Rural Area, Teachers-Online, But
Disconnected
READS ­ Lifelong Learning Trends, Guidebook for Managing Technological Change in Higher Education
RESOURCES ­ New! Academy Online
AWARDS - Announcing the "Tom Creed Compassionate Pioneer Award"
NEW ON THE LIST ­ New Subscribers
FYI - News, Institutes, Conferences
ENDNOTE ­ Click, Brick and Click-Brick

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UPFRONT WISCONSIN ADL CO-LAB LOOKS AT INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEMS - On March 24, at the Pyle Center, Madison, WI, the Wisconsin Advanced Distributed Learning CO-Lab (WI ADL CO-Lab), a newly organized collaborative project involving the UW System, the Wisconsin Technical College System and the Department of Defense, hosted a day-long symposium on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). ITSs are research-based software designed to teach students, track their progress and provide intelligent feedback.

Three ITSs were demonstrated at the symposium: Word Problem Tutor (WPS), Writing Process Tutor (Maestro) and Science Tutor (ISIS). These systems offer great potential for positive impact on literacy skills, mathematics, writing and science for the educational community and industry. Below is a summary of these three ITSs by the symposium presenter, Dr. Kurt Steuck of the Air Force Research Laboratory. For more information on the WI ADL CO-Lab see: http://www.wiadlcolab.org/

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FOCUS
Intelligent Tutoring Systems
Dr. Kurt Steuck
Air Force Research Laboratory/HEAI

Since 1990, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), with strong support from the other AFRL research sites Ð Phillips, NM, Rome NY, and Wright, OH, as well as the University of Texas at San Antonio, has been engaged in a long-term research project. This project brings state-of-the-art intelligent tutoring technology to bear on our nation's growing literacy skills problems in areas such as mathematics, writing, evaluation and transfer prototype intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) to public schools and, when appropriate, to industry under federal technology transfer guidelines.

The first tutor, the Word Problem Solving Tutor (WPS), teaches general problem solving strategies, as well as how to solve specific word problems. WPS has been tested since 1992 in some of the largest field studies of educational technology ever conducted. Students at secondary and middle schools in Ohio, Texas, New Mexico, New York and Pennsylvania participated in these studies. Students using the math tutor improved their word problem solving skills up to 29%. This outcome is highly significant in that it matches or exceeds similar effects reported in the research literature.

MAESTRO, the Writing Process Tutor is the second program. It facilitates the development of basic writing process skills. This tutor guides students through the prewriting, drafting, revision and editing phases of the writing process, while helping them structure writing activities and develop the cognitive skills used in writing. Full-scale field evaluations in over 20 schools, representing a wide variety of student populations including one community college, began in September 1993. Results over the last six years show students who used the writing tutor improved their overall skills up to 26%.

The third tutor, Instruction in Scientific Inquiry Skills (ISIS), focuses on the development of students' scientific inquiry skills. ISIS teaches the scientific method using ecology as the domain content. Evaluation of this tutor began in October 1994 and is ongoing in over 25 schools across the nation. Research findings indicate that students who used the science tutor improved their scientific inquiry skills up to 11%.

The Government and public education play significant roles in this research effort. Our current partnerships include a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRDA) between the Human Effectiveness Directorate of AFRL and the University of Texas at San Antonio. AFRL collaborates with 40 schools in Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania on the implementation of these tutoring systems. In 1997, AFRL began a long-term collaboration with the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA). This collaboration has formed the foundation of a follow- up project, the Sustainable Intelligent Training Systems for Global Mission Applications (SIGMA) project.

In the SIGMA project, AFRL is developing and evaluating the delivery of intelligent training systems via the Internet. The initial effort in this project is to develop and test an internet-based version of MAESTRO: The Writing Process tutor. In order to fully investigate the use of intelligent tutors in adult education and training settings, AFRL has implemented the FST software in six Job Corps Centers in Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, Minnesota and Arkansas. For these and other adult education settings, AFRL has extended the curriculum of the writing tutor to include instruction on forms of practical writing: business letters, memos, electronic mail and cover letters for job applications. When the Internet version of the writing tutor is available, the DOLETA funded centers will participate in the evaluation studies. ______________________________________________________________________

