The article, written by unknown author, concerning the pre-eminent, digital repository of timely topics and papers supporting the use and management of technology in higher education. The article is structured in nine sections, and in my opinion, in a quite good interactive manner. The first three are a bit longer, whereas the next 5 only briefly mentioned.
The first part focuses on the general idea of EDUCAUSE, for me made too sketchily, emphasising its role in management of information technology in higher education. It is mentioned, than the huge 20,000 online content, submitted by EDUCAUSE internal organization`s units, is collected into 16 parts. The articles, books, conference sessions, multimedia, webinars, blogs, etc. ranging from agreements, contracts through e-books, multimedia to surveys, tools and webpages.
In the second paragraph, there are listed and shortly described EDUCAUSE publications and its affiliates. Although there are many of them, most cover a broad look at current and emerging developments, trends in information technology on the field of teaching and learning in higher education. A wide range of publications and affiliations, where in my opinion the contents generally seem to be a bit similar, suggest a consolidation to a few one. Then, searching for information could be more convenient for readers.
The EDUCAUSE taxonomy paragraph describe how you can easily explore the content of the all library resources. The repository is divided into seven main categories, then each topic into subtopic. The possibility of filtering databases via the key words and, what is more, tags from the EDUCAUSE library and the EDUCAUSE community, give us a hope of finding the wanted resource.
The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh paragraphs briefly refer to EDUCAUSE folksonomy as a method of collaboratively creating and managing tags, library collection policy and archive of all EDUCAUSE, non-EDUCAUSE documents. The last 2 parts cover general information about accessibility to the library for as many people as possible, giving phone number, e-mail contact to member service, and FAQ section.
All in all, the article seems to show a very convenient way of exploration a wide range of online EDUCAUSE resources. Coming to the end of the article`s review I am going to leave a few questions.
What is the correlation between EDUCAUSE repository and, for example the biggest one, ScienceDirect database (full-text scientific database offering journal articles from nearly 2,500 journals, 26,000 books)?
Do you think access to the repository completely free?
I would have to read more articles to see how good it is, but it seems like a great resource with a focus on education. I did find one or two papers behind a paywall but most of them are free to access. There are a few running series into which some of the articles are divided. Overall I like it very much, I found another article which I will present.
I chose the publication by Richard Holeton from Stanford University entitled ‘7 Things You Should Know About the Internet of Things’ (http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-internet-things). Its form is a mixture of an article, a report and a brief. It is a part of ‘7 Things You Should Know About...’ series available from EDUCASE which provides concise introduction to the new concepts in IT.
The concept presented in the publication is the Internet of Things (IoT) which describes a state in which various devices are interconnected over the Internet and collect, exchange and process the information. The idea is not new, but only in the recent years the vision became closer to reality than ever before. It became possible due to low-cost and low-voltage sensors and components added to various devices that surround us in our everyday life. These include not only smartphones, watches, cars or streetlights, but now also household appliances (e.g. refrigerators) and clothes.
As a result of IoT we are now gathering enormous amounts of data which open new avenues of research, learning, analysis and prediction. We will be able to empirically answer many questions with the precision never seen before – the article presents the case where one of the buildings was to be chosen for the daycare and after-school program. To make the decision, the team analyzed data from traffic sensors, parking lot monitors, electronic signs, streetlight sensors, water monitors, air quality sensors and security cameras. With this amount of information the decision made was more fact-based than it was possible to imagine even a few years ago.
IoT has its downsides too. All these vast amounts of data being collected raise the concern about privacy, security and data ownership. They will have be addressed with policy regulations, standards and changes of users’ behavior. One thing is sure – IoT will completely change our world really son.
What is your opinion about the Internet of Things?
I can't wait to connect my refrigerator to the Internet... But seriously the Internet of things looks like a natural progression from what we have now. Thanks to all the recent advances in mobile technology the possibilities are endless.
