Internet Explorer browser might be vulnerable to having their computers hijacked

SAN FRANCISCO - Users of all current versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser might be vulnerable to having their computers hijacked because of a serious security hole in the software that had yet to be fixed Monday.

The flaw lets criminals commandeer victims' machines merely by tricking them into visiting Web sites tainted with malicious programming code. As many as 10,000 sites have been compromised since last week to exploit the browser flaw, according to antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc.

The sites are mostly Chinese and have been serving up programs that steal passwords for computer games, which can be sold for money on the black market. However, the hole is such that it could be "adopted by more financially motivated criminals for more serious mayhem — that's a big fear right now," Paul Ferguson, a Trend Micro security researcher, said Monday.

"Zero-day" vulnerabilities like this are security holes that haven't been repaired by the software makers. They're a gold mine for criminals because users have few ways to fight off attacks.

The latest vulnerability is noteworthy because Internet Explorer is the default browser for most of the world's computers. Also, while Microsoft says it has detected attacks only against version 7 of Internet Explorer, which is the most widely used edition, the company warned that other versions are also potentially vulnerable.

Microsoft said it is investigating the flaw and is considering fixing it through an emergency software patch outside of its normal monthly updates, but declined further comment. The company is telling users to employ a series of complicated workarounds to minimize the threat.

Many security experts, meanwhile, are urging Internet Explorer users to use another browser until a patch is released.

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On the Net:

Microsoft's advisory:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/961051.mspx

Revived Fervor for Smart Monitors Linked to a Server

By ASHLEE VANCE

Published: October 13, 2008

Instead of having a big, loud and complex computer on your desk, what if you could have a quiet, thin machine that rarely needed an upgrade or a fix?
Click on the Blog Title for the full story

Rice Expands Audience Response Systems Availability

During the spring of the 2008 academic year, the EdTech carried out a presentation for faculty and graduate students focusing on Audience Response Systems (ARS). This presentation, part of the Teaching with Technology series sponsored by IT and The Digital Media Center, sparked faculty interest in moving towards a campus-wide supported solution. As a result, he Educational Technologies team at Rice and a number of faculty members participated in a series of round table discussions and demonstrations, aimed at identifying an ARS system that would more closely fit the needs and interests of the Rice instructional community. Transcripts and documents from these round table sessions were analyzed by an independent evaluator. Based on the recommendations of the evaluator, EdTech has moved forward with the deployment of ARS in three more classrooms at Rice. The selected system was TurningPoint Technologies.

There were several factors that made TurningPoint a better choice for Rice over the other systems considered:
- TurningPoint offers the opportunity to accumulate and combine student responses, expanding the opportunities for instruction and dialog between faculty and students, while eInstruction does not.
- Turning Point offers other alternatives to participation, including a laptop based application that can serve as a clicker.
- TurningPoint offers options for side by side pre and post assessment graphing of same question to show effectiveness of lecture.
- Other systems considered require user registration of the clickers with the vendor. EdTEch was not satisfied vendor provided assurances regarding individual privacy and the sharing of student data.
- The clickers are acquired as a single purchase in the case of TurningPoint, whereas other vendors requires multiple payments by students
- Clickers from other vendors were deemed the least desirable use interface for students, more clunky and less aesthetically pleasing.

EdTech is working the Office of The Registrar to finalize the location of the deployments based on faculty needs. Please stay tuned for more.

Sheri Shepherd discusses excellence in teaching and engineering

In this talk the relationships between teaching and research are explored. Examples are presented that illustrate the variety of ways that teaching can affect the engineering student experience. The talk draws from the soon to be published book Educating Engineers: Designing for the Future, and emerging findings from the NSF-funded Academic Pathways Study (APS). Educating Engineers, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, addresses the perception that professional education has been plagued by a long-standing failure to connect theory and practice in systematic, productive ways. The APS investigates the ways that engineering college students navigate their education, and pays particular attention to how students develop skills, identity and commitment to engineering. Taken together, Educating Engineers and APS show the ways that engineering education is meeting students’ and the nation’s needs and the many ways it is failing to do so, and suggest ways that for us to embark on redesigning engineering higher education.

