eSchola eSchola 2002 officially launches at the Salon de l'Education in Paris. eSchola started last year and is now one of European Schoolnet's major projects. By Unknown, European Schoolnet, November 21, 2001.[Refer]

eLearning Awards: Finalist’s Secrets for Success A short item from eSchola introducing the finalists for its 2001 e-learning awards, to be awarded in December in Lisbon. This article interviews one of the creators of 'The Raw and the Cooked,' an educational site from Italy. By Alexa Joyce, eSchola, November 23, 2001.[Refer]

The Raw and the Cooked We'll forgive them for cloning a Fine Young Cannibals album title. This bright and bouncy flash-enabled site in Italian (English version under construction) is a food tour through history and describes how food is processed and made. It also provides information on how food is used by the body. Games and fun activities draw the children into the project. By Maria Blasini, scuola media Dante Alighieri di Spoleto, 2001.[Refer]

How to Take Over the Classroom I have no problems with academia collaborating with industry, but I am sensitive of the tendency of industry to - as the title suggests - "take over" the classroom. This article provides a case in point. In a joint program offered at Georgia State, UPS "screened for loyalty, among other traits, when narrowing down the substantial stack of applicants." There is something deeply, deeply wrong with this. With money coming from the state government, company loyalty should not be a factor in the selection of students. This article reflects - unintentionally - the concerns professors express when considering industry collaborations. And one wonders what CEOs think education is really about when they say things like this: "The quest to build the perfect 23-year-old who can effectively wield a mouse on day one, however, will likely never end." By Jason Compton, CIO Magazine, November, 2001.[Refer]

Judge Denies Scientists' Free Speech Rights Press release from the Electronic Frontier Foundation discussing the results of a court case led by Princeton Professor Ed Felten challenging the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Felten, you may recall, removed information about decryption software from his website after being threatened by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The judge threw out the case after 25 minutes after hearing motions to dismiss the case from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the RIAA. The EFF plans to appeal, saying "This judge apparently believes that the fact that hundreds of scientists are currently afraid to publish their work and that scientific conferences are relocating overseas isn't a problem." By Press Release, Electronic Frontier Foundation, November 28, 2001.[Refer]

Text of Appeals Court's Decision in MPAA vs. 2600 DMCA suit It was a bad week for anti-copyright forces everywhere as the hacker website 2600 also lost in court in an appeal. 2600 had argued that they had the right to publish deCSS software on their site, a program that decrypts DVDs. I am inclined to agree with this analysis from Wired News: "Now, all of a sudden, repealing the reviled DMCA through First Amendment litigation seems altogether unlikely. Nor, given how much Washington politicians adore the law, is Congress likely to alter it." But this raises the question: now what? By Declan McCullagh, Politech, November 29, 2001.[Refer]

E-learning Firm Aims at Government BlackBoard has started a group that will serve federal, state and local agencies seeking to provide online education programs for their employees. This is more than merely a smart marketing move. It allows BlackBoard to circumvent educational institutions and to go directly to people who are managing learning and learning budgets. By Dan Caterinicchia, FCW, November 27, 2001.[Refer]

Maritz Announces Launch of Maritz Learning Maritz, a U.S. company that offers marketing research, travel, and performance improvement services, announced the launch of a new e-learning initiative. This comes after its recent acquisition of Librix Learning. What's interesting about this press release (aside from the fact that it adds another player into the fragmented elearning marketplace) is the way Maritz identifies three levels of blended learning: first, mixing and matching of learning delivery techniques; second, techniques for tracking and measuring training and performance; and third, techniques for integrating learning initiatives with performance improvement strategies. By Press Release, Maritz Inc., November 27, 2001.[Refer]

Online Storytelling Forms I've said it before and I'll say it again: it helps if you think of education as a type of media. Look at at what educators can learn, for example, by reading this page intended for online journalists. Just about every major web presentation technique is covered, including many that readers may not have imagined. Chock full of examples, no online educator will leave this page uninspired to try something new. By Jonathan Dube, CyberJournalist.net, 2001.[Refer]

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