The IoT is a very prominent concept which is rising in popularity especially in the last years with the minutirization of multi-functional devices (smartphones, wearables, RFID tagged objects etc.). Related to this are M-learning (mobile learning) and U-learning (ubiqoutus learning) that have interesting applications in this field. Imagine i.e. a learning process that is automated and physically present in your environment like a room that teaches you how to control temperature and lightning within it simply through this IoT specific interface (using screens or projections and audio to guide you).
Everyone strives for innovation, because it seems we have to rely on it to advance our lives and it can only be positive. But as it turns out, we should be careful about always aiming for something new at the cost of rebuilding from what we already have. Specifically, the article tries to describe how education can suffer from too much innovation, opting instead for a more balanced approach with traditional values in mind. Too much reliance on technology can introduce a real burden on the functioning of an educational institution. Not everything that becomes technologically possible should be immediately bought and deployed, the added complexity should also be considered.
Five arguments are brought up regarding these issues: 1. Turning education into a technological problem rather than a life experience. 2. E-learning systems are often closed off from the wider educational environment and limit the possibility of interaction. 3. They also create an artificial environment, which doesn't resemble the real world or even the wider Internet. 4. Such systems are expensive to build and maintain. 5. Inflexible locked-down systems limit educational possibilities.
One of the suggested answers to those problems is Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). There are many other articles about them on EDUCAUSE. But there's a danger the movement can be overtaken by proprietary solutions. The article ends with a call to reclaim innovation by defending open platforms and equal participation.
I think the article is a little bit alarmist and mixes two issues: net neutrality and technological solutions in education. I don't believe we're at a point when education is suffering because of proprietary technology, so far the gains far outweigh those problems. But maybe it's a different situation in other places? Do you think that the need for innovation is moving us in the wrong direction?
I chose the article titled "Mobile Workspace for Anytime, Anywhere Student Access to Coursework" by Jason Mattox and Pooran Rambharose. It describes the launch of a desktop virtualization project on the Florida Atlantic University which gives the students access to personalized and course related data on a huge range of devices. Additionally the article contains a list of goals and challenges of the project together with the results and advantages that its deployment brought. In order to meet the expectations of the students the FAU aims to enhance its educational program particularly in the technological aspect. The most prominent solution is to implement a virtual desktop infrastructure that will enhance most of students needs like: collaboration on engineering projects, sharing and processing of huge files (CAD), back ups, access through a huge array of remote devices at any place with connectivity. The main goals that were set were to reduce energy consumption (this is achieved by transforming full PC desktops into a thin/zero client hardware), migrate to a newer OS version for all desktops and lastly offer a personalized workspace for each student that would contain his own Z drive with enough space for saving his work and global settings. Currently the FAU VDI project supports 330 concurrent users with a total of 2,500 at any given time. The project's initial budget which includes licenses, servers and specialized hardware was 450,000 $. Every year the university has to spend another 50,000 $ for upgrades and additional functionality implementations. The main software that was used for the virtualization of the teaching staff is VMWare View running on HP blade servers supported by HP Lefthand and Dell Compellent SSDs Storage Center. The students use VMware Horizon View security server in order to remotely access their workspaces. Some of the challenges that came up during the projects deployment were: a steep learning curve for early adopters of the VMware View, the FAUs network structure, storage infrastructure and the high-level graphics and simulation resources that aren't that virtualization friendly.The article concludes with a positive note on FAU being one of the early adopters of desktop virtualization among healthcare, government and finance organizations. A list of results is presented which contains most of the benefits that occurred. Among others those were: the increase of productivity for both students and faculty, enhancement of security of data and IT resources, reduction of operating costs mainly acquired through licensing and the promotion of learning and collaboration through use of new technologies. The article ends with the following statement: "Although desktop virtualization costs more in the short term than using physical desktops, it plays a critical role in reducing the total cost of ownership over time. It also modernizes education delivery to keep pace with the demands of technologically sophisticated consumers." Do you agree with it? Have you ever worked in an organization that uses such a solution?