LINES

- In an attempt to look at the lack of IT knowledge among educators, Microsoft will donate $344 million in software and Intel will invest $100 million in cash equipment and other resources for training nearly 400,000 teachers in the U.S. and abroad. They will do this through a jointly designed program called Teach to the Future. This three- year program was developed to instruct teachers on how to use computers and integrate technology into class curriculum. The program is patterned after their earlier train-the-trainer model, Applying Computers in Education. Through Teach to the Future, 100 master teachers will be trained annually who will each train at least 20 additional teachers. (Government Computer News/State & Local Mar 00)

- Lucent's Bell Labs have set a new record for transmitting data over fiber-optic cable by moving 3.28 terabits per second of data over 300 kilometers of Lucent's TrueWave optical fiber. At this speed, Lucent's fiber in one second could transmit three times the volume of daily Internet traffic for the whole world. Within years, fiber-optic cable could move tens of thousands of terabits per second of data. (Wired News 21 Mar 00)

- An increasing number of universities are trying to find space in the corporate-dominated distance learning market through partnerships and venture startups with technology companies. Recent additions to the field are the University of Michigan Business, Columbia University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Stanford University, Duke University, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Critics fear this trend will sacrifice quality in favor of revenue. (RedHerring.com, 15 Mar 00)

- Epylon.com will launch an e-commerce site that targets public schools, a largely ignored but potentially profitable sector of the Web market. According to the company, this will help school districts decrease administrative costs, obtain products faster and reduce the amount of time spent processing and fulfilling purchase orders, "ultimately allow(ing) the dollars to go to the classroom," claims Epylon CEO Stephen George. (Cnet, 21 Mar 00)

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WISCONSIN

GWETC 2000 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED - Mark your calendars for October 10-12, 2000 for The Governor's Wisconsin Educational Technology Conference - 2000 (GWETC '00). Keynote Speakers for the event, to be held at the Dane County Expo Center and Sheraton Hotel, Madison WI, have just been announced by the Conference Steering Committee.

Day One - Higher Education Day - Edward D. Barlow. Edward is a faulty member at the University of San Francisco School of Education and has also taught in elementary and secondary institutions. As President of Creating the Future, Inc., he is a sought-after speaker, think-tank facilitator and strategic planning consultant. Edward holds an MA from the University of Notre Dame and has held executive positions in business, healthcare and education. He is recognized for his knowledge and versatility in relating the influences of a changing world to education and industry.

Day Two - All Levels of Education - Dr. James E. Schnitz is Education Strategy Executive, IBM Corporation. Dr. Schnitz received both of his graduate degrees from Northwestern University and prior to taking his present position at IBM, taught public school in Chicago and Northlake, IL, supervised student teachers at Northwestern University and was an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Following his professorship in San Antonio, he became Vice President of Education Strategy at Jostens Learning Corporation. He has been Education Strategy Executive for IBM since 1994.

Day Three - PreK-12 - Mary Moen, a former Madison West High School teacher has 30 years of experience as a course designer and teacher of Mass Media and Media Literacy. She is presently working with the Discovery Channel. While a teacher at West High, Mary received "The CBS and Boston University National Award for Teaching Television in the Classroom," the "Wisconsin Communications Association Award for Outstanding High School Teacher of Communications" and the "Herb Kohl Achievement Award for Teaching Excellence." For more information on the conference visit the Web site at: http://www.gwetc.org.

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ED

THE STATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION IN THE U.S. - "Distance Education at Postsecondary Education Institutions: 1997-98," a recently- release report from the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), "provides estimates of the number of institutions offering distance education courses, the number of distance education course offerings and enrollments (by field of study and instructional level) and the number of degree and certification programs offered. It also looks at the types of technologies used to deliver education over a distance and at how tuition and fees for distance education compare with those for on-campus courses." 5,010 public and private postsecondary institutions were surveyed. Trend information is provided with the inclusion of data covering 1994-95 that was collected for an earlier report.

The complete report is available in PDF format on the Web at: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000013.

