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RSC NewsFeed - May 4th 2004

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Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

 

Aye it's that time of the year already.

Hope this week's crop of information, events and resources helps  you make the most of the longer days.

 

---------------------------- CONTENTS  ------------------------

 

1.      SASSER Worm Leaves Coastguard High and Dry

2.      Cisco Security Messages

3.      Newsfilm Online - Recruitment for 30-month digitisation project

4.      Developing Resources and Support for HE Students in FE - 11 and 25 June 2004

5.      Here be Treasures

6.      The Bioscience First Year: Putting Research into Practice

7.      What's New in KnowUK?

8.      Using  Satellite Technology in FE & HE: Report now Available from JISC

9.      Online Resources Roadshow: Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism

10.     Tender Deadline Extended: JISC Consultation Workshop Report

11.     E-Learning Centre's Guide to E-Learning

12.     Revamp of  Anne Frank web site

13.     CHEST Virtual Exhibition

14.     Training & Events

--------------------------------- 1 -------------------------------

SASSER Worm Leaves Coastguard High and Dry

 

The rapidly evolving "Sasser" computer worm, the latest virus to attack the Internet, is doing damage around the world at time of writing, hitting corporate and home computers and stoking fears worse may be to come. Some estimates predict that over a million PCs have already been infected, including travel-booking systems, banks, EC offices and Britain's 19 coastguard stations which have been forced to revert to plotting on paper charts rather than computer screens.

 

The first symptoms likely to be noticed by home users would be a sudden rebooting of their operating system or a dramatic slowing in the speed of Internet connection. However, unlike previous viruses, infection is not prompted by a user action such as opening an attachment. Users should update their PCs with the latest Microsoft patches and consider installing a firewall to keep out future infections.

--------------------------------- 2 -------------------------------

Cisco Security Messages

 

Three very important Cisco Advisory notices were posted April 20th. These notices detail security vulnerabilities which affect multiple Cisco products. TCP Vulnerabilities in Multiple Non-IOS Cisco Products, TCP Vulnerabilities in Multiple IOS-Based Cisco Products and  Vulnerabilities in SNMP Message Processing. The following web page provides details of these and all other Cisco Security Advisory notices:

 

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_security_advisory09186a00801d2d9d.shtml

 

--------------------------------- 3 -------------------------------

Newsfilm Online - Recruitment for 30-month digitisation project

 

Newsfilm Online is a thirty-month JISC-funded programme to encode some 3,000 hours of news film and associated media selected from the ITN Archive collection for use in FE and HE. Four posts are now being advertised under this programme:

- Project Manager

- Senior Researcher/Deputy Manager

- Senior Cataloguer

- Education Officer

 

 Details of all posts, with full application details, can be found at http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/newsfilmjobs.

 

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Developing Resources and Support for HE Students in FE - 11 and 25 June 2004

 

JISC invites you to participate in these consultation workshops to be held:

 

11 June - Thistle Hotel, Cardiff

25 June - Thistle Hotel, Newcastle

 

The Government's Widening Participation agenda has created challenges related to the equitable provision of resources and support for HE students based in FE colleges. Issues such as funding, quality control, sharing of electronic resources and student support are key to ensuring such students aren't disadvantaged. The workshop will look at current provision and possible future models and will also look at the sharing of resources between institutional partners in FE and HE through Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and the implications for administering such systems to ensure appropriate access and security.

The workshops aim to air some of these issues and gather feedback from participants on what JISC can do to help. Delegates will therefore be expected to play a full part in the discussions during the day and make recommendations to JISC and other organisations on taking this area of work forward. The workshop will be of interest to the Funding Councils, government agencies, heads of support services (libraries, learning resource centres, IT), HE co-ordinators, senior administrators, heads of departments and other senior staff in universities or colleges.

 

A workshop programme and booking form are at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=event_students_06

 

--------------------------------- 5 -------------------------------

Here be Treasures

 

To reduce wear and tear on various priceless items, and also to make certain treasures in its collections more easily available, the British Library has launched a new system called 'Turning the Pages'. Best viewed via a broadband connection, you can now turn the pages of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks and examine in fine detail the Lindisfarne Gospels. http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/digitisation3.html

 

--------------------------------- 6 -------------------------------

The Bioscience First Year: Putting Research into Practice

 

The aim of this event at the University of Paisley on the 12th May, 2004, is to consider supporting student needs and focuses on the 'First Year Experience' in the biosciences. The morning session will review good practice in induction and activities that have been shown to improve student progression and retention. There is a choice of workshop in the afternoon session.

