- Government Web sites were second only to news Web sites in the days immediately following the Sept 11 attacks. In ranking, the Navy received 205,000 hits per day, the White House, 162,000 and the Army 137,000. The Federal Emergency Management Agency Web site activity rose sharply to 88,000 hits per day. Annenberg associate dean, Joe Saltzman, summarizes: people "hear a lot of information, but feel more comfortable by checking what they hear on reliable sites." (Reuters, 21 Sept 01)

- SM Consulting, Baltimore, was recently chosen by McGraw-Hill to assist them in developing computer simulation software for higher ed. These simulations will compliment college course textbooks and will focus on fostering new levels of collaboration, interaction and competition. SM Consulting practices in managed services, Web application development and the support of network operations. For additional information see: http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.

- Realizing that handhelds seem to fit comfortably into the work style of educators and students in higher education, Palm Inc. has introduced its latest version of the Palm m100 series. The Palm m125 will retail at about $249 and features: "dual expansion" for software upgrades via "content cards" and hardware modules for add-on collapsible keyboards, digital cameras and modems. It also offers a faster processor and includes 8MB of RAM. New content cards include: a travel card, a language translator and three eBooks. Visit http://www.palm.com for more information.

- Mindful of the fact that our computer communications infrastructures are filled with security and reliability problems, programs that focus on terrorism are becoming increasingly important. One such program, Cyber Corps, is a federal pilot initiative organized by the government to train computer security experts. The National Science Foundation has contributed $11 million to the program. The program process includes paying students to study in the program and then having them work for the government as computer security experts. Participating universities include the: U of Tulsa, Naval Postgraduate School, Purdue U, Iowa State U, U of Idaho and Carnegie Mellon U. (USA Today, 18 Sept 01)

- "A Virtual Revolution: Trends in the Expansion of Distance Education," recently released by The American Federation of Teachers, is sharply critical of online education. Reasons given are that: 1) too many online courses center on teaching a collection of facts; 2) the traditional faculty role is being "unbundled" by online-course creators and handed off to technology experts and designers and 3) online education is primarily focused on the marketplace and downgrade the importance of class time, social interaction and the development of deep subject knowledge. For the full report go to: http://www.aft.org/higher_ed/downloadable/VirtualRevolution.pdf (Requires Adobe Reader)

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- "The Third Shift," a recent report by the American Association of University Women states that women face far more challenges in taking distance-education courses than men. Based on online interviews with 500 students, (462 were women,) reasons cited were: 1) classes add another shift to a woman's workday, between homemaking and child care; 2) the classes are often costly and 3) about 1/3 of the women are focused on degrees and careers, not enrichment. In addition to soon being made available for purchase, a seminar about the report will be given at George Mason University. More information is available at: http://chronicle.com/free/2001/09/2001090501u.htm