- Several technology initiatives that advocate grant dollars for rural and low income schools are part of the new Bush Education Plan. While some see these initiatives as high priority, other observers expect that they will be overshadowed by Bush's call for school vouchers. (Wired Online, 24 Jan 01)

- Today students expect instructors to provide online resources for their courses. Institutions that fail to meet this expectation may risk losing students to other institutions. Carole A. Barone, EDUCAUSE Vice President, supports the idea of using software components that allow instructors to build online course content that requires a minimum of programming knowledge and allows them to use parts of a certain textbook and ignore the rest. The key is to affect more than marginal changes and to devise a support system to manage online course resources as independently as possible. (Chronicle of Higher Education Online, 17 Jan 01)

- The first six degrees for an online MBA program, launched in 1999, were recently awarded by Baltimore's Merrick School of Business, a school accredited by the International Association for Management Education. The graduates, ranging in age from late 20s to 40s, were all working adults. None of the graduates visited the college campus. (Associated Press, 8 Jan 01)

- The need for bandwidth is increasing as the economy slows. Analysts see bandwidth increasing dramatically with high-speed Internet becoming a necessity for businesses and consumers, as their desire for streaming video and audio over the Internet increases and the capabilities become more affordable. A lack of fiber-optic connections in many homes and businesses is the major hurdle that needs to be surmounted to realize the predicted increase. (Business Daily, 17 Jan 01)

- The FCC will go forward with plans to allow companies to use the 2.4 Ghz band for wireless, despite the fact that the band is already in heavy use that there may be interference with airline navigation systems. Some engineers are confident that these problems will be resolved as cellular technology advances through the use of 'spread spectrum technology' which allows the transmission signal to move within a small range of frequencies to avoid collisions with other signals. (Wall Street Journal, 8 Jan 01)

- Research institutions in 30 countries will be connected with Europe's high-speed research network, GEANT. Like Internet2, GEANT will run on a 2.5 Gbps backbone and will be a testing ground for new applications in a wide variety of research fields. It will bring advances in the quality of service and multicasting technology which will eventually reach consumers. The research network will go online mid-2001 - at a cost of 80 million euros. (Network Magazine, Dec)

- The Canadian government is hoping to bring broadband network services to all its citizens by 2004, helping to make higher education and health care benefits available to all Canadians. A task force will advise the government on overcoming financial, technical and political obstacles to providing universal broadband service. The task force will also weigh the pros and cons of various broadband providers and technologies. (Chronicle of Higher Education Online, 12 Jan 01)

- Kuwait is the headquarters for the first pan-Arab open university. According to a recent BBC World Service Report, students will begin to enroll next year. The university mission is to increase regional access to higher education. Technical assistance and degree accreditation will be provided by the British Open University. With branches in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, it is anticipated that 5,000 Arab students will be enrolled, with an increase to 75,000 in 10 years. This flexible type of education will benefit Arab women and others who will be able to study at home. For more information CLICK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1108000/1108389.stm (BBC News 9 Jan 01)

- Russia is turning to distance learning to make education available to rural students and those who find it difficult to attend class on a traditional campus. At Tomsk State University, students attend online classes and use interactive digital textbooks on CD-ROMs. Physics students participate in digital lab experiments, using a virtual particle accelerator. Russia now has about 300,000 distance learning students, and that number will jump to almost one million in a few years. The Education Ministry plans to double this year's spending to over $140 million next year to better equip the school and centers with technology. (New York Times- Education Life, 7 Jan 01)