Free Microsoft developer tools to students

Microsoft are gearing up to offer free developer software to high school and university students worldwide, in what could be a bold move to capture the youth market and blitz competition such as Adobe Macromedia. Although, according to CRN Australia, the initiative is part of a greater cause to address the skills shortage in the ICT industry.

The "Dreamspark" suite is already available to students in the US, China and parts of Europe and is expected to be released to other countries over the next six months.

The approximate value of the deal for Australian students is $5,000. When broken down, pricing for the products are: Windows Standard Server $909; SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition $84; Visual Studio 05 and Visual Studio 08 $1387 each, Expression Studio $1040; and XNA Creators Club US$99 (approx AU $107).

Read more on computerworld.com.au.

Show us the money!

Some universities are feeling a little deflated in the wake of last year's Federal election, won by Labor's Kevin Rudd on a wave of "knowledge nation" promise.

According to Simon Marginson they have missed the point, it was more about attitude than immediate financial redress for past neglect by the Howard government.

Support will flow when the universities adopt forward-looking commitments to better national outcomes, and structural changes that enable nuanced and strategic university missions, rather than the old one-size-fits-all formula funding.

Read more on smh.com.au.

Update: Students have their say - call for cheaper degrees, more support (SMH, 19 Mar 2008)

Questia Research Library

I love Stumbleupon. Often I find some really useful looking web sites, like Questia.

Questia is a virtual library, I had a quick browse in my subject areas and it seems to have a lot of material that is useful for my study. There is a cost to subscribe, about $100 US for 12 months access which doesn't seem too much.

I shall check it out some more and keep it in mind for next semester.

Another useful resource, Study Guides and Strategies by Joe Landsberger has a lot of material to benefit learning processes.

Google Earth to catch a killer?

Homicide detectives are hoping satellite images captured by Google Earth may provide some clues in the recent murder case of a woman in Victoria. More from News Limited.

Labor's full-fee degree abolition

Australia went to the polls late last month and voted in the new Labor government, on a platform of industrial relations, climate change and educational reform. The wave of optimistic euphoria following the change of guard is levelling out somewhat as Labor put their plans into practice. The biggest change ahead for universities is of course the move to abolish full fee degrees for domestic students, in favour of more merit-awarded HECS places.

This would seem to fit in with the UQ's John Quiggin's view that all the FEE-HELP scheme did was lead to overcharging of students. There is a concern however about the hit universities would take financially, and some speculation about whether the government will provide extra funding to compensate.

While Education Minister Julia Gillard maintains that universities will be adequately compensated for the full-fee phase out, the forecast is that universities will be forced to make more places available for full-fee paying international students.

NED12 Final assignment

We had to do a web site and a flash-based banner ad with animation and audio.

The web site - I had some really helpful feedback from tutor and class, was pretty happy with it (a bit over it at the moment, having been working on it solidly the last two/three weeks). A copy is published at www.mja.au.com



The flash banner ad was interesting. I am still trying to get the hang of layers, stages, frames and instances. For my first banner ad with audio it is a fair attempt I think!

What the hcard

Thought I'd read up on this and include it with my assignment. Digital Web Magazine article - http://www.digital-web.com/articles/microformats_primer/

24ways.org article - http://24ways.org/2005/practical-microformats-with-hcard

Hold your position

Patrick Fitzgerald provides this concise yet well explained 10-step lesson in CSS Positioning. A good demonstration of the value of chunking for any sort of learning material. It managed to sink in through my thick head!

Also learned something about vertical centering from Bert Bos' tips on Centering Things. Unfortunately there was a browser compatibility issue with lists and the display: table-cell property, so I couldn't use it.

Colorblind filter

Or if you're Australian like me - colourblind filter.

In NED12 assignment one, the marker commented that they wondered how the design would go with a red filter. I decided to test this on my final assignment, and found an online filter test at http://colorfilter.wickline.org/.

So far my design-in-progress has passed with flying colours (haha). I also tested my design from assignment one - my lovely Australian bush colours become quite drab, but at least it still seems to pass from an accessibility standpoint.

Rounded corners in photoshop

Was trying to get anti-aliased curves. This method works great - http://matthom.com/archive/2004/09/10/fast-rounded-corners-in-photoshop

Pardon my plagiarism

It's not illegal, it is a simple question of ethics: an interesting look at the issue of plagiarism. The different attitudes towards students and academics; the tremendous resources used to ineffectually try to "catch" plagiarists; the injustices and the inpracticalities. Dale Spender argues that while cheating slips under the radar there is little logic in punishing students for using the words of others or as Benjamin Franklin put it, "standing on the shoulders of giants" in their learning process. Read more from smh.com.au

Socialising improves your memory

According to new research spending just 10 minutes talking to someone can help improve your memory and can also boost your performance in tests.

Researchers at the University of Michigan say they have found that socializing is just as effective as more traditional methods of mental exercise for boosting the memory and improving intellectual performance. Read more from News-Medical.Net.

The value of an Arts degree

Interesting article by 18 year old Patrick Begley - Is the Arts degree history? To consider liberal arts studies to have little relevance in the modern workforce is to overlook the value of Arts in encouraging a variety of thinking skills. Read more from news.com.au

Module 12: Search Engine Optimization

Bound to be lots about this one.

Module 11: Video Design

Video resources