Cole Camplese, ETS director, lives on a cloud - that is, cloud computing. Google’s Chrome open source browser project has Cole interested due to the potential is holds for cloud computing in education.

Brett Bixler, ETS lead instructional designer, has two interesting posts in the Educational Gaming Commons. The first is on browser-based gaming, which is exactly what it sounds - games played off an Internet browser. He weighs the pedagogical possibilities and links to a great article about browser games.

Brett also talks about a new wiki on Virtual Worlds that is a treasure trove of information on these worlds.

Jeff Swain, ETS instructional designer, posted the latest ANGELshorts to the ANGEL Community Hub. This one is titled Five Things Instructors Should Know about Downloading All Drop Box Submissions. If you are not familiar with ANGELshorts, they are very handy brief guides to doing specific actions on ANGEL, and are produced by Jeff and Mary Janzen, ETS writer/editor.

Allan Gyorke, ETS education technology manager, goes Zen on us this week. More specifically, he talks about when things and people take on roles other than what they are “supposed” to do.

Looking for training? ITS Training Services just issued the following announcement:

Technology workshops and overviews now open for registration

Registration is open for the technology workshops and overviews offered by Information Technology Services this fall.

Registration is open for the technology workshops and overviews offered by Information Technology Services this fall. This semester, students, faculty, and staff at all Penn State campuses can take advantage of live or recorded sessions that are being offered online through Adobe Connect meeting software. Popular overview and hands-on topics include Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Data Warehouse, ANGEL, Access, Excel, PowerPoint, podcasting, cascading style sheets, and many more. Visit the Web site for details on all available training options or to register for training at http://its.psu.edu/training/.

That’s it for this week’s BuzzLion.

Has anyone heard of textbook piracy here at Penn State?

“Myspace and Facebook opened the gateway for a new generation of social networking over the internet. Now, online blogging sites like Wordpress, Livejournal and Blogger bring a whole new level of intimacy to the online world.

“At first I was against blogging,” said sophomore Bree Gant, a film production major. “I thought it was just another way for people to whine and get attention. But I realized as a writer, blogging is a good opportunity to not only journal, but get your opinion and writing out there and get some feedback from both experienced writers and interested readers.”"

This is an issue that should not be ignored. How do we bridge the Participation Gap?

Elizabeth Pyatt, ETS instructional designer, runs a plagiarism site (well, more like an ANTI-plagiarism site). She blogs about her experiences dealing with plagiarism as an instructor, and how plagiarism often does not offer the benefits students expect.

Elizabeth also issued a request for PowerPoint tips to add to a list she is compiling for Penn State faculty.

Keeping with the students-being-naughty theme, Cole Camplese, ETS director, blogged this week about the Penn State Copyright site. He talks about the work that went into the project, pulled together in just a few months, and shows off the results, including a very cool video.

Tim Perry, ETS advanced learning projects coordinator, recently posted the latest statistics of the Podcasts at Penn State project. Take a look, and marvel at how this program has grown in a few years.

Allan Gyorke, ETS information technology manager, posted recently about using wiki history as data. Allan may have found a new use for wikis here.

Brett Bixler, ETS lead instructional designer, normally talks about the cognitive benefits of video games on the Educational Gaming Commons. But what about the physical education benefits?

Jeff Swain, ETS instructional designer, is working with others on the ANGEL Innovative Quiz Tool Initiative. Jeff talks about it and offers a link to keep updated on the project.

That is all for BuzzLion for this week - have a great Labor Day Weekend.

Very interesting and complete look at what schools are thinking regarding using mobile devices in class.

Web 2.0 awareness in the enterprise world continues to grow.

Is Penn State doing anything with this, and if so, what?