As college students grow warier of peer-to-peer networks that the entertainment industry is known to be policing, underground alternatives like Direct Connect have become hotbeds of campus piracy. Direct Connect creates a digital hub that lets students swap tunes over the campus network without inviting off-campus file swappers—or the entertainment industry’s digital investigators—in on the process. (The Daily Texan)

Record companies might not have an easy time locating Direct Connect outposts, but they’re well aware that the service is out there: In a recent report, a group of campus officials and industry representatives identified underground services that work within campus networks as a new nemesis. For more on Direct Connect, see an article from The Chronicle by Brock Read.

At higher-education conferences, speakers often talk about student demands for technology, but students themselves are rarely there to give their own views. A group of five students from several colleges gave a candid assessment of their technology wish list today during a session at the Higher Education Leadership Forum, a two-day event sponsored by The Chronicle and Gartner, a technology-consulting firm.

Overall, the students called for more technology on campus—more wireless access, more virus protection, and more technical support, among other things. But technology can also be a distraction, some said.

"It’s been detrimental to my education," said Cliff Stephens, a master’s student in decision information sciences at the University of Florida. "When the professor is up there reading a slide from PowerPoint that you can download later, Solitaire is a pretty big temptation."...

Japan’s TV-based University of the Air, which has long attracted nontraditional students, faces new competition from traditional universities. (The Chronicle, subscription required)

Just because the Internet gives scholars and students access to a "digital library of Alexandria" of unsurpassed power does not mean that education and research are improving, said Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. In fact, Mr. Gregorian said he is worried about what he called an emerging "Home Depot approach to education," in which there is no distinction made between information and learning.

Mr. Gregorian made his remarks as a keynote presentation at the Higher Education Leadership Forum, a two-day event sponsored by The Chronicle and Gartner, a technology-consulting firm. He noted that, as a result, though there are more and more well-educated specialists, there are fewer "cultured" academics, who work to place what they know in context.

"There’s no such thing as neutral knowledge," he said. "All knowledge has implications." Likewise, he added,...

The record industry’s antipiracy lawsuits may have convinced some campus-network users to log off peer-to-peer networks, but there’s a difference between making students more cautious and scaring them straight. As one Tufts University student tells his campus newspaper, some students are simply waiting to download files until they make a trip home—where, they reason, the industry’s digital snoops are less likely to come looking for them. (The Tufts Daily)

Is the Computer History Museum preparing to open a wing devoted to Microsoft? The museum, in Mountain View, Calif., has received a $15-million infusion from none other than the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (Associated Press)

It’s been a busy week for Mr. Gates, who also embarked on a tour of North American colleges—including, most recently, Howard University—in an attempt to recruit students for computer science programs. (Computerworld)

Technology experts are making the rounds of hurricane-swept colleges to restore connections to the Web and rebuild networks. The  experts often get thrust into difficult situations, but the services they provide are greatly appreciated. Online networks are crucial to helping organizations function again. And once the networks are up and running, local relief workers can use them to send e-mail messages to loved ones or make telephone calls through the Internet from areas that lack reliable phone service. (The Chronicle, subscription required)

Students at Vanderbilt University will be the first undergraduates to try out a new music-downloading service that has been described as "Facebook with substance." The service, run by a company called FreshTracksMusic, won’t exactly be fighting for iTunes’ market share: It offers users a chance to download tunes by underground and unsigned artists for a monthly fee of $3. (The Vanderbilt Hustler)

What hath wireless wrought? A generation of college students who spend class time surfing eBay and chatting on IM instead of taking notes, according to some professors.

Spurred by faculty complaints about inattentive students, a growing number of colleges are considering using technology that would block wireless access in lecture halls. But the tools aren’t foolproof, and they don’t do anything about students who sit in class playing Minesweeper. (The Wall Street Journal)

It certainly didn’t take long for the newest iPod to work its way into a college curriculum.

Earlier this week, Apple unveiled the latest version of its popular music player, a model that can play videos on its tiny color screen. And already, officials at Drexel University say they’ve come up with a plan to give the devices to the 33 students enrolled in their online master’s program in higher education.

The university distributed iPods to students at its School of Education earlier this fall. But the new program will "up the ante," according to William Lynch, the school’s director: Students, he says, will be asked to edit their own research journal using podcasting technology.