Brave new world

Here are two articles from the Guardian. As far as I can see, they weren't linked to each other, but it's quite fun to view them as a pair. A glimpse into the future?

Online-only business foundation degree to launch

The University of Essex and education and training provider Kaplan are this summer to launch a business studies foundation degree which is completed entirely online.
Debbie Andalo Link

It's a world of possibilities

Virtual campuses are springing up in Second Life, as universities discover the advantages of cyberspace.
Jessica Shepherd Link

We're in the middle of our semester two exam period at the moment. I love the idea that in the future our invigilators will all need 3D cyberspaced alter egos. But who's to say they've not got them already?

For those with a healthy first life, and have no idea what I'm on about, Second Life is "a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 6,206,722 people from around the globe." Here's a cached copy of an FAQ from Oxford University on Second Life, with an academic angle, and here's a list of other institutions and organisations with an online presence there, and here's the obligatory link to Wikipedia.

Registry join in too

Corporate Systems Board -- a termly meeting of Exec and others charged with developing and implementing the University's information strategies -- were impressed when it last met that one of its papers was a blog post. elearning-ysju.blogspot.com is the address for the 'e-Learning @ York St John University' blog, "an informal place where the department will post information about what we're currently doing, advances in technologies, web 2.0, useful website links and general issues affecting the world of e-Learning and learning technology." (There's more about e-Learning at York St John on their website.)

We all thought it was a great idea, so I've set this Registry blog up to see if it can help things from our side too. As Mark describes in his blog, "Lots of people have heard of weblogs or blogs, but many are unsure of what they are or how they are used. This is a blog - a website where we can send messages which are posted in reverse chronological order, to which people can comment upon. Blogs can be on a variety of topics, a single topic or just a stream of consciousness, with the main aim of letting the world know what the blogger thinks and feels."

I suppose I should have a disclaimer at the foot of every page along the lines of "the views expressed here are those of the individual and not necessarily those of the University" blah blah blah. Anyway, I've made a start, let's see if I can keep this up.