Dear Jim

I thought the Blackbord question was interesting in this context - maybe we should work on awareness in the rest of the college?  I happen to get now perfectly written philosophically empty essays - and am returining to handwritten papers.

All the best

your Achim



	-----Original Message----- 

	From: Greenberg, James ([log in to unmask]) 

	Sent: Tue 9/9/2003 3:38 PM 

	To: [log in to unmask] 

	Cc: 

	Subject: Technology Creep into Education

	

	



	QUALITY OF ONLINE COURSES EXPECTED TO ECLIPSE IN-CLASS COURSES

	A survey conducted by Babson College and the Sloan Consortium indicates

	growing respect among some college administrators--including presidents

	and chief academic officers--for the quality of online courses.

	One-third of the roughly 1,000 survey respondents expect the quality of

	online courses at their institutions to surpass that of in-class

	courses within three years. Fifty-seven percent said the quality of

	Web-based classes already rivals that of in-class teaching. Some

	administrators, however, particularly at private baccalaureate

	institutions, remain skeptical of online teaching. One-third of the

	respondents said Web-based courses would not become a significant part

	of the teaching at their institutions.

	Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 September 2003 (sub. req'd)

	http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2003/09/2003090401t.htm

	

	AUTOMATED ESSAY GRADING: MAKING THE GRADE?

	Several companies offer computer tools to grade student essays, and

	various schools around the United States, including some colleges and

	universities, are using such grading tools to reduce teacher workload

	and improve student writing. One tool called Criterion, developed by

	the Educational Testing Service (ETS), is being used by Camden County

	College in New Jersey. Criterion scores essays based on factors

	"learned" from human readers and also provides students with feedback

	on grammar, style, usage, and organization. Anthony Spatola, chairman

	of the English department at Camden, said students appreciate the

	feedback, and he believes the tool helps students improve their

	writing. Officials from ETS acknowledged that the system theoretically

	could give a high score to an essay that exhibited certain linguistic

	characteristics but lacked a logical argument. Students' taking the

	time, however, to fool the system is unrealistic, they argued. Such

	automated systems have ardent detractors, including Julie Cheville of

	Rutgers University and the local director for the National Writing

	Project, who said automated grading systems "orient students to errors,

	not to meaning." Cheville argued that "Vacuous student essays can

	receive high marks only because they are error-free."

	New York Times, 4 September 2003 (registration req'd)

	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/04/technology/circuits/04grad.html

	

	Mr. James B. Greenberg

	Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center

	Milne Library

	SUNY College at Oneonta

	Oneonta, New York 13820

	

	email: [log in to unmask]

	phone: 607-436-2701

	

	"Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever"