As we try to build up and expand our Online Education program here, it is important to be looking to see what others in the field are doing.  That is why I got so excited when I found the survey of Online Education, “Going the Distance.”  I recently summarized it for my team.  What was most important, I think, is that we are right where we should be in terms of the Online Education movement.  Most public institutions have an “in-house” team that deals with faculty training.  Also, this training tends to be “unofficial” and have “unofficial” mentoring as well. 

     Moreover, they mentioned the state of Online Education as a whole.  While enrollments are not increasing as quickly as they had been, this is because they have reached a steady plateau.  Some disciplines are also steadier than others, such as Psychology.  Other disciplines, such as Engineering and Biology are still gaining in enrollment.  This is likely because these disciplines are just now getting the thrust towards online classes and obtaining the tools necessary to make the courses successful, such as increased interactive online programs.

I'm always on the lookout for artifacts of graphic design. For example, I just ran across a catalog of Presstype materials from the early 80's. I've never produced any design work outside of a digital world - so it's a great way to appreciate just how much work went into the projects produced by my predecessors.

You can imagine that I was pretty excited when a friend of mine passed this little booklet along to me after his trip to UK surplus: "FACTS about the University of Kentucky." 

Appropriately, it was found inside of this "tanker" Steelcase desk.

Attached to this post is a pdf of the booklet featuring a comprehensive breakdown of registration fees ($202.50 per semester for all colleges, save Medicine and Dentistry), degrees granted (4,471 between 1970 and 1971), faculty count (2,200) and other interesting tidbits.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Cooper is a great font, huh?

A friend passed along this article to this morning. It regards a recent Oregon court ruling that an independent blogger must pay a large financial firm for defamatory remarks published in a series of blog posts. She was not given the same protective rights as traditional journalists in the state, and thus liable for publishing defamatory content. I encourage you to read the article for more details.

This semester, I have been reading about an increasing number of court cases that pit laws directly against advancing technology. The precedents set now are going to shape society in the years to come. What do you think? Are bloggers equal to journalists? 

The iPad is an amazing piece of technology that can take us anywhere we want to go. But, aside from being a portal to the internet, game console, and personal music machine (iTunes – you’ve probably lost count of the songs you’ve downloaded), it also has applications that can be functional in the classroom.

Marketing agencies, Archrival and Axis of Awesome both specializing in youth and university markets recently completed a survey of students on 24 college campuses nationwide about their use of QR codes. I'm not terribly surprised at what they've found (indifference) - but I'd like to go one step further:

I'd suggest that it's the overuse of QR codes as a vehicle for advertisement which fuels this in the first place. They have (had) great potential to deliver information in a rapid and portable way. Now I find that no one uses them because they're expecting to be redirected to just another bland sales pitch.

What say you, students? How do you feel about QR codes?

From the article by Archrival:

"In the midst of the growing industry pressure to force-feed these barcodes into the marketplace, we noticed a profound indifference being shown to QR codes by the one demographic that can make or break a trend — college students."

Tools used to create: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EFS 18-55mm, Canon Speedlite 580 EX II, Adobe Photoshop, Imagination.

Winter break and the holidays are fast approaching. Students – have you made plans for winter intersession yet? If not, A&S is offering classes during the break for those students interested in gaining extra credit hours and speeding up time to graduation. It’s a great time to pick up an extra class in your major or explore a topic you find intriguing. For example, we are offering a new online course for those students interested in an overview of technologies we use every day. The class, A&S 100 – 230: IT IQ will allow you to sharpen your IT IQ and learn about video conferencing, software installation, internet research tools, and Blackboard basics – just to name a few – and earn extra credit hours in the process. This class will familiarize you with technologies, research tools, and search engines that are important to your success at UK and beyond. Become a better digital citizen and learn about social networking and e-etiquette as you communicate through Facebook, Twitter, email, and blogs. To learn more about the class, click here.

I'm not sure if I prescribe entirely to Yoshioka's philosophy but he's nothing if not poetic - most especially visually.

"The most beautiful things I believe in this world is what is irreproducible, accidentally born, and disorder that cannot be understood by the theory. I believe the nature is the ultimate beauty in this world. The sunlight, soft breeze, and the harmony that leaves create, the variety of the essence in the nature touches our emotions. I intend not to reproduce them, but to pick the element that inspires our heart and integrate it into the deign." - Tokujin Yoshioka

Via Dezeen.