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HEADLINES
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NOVEMBER
23 - NOVEMBER 29, 2004
* Wayne County:
Satellite campuses expand colleges' community reach
* Novi: Novi
patients' info digitized
* Statewide: Other
entities to use state shared-purchase plan
* St. Joseph: Wireless
Internet coming to downtown St. Joseph
* Birmingham:
Schools go online to identify cheaters
* Clio: Student
projects impress parents at conferences
*
Midland County: Township info can be
found online
* West Bloomfield: Web
design class helps teens make the world a better place
* Atlanta: High-tech
high schools - Students head into 'virtual classrooms'
NOVEMBER
30 - DECEMBER 6, 2004
* Kalamazoo,
Muskegon, Battle Creek: WMU gets $12.6
million software donation
* Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti:
New Necessities
* Utica Schools: Utica
Community Schools approves wireless technology project
* Niles: 'Why
does the sky turn green ...?'
* Kalamazoo: Kalamazoo
area restaurant inspection info now online
* Clinton Township: Downloading
a future
* University Center:
Saginaw Valley State University computer center takes on
research specialty
* Livonia:
Lunch money to go 'cashless' at more schools
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NOV
24 2004
* Wayne County: Satellite
campuses expand colleges' community reach
Madonna University is among a number of Wayne
County colleges that are serving an ever-widening circle of
students via satellite campuses, Internet courses and
distance learning. Their outreach efforts are creating more
educational options, especially for nontraditional students
with a host of family, job and financial realities to deal
with on top of their schoolwork. The outreach efforts
have brought higher education to underserved areas and
far-reaching corners of the county, enabling residents to
pursue a college degree without a long commute.
Source: Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2004/wayne/0411/24/B03-14727.htm
*
Novi: Novi patients' info digitized
A new two-story medical building will be a testing ground
for an information technology system that will lead to
digitalizing medical records for 8,600 patients. Dr. Michael
Balon of Infinity Primary Care said this will reduce costs
and provide better medical care by giving patients more
access to doctors and focusing on prevention measures.
Infinity started July 1 with seven locations and 31 doctors
signed on from Providence Hospital. The Novi center,
expected to be built within the next 16 to 18 months, will
tie it all together with a secure online database, Balon
said. Not only will these doctors have stethoscopes hanging
around their necks, but each will also be armed with a
wireless tablet that will allow them to write prescriptions,
access medical records, input lab results and connect to
patients at home with electronic consultations, said Balon,
a former director of Providence Medical Park in Novi.
Source: Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2004/nnfarmington/0411/24/v02-14273.htm
NOV
26 2004
* Statewide: Other entities to
use state shared-purchase plan
State officials are also getting into the shared
services arena. The state has revamped and renamed its
Extended Purchasing Program, which allowed for cooperative
purchasing with state contracts at reduced prices. The newly
named program -- MiDEAL -- includes an electronic forum, or
listserv, for local municipal leaders with information about
shared purchasing cooperatives. Members of MiDEAL, which
includes cities, villages, counties, townships, school
districts, nonprofit hospitals and higher education
institutions, can jointly bid with the state, increasing
volume and reducing purchasing rates by as much as 40
percent.
Source: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com/news/cfp/2/nsummit-bar126n_20041126.htm
*
St. Joseph: Wireless Internet coming to downtown St.
Joseph
To encourage more people to go downtown during
their lunch hours, city officials expect to have wireless
Internet capabilities up and running in parts of the city
and along Lake Bluff Park by summer. There will be no set-up
fees charged to the city, City Manager Frank Walsh said. The
wireless Internet capability is intended to further one of
the city's goals: bring more people downtown to increase
business.
Source: The Herald-Palladium, http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2004/11/26/news/news5.txt
NOV
28 2004
* Birmingham: Schools go online
to identify cheaters
Students have always known how to cut corners, but
the Internet, with its ocean of easily accessed information,
is forcing ethical decisions on many college-bound students
who are pressed for time and can easily download an entire
term paper. School districts are grappling with ways to curb
such behavior and trying to catch up with students'
tech-savvy ways. They're establishing honor codes, investing
in workshops about plagiarism and using technology to catch
violators.
