CONTENTS for May 18, 2001

1. Prometheus Course Management System Available To ACS
2. Alianco Launching Three New Language Projects At Summer Workshop
3. Digital Technologies And Cultures: Request For Collaborators & Meeting
4. Summer Opportunities for IT Staff and Music Faculty
5. ACS 10th Anniversary
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1. PROMETHEUS AVAILABLE TO ACS

Prometheus, a course management system developed at George Washington University, will be available for a limited and experimental trial in the 2001-2002 academic year. Each ACS institution will be able to deploy about ten courses per semester. This opportunity comes via the Center for Educational Technology and The Mellon Foundation. [http://cet.middlebury.edu/CETwebDocs/programs/P2001programs/spring01/prometheus.html]

The licenses are available to all disciplines, and language faculty may find this opportunity of special interest because Prometheus allows the direct use of international characters (with the exception of the chat module). Languages supported include Western European, Cyrillic, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. Depending upon user-platform, Unicode (UTF-8) is also supported, with the eventual goal of full Unicode support across all components of its courseware system. A demonstration of Prometheus is available on-line at http://www.prometheus.com/demo/index.html.

If you are interested in obtaining a Prometheus account, please contact Deena Berg, dberg@colleges.org, (phone 512-863-1673) Since the number of licenses are limited, collaborative courses including those across institutions and disciplines will be given preference. Otherwise, the licenses will be distributed on a first-come basis.
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2. ALIANCO LAUNCHING THREE NEW LANGUAGE PROJECTS AT SUMMER WORKSHOP

Alianco, the ACS modern language collaboration funded by the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, will be developing three new projects at a summer workshop to be held at the ACS Technology Center from August 1-5, 2001. The three projects are described below, and we welcome anyone who might wish to participate.

1. Russian Inter-Institutional Collaboration Course (currently titled "Russian Mosaic" aka: "Everything You Wanted to Know about Russia but were Afraid to Ask" or "A Byte of Russia").
The goal of the course is to give a significant taste of Russian culture and language in a 1-2 credit hour course to expose students to this culture and increase enrollments in Russian. A 2-hour credit trip to Russia will follow the course. The program could also be part of a Language Across the Curriculum program.

2. Web-based Media Archive Project
The goal of this project is to create an accessible archive of original and copyright-free materials, including video, audio, images, realia, exercises, and projects. The target audience is primarily second language instructors, who may use the archive for project ideas and examples, realia to support lessons, web-based exercises to assign, and so forth.

3. Spanish and French Self-paced On-line Courses
The goal of this project is to provide a self-paced course and/or supplemental materials for advanced beginning students who need a boost, students preparing for summer abroad, and others who may need independent practice and review.

To find out more about these projects and to join in, please visit the ALIANCO website at www.colleges.org/~alianco and contact Deena Berg dberg@colleges.org, (phone 512-863-1673). Applications for the workshops can be found at http://www.colleges.org/techcenter/workshop/applications01/alianco_app.html.
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3. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND CULTURES REQUEST FOR COLLABORATORS: MEETING IN FALL

Brainstorming for the first step toward preparing liberal arts students to live and think critically in the digital age will take place this fall at the ACS Technology Center (dates to be determined). All disciplines are invited to participate in discussing the technologies and cultures that cut across disciplinary borders. Potential topics (the list is open): genomics, digital copyright, hacktivism, Web business, interactive media, on-line identities, quantum computing, virtual spaces. Possibilities include a course, or minicourse, on the liberal arts and digital technologies and cultures *now*, i.e. a topics class which could tackle the digital world as it unfolds. If you are interested, please send email to Bryan Alexander, balexand@centenary.edu or Deena Berg, dberg@colleges.org.
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4. SUMMER OFFERINGS AT THE ACS TECHNOLOGY CENTER

Attention IT staff and anyone who provides technology support to faculty: you are all invited to attend the second annual meeting of ACS tech support staff from July 11-15, 2001. This meeting provides an opportunity for you to meet colleagues who provide support at small liberal arts colleges, share support strategies, and learn from those who are facing similar challenges. We would like to see representation from all 15 of our member institutions. Please plan to join us! For additional information, see http://www.colleges.org/~support or contact Pat Ramsey, ramseyp@southwestern.edu.

ACS Music faculty and support staff: come meet your ACS colleagues July 26-30, 2001. The purpose of this meeting is two-fold: to provide an opportunity for ACS music faculty to get to know one another and discuss possible collaborative opportunities in connection with an ACS grant and to learn about the use of technology in the music curriculum. No previous technology experience is required! Please join us to discuss the possibility of webcasting campus events, artist exchanges, a teaching materials archive and other possible collaborations. You will find more information and applications linked to http://www.colleges.org/techcenter/workshop/workshop01.html. The ACS Tech Center staff looks forward to seeing you here this summer!
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5. ACS 10th ANNIVERSARY

This fall ACS will begin celebration of its 10th anniversary. As this important milestone approaches, we want to thank the countless individuals across all of our campuses who have contributed so tirelessly to our efforts. This fall, we'll be noting the occasion in a variety of ways through our publications and programs. Until then, we wish each of you a delightful and relaxing summer!

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