PROFESSORS DESIGN ONLINE SCIENCE COURSE, INCLUDING LAB -
Two professors, Doris R. Kimbrough of the University of Colorado at Denver and
Jimmy Reeves of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, have created an
online science course that includes lab work that students do in their kitchens.
According to the professors, the lab work is safe and can be done with readily
available materials and a good-quality scale. Students in the online course are
reportedly able to gain an understanding of basic chemistry comparable to that of
in-class students. Each of the two institutions offers the course, though at the
University of North Carolina the class is entirely online, while the University of
Colorado version includes in-person lectures. Development of the course was
funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Go to: http://chronicle.com/free/2002/11/2002111201t.htm (Chronicle of Higher
Education, 12 Nov 02)

RECIPE FOR AN e-LEARNING MODEL - Elliott Masie says that cooking brings
out the learner in him. Recently he took up cooking and accessed the internet for
online recipes. The recipes have triggered some interesting thoughts about eLearning
models. He found some compelling learning at: http://www.allrecipes.com First he
picked out a "learning objective," in the cooking world it is a type of dish he wanted
to cook, searching on the name of dish, type of cuisine or key ingredient. First,
- he received a list of ingredients, a step-by-step cooking process, some tips and
techniques and even the ability to scale the recipe for diverse numbers of people; next
- he had access to "context," reflected in the ratings of other people of the posted
recipes. He could look at the history of those raters, to place their views in perspective
and their suggestions for changes to the recipe - a lot like e-Learning...this is an
interesting model for ongoing eLearning in an single arena. Think of how you might
apply this to knowledge domains in your own organization. (TechLearn Trends, 20
Nov 02)

INTERNET2 DEMOS STREAMING WITHOUT INTERRUPTIONS -
Streaming audio and video are typically full of stops and starts, a result of missing
data packets. A recent demonstration of a new Internet2 streaming technology at
the University of Southern California showed how "selective retransmission" can
solve the problem of jerky streaming media. Rather than waiting for missing packets
or requesting them again, computers using selective retransmission only ask for the
packets that are missing, greatly smoothing out the process of displaying streaming
content. Because the Internet2 network supports speeds of 70 Mbps, the video at
the demo was shown on a 30-by-17-foot screen rather than the usually very small
screen typically used for streamed video. The demo streamed a symphony
performance, shown on the large screen and heard through a 12-speaker sound
system, without any breakup. See the full article at: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,56110,00.html (Wired News, 8
Nov 02 - Edupage 8 Nov 02)