Friday
Dec311999
115 - On-Line Jones University Sparks Protests from Faculty Organization; Embedded Web Servers - Small Devices Deliver Content
December 31, 1999
1. On-Line Jones University Sparks Protests from Faculty Organization: In a
unique action, the nation's leading organization of college professors
formally protested the recent accreditation of Jones International
University, the first (but not the last) on-line only education venture to
receive formal approval from a major accrediting association. the North
Central Association. The American Association of University Professors
(AAUP), a national group of 45,000 faculty, sent a sharp protest on three
grounds:
a) One problem was that instructors at Jones teach courses prepared by
others, which means they have little say over how material is presented.
This, in the professors' view, violates the instructors' academic freedom.
b) Another issue was that the school has many part-time instructors, but
only two full-time faculty members.
c) A third was that, unlike conventional universities, Jones puts little
emphasis on faculty research or scholarship.
The AAUP did say that their members supported an exploration of the role of
internet delivered learning, but had serious troubles with the economic and
academic model of this business. Watch this fight as an early indicator of
the struggle between diverse models and images of the organization and
delivery models of higher education learning.
2. Embedded Web Servers - Small Devices Deliver Content: Check out a web
server on a chip, developed by Phar Lab as a prototype of allowing devices
that ability to directly serve content and information over the web. This
chip is a 486-based Single Board Computer (PC/104) which is only 3.8 by 3.6
inches in size. The server and application software use Phar Lap's Realtime
ETS Kernel, a realtime operating system for X86-based computers. This
particular demonstration is a Web server that provides realtime weather data
from Cambridge, Massachusetts. The demonstration illustrates how the Web can
be used to access and control small, low-cost embedded systems. Go to
http://www.pharlap.com/
Imagine similar devices on a range of equipment and structures. Check out
your furnace and fuel tank with web pages that show current status.
3. Learning Quotation: Pete Tressler
One of our TechLearn TRENDS Readers submitted his favorite saying:
"I believe it to be the inherent responsibility of every manager, regardless
of level, to accomplish 3 tasks every time they are with a direct report.
The 3 tasks are summed up in a quote I use often: EDUCATE, MOTIVATE and
TRAIN YOUR REPLACEMENT!"
- Pete Tressler, IT&S Strategy and Planning
4. Rotating Training Staff: A Learning Decision: As we prepare for our
upcoming conference, I have been interviewing Learning Officers about their
greatest hurdle in Aligning Training and Business Goals. The concept of
"fresh blood" has come up several more times than I would have predicted. A
desire to have the training or learning function be a career stop rather
than a career for a large percentage of the staff was raised by a number of
learning officers and training managers. One participant, responsible for
learning activities of 72,000 employees worldwide summarized her hope and
goal:
"I want to rotate the best performers in our organization for a short stint
in the training and learning department. Give us a year or two of your
career, contribute a powerful perspective, develop your own skills and then
go back out into the business units. These rotational members of our staff
would add an incredible point of view and credibility to our efforts. And,
they would be lifelong "agents" of ours in the business units. My challenge
is to lower the permanent head count of our training department and to add
glamour to the prospect of spending a rotation in our shop. If I can pull
this off, it will go a long way to making the Alignment Issue a reality."
We have heard similar views from quite a few training managers coming to
Learning Decisions '99. They clearly want to have some staff that have a
strong grounding in training and learning skills, but are eyeing a shift to
a rotational basis for a good chunk of their team. If you have some
thoughts on this issue please send me an email to emasie@masie.com After
Learning Decisions '99, we will post a summary of the dialogue on this
issue.
Upcoming MASIE Center Events: info at www.masie.com
Learning Decisions '99 (May 12 to 14 - Las Vegas) - Only 73 Seats Left!
TechLearn '99 (Oct 31 to Nov 3 - Orlando) - Over 1,053 Registered Already!