You can watch or download the presentation on the Rice Webcast Archives Site.

Rice Dance Theatre: Arts meet Technology

Arts and Technology met at Rice thanks to collaborative efforts between the Rice Dance Theater, The Society for the Performing Arts, and the Educational Technologies department. Using an EdTech portable videoconferencing and projection system, dance students were able to take a master class from instructors of the renowned Bocca Tango dance group from Argentina, and share in the activity with dance students at the University of Texas in Austin. The Bocca Tango masters taught a live class at Rice's Dance studio, what students at UT were able to follow along in Austin. Students at both universities were able to learn as they observed each other perform, and the Bocca Tango masters were able to provide feedback at locations. Students were exited about this opportunity, as technology does not usually travel to these non-traditional settings.

Coping with Information Overload

The Educational Technologies Department and Rice's Fondren Library will be hosting a brown bag lunch on Coping with Information Overload as part of the Teaching with Technology series.
Date: April 9, 2008
Time: 12-1 p.m.
Place: Digital Media Center (Herring Hall 129)

Summary: Recently business research firm Basex named information overload the
“problem of the year” and estimated that it costs $650 billion annually.
According to a 2005 UK study, information overload can lower IQ by as
much as 10 points. Feeling overwhelmed by the deluge of information?
Lisa Spiro, director of the Digital Media Center, will provide practical
tips for dealing with information overload as part of the Teaching with
Technology brown bag series, which is sponsored by Fondren Library’s
Digital Media Center and Information Technology’s Educational
Technologies group. She will discuss methods such as the “Getting Things
Done” approach as well as computer-based tools for finding information,
managing projects and to-do lists, organizing research, and more. Free
box lunches will be provided to the first 15 people who register online
at http://library.rice.edu/news-events-folder/infooverloadbb/view

Teaching Innovation Award Announcement

The following announcement was posted in OpenEd practices. Since the collaboration and course management tools in OWL-Space are powered by Sakai, this should be of interest to the Rice instructional community.

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Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award

Attention faculty: Are you excited about new ways in which you have been able to engage your students using Sakai? If you believe that your course transforms the learning experience, we want to hear from you. We are looking for teachers whose courses best exemplify excellent teaching practices combined with innovative solutions. Please share your story with us and with other faculty around the world by applying for the Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award. Check out our self-scoring rubric today to see how your course stacks up.

If you are the winner, you will be awarded a modest cash prize, and a trip to Paris to participate in the 9th Sakai Conference, July 1-3. There you will be recognized at an award ceremony and invited to showcase your course. If you are the winner and unable to travel to Paris, an honorarium will be awarded and we will work with you to provide an electronic presence at the conference.

Teaching Innovation

Although there are many ways in which technology, and in particular Sakai, can making the teaching process more efficient or productive, innovative technology applications truly transform the educational experience. The intent of this award is ti highlight examples of educational applications of Sakai which fall into this innovative or transformative category.

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For more information visit opened practices

Teaching With Technology Brown Bags Presents Second Life

On March 12, 2008, the Teaching with Technology Brown Bag Series, hosted in collaboration by Educational Technologies and Fondren Libraries Digital Media Center, presented invited Phil Montgomery to talk about Second Life. Phil discussed what Second Life is, as well as its history, demographics, and Rice's participation in it. Faculty present at the event presented questions and observations in a variety of areas including:

• Using this as a recruitment tool
• How this tool can be used in education ?
• How does the construction and scripting process work?
• Would you teach a class in Second Life and:
• Be able to control access to the space?
• Make it an open class?
• What are the front loading requirements for course preparation?

