Monday, December 26, 2005

eLearning student services Identifying Possible Methods to Improve Retention - Robert D. Nash, J, Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration. Many colleges continue to report high attrition rates among distance education students. This study included a survey of students at Coastline Community College to determine why they dropped or failed their distance-learning courses and to identify method [Online Learning Update] ... mixed results [no magic bullets] BL 9:04:59 AM    comment

wiki Using Wikis as Collaborative Writing Tools: Something Wiki This Way Comes--Or Not! - Susan Loudermilk Garza and Tommy Hern, Karios. This webtext focuses on the use of wiki as a tool for writing and for teaching writing. The authors argue that the nature of the dynamic open-source wiki system is preferable to closed-source systems and allows writers to be more actively involved in the [Online Learning Update] 9:01:28 AM    comment

open source Songbird the Open Source iTunes?. [Slashdot] important to education since iTunes format can be used to distribute audio and images from classes to facilitate student learning on the go -- (see previous post about a chemistry professor in Georgia using iTunes to extend is class)  BL 8:59:34 AM    comment

genetics Writing Genetic Code. [Slashdot] 8:54:00 AM    comment

storage update Fiddling With Format While DVD's Burn. As electronics giants pick sides in the latest format battle for the video disc of the future, many consumers are bypassing discs entirely. By KEN BELSON. [NYT > Technology] 8:50:39 AM    comment

open source Mediainlinux: Path Forward?. [Slashdot] tools for 2D and 3D pre and post production -- let the entertainment begin. -- BL 8:48:47 AM    comment

Brain New neurons take baby steps in adult brain. In experiments with mice, scientists from Johns Hopkins' Institute for Cell Engineering have discovered the steps required to integrate new neurons into the brain's existing operations. For more than a century, scientists thought the adult brain could only lose nerve cells, not gain them, but in fact, new neurons do form during adulthood in all mammals, including humans, and become a working part of the adult brain in mice at the very least. [Science Blog -] 8:37:32 AM    comment