Educators know that technology is becoming more and more important to their students, and that there is a need to incorporate technology into the classroom. Some colleges, however, have taken this idea to the extreme. In Japan, Cyber University, the only college in the country to offer all of its classes exclusively on the internet, has taken the next step in digital education. They now offer a class that students can take via their cell phones.

How It Works
The class, which teaches students about the mysteries of the pyramids, is available to the public for free - if they can access it. It can only be seen through some phones manufactured by Softbank Corp., who owns seventy one percent of the virtual university.

Eventually, the online classes may expand to other carriers. Users listen to the lecture and can view the PowerPoint slides on their cell phones. Currently, only one class is offered through cell phones, but more may be coming. While in traditional classrooms, teachers fight to keep distracting cell phones out of the classroom, this classroom relies on and can only be found on cell phones.

Cyber Classrooms
The Japanese university, with a student body of almost two thousand, offers about one hundred courses in addition to the pyramid class on the cell phones. All of these other courses can be taken online. Typically, while the student listens to the lecture from their computer, they view accompanying text and images on their screens with a little picture of their professor, who they will probably never see in person, in the corner of their monitor. The college claims to be able to monitor lecture usage digitally, ensuring that students are listening to the lecture in its entirety, and not skipping their virtual class. (more…)

The online sensation of the year, YouTube, has opened the door for all kinds of opportunities. From joining with CNN to allow voters to directly pose questions to presidential candidates, to allowing students to view class lectures when they can’t physically make it to class, YouTube and other online video sites can also have some negative effects.

For many people, these sites are a monumental waste of time. For others who are videoed and posted without their knowledge or consent, they are a source of embarrassment and anger. For a few others, online videos may be a cause for arrest or even evidence in a criminal trial.

The Motive
Typically, hoaxers and vandals want to work invisibly, but have the results of their work highly visible, to be “appreciated” by all. They may consider their work art, such as some graffiti artists, or may think what they have done is funny, and want all their friends, and even strangers, to be able to join in on the “joke.” All too often, these pranks are dangerous to the participants, the victims, the cameraman, and bystanders, and on occasion, what began as a joke turns into a serious calamity.

Alerting Authorities
While it is never the intention of the person posting the video online, viewers sometimes recognize the danger or the illegality of the actions caught on video and authorities are alerted. In general, police are tipped off by viewers about a suspicious video, and aren’t seeking out videos of illegal activities on their own.

Some do, however. One California Police Lieutenant asserted that police officers stationed at middle and high schools routinely search popular sites such as MySpace and YouTube for criminal activity such as drug or alcohol use, vandalism, or sexual assault. (more…)