i-Learning

"I learning, Snedders!"
"You are learning what, Vice Chancellor?"
"No no no Smedlers, i-learning, like i-pod and i-tunes. Electronic learning using computers."
"What does that entail, Vice Chancellor?"
"Well we have invested in the latest i-learning package "ChalkboardView" which will be rolled out across all faculties. Within a year all modules will have mandatory i-learning content of 20 percent"
"Oh yes vice chancellor I heard about that in the common room from Professor Tikemov from Mathematics. He said that ChalkboardView was useless to them because it could not handle equations as answers to on-line tests. Apparently there is a free open source package that many of the other universities are using that is much better".
"But, Smedling, the people from ChalkBoardView made the most competitive bid for the contract!"
"Perhaps the free software didn't need to make a bid as it is, well FREE".
"I can't help that Snodders, we have financial procedures for tendering as you well know."
"Yes Vice Chancellor, we also have procedures for registering interests. The i-learning company did pay for a very nice trip to the US."
"That was a valuable fact-finding trip! In any case this i-learning initiative will transform content delivery at Funcaster."
"How is that Vice Chancellor?"
"Well the content will be delivered to their computer desktop, instead of the traditional lecture theatre"
"So, Vice Chancellor, can I just clarify, is it the computers that are doing the learning or the students?"
"Oh don't be such a Luddite, Smeddler. Can't you see the advantages? With module content on the computer we can roll out franchised distance learning materials to the lucrative eastern market!"
"You mean we will be teaching students as far as Margate?"
"There's no need to be facetious Sniddling, I mean the Far East, Hong Kong, Taiwan. But more importantly it will save staff time. And that means they can spend more time writing grant applications. Now I had our media people make a press release. Let see now I have an email this morning that highlights our press coverage this week. Lets see what impact we have had..."
"Look at this Vice Chancellor, Prof Tikemov seems to have made a big splash.."
Financial Times... Sergei Tikemov, from Funcaster University, addressed an invited audience of 200 from the International Society of Electronic Commerce and Banking at Hong Kong University yesterday. He held them with rapt attention as he explained how his work on "Elliptic Curves over Finite Fields in Cryptography" is set to revolutionise secure transactions in e-commerce....
"Look, Vice Chancellor, the University of Hong Kong have uploaded a video of the lecture on You-Tube!"
"What's he doing Sneddton?"
"He is explaining his equations on a blackboard, Vice Chancellor. A real one".