I’ve read an article that I’ve found in 3D Printers section as it was aligned with my interests: High-Tech Maker Spaces: Helping Little Startups Make It Big. Short article, authored by Jon Kalish describes the proces of changing the way busineses based on hardware product are invented, developed and produced. Introuction of collaborative maker spaces in many cities of USA allows creative entrepreneurs to make a cheap prototype of their product, work together in an affordable space, using very expensive equipment that wouldn’t be available for them if it wasn’t shared. Such collaborative makerspaces also enforce the environment where people of different background, interests and ideas work together and expand their contact networks. It appears that working together, not only in the same company, brings major benefits. Not only producing an product becomes much cheaper due to funding and split costs, but also collaboration based on synergy improves the innovativeness of the projects and people involved. Thanks to that approach anyone can develop prototypes of their products to easily find investors and receive funding to begin mass scale production. New technologies and collaborative work environment makes iit much cheaper than it has ever been before. In Poland there are multiple organisations that work in a similar matter. One of those is Cohabitat, that has helped to found and partners with multiple fablabs (fabrication laboratories). In such organized places young innovative people can access hardware equipment to fabricate their products or parts of them. Do you have experience working in such environments like co-working offices?
I chose the article "Five Guidelines for Instituting IT Value Measurement" by Judith A.Priani. This is article summarize EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel from 2012 During this panel members tried to answer to question "How would yo define the value of IT in a way that could be measured". They identified the IT measurement methods like: 1.Impact on the core institutional mission 2.Benchmarks against peers providing similar levels of service 3.The quality of individual services rather than IT overall 4. Efficiency and effectiveness for institutional operations.
I think that this is very interesting article because now a day many companies have a lot of problems whit this that they can't measure IT effectiveness. In many cases IT generate only cost but this is true only on the paper because profits like the time that other workers save thanks to that, they use of IT systems, or faster customer service or faster execution or other process is not that easily measurable, and this can not be transferred to excel as profit in easy way this is the so-called hidden profit. That why I think that this is very nice article and may be the beginning of further discussion how to measure the effectiveness and the benefits which IT brings to the company
Fighting Identity Theft with the Red Flags Rule: A How-To Guide for Business I would like you to think about threat of fraud which can be consequence of action of organized criminal groups: skimming, phishing, creating "mule" accounts and what is the most frequent cause of fraud - being thoughtless. Please read an article about fraud prevention by financial institutions with usage of "Red Flags Rule". http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus23-fighting-identity-theft-red-flags-rule-how-guide-business
Think of following situations and answer: Imagine that you are looking for a job. You reply to an offer that you had received on your mailbox. You send CV with your adress, e-mail, date of birth, but they want you to give more details. Potential work is supposed to be well-paid so you instantly share with your bank account and sensitive data. Futhermore, in CV there is your photo. Few weeks later you find out that ....
Suppose that you got this job. In your responsibilities is to work from home using your own bank account. You "only" have to immidiately transfer money that you have reveived to other account. You receive a percentage from transferred amount. The next day somebody is knocking to your door ....
You want to take money from ATM. It looks smoehow strange cause is a little scratched and the keyboard is like protruding. You are in shopping center so you think that nothing could happen to this machine, here is always a lot of people and here are cameras, you take the money. You've been a victim of ....
Have you ever lost your wallet? Did you block ID's number in your bank even if the wallet was returned to you the next day? What can happen is ....
Do you take notice on appearance of bank login page. Does it look as always? ....
Do you read e-mails from unknown sender? Do you open attachments? Do you know what uploaded virus can do? ....
The article, written by unknown author, concerning the pre-eminent, digital repository of timely topics and papers supporting the use and management of technology in higher education. The article is structured in nine sections, and in my opinion, in a quite good interactive manner. The first three are a bit longer, whereas the next 5 only briefly mentioned.