NCES is part of the U.S. Department of Education. It is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data that are related to education in the United States and other nations. For more information and links to other NCES reports, link to: http://nces.ed.gov/ (CIT INFOBITS Mar 00 No. 21)

COLLEGE WEB SITES GAIN ACKNOWLEDGMENT - According to college administrators, college Web sites are the third most important source of information for prospective students, subordinate only to campus visits and face to face conversations with other students. These educators believe that the university Web sites are not only important but also efficient communication tools that will eventually replace traditional methods of promotion, like brochures and guidebooks. (Washington Post, 28 Mar 00)

NEURAL NETWORKS MAY TRANSFORM COLLEGE PLANNING - Johns Hopkins University is testing the use of an artificial neural network to determine which applicants are likely to enroll in the school. The neural network is a statistical model that imitates the ability of neurons in the human brain to learn patterns. By looking for patterns in student data, the neural network finds the common characteristics of applicants who enroll at Hopkins. Admissions officers could use the neural network to predict which students are likely to enroll and which are not, using the information to decide how many students to accept to ensure a full class. Richard Reeves, who invented Hopkins' neural network last spring using StatSoft's Statistica software, says 50 percent of universities will use neural networks in 10 years. Although colleges already use statistical models to predict how many students will enroll, tests at Hopkins showed that the traditional model had an error rate of 6 percent while the neural network had an error rate of 3 percent. The technology used in neural networks has been available for many years, but only recently have hardware and software become powerful enough and cheap enough to make neural networks viable for common use. (Chronicle of Higher Education, 24 Mar 00 Ð Edupage 27 Mar 00)

FOUR-PART PREDICTION SERIES (cont'd) - 16 Predictions for Higher Education

5 - The distinction between distance and local education will be blurred. Almost all courses will be digitally enhanced. There will be a small group of colleges that will carve out a market niche by maintaining "live faculty instruction" in their course delivery.

6 - Seamless education between high school, undergraduate college and graduate programs will be the norm. Incentives will be given to students and institutions to move students through their programs at a fast rate.

7 - The home-school movement will lead to a home-college movement.

8 - The remaining campus-based colleges and universities will increasingly move to responsibility-center management and will outsource many functions now done by the institution.

TO BE CONTINUED...(Samuel L. Dunn, VP for Academic Affairs and a professor business and mathematics at Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, ID)

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BIZ/ED FREE ON-LINE UNIVERSITY - Computer software billionaire Michael Saylor is donating $100 million to start an online university he says will offer a free "Ivy League" education to anyone. "Done right, this will impact the lives of millions of people forever," Saylor told The Washington Post in an interview. "Done wrong, it's just noise in a can." Saylor, 35, is chief executive of Microstrategy, a software company based in suburban Vienna, Va. His personal wealth actually dropped in the last few days, as the company lost ground on Wall Street. The news story is available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9402-2000Mar14.html (TechLearn Trends #164 23 Mar 00)

PROGRAM WILL TRAIN JOBLESS FOR TECH POSTS - The Labor Department yesterday announced a $20 million training program aimed at giving unemployed Washington, D.C. area workers technology skills. The Metro Tech program will prepare participants for entry-level jobs as computer programmers, help-desk workers and network administrators, with an average starting salary of $30,000 a year. Employers such as Lucent Technologies, Subsystems Technologies, and Social and Scientific Systems are working with the program and are already waiting to hire the trainees. The program has proved successful over the past two years in its pilot version, which placed about 200 people in IT jobs. In Northern Virginia alone, recent studies show that over 20,000 technology jobs are vacant. However, only about 10 percent of these openings are for entry-level positions, says Metro Tech board member Susan Baker. Rather than being hired directly by high-tech firms, most of the program's trainees will work in IT positions at non-tech companies, Baker says. (Washington Post, 24 Mar 00 - Edupage 24 Mar 00)

THE ABCs OF e-BUSINESS - The growth of e-business is forcing many IT and business managers to work together and learn about each other's side of the business. IT managers are studying finance, marketing, and sales, while business managers are learning about technology. Companies say business and IT managers need to share information in order to satisfy customers, operate efficiently and obtain a competitive edge. Today's economy requires a collaborative, horizontal business model rather than a hierarchical model. Collaboration often begins with greater communication between CEOs and CIOs. At First International Bank, CEO Brett Silvers meets daily with IT vice president John Garner to coordinate the company's move to e-business, whereas the two executives might have spoken once a month in the past. Colleges and universities are now responding to the need for cross-training. Stanford University's graduate school of business will start offering a three-day e-commerce program in September, while Bentley College plans to open an e-commerce education facility in July. (InformationWeek, 20 Mar 00 Ð Edupage 24 Mar 00)

