Volume 4, Number 1, Oct 2003
New Technical Enhancements
at Campus-adr.org
by Bill Warters
Technology marches ever forward,
and the Conflict Management
in Higher Education Resource Center is keeping pace.
Over the summer we have developed important new additions
to the Clearinghouse that should prove
useful as we move into the future. Most new tech items are
linked to the new campus-adr.net start
page.
"MyCampusADR" Flash-based Desktop
 We
have JUST released for beta-testing our new "MyCampusadr" interface
to some of the key Campus-adr.org resources. The project
runs on a different server than our main site (.net rather
than .org), and provides jumping off links to it and ways
to save your favorite locations at campus-adr.org in "file
folders" arranged by topic. The system depends on users
being registered
as a subscriber to the Report or the Campus-adr.org website
to keep track of your favorites. It also requires that you
have the free Flash Player (version 6) installed.
In addition to saving your campus-adr favorites, current
features include the ability to:
- play video clips and audio clips found in our collection
- read our various newsfeeds online
- view an online calendar that highlights dates with activity
happening on them
- use a calculator for quick answers
At the moment, there is no "help" feature. Your best strategy
is to click around on the different objects on the desktop
and just see what happens. A key piece of information is
that most display windows or "mini-apps" can be
closed using a small button with an "x" on it.
News Feeds
The Campus Conflict Resolution Resources website (the parent
site of the Conflict Management in Higher Education Report)
now provides several distinct "news
feeds" that
you can add to a desktop or web-based reader/aggregator and
then monitor easily for changes and new items. The feeds
are currently refreshed daily and change whenever new items
are added. For the technically-minded, we are using the RSS
1.0 standard. The available feeds (and their addresses) include:
Feature Articles in the CMHER Report 
http://www.campus-adr.org/CMHER/ArticlesRSS1Feed.html
Higher Ed ADR Events Calendar Listings
http://www.campus-adr.org/Information/EventsRSS1Feed.html
Higher Ed ADR Opportunities Calendar Listings
http://www.campus-adr.org/Information/OppsRSS1Feed.html
Resources Recently Added to Campus-adr.org Site
http://www.campus-adr.org/Information/NewAssetsRSS1Feed.html
Bill Warters' Ed Tech-oriented Weblog
http://www.campus-adr.net/index.xml
Educational Technology Web Log
 I
have recently joined the growing number of people using "web
logs" or "blogs" to post their thoughts
on an amazingly broad range of interests, and to share small
items of interest in a place where they can be easily retrieved
later. My own effort, known as the "Campus-adr
Tech Blog",
is currently mainly a place where I point out new interesting
tools and
trends
I am noticing
in my web searches and discussions relating to conflict resolution
and educational technology. The postings to the site are
divided into the following categories.
Conflict Resolution
Fun Stuff
Learning Objects
Research Tools
Tech News
As time permits I will be using the platform to enhance
the interactivity of the site by creating topical "blogs"
for groups of users. Do drop by sometime, or even consider "subscribing" to
my tech blog by adding it to your news
readers.
Searchable Index of Student, Staff, and Faculty Policy Handbooks
We completed our first round of development on a searchable index
of staff, student and faculty policy handbooks from all the major universities
that have posted theirs online. The system indexes close to 1000 Higher Education Institution's pdf
or web-based policy handbooks, and then permits you to do
keyword searches on the handbooks, to see for instance how
other institutions are handling their grievance policies
and the integration of mediation into these systems.
We're excited by all the new tools available for online
cooperation and information sharing, and plan to
continue to enhance and expand Campus-adr.org's capabilities
well into the future. We hope you come along for the ride!
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