Rice's recent experiences in hosting conferences in Second Life were also presented. Aspects such as fostering distributed participation and interactivity were also discussed, along with efforts to host future Rice events in Second Life.

The presentation is stored in OWL-Space and is downloadable from the Teaching with Technology site. This is a joinable site. Please contact EdTEch for further information.

Rice Faculty Members Talk About Audience Response Systems

As Rice University continues to evaluate solutions for a campus wide deployment of audience response systems, we set out to talk with faculty members and students that currently use ARS in the classroom. This video shows Dr. Paul Padley (Physics and Astronomy), and Dr. Rachel Kimbro (Sociology), along with their students, talking you through their experiences and impressions, as they teach and learn with Audience Response Systems.

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Flickr! Web 2.0 photo sharing

Flickr is a photo sharing site and services suite fueled by an online community. It was one of the earliest Web 2.0 applications. It is a very popular Web site for users to share personal photographs, and bloggers use it extensively as a photo repository. It has been made popular by an innovative online community with tools that allow photos to be tagged and browsed by folksonomic means. It hosts over two billion images. The article below was published by the Educause group.

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Flickr is a photo-sharing website where anyone can upload and tag photos, browse others' photos, and add comments and annotations. Users can create photo sets and collections to manage content and participate in topical groups to cultivate a sense of community. Although Flickr is ostensibly for photos, the site might more aptly be described as a venue for sharing experiences and building relationships. The site provides the tools, but the value derives from the contributions of the user community -- photos, comments, ratings, and organization -- and the connections that the site facilitates between individuals. In this way, Flickr embodies what has come to be known as Web 2.0 technology.

The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.
In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution.

Extended Article in Acrobat format.

EdTech and Fondren to Host Teaching With Technology: Social Software and Education

The Educational Technologies and the Digital Media Center staff will jointly present a session focusing on Social Networking web sites, social bookmarking, and the power of tagging in sharing images and academic references.
Carlos Solis and Lisa Spiro will be discussing web 2.0 and go through blogging, integration of RSS feeds and other web 2.0 applications and social networking applications.
Discussed systems will include:

• blogger
• delicious
• Connotea
• Pageflakes
• FaceBook
• Ning
• Diigo

	Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
	129 Herring Hall Rice University 6100 Main St Houston, Texas, USA

More information can be found at http://www.rice.edu/vpit/news/brownbags.html
Fondren Library’s Digital Media Center and Educational Technologies (part of the division of Information Technology) sponsor this series of workshops that focus on the use of technology in teaching and collaborative learning. These informal, practical workshops, open to all faculty, instructors, staff, and graduate students, will introduce how and why to use educational technologies.

Social Networks: Where are they going?

As educational institutions continue to debate what technologies they will deploy next, and in some cases trying to catch up with developments on the net that seem to entice and attract their students, trends continue to develop and evolve. Universities have been examining social networks for some time now, but the article cited below, published online in TechDirt,
raises the question, "Should those who have not jumped in the social network pool look elsewhere?"

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Bill Gates Joins The Growing Social Network Exodus
from the nothing-lasts-forever dept

Extrapolation of what's happening "now" is one of the most dangerous things in trying to predict the future. If something is growing quickly today, it doesn't mean that will last. Take social networks for example. Historically, they have a pretty standard pattern. There's a huge rush of growth, as people think it's new and neat, and they sign up all their friends. Then there's a flat period where people are still using it, but some begin to question why. Then people start to realize that, beyond reconnecting with some old friends and acquaintances, there really isn't that much to do there -- and that realization may come even sooner if they're getting bombarded with advertisements. It happened way back in the '90s with Six Degrees. It happened with Friendster in the first half of the decade. Yet, some people and companies believed that MySpace and Facebook would be different. Certainly, both companies recognized this problem to some extent, and have worked to add more things that you can "do" on their sites. Both still get a ton of traffic and usage and aren't going anywhere soon. However, there are some worrying signs. Google recently noted that the ads it's put on MySpace don't perform very well (which is something of a problem, since Google has guaranteed at least $900 million in ad revenue to MySpace). And, now, reports are coming out that users are, on average, spending noticeably less time on both MySpace and Facebook, with some leaving it behind. And, what better way to amusingly drive that point home, than to point out that even Bill Gates has killed his Facebook page just a few months after Microsoft dumped $240 million into the company?
permalink