ReplyDeleteThe first part focuses on the general idea of EDUCAUSE, for me made too sketchily, emphasising its role in management of information technology in higher education. It is mentioned, than the huge 20,000 online content, submitted by EDUCAUSE internal organization`s units, is collected into 16 parts. The articles, books, conference sessions, multimedia, webinars, blogs, etc. ranging from agreements, contracts through e-books, multimedia to surveys, tools and webpages.
In the second paragraph, there are listed and shortly described EDUCAUSE publications and its affiliates. Although there are many of them, most cover a broad look at current and emerging developments, trends in information technology on the field of teaching and learning in higher education. A wide range of publications and affiliations, where in my opinion the contents generally seem to be a bit similar, suggest a consolidation to a few one. Then, searching for information could be more convenient for readers.
The EDUCAUSE taxonomy paragraph describe how you can easily explore the content of the all library resources. The repository is divided into seven main categories, then each topic into subtopic. The possibility of filtering databases via the key words and, what is more, tags from the EDUCAUSE library and the EDUCAUSE community, give us a hope of finding the wanted resource.
The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh paragraphs briefly refer to EDUCAUSE folksonomy as a method of collaboratively creating and managing tags, library collection policy and archive of all EDUCAUSE, non-EDUCAUSE documents. The last 2 parts cover general information about accessibility to the library for as many people as possible, giving phone number, e-mail contact to member service, and FAQ section.
All in all, the article seems to show a very convenient way of exploration a wide range of online EDUCAUSE resources. Coming to the end of the article`s review I am going to leave a few questions.
What is the correlation between EDUCAUSE repository and, for example the biggest one, ScienceDirect database (full-text scientific database offering journal articles from nearly 2,500 journals, 26,000 books)?
Do you think access to the repository completely free?
What do you think about the papers` quality?
Have you ever visited EDUCAUSE library?
What is your opinion about EDUCAUSE?
I would have to read more articles to see how good it is, but it seems like a great resource with a focus on education. I did find one or two papers behind a paywall but most of them are free to access. There are a few running series into which some of the articles are divided. Overall I like it very much, I found another article which I will present.
DeleteI chose the publication by Richard Holeton from Stanford University entitled ‘7 Things You Should Know About the Internet of Things’ (http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-internet-things). Its form is a mixture of an article, a report and a brief. It is a part of ‘7 Things You Should Know About...’ series available from EDUCASE which provides concise introduction to the new concepts in IT.
ReplyDeleteThe concept presented in the publication is the Internet of Things (IoT) which describes a state in which various devices are interconnected over the Internet and collect, exchange and process the information. The idea is not new, but only in the recent years the vision became closer to reality than ever before. It became possible due to low-cost and low-voltage sensors and components added to various devices that surround us in our everyday life. These include not only smartphones, watches, cars or streetlights, but now also household appliances (e.g. refrigerators) and clothes.
As a result of IoT we are now gathering enormous amounts of data which open new avenues of research, learning, analysis and prediction. We will be able to empirically answer many questions with the precision never seen before – the article presents the case where one of the buildings was to be chosen for the daycare and after-school program. To make the decision, the team analyzed data from traffic sensors, parking lot monitors, electronic signs, streetlight sensors, water monitors, air quality sensors and security cameras. With this amount of information the decision made was more fact-based than it was possible to imagine even a few years ago.
IoT has its downsides too. All these vast amounts of data being collected raise the concern about privacy, security and data ownership. They will have be addressed with policy regulations, standards and changes of users’ behavior. One thing is sure – IoT will completely change our world really son.
What is your opinion about the Internet of Things?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI can't wait to connect my refrigerator to the Internet... But seriously the Internet of things looks like a natural progression from what we have now. Thanks to all the recent advances in mobile technology the possibilities are endless.
