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"