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NEW TECH VISION FOR JERRY Ð Jerry lost his sight in an accident in 1974 when he was 36. Several years later he became part of an implant experiment, first at New York's Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and now at Dobelle Institute Inc. In the experiment, a printed-circuit board, about the size of a jumbo postage stamp, is implanted in Jerry's brain. The card has a grid of electrodes that stimulate the visual cortex, creating coarse black-and-white images. Individual electrodes are turned on and off on the basis of signals from a tiny TV camera mounted in the right lens of Jerry's sunglasses. The video images must be digitized and processed by a notebook computer on Jerry's belt or in a backpack. With his updated version, Jerry can now read two inch high letters from 5 feet away. He is also learning to read video signals from the computer so that he can access the Internet. (Remember that Jerry is totally blind.) It is hoped that with ongoing improvement, through experimentation and refinement at the Dobelle Institute, this device "will be able to provide significant function to blind people." (Business Week, 31 Jan 00)

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ISSUES

RURAL AREAS MAY LAG BEHIND - The Senate commerce, science, and transportation subcommittee met recently to discuss bringing broadband Internet access to rural areas enabling all U.S. consumers to participate in the Internet revolution. Providers routinely offer access to urban areas where demand is high enough to realize profits.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced legislation at the hearing, that would give a tax break to firms that invest in broadband networks in areas more than 10 miles from the closest town with 250,000 people or more. According to Rockefeller, rural areas are at a significant disadvantage technologically. (Financial Times, 29 Mar 00)

DORGAN FEARS DIGITAL DIVIDE FOR AMERICA'S RURAL AREAS - Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), the chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, is concerned with the level of concentration in the telecommunications industry, noting the AOL-Time Warner merger as one symptom. In fact, Dorgan says, there is concentration in more than one industry, and this merger is in response to others that came before. A strong antitrust force in the Justice Department will help dampen the merger fervor, he says. Dorgan expects broadband services will grow quickly, especially in population centers, but he also wants the buildup to be universal. Something must be done outside the market system to spread broadband to less-populated areas, he says, suggesting a broadband Rural Electrification Administration program. Dorgan intends to introduce a bill creating such a program, administered by the Public Utilities Service and offering low-interest loans. (Roll Call, 20 Mar 00 Ð Edupage 22 Mar 00)

TEACHERS-ONLINE, BUT DISCONNECTED - Simply putting computers in a classroom will not ensure that the equipment will be used to integrate technology appropriately into the curriculum. Teachers often spend many hours at home each night, trying to create computerized lessons. Many, however, avoid the the challenge altogether, lacking the knowledge or patience to successfully carry out the projects. While formal training is offered in some schools, along with access to technology specialists, the training is often not extensive enough. In addition, the specialists are often shared between numerous schools. Several groups are recommending ways for school districts to improve this situation: 1) placing a full-time specialist in every school, 2) building more planning time into teachers' schedules, 3) offering more comprehensive training classes and 4) enacting more stringent standards for technology competency. (Washington Post, 18 Mar 00)

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READS

GUIDEBOOK FOR MANAGING TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION - Anthony W. Bates, Director of Distance Education and Technology, Continuing Studies, University of British Columbia, has written a guide for helping faculty adapt to teaching with technology.

Managing Technological Change: Strategies for College and University Leaders covers winning faculty support, estimating costs, funding new systems and identifying risks of technologically-based teaching. Bates makes use of recent research and best-practice case studies, along with his own thirty years' experience in the field of teaching with technology.

More information, the table of contents and a sample chapter (Chapter 10: "Avoiding the Faustian Contract and Meeting the Technology Challenge") are available on the Jossey-Bass Publishers Website at: http://www.JosseyBass.com/catalog/isbn/0-7879-4681-8/. (CIT INFOBITS Mar 00 No. 21)

LIFELONG LEARNING TRENDS Ð This 6th edition of Lifelong Learning Trends will be published by the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA) in April 2000. It provides nearly 100 pages of data on the national trends that influence the fastest growing segment of American education: continuing higher education. Detailed statistics, graphics and analysis of trends illustrate: The Expanding Need for Lifelong Learning, The Changing Learner Profile, How Individuals & Employers are Financing Continuous Learning, How CE is Enhancing the Global Economy, Ways CE is promoting a Literate & Informed Society, Technology and Lifelong Learning. To order call UCEA: 202-659-3130 (UCEA infocus, vol. 5 (3) Mar 00)

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RESOURCES

Welcome to @cademyonline Issue 4.1!

