December 2007 |
Newsletter Index |
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Season's Greetings |
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Network Upgrade
Voyage Io, Computer Service Centre, MPI
 In early December, CSC has successfully completed the network upgrade plan to replace the aging network equipment in the Administration Building. In the plan, we deployed a Cisco 6509 switch as network backbone and several Cisco 2960-series switches as the communications closet hub. The upgrade includes establishing redundant fiber & copper links from each communications closet to the core switch.
The expected outcomes of the upgrade plan is to bring the backbone to 10 Gigabit Ethernet ready, and to bring Gigabit Ethernet (1000Mbps) to the end-user's desktop while also creating redundancy at an affordable level. The things we have done so far is the first phase of the e.Campus network upgrade project, the plan is to establish a 10Gb full resiliency campus backbone covering Academic Building, Complex Building, Multsport Pavilion Building, and also the new 18 floor building. And the desired goals are to provide high speed campus network for multimedia application and to ensure our end users never experience unscheduled downtime again. |
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OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) - PISA 2006 Results
 The latest OECD PISA report - PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World - was released this month. The survey was focused on science and also assessed mathematics and reading of 15-year-olds in the main industrialised countries. Among 57 countries and regions, Macao students ranked in the 17th place in Science, 20th in Reading and 8th in Mathematics. As stated in the key findings: "The top performer in science in PISA 2006 was Finland, followed by Hong Kong-China, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Estonia, Japan and New Zealand. Australia, the Netherlands, Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Ireland, Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Macao-China also scored above OECD average." The report on PISA 2006 key findings is available as a PDF file.
MyiCourse
 MyiCourse allows anyone to create online courses, for free, without having any knowledge of HTML. "We suggest that you start with the Overview course to find out the fundamentals of the system. This short Demo course will show the basic abilities of the system as they relate to text, PDF, audio, video, images and Flash." Registration is simple and only requires an e-mail address and a password.
60 Minute Masters
60 Minute Masters is a free short course providing "subject experts and many others with the skills needed to design engaging, rapid e-learning materials for use in the workplace". The course is based on Moodle and incluides 3 modules: Prepare, Inform, Consolidate. Two versions, with or without audio, are available.
Cross-Cultural Delivery Of E-Learning Programmes: Perspectives From Hong Kong
by Andrew Lap-sang Wong, The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 8, No 3 (2007)
"This paper explores – from a critical-dialectical perspective – the implications of globalization on educational policy through cross-border delivery of educational programmes by e-learning, with particular attention given to the threat of cultural imperialism. The paper concludes that Hong Kong seems to be coping with ‘cultural imperialism’ rather well because of its unique history of being a cross-road for East and West, and also with some recommendations to e-learning providers to mitigate the potential damage of cross-cultural delivery of e-learning."
Neuropsychopharmacology - The 5th Generation of Progress
American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Online version of the book published by the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. The site also includes other publications, such as Psychopharmacology - The Fourth Generation of Progress, and the Neuropsychopharmacology Journal.
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iberry.com
The Academic Porthole
The site iBerry.com provides "Free access to Higher Education (HE) resources and
Open Courseware (OCW) from the Universities and Colleges of the world". It includes an Open Courseware Directory, Higher Education Academic Resources, a News Aggregator (higher education, educational technology, and open educational resources) and registered users may communicate with other registered users and create and edit OCW items.
Open Yale Courses
Yale University "provides lectures and other materials from selected Yale College courses to the public free of charge via the internet. The courses span the full range of liberal arts disciplines, including humanities, social sciences, and physical and biological sciences". Based on MIT's model, Open Yale Courses are more comprehensive and provide access to all course materials: "Each course includes a full set of class lectures produced in high-quality video accompanied by such other course materials as syllabi, suggested readings, and problem sets. The lectures are available as downloadable videos, and an audio-only version is also offered. In addition, searchable transcripts of each lecture are provided". Currently, the number of courses is quite limited (7 courses), but "over the next three years, nearly 30 more courses and associated course materials will be added".