Source: Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0411/28/A01-17403.htm
*
Clio: Student projects impress parents at conferences
At Lacure Elementary, all grades were busy preparing a
schoolwide project for their parent teacher conferences
recently. All students from kindergarten through fourth
grade worked on a Microsoft Power Point project. The
students and staff love this project to start the year out
with in the computer lab, as it gives the staff, students
and parents a chance to find out something about each other.
Parents are very impressed to find out that students at this
education level can do these type of projects. The students
come home so excited to tell about their surprise at school
when their parents show up for the student conferences.
Source: Flint Journal, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1101657062282020.xml?fljournal?CMNE
NOV
29 2004
* Midland County: Township info
can be found online
Many
township residents who do not want to sit through monthly
meetings have another option available to keep up on what's
happening. Several townships have websites updated monthly
that provide residents with 24-hour access to meeting
minutes, event calendars and other information. Larkin
Township Supervisor Leonard Servinski said the township
developed a website about a year ago, and residents have
taken notice. "They obviously are using it because we
get a lot of hits on it," he said. All Midland
townships have some information available online at the
Michigan Township Association webpage at www.michigantownships.org,
where one can access maps, 2000 U.S. Census information,
survey data and more.
Source: Midland Daily News, http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13454082&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=8&xb=tejew
*
West Bloomfield: Web design class helps teens make
the world a better place
When Patricia Cheung goes to her Instructional
Project Design class each week, she doesn't sit down at a
classroom desk, crack open a text book and jot down homework
assignments. Instead, the West Bloomfield High senior takes
a seat in a coffee shop, opens up her laptop, and starts
working on projects for a real-life client. "It's kind
of a Web-based computer programming class that creates
educational programs for use in the community," said
Cheung, 17. Cheung and her classmates are working with the
Public Museum of Grand Rapids to create software showing off
the interesting items in the museum. Though in the concept
and design stage, the students are considering how to use
technology to create a virtual tour. Instructional Project
Design instructor Gary Weisserman said the class is coupled
with another Web design course from the University of
Michigan-Flint. Students also can dual enroll and get
college credit.
Source: Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0411/29/C04-17818.htm
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Atlanta: High-tech high schools - Students head into
'virtual classrooms'
Internet courses, whether for high school or college credit,
have become a viable option for students who wish to take
courses not normally offered as part of the curriculum in
their own school districts. “The reality is that smaller
districts really need to look at those options,” said
Atlanta Community Schools Superintendent Paul Mancine. In
addition to Michigan Virtual High School, students in the
Atlanta Community Schools District also participate in
online courses through Kirtland Community College and Alpena
Community College. Another opportunity for students in
Atlanta, in a combined classroom and computer format, is a
dual-enrollment partnership with Davenport University.
Source: Alpena News, http://www.thealpenanews.com/Archives/2004/November/29/local1.html
NOV
30 2004
* Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Battle Creek:
WMU gets $12.6 million software donation
A Novi-based company has given the largest software
donation in its history to two Western Michigan University
departments. Cimatron Technologies donated $12.6 million in
computer-aided-design and computer-aided-manufacturing
(CAD/CAM) software used for making tool-and-die equipment to
WMU's industrial-and-manufacturing-engineering and
manufacturing-engineering departments. Haverhill,
Mass.-based Intelligent Manufacturing Software Inc. also
donated $1 million in associated software. "We're
always looking for opportunities to further education and
support that," said Lisa Sterling, marketing manager at
Cimatron. "The biggest thing we want is to help the
manufacturing industry as a whole," she said.
Source: Kalamazoo Gazette, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1101831671299000.xml?kzgazette?NEKP
DEC
01 2004
* Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti: New
Necessities
"Computer technology is the sort of thing that can make
a dramatic difference in how kids do (in school)," said
researcher F. Thomas Juster, one of three authors of a U-M
study, noting that computers have changed the way children
learn as well as the kinds of things they learn. It's not
just the children who benefit from a computer in the home.
Peter Ways, administrator for special projects for Ann Arbor
Public Schools, says there are all sorts of ways parents now
can stay in touch with the schools. That's why AAPS
are looking at other districts and agencies around the
country who have found ways to recycle computers into homes
of those who can't afford to buy them.
Source: Ann Arbor News, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-11/110191565657912.xml?aanews?NEA
*
Utica Schools: Utica Community Schools approves
wireless technology project
Utica Community Schools is going wireless.