 

Programme and on-line registration at: http://bio.ltsn.ac.uk/events/registration/support.htm.

 

--------------------------------- 7 -------------------------------

What's new in KnowUK

 

There are two new additions to the User Resources area in KnowUK this month:

 

"Using KnowUK in Higher Education" (http://www.knowuk.co.uk/jsp/about/HigherEducation.doc)

is a short user guide that helps university students, librarians and lecturers to get started using the resource,  and

 

"Running KnowUK taster sessions for Silver Surfers' Day" (http://www.knowuk.co.uk/jsp/about/Silver_surfers.doc). This guide will help trainers running sessions to introduce KnowUK to Silver Surfers.

 

New Content:

 

69 new towns have been added to the Local Information pages this month, mostly in the North West of England.

The  format of the 'Life Events' section has been altered for easier use and a wide variety of new life events has been added to the existing stock.

 

--------------------------------- 8-------------------------------

Using  Satellite Technology in FE & HE: Report now Available from JISC

           

Ever wondered how satellites work, and what part they will potentially play in supporting education? If you answered 'yes' to the above questions then perhaps you should get out more or at least get a copy of a new JISC report, Satellite Technology and Education, which is very likely to have the answers you're looking for. Commissioned by the JISC, the report is available from:

 

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/sat_home.html

 

--------------------------------- 9 -------------------------------

Online Resources for Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism (HLST) Roadshow

 

The Resource Guide HLST,  (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/resourceguides/hlst)

Altis (http://www.altis.ac.uk)

and  the LTSN for HLST (http://www.hlst.ltsn.ac.uk)

 

are pleased to announce a Scottish event showcasing online resources in HLST subjects to be held at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh - Wednesday 19th May 2004

 

 

For further information and a booking form, please go to:  http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=rg_hosp_main.

 

--------------------------------- 10-------------------------------

Deadline for Tenders Extended !! - JISC Consultation Workshop report

 

The JISC invites tenders to provide a written report on the JISC Consultation Workshop "Developing resources and support for HE students in FE", to be held on 11 and 25 June 2004. Tenders should demonstrate the knowledge and expertise of the bidder in the workshop topic. The deadline for proposals has been extended to: 12 noon, Monday 17 May 2004.

 

Full tender document is on JISC web site at:  http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=funding_workshoprep_0304

 

Details of the workshop programme are available at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=event_students_0604

 

--------------------------------- 11-------------------------------

e-Learning Centre's Guide to e-Learning

 

As the name implies, the  e-Learning Centre is a treasure house of materials and techniques on all aspects of e-learning, and it has now published a new edition of its online Guide to e-Learning by June Knight. This detailed and thorough guide describes itself as being suitable for those who want an introductory, structured, no-nonsense, practical approach to e-learning, aiming to provide easy-to-read explanations of e-learning topics, links to great examples and key resources as well as some practical guidance on how to get started with links to useful tools and systems.  No better place to start: http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/guide2elearning/index.htm

 

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Revamp of  Anne Frank web site

 

The official Anne Frank site has been re-launched, opening on April 25th, with a large number of previously unpublished pictures of Anne and her family, plus about twenty small films of historical value, and a 3D-version of Anne's room to look around in. Click here to visit the site: http://www.annefrank.org/content.asp?pid=1&lid=1&setlanguage=2

 

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CHEST Virtual Exhibition

 

Eduserv Chest negotiates for all forms of commercially available electronic resource (abstracts, full text, journals, software, courseware, etc) for the education and research communities in the UK. This means better deals and lower prices for everybody. Now CHEST offers a new way to view the riches in the cupboard at the 1st Virtual Exhibition. Staged specifically for FE, it's definitely the quickest and easiest way for colleagues to research Chest Agreements and find out exactly what's available.

 

Just follow the link to:  www.eduserv.org.uk/chest/fe/exhibition/index.html

 

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Training & Events

 

A full listing of all the workshops currently being run by both RSCs in Scotland is available at:

 

RSC Scotland North and East               

www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/rscsupport/training.html

 

RSC Scotland South and West               

www.rsc-sw-scotland.ac.uk/events.htm

 

These courses and others are listed on the Scotfeict website at: www.scotfeict.ac.uk/events

 

which also lists other staff development opportunities for FE staff within Scotland.

Nationwide training opportunities are available on the NLN events database at www.nln.ac.uk/events

 

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