EDUCAUSE REVIEW ANNOUNCES NEW e-CONTENT COLUMN - The March/
April issue of EDUCAUSE REVIEW premiers a new department, "e-Content," edited by
Deanna B. Marcum, President of the Council on Library and Information Resources.
"e-Content" will "focus on how higher education institutions can create, organize, sustain
and evaluate electronic content of value to students, faculty and scholars. . . The overall
goal of the department is to encourage and enhance collaboration in e-Content
development among librarians, IT staff, teaching faculty and others with roles in making
scholarly resources available to campus communities." The first "e-Content" offering is
available in PDF format at: http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm02/erm022w.asp (CIT
INFOBITS no 46, ISSN 1521-9275, Apr 02)

SOFTWARE QUANDARY: BUY OR LEASE? - Colleges and universities are
increasingly faced with the decision of whether to buy or lease software. The decision is
especially complex when dealing with Microsoft, according to officials on many campuses.
Despite the advantages that leasing offers, including typically lower overall costs, software
upgrades and simpler monitoring of licenses, many institutions are skeptical about the long
term effects of leasing. Many express concerns about the possibility for changing price
structures for leases, as well as the potential difficulty if a school wanted to get out of a lease.
Still, many institutions are cautiously moving to leasing. Sean Robert Gallagher of Eduventures
said that Microsoft benefits from leasing its products because the revenue is more stable
and predictable than with purchases. See: http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i32/32a03301.htm
(Chronicle of Higher Education, 19 Apr 02 - Edupage 15 Apr 02)

SHOPPING ONLINE FOR SCHOLARSHIPS - More than 700,000 individual
scholarships are available annually from over 25,000 providers. Scholarships often have
very narrow criteria for eligibility, so matching the applicants to the right scholarships can
be daunting. As a result, a significant amount of scholarship money is not claimed. A new
group of scholarship Web sites is helping students find scholarship programs more quickly.
Scholarships.com has doubled in usage since last year. Another site, FastWeb.com, has
been able to provide its service free by selling users' information to marketing partners.
Other sites, like ScholarshipExperts.com, charge a fee. See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/business/yourmoney/31COLL.html (New York
Times, 31 Mar 02 - Edupage 1 Apr 02)

WHAT K-12 TEACHERS CAN TEACH US - The development of online learning and
teaching in higher education is inextricably linked to what is happening with online learning
in the K-12 education system. The next wave of college students is getting acquainted with
online learning in elementary and secondary schools right now. LERNs latest online course
for K-12 teachers summarizes five points: 1) teachers are starting to explore ways in which
to encourage and teach self-discipline; 2) schools are moving to posting homework
assignments, grades and test scores online, very advantageous for parents and a significant
educational change; 3) teachers are far more likely than higher education faculty to use
existing web sites for online content for their classes and students; 4) WebQuests are
booming (these structured Virtual Tours focus on developing critical and analytical thinking
skills) and 5) kids are sitting on the floor, lawn, in the halls and in class with their laptops,
signaling the beginning of the end to computer labs. (Teaching OntheNet - 2 Apr 02)

K-12 MATH WEB SITE - April is Math Awareness Month, a time to promote the
importance of math in daily life. This year's theme is Mathematics and the Genome.
Medical researchers use mathematics to analyze data in their studies of genetics and DNA.
This leads to a strong connection between math and biology. Each year, Math Goodies
celebrates MAM by providing activities and resources related to the MAM theme. This
year, students can go on a Webquest, researching this topic with the links provided, and
then completing the puzzles. For more information, read the Press Release at:
http://www.mathgoodies.com/press/mam2002.html (Gisele Glosser, Math Goodies, 1 Apr
02)