@cademyonline is a free online publication that investigates the world of management education and online learning. Co-published by AACSB, the International Association for Management Education and University Access, @cademyonline contains profiles of online programs, opinions from business school thought-leaders and articles on timely issues affecting the management education field.

In this month's issue, the feature "Corporate Education Herald" has an in-depth interview with Bill Wiggenhorn, president of Motorola University. In "Stories From the Field", there is a look at how business schools are helping faculty teach online, and in "It's Academic", a report on the growing importance of intellectual property issues for business school faculties and administration is highlighted. Also take a look at "Think Tank" where you'll find a running list of all the online MBA programs in the world with links to each program.

For your free issue, go to http://www.academyonline.com and click the "Subscribe" button on the home page. (Christian Oliver Managing Editor, @cademyonline)

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AWARDS

ANNOUNCING THE "TOM CREED COMPASSIONATE PIONEER AWARD" - This award is for an individual in higher education who has been instrumental in using technology to help students learn and to help colleagues use information technology to further students' learning. The award criteria also reflect Creed's special abilities to make students' outside-the-classroom learning activities more effective, intellectually stimulating and enjoyable. The formal description of the award and the criteria for nominating an individual for the award can be found at: http://www.tltgroup.org/creed. Nominations are due May 1, 2000. The winner will be announced at the TLT Group's 6th Annual Summer Institute. See: http://www.tltgroup.org/SI2000/default.htm.

Some of Creed's work is still accessible on the Web at: http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~tcreed/ maintained by St. John's University and College of St. Benedict, which are also cosponsoring this award, along with Blackboard Inc. and the TLT Group.

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NEW ON THE LIST

John Vellacott, Tzur Levin, Ang Nguyen, Daisuke Emmanji, Pieter de Beer, Laura Landy, J. Jubran, Corey Wentzell, Santosh Kumar, E. Shildo, David Edwards, Tun Nyein, Denham Grey, N. Tyler, Gene Paik, Kevin Carson, Ahmed Yasir, Mike Timms, Mary Beth Ginter, Gary Fugere and Sue Carpenter.

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FYI

There are only 15 seats left in the Masie Group e-Learning Briefing to be held in Washington, DC - April 13 to 14th. This is the only vendor-neutral briefing on the exploding e-Learning arena. There are participants from throughout the world attending this 2-day program that is led by the Masie Institute. Demo's, strategies and case studies from successes and failures in the e-learning field are included in the Briefing. If you are interested, please go to: http://www.masie.com.

BARRIER-FREE WEB DESIGN, beginning April 3rd and continuing for four weeks, will be led by Norm Coombs and Dick Banks of the TLT Group's award-winning Project EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information). Learn how Web sites can be made informative, visually appealing, fully accessible to users with disabilities and compliant with the intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Designing for accessibility benefits everyone, as barrier-free Websites also accommodate users with diverse learning styles. Not a programming course, BARRIER-FREE WEB DESIGN instead is intended to help those who influence Web design better understand how to use Web technology as a means of expanding, not limiting, access to information. Syllabus and registration fees at: http://www.rit.edu/~easi/workshops.htm.

The Wisconsin Technology Literacy Challenge Fund (TLCF) Spring Conference will be held May 4-5, 2000 at the Ramada Inn, Wausau, WI. This conference theme is: "Standards, Assessment and Curricular Integration: What are the Possibilities with Technology?" TLCF FY '99 will exhibit their successes. For more information see: http://www.dpi.state.wi.us or email Robert Roy: robert.roy@dpi.state.wi.us.

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ENDNOTE

There will be three basic types of colleges and universities: "brick" universities (campus-based); "click" universities (virtual universities) and a combination of the two ("brick-click") - which is what most major universities will become. "Brick-click" will be the most competitive and attractive market in higher education. Arthur Levine' - President, Teacher's College of Columbia University, speaking at the recent Blackboard Summit.

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NEXT DESIEN ISSUE: April 30, 2000
FOCUS ARTICLE - "Interactive Distance Learning That Really Works" - Karen Mantyla