Hedda Blog

Second Life is an internet-based, 3-D, virtual world that is created by its 6 million users from around the globe. It is a digital continent, where you (as an avatar) can experience everything from entertainment, to a marketplace (where real buying and selling transactions occur), to classroom lectures. Higher Education Institutions in the United States and the UK are joining this trend and hosting Second Life virtual campuses as a tool for learning, teaching, research, and recruiting. The Guardian reports that over 15 universities in the UK have spent several thousand pounds on purchasing Second Life "virtual land" to build their virtual campuses, among those are Edinburgh and Oxford. Below is a promotional video about the University of Ohio virtual campus in Second Life:

Harvard Law School has built a virtual courtroom for students to practice their skills, and in August 2006 a Harvard professor held its first class in Second Life. Case Western Reserve University has bought a virtual campus to recruit new students by giving online virtual campus tours. Texas State University has built an island, Bobcat Island, where anyone can meet up and socialize with others in the sandbox cafe, visit the on-line exhibits of the gallery, or attend an on-line conference in the Bobcat Den.

What do you think about Universities using Second Life as a tool for learning, teaching, research, and recruiting?

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The new European Institute of Technology (EIT), to be launched in 2008 by the European Commission, has put out a call for proposals. According to the website, "This call for proposals aims at establishing pilot networks that will design, implement and test new models of integrated partnerships between the actors involved in technological innovation and transfer (such as universities, research organisations, small, medium-sized and large companies, innovation centres, etc.)" The deadline for proposals is August 31, 2007.

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 06:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Universities are switching over to Google for their e-mail services and other internet-based services. BBC reported that Trinity College just recently moved all of their students, staff, and faculty to the customized google platform. Students will have access to e-mail, documents and other on-line tools from the internet and they will have these e-mail addresses for life. Which means Google is building an empire of young people that will continue to use their service for years to come. Arizona State University, U.S. and Linköpings University, Sweden are other universities that have switched to the Google platform.

Do you think universities need to worry about issues of privacy (the use of private information) when considering moving to this Google-sponsored platform?

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 09:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the past 5 years, Microsoft has invested in academic research centers in France, Australia, Italy, Japan, Brazil, USA, and now Latin America/Caribbean. In March, Microsoft announced that they will invest 1$ Million U.S. dollars to develop the Latin American Collaborative Research Federation. This "virtual institute", to be administered by two Universities in Chile, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and the Universidad de Chile, will grant money to research projects that encourage ICT practices to solve problems in the developing countries. By establishing this research network, Microsoft hopes to create sustained economic opportunity within Latin America. The Age reports that the first round of funding will focus on biodiversity in life-rich ecosystems and the use of mobile technology to promote healthcare in impoverished areas that lack internet. Applications must be submitted by multiple researchers in the region.

What do you think about the industry, rather than the government, setting up research networks in developing countries? Do you think that Microsoft has an agenda other than creating a sustained economic opportunity? What does Microsoft gain from investing money in ICT practices in developing countries?

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 08:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Blogging in the academic world is becoming a common trend. It's a way for academics to voice their discourse on certain topics, share their research, and encourage an international dialogue on specific topic areas. In addition, BBC reports that blogging is a way for professors to make more contact with students and nurture communication outside of the classroom.

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published an article about the increasing popularity of scholar blogs and highlighted a list of 9 highly visited blogs.

Here are a few that you might be interested in checking out:

Instapundit (Law Professor at University of Tennessee)
Tama's elearning (Higher Education Professor at University of Western Australia)
Cranky Professor
Semi-Daily Journal (Economics Professor at UCLA)

Please note that the hedda administration does not endorse the content in any of these blogs.

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)