(Thanks to all of our readers for your good humor about our last edition,
The April Fools Trends. We had hundreds of emails from you and even a few
that are starting on a business plan for Digital Doughnuts. If you get them
available, let me know and we will post the info. Remember: Laughter is an
important reminder that you are alive!)
unique action, the nation's leading organization of college professors
formally protested the recent accreditation of Jones International
University, the first (but not the last) on-line only education venture to
receive formal approval from a major accrediting association. the North
Central Association. The American Association of University Professors
(AAUP), a national group of 45,000 faculty, sent a sharp protest on three
grounds:
a) One problem was that instructors at Jones teach courses prepared by
others, which means they have little say over how material is presented.
This, in the professors' view, violates the instructors' academic freedom.
b) Another issue was that the school has many part-time instructors, but
only two full-time faculty members.
c) A third was that, unlike conventional universities, Jones puts little
emphasis on faculty research or scholarship.
The AAUP did say that their members supported an exploration of the role of
internet delivered learning, but had serious troubles with the economic and
academic model of this business. Watch this fight as an early indicator of
the struggle between diverse models and images of the organization and
delivery models of higher education learning.
2. Embedded Web Servers - Small Devices Deliver Content: Check out a web
server on a chip, developed by Phar Lab as a prototype of allowing devices
that ability to directly serve content and information over the web. This
chip is a 486-based Single Board Computer (PC/104) which is only 3.8 by 3.6
inches in size. The server and application software use Phar Lap's Realtime
ETS Kernel, a realtime operating system for X86-based computers. This
particular demonstration is a Web server that provides realtime weather data
from Cambridge, Massachusetts. The demonstration illustrates how the Web can
be used to access and control small, low-cost embedded systems. Go to
http://www.pharlap.com/
Imagine similar devices on a range of equipment and structures. Check out
your furnace and fuel tank with web pages that show current status.
3. Learning Quotation: Pete Tressler
One of our TechLearn TRENDS Readers submitted his favorite saying:
"I believe it to be the inherent responsibility of every manager, regardless
of level, to accomplish 3 tasks every time they are with a direct report.
The 3 tasks are summed up in a quote I use often: EDUCATE, MOTIVATE and
TRAIN YOUR REPLACEMENT!"
- Pete Tressler, IT&S Strategy and Planning
4. Rotating Training Staff: A Learning Decision: As we prepare for our
upcoming conference, I have been interviewing Learning Officers about their
greatest hurdle in Aligning Training and Business Goals. The concept of
"fresh blood" has come up several more times than I would have predicted. A
desire to have the training or learning function be a career stop rather
than a career for a large percentage of the staff was raised by a number of
learning officers and training managers. One participant, responsible for
learning activities of 72,000 employees worldwide summarized her hope and
goal:
"I want to rotate the best performers in our organization for a short stint
in the training and learning department. Give us a year or two of your
career, contribute a powerful perspective, develop your own skills and then
go back out into the business units. These rotational members of our staff
would add an incredible point of view and credibility to our efforts. And,
they would be lifelong "agents" of ours in the business units. My challenge
is to lower the permanent head count of our training department and to add
glamour to the prospect of spending a rotation in our shop. If I can pull
this off, it will go a long way to making the Alignment Issue a reality."
We have heard similar views from quite a few training managers coming to
Learning Decisions '99. They clearly want to have some staff that have a
strong grounding in training and learning skills, but are eyeing a shift to
a rotational basis for a good chunk of their team. If you have some
thoughts on this issue please send me an email to emasie@masie.com After
Learning Decisions '99, we will post a summary of the dialogue on this
issue.
Upcoming MASIE Center Events: info at www.masie.com
Learning Decisions '99 (May 12 to 14 - Las Vegas) - Only 73 Seats Left!
TechLearn '99 (Oct 31 to Nov 3 - Orlando) - Over 1,053 Registered Already!
(Thanks to all of our readers for your good humor about our last edition,
The April Fools Trends. We had hundreds of emails from you and even a few
that are starting on a business plan for Digital Doughnuts. If you get them
available, let me know and we will post the info. Remember: Laughter is an
important reminder that you are alive!)
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