Spotlight

Technology:

Blackboard

Its demonstrations at the 1998 EDUCOM Conference in Orlando, Fla. drew crowds, while other vendors managed to entice only much smaller audiences. It wasn't because the product was so new and original. In fact, just a few booths away Lotus, a well known giant in groupware, presented its LearningSpace, a very similar "virtual classroom" system. However, several factors made Blackboard's package more appealing:

Adherence to specifications developed under the EDUCAUSE/IMS initiative
Simplicity and transparency on all levels, from intuitive interface, to licensing, to technological requirements. (In contrast, LearningSpace runs on top of Lotus Domino running on top of Lotus Notes and requires the proprietary Notes client for development of course materials. It makes licensing costs alone hard to figure out, not to mention setup and maintenance.)
Offer to host up to 3 courses per instructor for free on Blackboard's own servers.

I am pleased to confirm that all these factors are still in place today. Any teacher armed with a standard browser of 3.x vintage or newer can quickly and easily create an online course without learning HTML or how to use specialized software. Instructional content can be created by filling simple forms ("cut-and-paste" is the preferred technique here) or pointing the browser towards existing documents to be uploaded to the server. After that, one only needs to create student accounts, also by filling out forms, and voila! - the course can be offered to anybody anywhere, as long as they are connected to the Web via a 28.8K modem. Since no support is provided for the free version of Blackboard, those requiring a little bit of hand holding may purchase support for $100 per semester per course.

Free doesn't have to mean "cheap" and, in the case of Blackboard, it doesn't; zero dollars buys one an impressive array of features, including: the aforementioned ability to post instructional content; threaded discussions; assessment tools and gradebook; messaging system; file exchange; collaborative groups; textual chat; whiteboard. (The last two components are written in Java and require Java-enabled browser.) As previously stated, the interface is intuitive and attractive, and a large number of available templates allows quite a bit of freedom in customizing the look and feel of one's site.

Having the course hosted on remote servers, over which one has no control, is not the ideal solution. Surely, one can save a bundle on hardware alone, but can also earn a few sleepless nights worrying: What if the company goes belly up? What if their servers melt down in the middle of the semester? What about the security of my students' records? That's why Blackboard offers its CourseInfo server, the very same software that hosts the free courses, on a $5,000/year lease. Educational institutions that acquire this server can host unlimited number of courses with unlimited numbers of students in them. (Obviously, these numbers will be limited by hardware capacity and network conditions.) The server will run on Windows NT platform as well as on a number of Unix versions, and the client requirements are, again, limited to a standard browser.

Finally, Blackboard's recently expanded product line now includes Blackboard Campus, an offering targeted at colleges and institutions that are interested in putting more than their courses online. The CourseInfo server (or servers) still provides the core features here, but a number of additional modules provide new features such as: a centralized library of reusable content; student profiles; calendar; task management; registration; backup and restore. Pricing for Blackboard Campus is not publicly available and, according to its Web site, the company is currently enrolling a limited number of colleges in the pilot program.

Blackboard screenshots (click on a thumbnail):

Student's toolbox	Instructor's toolbox

For more information please visit the Blackboard site or search the ACT database of Groupwork Tools.

Initiatives:

Alliance for Latino Community Technology

ALCT is a "task force dedicated to assisting Latinos to gain the skills of technology literacy so that they can effectively compete in the next century and capture the full benefits of the information age." It focuses on technology information for Latino communities in the U.S. and the Americas to ensure their competitive edge in the global marketplace. It provides services such as:

Pathfinder (a Web-based tool providing Latinos and recent immigrants with timely information on social services);
Edvantage (an on-site technology training program for Latino non-profit organizations);
Cybervan (a mobile technology resource unit).

This nonprofit organization is being run by graduates and students from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Harvard Business School, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard College, MIT, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

More information on the Alliance for Latino Community Technology can be obtained by visiting its Web site or sending an e-mail inquiry to the ALCT's founder, Arthur Navarro, at navarro@ALCT.org . You may also call him at (212) 358-5135 or write to him at: ALCT, Gracie Station, P.O. Box 1624, New York, NY 10128.

Conference:

ETHICOMP 99

4th International Conference on the Social and Ethical Impacts of Information and Communication Technologies
Held October 6-8, 1999 in Rome, Italy
The ETHICOMP conference series is now recognized as one of the premier international events on computer ethics attended by delegates from all over the world. Computer ethics has reached an important point. From its earliest roots it has now become a global subject of concern which is influencing policy formulation, computing practice and computer application. The overall theme for ETHICOMP 99 is "Look to the future of the Information Society". The aim is to focus on how achievements of the past can be built upon to expand the field and to ensure that the important issues impacting upon society, its citizens and its organisations will be effectively addressed and so help improve the quality of life. This will be done from four perspectives: Work -- Home and Leisure -- Education -- Regulation.
Registration fee (if paid before September 6): €129 (students), €232 (members of non-profits). €1 (euro) = ca. $1

Online reading:

"Web-based Learning Environments: Current State And Emerging Trends" by David Mioduser, Rafi Nachmias, Orly Lahav, & Avigail Oren. Research Report no. 51. Tel-Aviv University School of Education, Tel Aviv, 1998

From the Abstract: This paper presents a study of the characteristics of Web sites as teaching and learning environments. The major questions addressed in this study were: What characterizes educational Web sites at the content, teaching, learning and communication levels? How do key teaching and learning issues appearing on educational Web sites relate to educators' expectations from the new technology? What can a consideration of the current state of affairs teach us about further development and implementation of educational Web sites? To answer these questions we developed a classification scheme, implemented it for the study of 436 educational Web sites focusing in mathematics, science, and technology learning, and elaborated on practical implications of the study's results. The overall picture we have unveiled may sound deceptive, and can be summarized as "one step ahead for the technology, two steps back for the pedagogy". But a more thoughtful consideration of this and similar studies' results suggest directions for the research and development of novel Web-based educational models.

She said, he said:

"Most players go where the puck is. I go where the puck will be." -- Wayne Gretzky

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