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Asako, one of the student bloggers on Sydney Life is going on exchange to McGill in Canada this week and has decided to do some of her blogging while there in video form. Her first video is now online. She's using YouTube to store and distribute the videos. We felt it was the easiest way to do it, offering the most flexibility.

There's been some heated discussion about the pros and cons of using Second Life in higher ed marketing and general student communication in this office. I haven't got around to writing a post about it but lucky for you somebody else has. Sardionerak at University web marketing and usability has written a quick appraisal of the Second Life presences of three Australian universities. There's also the ever-reliable Karine who wrote last July on using Second Life in uni marketing.

Recently I had a conversation with someone in my family who shall remain nameless that went something like this:

That person: I love wikipedia. I use it all the time, you can get so much information there.
Me: Well, yes, it is useful but I wouldnt' think it's perfect, considering how it's written.
That person: So, who writes wikipedia anyway?
Me: Anybody. If you sign up you can write on whatever you want. Or something like that.
That person: What? Anyone?
Me: You mean you didn't know that anyone could write it?
(That person goes rather pale as they consider all the university essays in which they have used Wikipedia...)
Me: You ok?

I was reminded of this because Black Knight has issued a friendly warning regarding Wikipedia to his students after he reviewed the material on $PROTEIN_DOMAIN on it (I don't know what it is either and I don't dare look up wikipedia for help...).

Via Yiddish at Sydney: there's now an Australian student social networking site in the mould of FaceBook. It's called StudentFace.

A team at the University of Melbourne has released a report that looks at just what kind of technology First Year students are using and how they are using it.

The aim of First year students' experience with technology: are they really digital natives

was to empirically document incoming first-year University students' experiences with an array of established and emerging technologies and technology-based tools.

A study of 2000 students was carried out at The University of Melbourne in March 2006, and a preliminary report of findings was presented to the Melbourne Experience Committee in September 2006.

UPDATE: More analysis on this study over at University web marketing and usability.

Syracuse University has started emailing all students with a weekly health bulletin. The bulletin offers tips on health and hygiene.

Designed around the busy schedules of students, orangehealth-e brings accurate and relevant information straight to the dorm rooms and apartments of each individual, said Matthew W. Kiechle, Health Education and Wellness coordinator. The e-mails include links to Internet health sites.