This paper reports on a study which investigates the implementation of a synchronous e-learning system (Interwise) for online tutorials on an information technology related course offered by the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK). It examines a set of interview data related to students’ and tutors’ views on the use of the system. Issues concerning students’ participation in online tutorials, opportunities for interaction in using the system, and tutors’ roles in real-time conferences are discussed. The findings suggest that both the students and tutors are positive about the use of Interwise for online tutorials in general. Some students, however, indicate dissatisfaction with the one-way communication and teacher-control functionalities of the system. The results also indicate that the tutors are concerned about the workload involved in using Interwise in terms of managing the functionalities of the system and the different learning tasks. Implications are then drawn for supporting synchronous online learning both in the OUHK and a wider academic context.

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Russia may deserve its reputation as 'virus central.' After all, it's the place where viruses are made and sold, complete with a service contract. But where do you suppose all that malicious code ends up? According to security provider Finjan, more of that code ends up on American servers than anywhere else. In its Q1 2007 Web Security Trends Report, Finjan examined 10 million unique URLs and also investigated the server behind each domain. It found that over 80 percent of the URLs containing malicious code are hosted on servers in the United States, followed by the UK, with 10 percent of the code.

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Since its first RFID pilot three years ago, Wal-Mart has learned a valuable lesson: RFID's ability to improve the supply chain is limited by business partners' willingness to participate. The giant retailer is now focusing its radio-frequency identification technology efforts primarily on in-store applications, while moving much more slowly with its distribution centers. "We initially thought we'd install [RFID] into distribution centers as we installed it in stores," acknowledged Simon Langford, Wal-Mart's manager of global RFID strategy. "Quickly we learned, along with our suppliers, that a lot of the initial benefits was at the store level."

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A greater number of taxpayers are expected to submit their returns to the Internal Revenue Service online this year, despite lingering security concerns. During the first quarter, nearly 39 percent of respondents to a survey said they planned to file their federal taxes online this year, up from 37 percent last year and approximately 28 percent three years ago, according to the Consumer Internet Barometer.

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On the first day of a strict policy banning students at St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic School from using social networking Web sites, administrators and parents were online ferreting out those who had yet to comply. "You get to know their code names," Judy Martinek, the school's office manager, said Friday. Sister Margaret Van Velzen, principal of the Bloomfield Hills school, said the policy took effect Friday in response to concerns about students posting "nasty things on the Internet," and as an attempt to keep the children safe. Van Velzen said Friday she does not know of any other school with such a policy, nor had she received complaints about it.

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U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings delivered remarks at the annual Celebration of Teaching and Learning conference in New York, where she discussed the important role of teachers in fostering strong science and technology education and how No Child Left Behind can help teachers customize instruction and raise student achievement. Following are her remarks at the conference, attended by teachers, administrators, school board members, students, parents and others from the world of business and policy.

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The picture to the right is, math teacher, Matt Van Raalte's textbooks. I suspect that if I'd gotten closer, I would have found a patina of dust covering them. All of his students have laptop computers. All of the teachers he knows have laptop computers. The province offered laptops to all of its teachers and is exploring the benefits of providing them to students. Matt, the math teacher, uses a wiki for his textbook. Through that wiki, his students can access worksheets, video demonstrations, his presentation slides and a vast amount of other materials that he or his students add to help them with their jobs as teachers and learners.

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This essay argues that the Citizendium is feasible. The wiki is in public view, or will be within a few days. You can join now. 1. So far, so good. The Citizendium pilot project wiki got under way privately at the start of last November. In the intervening months, we have steadily grown to some 1,100 "CZ Live" articles--that's approximately how many articles we have done significant work on. A fairly large percentage of these, I believe well over half, are either original articles or have been significantly changed from Wikipedia sources. We have steadily added authors and editors in this period, so that we have 820 authors and 180 editors (some of whom also have listed themselves as authors). Our activity has grown from 100 edits per day in the first month to over 500 prior to launch.

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In her reflections on procrastination for eLearn Magazine, Claire Gill draws a clear distinction between issues associated with completing individual versus group projects. Group projects are different, she writes, because a resulting site might "suffer from my missing content." I took that notion to heart and decided that I could no longer allow the world to suffer from my missing content. I had noticed that Wikipedia did not have an entry on Online Health Communities and resolved to write one. As perhaps the only person in the world teaching a course on this topic (at Tufts University School of Medicine), I am certainly qualified to write on it. I really didn't know what to expect: Would my content expertise be enough?

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Are virtual worlds a breakthrough technology that will forever reshape learning and business? Or are they this season's over-hyped fad? You'd have to try very hard to avoid exposure to the virtual world phenomenon in America these days. From "South Park's" hilarious episode on "World of Warcraft" (the world's largest MMORG, or Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) to Business Week's cover article in April, and with coverage on "Good Morning America," "CBS Sunday Morning" and countless other shows, virtual worlds appear to be the new-new thing. Second Life (SL) is the poster child for virtual worlds (VWs), those computer-generated mass hallucinations where people fly and perform magic, companies build artificial buildings and islands, and public relations firms spend boatloads of money making virtual splashes on behalf of clients with deep pockets.

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Mountain State University Offers Online Leadership Degrees That Give Business Professionals the Edge..

Mountain State University (MSU) offers two online degrees that go beyond facts and figures to enable students to gain a strong set of leadership skills. The online Master of Science in Strategic Leadership (M.S.S.L.) and Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Organizational Leadership provide invaluable instruction to help students envision goals, build teams and lead those teams to achieve objectives across any and all disciplines. "While many management training and leadership degrees prepare students to work on the tactical level with classes geared toward day-to-day management, at Mountain State we like to look at the bigger picture," said William White, Ed.D., dean of MSU's School of Leadership and Professional Development. "These degrees focus on the many facets of leadership, from forming teams to managing teams across multiple successful projects that can directly affect the performance of the organization. Strong leadership is a vital component of success in today's complex organizational and global environments."

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The director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), Larry Smarr, has received the prestigious Tsutomu Kanai Award from the world's largest association of computer professionals. He was cited for outstanding contributions in the area of distributed computing systems. An active computer science researcher, Smarr is a professor in the University of California, San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering. He is the principal investigator on the National Science Foundation-funded OptIPuter project and the Moore Foundation-funded Community Cyberinfrastructure for Advanced Microbial Ecology Research and Analysis (CAMERA) metagenomics project.

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Technology cannot replace teachers, but teachers who know how to use technology are able to replace those who lack that skill. Prof Hissa Mohamed Sadek, dean of College of Education of Qatar University (QU), made this observation while pointing out the significant role technology is playing in education, addressing the third annual educational symposium in Doha. Entitled ‘Best Practices in e-Learning,’ the symposium, organised by the College at QU, includes sessions and workshops discussing e-Education, e-Teaching and e-Learning, as well as issues related to planning and implementing these practices.

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