SOME DE STATS - According to Dr. Jack Wilson, CEO of UMassOnline, a recent
UMassOnline survey provided some amazing statistics:
- 56% of two and four year colleges and universities surveyed offer distance education
for all levels
- 12 % plan to offer distance education in the next three years
- 32% (mostly liberal arts) don't offer distance education
- 30% offer fully online degrees
- 48% offer degree programs
- 90% use asynchronous technologies
- 43% us synchronous technologies
The numbers are surprisingly large, he stated, and are expected to grow. Further, course
design is moving toward better and better pedagogy. (Dr. Jack Wilson, Keynote Address,
The 19th Annual Distance Teaching and Learning Conference, August 13-15 in Madison,
Wisconsin)

GRAPHICS TOOLS DOMINATE HIGHER ED SALES CHART - Microsoft Office XP
Professional was the top selling software in the second quarter of 2003, according to
Dallas-based Journey Education Marketing, Inc., which specializes in selling software
tools to academic markets. But - graphics programs dominated the rest of the Top 10
list. The list includes:
1 - Microsoft Office XP Professional Win
2 - Adobe Acrobat Pro 6.0 Win
3 - Microsoft Windows XP Professional Upgrade Win
4 - Macromedia Studio MX 1.1 Win
5 - PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire SE Win
6 - Microsoft Visual Studio.Net 2003 AE Win
7 - Intuit QuickBooks Pro Edition 2003 Win
8 - Adobe Design Collection Mac
9 - Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Mac
10 - Macromedia Studio MX 1.1 Mac
The company said its figures are a more accurate picture of overall sales than
other lists because most other lists tend to focus on sales from college bookstores,
which often do not offer a full spread of software. (Syllabus News, 5 Aug 03)