Skype pilots in the classroom

With the growing interest in video conferencing, the need to establish live contact with institutions that may not have high tech facilities available, and with the desire to promote one-to-one communications in a self serve mode, the EdTech department at Rice has worked with faculty members to establish the usability of Skype as an instructional tool.

At the beginning of December of 2007, Educause published this article: 7 Things You Should Know About Skype (ID: ELI7032)

Summary: Skype is a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) application that lets users make free phone calls between Skype-equipped computers and inexpensive calls between Skype computers and landline or cell phones. Skype functions on a P2P model rather than as a centralized application, and it offers features such as voicemail, call forwarding, conference calling, and video chat. In most circumstances, Skype provides access to voice and video communication for a fraction of what other options cost. It allows more frequent contact between colleagues, collaborators, and friends and permits connections with those not likely to be in touch through conventional phone systems.

The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution.

You can download the pdf version of the article by following this link.

Audience Response Systems make the New York Times Education Section

A report in the New York Times Education section today, a link contributed by one of our faculty members, discusses on audience response systems (ARS) use in the classroom, focusing on physics instruction in AP course. (See more below)

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Education

Students Click, and a Quiz Becomes a Game

By WINNIE HU

Published: January 28, 2008

A technology known as an audience response system is spreading to public and private schools across the country.
Perma Link

[requires free NY times ID]

Audience Response Systems Focus Group

The Educational Technologies group in Information Technology (IT) has received an increasing number of requests for audience response systems in Rice classrooms. Audience Response Systems interface with instructional computers allowing faculty members to query, collect, and display student responses to the attending class via hand held devices. Two classrooms currently have the software and the clickers that turn PowerPoint presentations into interactive classroom discussions.

IT is hosting several focus groups during the last week of February to gauge additional interest.

In these focus groups, EdTech staff will demonstrate several vendors' products (yes, you can hold a clicker and participate in the demo!) and we will ask participants to estimate if and when they would be ready to use the applications in their Rice courses.

If you would like to participate in one of the focus groups, please email carlyn@rice.edu to learn the dates and times for the focus groups.

Your Turn! Meeting with Rice Faculty

As part of the "Teaching with Technology Brown Bag" series, members of the Educational Technologies and the Digital Media Center from Rice's Fondren Library met with faculty, staff and students to discuss and listen to instructional needs. Meeting points were collected on a 'digital board' using the Tufts University free Vue Program and are synthesized in the diagram below.

Issues brought up in conversation included:
- Audience Response Systems. There are currently two systems installed on the Rice campus but with the increased interest a focus group meeting will be announced shortly to start discussions leading to a campus wide deployment.
- The desire to record lectures to post to OWL-Space sites. This capability is currently available in some of our podiums and with the addition of the podcasting tool in OWL-Space, the pieces are in place. Please contact the EdTech department for individualized help in this area.
- Integration of Library Services and Connexions into OWL-Space. The EdTech group is looking into these tools. The attendees also requested the availability of reserve texts in OWL-Space.
- Some faculty members requested collaboration with the library to instruct students on proper research methodologies in the 'Google Era'. Fondren Library and the Digital Media Center is ready to assist in this area.

Other areas of interest included:
- Ability to pull and digitally annotate texts on the spot
- Electronic whiteboards to capture classroom generated content
- High quality capture of video presentations
- Calibrated peer review systems
- Access to Rice owned and shared image banks
- Document check-out features in OWL-Space
- Integration of OWL-Space into outreach programs