The UCS Board of Education approved a $1.2 million bid
package at its Nov. 22 meeting to complete the district’s
wireless infrastructure project. The package was unanimously
approved. Director of Technology John Graham told the board
the project is designed to provide seamless wireless
networking technology in all instructional spaces within 46
district owned facilities. “This is one of the largest
K-12 implementations in Michigan,” he said.
Source: Shelby-Utica News, http://www.candgnews.com/editorial/2004/december/1/shelby/wireless.html
DEC
02 2004
* Niles: 'Why does the sky turn
green ...?'
Students at Niles High School took part in a pair
of video conferences with meteorologists from WNDU News
Center 16 and students at an elementary school in St. Joseph
Wednesday. Meteorologists Cindi Clawson and Mike Hoffman
joined students from three English Skills classes in the
Niles High School library while conversing with the students
in St. Joseph via live video and audio feed. Clawson and
Hoffman took questions from students at both schools about
tornadoes, ranging from "What's the largest tornado
ever recorded?" to "Why does the sky turn green
when there is a tornado?" Niles freshmen Kaylynn
Stephenson, 14, and Courtney Teske, 15, who got to ask
Clawson a question they prepared for the video conference,
thought the experience was cool. "It was cool that the
meteorologist was right here and we got to ask her
questions," Teske said. "We got to see the other
school and they asked questions and we could hear them right
away," Stephenson said.
Source: Niles Daily Star, http://www.leaderpub.com/articles/2004/12/02/news/niles_star/ndnews1.txt
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Kalamazoo: Kalamazoo area restaurant inspection info
now online
Kalamazoo County residents now can use the Internet
to check the health inspection results for local
restaurants. The Kalamazoo County Human Services
Department's "Food Service Sanitation Program" Web
site shows recent and past inspection reports -- including
any enforcement actions -- for food-service facilities
throughout Kalamazoo County. To view the reports, visit www.kalcounty.-com
and click on the "Hot Topics" link.
Source: Kalamazoo Gazette, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1102006231307830.xml?kzgazette?NEKP
*
Clinton Township: Downloading a future
Clintondale's advanced computers class takes the
word "advanced" to a different level. It's the
only class of its kind in the Macomb County district. The
students fix and build computers on their own. Each student
gets a certain number of computers to manage. When they walk
into the class they look at the whiteboard that has a list
of computers and their problems. When students see their
computers on the list, they are responsible for trying to
fix the problems. The students in the class also accompany
teacher Tim Spanke to repair other teachers' computers. Next
semester, the tech prep at Macomb Community College is
giving the class an entrepreneurship grant so that it can
reach even more people. The advanced computers class doesn't
just give high school credit. It also gives students an
experience that can lead to a promising career.
Source: Macomb Daily, http://macombdaily.com/stories/120204/loc_hitech001.shtml
DEC
04 2004
* University Center: Saginaw
Valley State University computer center takes on research
specialty
Computers may hold the key to solving some of the most
stubborn mysteries in health care and cybercrime, experts
say. With the help of a new, cutting-edge computer center,
students at Saginaw Valley State University will cross into
a new frontier of science, preparing computers to identify
diseases and prevent identity theft, school officials say.
IP3 Inc., a Saginaw market research and development company,
has pledged nearly $1.25 million to SVSU for the Center for
High Performance Computing and Informatics, which will open
in January.
Source: The Saginaw News, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1102159296321690.xml?sanews?NECN
DEC
05 2004
* Livonia: Lunch money to go
'cashless' at more schools
Students at several Livonia Public Schools will
have a new way to pay for lunches this year. Instead of
cash, some students will be able to use a pin number -
connected to a prepaid account - to pay for school lunch.
The point-of-sale concept was adopted last year at Emerson
Middle School and is about to expand. Due to the success of
the program, the district is planning to purchase six Meal
Magic Point of Sale systems for installation during second
semester. Five would be installed at various cash registers
at Franklin High School and one would be used at Kennedy
Elementary School. After that, Cooper Elementary could be
the next in line to receive the system.
Source: Livonia Observer, http://www.hometownlife.com/Hometownlife/NewsSearch.asp?pageType=Story&StoryID=70664
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