Higher Education Headlines

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Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg with 13 partner countries release first World Internet Project Report

The World Internet Project (WIP), a comprehensive first-time global survey on the impact of the Internet, spearheaded by the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication with 13 partner countries and regions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania, found remarkable similarities and significant differences in the way users utilise and rely on the Internet. WIP Press release, 24 November 2008

UniSA tackles the racism questions posed by a shrinking world

Anti-racism conference at UniSAThe nature of racism and educational methods to address the problem will be the subject of an international conference held at the University of South Australia this Friday, December 5. Coordinator of the conference, Associate Professor Rob Hattam at UniSA's School of Education, said despite many gains, the problem of how to change racist attitudes through education remains. UniSA News, 3 December 2008

University libraries, budgets, and open access

$10 million a year largely goes to closed-access publishing houses (not just the Elseviers and Macmillans of the world, but also the much-loved not-for-profit societies which publish journals as well). This gives the university students, faculty, and staff access to the literature both on campus and off, via the internet. While this in principle works well, journal subscription costs have been skyrocketing, and university library budgets have not been able to keep up. Biocurious (blog), 27 November 2008

New animation: Intellectual Property Rights in the Web 2.0 world

The six-minute animation is accessible and colourful, portraying in a light-hearted way some of the issues involved via three typical case studies: a researcher, a lecturer and a student. These examples pinpoint areas where confusion exists, or even where many may not consider IPR to be an issue at all, and signpost back to the online diagnostic tool for further guidance and information. JISC, 2 December 2008

Focus on broadband rollout challenges

Issues surrounding the widespread rollout of broadband in Australia will be the highlight of an international telecommunications conference at the University of Adelaide during December 7-10. Organised by the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia, the Australasian Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (ATNAC) is the major national meeting of researchers in information and communication technology. The University of Adelaide News, 2 December 2008

Academia tackles the future

Technology has dramatically changed the way students experience university life, and not just in terms of the number of gadgets they own. It has affected where and how they study, helped them collaborate with each other and broken down barriers between students and teachers, social life and study. It has also given students a greater voice in the way they learn. The Guardian, December 2008

Professor turns his online course into a role-playing game

David Wiley says that teachers can learn a lot from online video games - the kind where players pretend to be orcs and wizards and work together in teams to slay dragons. So Mr. Wiley, an associate professor of instructional psychology and technology at Brigham Young University, has decided to turn an online course he's teaching next semester into an online role-playing game. Wired Campus, 1 December 2008

Online Master's program in Library and Information Science (Sweden)

Registration for the distance Master's programme in Digital Library and Information Services (Library and Information Science, 120 ECTS) offered by Swedish School of Library Science at the University of Boras starts on 1 December 2008 and finishes on 15 January 2009. The programme is targeting library and information professionals working with digital resources and services. It is conducted in English as a half-time distance programme with one residential period in Boras each term. To enter the programme a student must have a Bachelor's degree (180 ECTS) in any discipline, or an equivalent education, and good knowledge of English.??The tuition is free of charge for all students, regardless of their place of residence or nationality. The students have to cover travel and accommodation expenses for residential periods themselves.??For more information and registration procedure, please, check http://www.hb.se/bhs/digitallibray.

Book Explorers' Competition

The Book Explorers' Competition is a research experiment where you can win prizes by reading books. The competition is open to anyone over the age of 16. It starts at 10am GMT on 1 December 2008 and closes at midnight GMT on 15 December 2008.??

Virtual worlds workshop explores the new frontier

Virtual worlds like Second Life offer new ways for businesses, educators and communities to reach out and interact within our increasingly tech-savvy society. Academics and other researchers who study virtual worlds are examining the opportunities presented by this expanding online frontier at a workshop at Swinburne University of Technology on 28 and 29 November. Swinburne University News, 27 November 2008

Other news

Compiled by Education Network Australia.