DeleteThe IoT is a very prominent concept which is rising in popularity especially in the last years with the minutirization of multi-functional devices (smartphones, wearables, RFID tagged objects etc.). Related to this are M-learning (mobile learning) and U-learning (ubiqoutus learning) that have interesting applications in this field. Imagine i.e. a learning process that is automated and physically present in your environment like a room that teaches you how to control temperature and lightning within it simply through this IoT specific interface (using screens or
Deleteprojections and audio to guide you).
The article "Reclaiming Innovation" discusses, why we shouldn't mistake disruption for true innovation in the context of e-learning systems.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.educause.edu/visuals/shared/er/extras/2014/ReclaimingInnovation/default.html
Everyone strives for innovation, because it seems we have to rely on it to advance our lives and it can only be positive. But as it turns out, we should be careful about always aiming for something new at the cost of rebuilding from what we already have. Specifically, the article tries to describe how education can suffer from too much innovation, opting instead for a more balanced approach with traditional values in mind. Too much reliance on technology can introduce a real burden on the functioning of an educational institution. Not everything that becomes technologically possible should be immediately bought and deployed, the added complexity should also be considered.
Five arguments are brought up regarding these issues:
1. Turning education into a technological problem rather than a life experience.
2. E-learning systems are often closed off from the wider educational environment and limit the possibility of interaction.
3. They also create an artificial environment, which doesn't resemble the real world or even the wider Internet.
4. Such systems are expensive to build and maintain.
5. Inflexible locked-down systems limit educational possibilities.
One of the suggested answers to those problems is Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). There are many other articles about them on EDUCAUSE. But there's a danger the movement can be overtaken by proprietary solutions. The article ends with a call to reclaim innovation by defending open platforms and equal participation.
I think the article is a little bit alarmist and mixes two issues: net neutrality and technological solutions in education. I don't believe we're at a point when education is suffering because of proprietary technology, so far the gains far outweigh those problems. But maybe it's a different situation in other places? Do you think that the need for innovation is moving us in the wrong direction?
I chose the article titled "Mobile Workspace for Anytime, Anywhere Student Access to Coursework" by Jason Mattox and Pooran Rambharose. It describes the launch of a desktop virtualization project on the Florida Atlantic University which gives the students access to personalized and course related data on a huge range of devices. Additionally the article contains a list of goals and challenges of the project together with the results and advantages that its deployment brought.
ReplyDeleteIn order to meet the expectations of the students the FAU aims to enhance its educational program particularly in the technological aspect. The most prominent solution is to implement a virtual desktop infrastructure that will enhance most of students needs like: collaboration on engineering projects, sharing and processing of huge files (CAD), back ups, access through a huge array of remote devices at any place with connectivity. The main goals that were set were to reduce energy consumption (this is achieved by transforming full PC desktops into a thin/zero client hardware), migrate to a newer OS version for all desktops and lastly offer a personalized workspace for each student that would contain his own Z drive with enough space for saving his
work and global settings.
Currently the FAU VDI project supports 330 concurrent users with a total of 2,500 at any given time. The project's initial budget which includes licenses, servers and specialized hardware was 450,000 $. Every year the university has to spend another 50,000 $ for upgrades and additional functionality implementations.
The main software that was used for the virtualization of the teaching staff is VMWare View running on HP blade servers supported by HP Lefthand and Dell Compellent SSDs Storage Center. The students use VMware Horizon View security server in order to remotely access their workspaces.
Some of the challenges that came up during the projects deployment were: a steep learning curve for early adopters of the VMware View, the FAUs network structure, storage infrastructure and the high-level graphics and simulation resources that aren't that virtualization friendly.The article concludes with a positive note on FAU being one of the early adopters of desktop virtualization among healthcare, government and finance organizations. A list of results is presented which contains most of the benefits that occurred. Among others those were: the increase of productivity for both students and faculty, enhancement of security of data and IT resources, reduction of operating costs mainly acquired through licensing and the promotion of learning and collaboration through use of new technologies.