The Dana Guide to Brain Health
edited by Floyd E. Bloom, M.D.; M. Flint Beal, M.D.; and David J. Kupfer, M.D. - The Dana Foundation
 The Dana Foundation has made available on their web site some sections of The Dana Guide to Brain Health. Sections are fully searchable or you may browse through articles regarding health and illness, brain functions (cognition, thinking, learning, remembering, emotions), brain disorders and problems. Each disorder is described in its symptoms, known causes, diagnosis and treatment in a rather accessible language.
Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music
e-notes
 The Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music is integrated in e-notes, a larger directory of learning guides and reference works on Arts, Literature, Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Business, etc. The Encyclopedia of Music includes, a dictionary and encyclopedia of musical terms, music theory, and
biographical information on composers and musicians with more than 4 400
entries.
howjsay.com
A pronunciation dictionary with instant sound, useful for English learners. "Type a word or phrase and hear it spoken back to you. Howjsay is an English pronunciation dictionary that uses recorded sound rather than text-to-speech synthesis. Enter a word or phrase, wait for it to appear on the page in pink, then hover your mouse over the word(s) to hear the pronunciation". Supports both American and British spellings.
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Hypertope.com
 Hypertope "is a free trans-disciplinary Research Networking Site for professional researchers, scholars and PhD and masters students. It allows you not only to keep contact with your colleagues and academic acquaintances, but also expand your research connections and, importantly, form groups and keep track of the developments within your research field.
While contemporary research is becoming increasingly trans-disciplinary and trans-national, Hypertope utilizes Web2.0 technologies for serious academic needs so as to address and facilitate these developments". There is also a Biblio Repository. The site was launched in September 2007.
InfraRecorder
InfraRecorder is an open-source alternative to commercial CD and DVD burning software for Windows. "It offers a wide range of powerful features; all through an easy to use application interface and Windows Explorer integration. "
Adobe Brio
 Adobe is providing a free preview of the next generation of Adobe Acrobat Connect, named Brio. "Brio is a web meeting service built with collaboration in mind for individual professionals and small businesses. With Brio, you can instantly communicate and collaborate through an easy-to-use, easy-to-access online personal meeting room. Brio beta allows you to:
Host unlimited online meetings with up to 3 meeting participants.
Interact with easy-to-use screen sharing, chat and whiteboards.
Access your meeting instantly with a personalized, easy-to-remember URL.
Distribute documents and files to meeting participants.
Use integrated VoIP, teleconferencing and multi-point video".
Link Scanner Online
Exploit Prevention Labs
 LinkScanner is an online service to check the safety of web sites/web pages. You just have to enter the URL of the site or web page you want to visit in the field provided by LinkScanner. Then, "LinkScanner Online will inspect it in real-time for whether it is hiding any exploit code and, if so, what exploit. Use LinkScanner Online to inspect: Links forwarded by friends, web sites displayed on search results, any link with suspicious characters or web sites you have never visited."
Class Marker
 "ClassMarker is a free, easy to use, online quiz maker that marks your tests and quizzes for you.
You simply create your quizzes and your learners or business clients take them online. Link directly to quizzes from your website or emails;
Randomise quiz questions;
Have quiz results emailed to you and saved in ClassMarker;
Create multiple choice, true/false, free text, short answer, fill in the blank and punctuation quizzes;
Add your own images to quizzes."
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Have some ideas and comments to share with us or the rest of the Campus on IT facilities and services. You can use the Computer Service Centre Weblog.
You are also welcome to send us contributions and suggestions about subjects you would like to see here, links to websites, small articles, reviews of books or websites, or any reports of educational experience you may want to share with others.
Credits will be given to the contributors in any section of this newsletter.
To send your contributions please, contact:
Campus IT Newsletter Production/Editing Team
Chief Editor: Conceição Carvalho
Advisors: Colin Lai, Voyage Io
Technical Advisors: Simon Fong, Joe Poon, Joey Fong |
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