INFOBITS> CIT INFOBITS -- January 2003

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From: "Carolyn Kotlas" <kotlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: CIT Infobits Newsletter <infobits@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 16:18:29 -0500
Subject: CIT INFOBITS -- January 2003
 
CIT INFOBITS        January 2003                No. 55                ISSN 
1521-9275

About INFOBITS

INFOBITS is an electronic service of The University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill's Center for Instructional Technology. Each month the
CIT's Information Resources Consultant monitors and selects from a
number of information and instructional technology sources
that come to her attention and provides brief notes for electronic
dissemination to educators.

......................................................................

The Pursuit of Well-Structured Content
The TEACH Act and Distance Education
Is Instructional Technology a Must for Learning?
Distance Education Students and Attrition Rates
Virtual Technical Reports Center
Recommended Reading
Editor's Request for Information
Infobits Subscribers -- Where Are We in 2003?

......................................................................

THE PURSUIT OF WELL-STRUCTURED CONTENT

"Just as being an expert in your discipline is not by itself a
guarantee of good pedagogy, your best-laid technology plans might miss
the mark if they are not fine-tuned to the content you wish to present.
And the best technology strategies benefit from semantically clear,
structured content." In "Designing for Learning: The Pursuit of
Well-Structured Content" (SYLLABUS, vol. 16, no. 6, January 2003, pp.
10-13), instructional designer Judith V. Boettcher provides guidelines
for designing well-structured course content which takes into account
what the instructor wants to cover and the level of understanding that
the students bring to the course. The article is available online at
http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7092

Syllabus [ISSN 1089-5914] is published monthly by 101communications,
LLC, 9121 Oakdale Avenue, Suite 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311 USA; tel:
650-941-1765; fax: 650-941-1785; email: info@xxxxxxxxxxxx; Web:
http://www.syllabus.com/
Annual subscriptions are free to individuals who work in colleges,
universities, and high schools in the U.S.; go to
http://subscribe.101com.com/syllabus/ for more information.

......................................................................

THE TEACH ACT AND DISTANCE EDUCATION

The Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH) was
signed into law (P.L. 107-273) on November 2, 2002, as part of the
Department of Justice Authorization bill, H.R. 2215. According to the
American Library Association, "The TEACH Act is a clear signal that
Congress recognizes the importance of distance education, the
significance of digital media, and the need to resolve copyright
clashes." The act attempts to extend to distance education some of the
same rights that on-site classes have enjoyed. For more information on
TEACH, see the following resources:

"New Copyright Law for Distance Education: The Meaning and Importance
    of the TEACH Act"
American Library Association's TEACH website
http://www.ala.org/washoff/teach.html

"The TEACH Toolkit: An Online Resource for Understanding Copyright and
    Distance Education"
Website created by North Carolina State University Libraries, NCSU
    Office of Legal Affairs, et al.
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/scc/legislative/teachkit/index.html

"The TEACH Act Finally Becomes Law" by Georgia Harper, University of
    Texas System Office of General Counsel
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/teachact.htm

Chart comparing the old Section 110(2) and the new Section 110(2) by
    Lolly Gasaway, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School
    of Law
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/TEACH.htm

Text of the Act
http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/pl107-273.html

......................................................................

IS INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY A MUST FOR LEARNING?

"Technologies and Learning" is the theme of both the January/March 2003
issue of TECHKNOWLOGIA and a new book co-edited by the journal's
editor. Articles for the journal include:

"Does This Stuff Work? A Review of Technology Used to Teach" by J. D.
Fletcher, Institute for Defense Analyses

"e-Learning - The New Frontier in the Developing World" by Cheick Kante
and Vishal Savani, World Links

"Raising Achievement and Lowering Costs with Technology in Higher
Education" by Gregg B. Jackson, The George Washington University

The complete issue is available online at http://www.techknowlogia.org/

TechKnowLogia is published quarterly by Knowledge Enterprise, Inc.,
P.O. Box 3027, Oakton, VA 22124 USA; fax: 703-242-2279;
email: techknowlogia@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
Web: http://www.techknowlogia.org/
Publication is in collaboration with the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Subscriptions are free, but readers must first register to gain access
to articles. Readers will then be notified by email when new issues are
published.


TECHNOLOGIES AND LEARNING: POTENTIAL, PARAMETERS, AND PROSPECTS (Paris:
UNESCO, 2002; ISBN 0-89492-112-6), edited by Wadi D. Haddad and
Alexandra Draxler, draws "on the wealth of worldwide knowledge and
experience, this book outlines the rationales and realities of
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for education,
examines the options and choices for applying them, and summarizes a
series of case studies that illustrate modalities of integrating ICTs
into learning systems in different settings." The entire book is
available (in PDF format) on the Web. You can read chapters or download
the complete text from http://www.aed.org/publications/TechEdInfo.html

......................................................................

DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDENTS AND ATTRITION RATES

The growth of distance education has been accompanied by high attrition
rates. Since college and university funding depends on enrollment,
understanding the underlying causes of attrition is extremely
important. In "Identifying Predictors of Academic Persistence in
Distance Education" (USDLA JOURNAL, vol. 17, no. 1, January 2003),
Angie Parker, Associate Dean of Distributed Learning for Yavapai
College, describes her research into attrition rates in distance
education programs. Her study indicates that there is a correlation
between locus of control (the level of self-motivation) and academic
persistence. The complete article is available online at
http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/JAN03_Issue/article06.html

USDLA Journal [ISSN 1537-5080] is a refereed journal of the United
States Distance Learning Association. Current and back issues are
available on the Web at
http://www.usdla.org/html/resources/usdlaJournal/currentIssues.htm

USDLA is a non-profit organization, founded in 1987 as the leading
organization serving the distance learning community. The USDLA
promotes the development and application of distance learning for
education and training. USDLA represents nearly 2500 members involved
with pre-K through 12 education, higher education, continuing
education, home schooling, corporate training, telemedicine and
military and government training. For more information contact: USDLA,
140 Gould Street, Suite 200B, Needham, MA 02494 USA; tel: 800-275-5162;
fax: 781-453-2389; email: information@xxxxxxxxx; Web:
http://www.usdla.org/

......................................................................

VIRTUAL TECHNICAL REPORTS CENTER

The University of Maryland Libraries' Virtual Technical Reports Center
provides extensive links to collections of full-text reports or
extended abstracts that other institutions make available on the Web.
These materials cover a vast range of disciplines. The site links to
technical reports, preprints, reprints, dissertations, theses, and
research reports, and is updated monthly. Visit the Virtual Technical
Reports Center at
http://www.lib.umd.edu/ENGIN/TechReports/Virtual-TechReports.html

For more information or to suggest additional links, contact: Gloria
Lyles Chawla; email: gc9@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

......................................................................

RECOMMENDED READING

"Recommended Reading" lists items that have been recommended to me or
that Infobits readers have found particularly interesting and/or
useful, including books, articles, and websites published by Infobits
subscribers. Send your recommendations to carolyn_kotlas@xxxxxxx for
possible inclusion in this column.

Tom Wilson, Editor-in-Chief of INFORMATION RESEARCH journal, announces
that Terrence A. Brooks, Associate Professor in the University of
Washington's Information School, has agreed to write an occasional
column for the online journal. Brooks's areas of teaching and research
include Internet technologies and applications. His first column is
devoted to "Web services," and is available at
http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/TB0211.html

......................................................................

EDITOR'S REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

In my search for information to share with readers, I have come across
newsletters that are similar to Infobits. I would like to compile a
list of these online newsletters that are devoted to instructional
technology in higher education. If you know of such a newsletter,
please email me the publication's title and URL. If you are the
publisher, the following information would also be welcome:

Publisher name
Type of publisher (individual, educational institution, non-profit,
    government, commercial)
Frequency
Format (email as well as web version)
Cost
ISSN

When it's completed, I will make the list available on the UNC-Chapel
Hill Center for Instructional Technology website and announce the
location in a future issue of CIT Infobits.

Thank you,
Carolyn Kotlas, CIT Infobits Editor
kotlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

......................................................................

INFOBITS SUBSCRIBERS -- WHERE ARE WE IN 2003?

Each January issue of Infobits includes an annual subscriber tally
listing the countries represented by our subscribers. As of January 13,
2003, there were 6,562 subscribers. Here are some brief statistics
about our current subscribers:

The majority of the subscribers whose country we could identify are in
the United States (3,209) and other English-speaking countries: Canada
(438), Australia (238), and the United Kingdom (161).

Each of the following countries has between eleven and fifty
subscribers: Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel,
Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South
Africa, and Spain.

The following countries have ten or fewer subscribers: Argentina,
Austria, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia,
Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt,
Estonia, Fiji, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia,
Ireland, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia,
Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russian
Federation, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland,
Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab
Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela.

In addition to subscribers who we can positively identify by a
geographic location, 1,378 subscribers are from commercial sites, 171
subscribers are from .org or .int sites, and 479 are from .net sites,
none of which have been attributed to a particular country.

Many thanks to all the subscribers for your support in 2002!
-- Carolyn Kotlas, CIT Infobits Editor

......................................................................

To Subscribe

CIT INFOBITS is published by the Center for Instructional Technology.
The CIT supports the interests of faculty members at UNC-Chapel Hill
who are exploring the use of Internet and video projects. Services
include both consultation on appropriate uses and technical support.

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INFOBITS is also available online on the World Wide Web at
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If you have problems subscribing or want to send suggestions for future
issues, contact the editor, Carolyn Kotlas, at carolyn_kotlas@xxxxxxx

Article Suggestions

Infobits always welcomes article suggestions from our readers, although
we cannot promise to print everything submitted. Because of our
publishing schedule, we are not able to announce time-sensitive events
such as upcoming conferences and calls for papers or grant
applications; however, we do include articles about online conference
proceedings that are of interest to our readers. While we often mention
commercial products, publications, and Web sites, Infobits does not
accept or reprint unsolicited advertising copy. Send your article
suggestions to the editor at carolyn_kotlas@xxxxxxx

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Copyright 2003, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center
for Instructional Technology. All rights reserved. May be reproduced in
any medium for non-commercial purposes.

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