The article ends with the following statement:
"Although desktop virtualization costs more in the short term than using physical desktops, it plays a critical role in reducing the total cost of ownership over time. It also modernizes education delivery to keep pace with the demands of technologically sophisticated consumers."
Do you agree with it?
Have you ever worked in an organization that uses such a solution?
I’ve read an article that I’ve found in 3D Printers section as it was aligned with my interests: High-Tech Maker Spaces: Helping Little Startups Make It Big. Short article, authored by Jon Kalish describes the proces of changing the way busineses based on hardware product are invented, developed and produced.
ReplyDeleteIntrouction of collaborative maker spaces in many cities of USA allows creative entrepreneurs to make a cheap prototype of their product, work together in an affordable space, using very expensive equipment that wouldn’t be available for them if it wasn’t shared. Such collaborative makerspaces also enforce the environment where people of different background, interests and ideas work together and expand their contact networks.
It appears that working together, not only in the same company, brings major benefits. Not only producing an product becomes much cheaper due to funding and split costs, but also collaboration based on synergy improves the innovativeness of the projects and people involved. Thanks to that approach anyone can develop prototypes of their products to easily find investors and receive funding to begin mass scale production. New technologies and collaborative work environment makes iit much cheaper than it has ever been before.
In Poland there are multiple organisations that work in a similar matter. One of those is Cohabitat, that has helped to found and partners with multiple fablabs (fabrication laboratories). In such organized places young innovative people can access hardware equipment to fabricate their products or parts of them.
Do you have experience working in such environments like co-working offices?
I chose the article "Five Guidelines for Instituting IT Value Measurement" by Judith A.Priani. This is article summarize EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel from 2012
ReplyDeleteDuring this panel members tried to answer to question "How would yo define the value of IT in a way that could be measured".
They identified the IT measurement methods like:
1.Impact on the core institutional mission
2.Benchmarks against peers providing similar levels of service
3.The quality of individual services rather than IT overall
4. Efficiency and effectiveness for institutional operations.
I think that this is very interesting article because now a day many companies have a lot of problems whit this that they can't measure IT effectiveness. In many cases IT generate only cost but this is true only on the paper because profits like the time that other workers save thanks to that, they use of IT systems, or faster customer service or faster execution or other process is not that easily measurable, and this can not be transferred to excel as profit in easy way this is the so-called hidden profit.
That why I think that this is very nice article and may be the beginning of further discussion how to measure the effectiveness and the benefits which IT brings to the company
Fighting Identity Theft with the Red Flags Rule: A How-To Guide for Business
ReplyDeleteI would like you to think about threat of fraud which can be consequence of action of organized criminal groups: skimming, phishing, creating "mule" accounts and what is the most frequent cause of fraud - being thoughtless. Please read an article about fraud prevention by financial institutions with usage of "Red Flags Rule".
http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus23-fighting-identity-theft-red-flags-rule-how-guide-business
Think of following situations and answer:
Imagine that you are looking for a job. You reply to an offer that you had received on your mailbox. You send CV with your adress, e-mail, date of birth, but they want you to give more details. Potential work is supposed to be well-paid so you instantly share with your bank account and sensitive data. Futhermore, in CV there is your photo.
Few weeks later you find out that ....
Suppose that you got this job. In your responsibilities is to work from home using your own bank account. You "only" have to immidiately transfer money that you have reveived to other account. You receive a percentage from transferred amount.
The next day somebody is knocking to your door ....
You want to take money from ATM. It looks smoehow strange cause is a little scratched and the keyboard is like protruding. You are in shopping center so you think that nothing could happen to this machine, here is always a lot of people and here are cameras, you take the money.
You've been a victim of ....
Have you ever lost your wallet? Did you block ID's number in your bank even if the wallet was returned to you the next day?
What can happen is ....
Do you take notice on appearance of bank login page. Does it look as always?
....
Do you read e-mails from unknown sender? Do you open attachments? Do you know what uploaded virus can do?
....