HIGHER EDUCATION INCREASES SPENDING ON HARDWARE - According
to data from the research company IDC, colleges and universities spent $569 million on
517,000 computers in the second quarter of the year, an increase of 17.5%. IDC's
David Daoud attributed the strong rise to strength in the higher education market
resulting from tuition increases and growing enrollments. Kenneth C. Green of the
Campus Computing Project, however, sees the rise in purchases as a product of a
spend-it-before-it's-gone attitude among university officials whose budget year ended
June 30. Of the computers purchased, 72% were desktops, 25% laptops, and 3%
servers. Dell held on to its leading position in the higher education market, with nearly
48% market share. Gateway came up second, with 12%, followed by Hewlett-
Packard, Apple Computer, and IBM. See:
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2003/09/2003091001t.htm (Chronicle of Higher
Education - Edupage, 10 Sept 03)

QUALITY OF ONLINE COURSES EXPECTED TO ECLIPSE IN-CLASS
COURSES - A survey conducted by Babson College and the Sloan Consortium
indicates growing respect among some college administrators - including presidents
and academic officers - for the quality of online courses. One-third of the roughly
1,000 survey respondents expect the quality of online courses at their institutions to
surpass that of in-class courses within three years. Fifty-seven % said the quality of
Web-based classes already rivals that of in-class reaching. Some administrators,
however, particilarly at private baccaulaureate institutions, remain skeptical of online
teaching. One-third of the respondents said Web-based courses would not become a
significant part of the teaching at their institutions. The complete article is at: http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2003/09/2003090401t.htm (Chronicle of Higher
Education, 4 Sept 03)

AUTOMATED ESSAY GRADING: MAKING THE GRADE? Several companies
offer computer tools to grade student essays, and various schools around the United
States, including some colleges and universities, are using such grading tools to
reduce teacher workload and improve student writing. One tool called Criterion,
developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), is being used by Camden
County College in New Jersey. Criterion scores essays based on factors "learned"
from human readers and also provides students with feedback on grammar, style,
usage, and organization. Anthony Spatola, chairman of the English department at
Camden, said students appreciate the feedback, and he believes the tool helps
students improve their writing. Officials from ETS acknowledged that the system
theoretically could give a high score to an essay that exhibited certain linquistic
characteristics but lacked a logical argument. Students taking the time, however,
to fool the system is unrealistic, they argued. Such automated systems have
ardent detractors, including Julie Cheville of Rutgers University and the local
director for the National Writing Project, who said automated grading systems
" orient students to errors, not to meaning." Cheville argued that "Vacuous student
essays can receive high marks only because they are error-free." For the complete
article go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/04/technology/circuits/04grad.html
(New York Times, 4 Sept 03 - Edupage, 5 Sept 03)