Territorium has become the first U.S. ed tech company to earn CLR 2.0 and Open Badges 3.0 certifications from 1EdTech, furthering the standardization of digital credentials — or “comprehensive learner records” — that are easily shared between digital wallets, the company said.
The University of Kentucky (UK) has established the ADVANCE (Advancing Data utilization for Value in Academia for National and Campuswide Excellence) Committee to study AI and ChatGPT and make recommendations for their use on campus. Led by Provost Robert DiPaola, the committee includes a broad range of representatives from academic and administrative areas, according to a release.
Here, we ask Anant Agarwal for his perspectives on the impacts of generative AI in higher education environments and what edX is doing to help lead the way in the productive use of innovative new tools based on the technology.
Data cloud company Snowflake has launched the Government & Education Data Cloud, a platform with specific, pre-built capabilities that give the public sector and education partners a single integrated cross-cloud data platform for multiple uses. This platform will meet international, federal, state, and local agency security and compliance standards, according to a release.
At some point in our academic careers, most of us have found ourselves stuck in the back of an overcrowded lecture hall. Too far from the presenter to see or hear much of anything, it wasn't long before we lost interest, started on other work, or took a nap. Anyone sitting in those first few rows may have been enlightened and inspired, but for the rest of us, the class was less than productive. Higher education has set out to change that.
Nearly eight out of 10 higher ed organizations surveyed for Sophos’ 2023 State of Ransomware Report said they were hit by ransomware last year — a 23% increase from the previous year’s results — making education the most-attacked sector in 2022.
Managed services provider Apogee has introduced Cloud and Security Professional Services, offering expertise, tools, and processes to accelerate cloud adoption and strengthen an institution's security posture.
On a “mission to fix the antiquated Career Services Center” system, Hallo has launched a revamped website for connecting students to career opportunities, and it features a personalized, AI-powered career coach named Boris, the company said in a news release.
Berkeley SkyDeck, a startup accelerator at the University of California, Berkeley, and Cal Hacks, a nonprofit organization devoted to fostering a culture of hacking, entrepreneurship, and social good, are teaming up to create a two-day generative AI hackathon to explore the potential of large language models and build a new generation of responsible AI.
Higher education IT association Educause has released a new resource to help educators and IT leaders navigate changing learning modalities and better serve student needs. Part of the association's Showcase Series, "Online, In-Person, or Hybrid? Yes" pulls together reports, lessons learned, and other materials that align with the corresponding Top 10 IT Issue for 2023.
Higher education technology association Educause recently released the 2023 Teaching and Learning Edition of its annual Horizon Report, forecasting the trends, technologies, and practices that will shape the future of postsecondary education. AI is a significant theme throughout the report, both appearing in the top technological trends for 2023 as well as factoring into the key technologies and practices impacting colleges and universities going forward.
In a first for the University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering, graduating 2023 Grand Challenge Scholars have received an on-chain, verifiable digital credential.
Gartner has identified six critical areas where the use of large language models such as ChatGPT can present legal or compliance risks that enterprise organizations must be aware of — or face potentially dire consequences. Organizations should consider what guardrails to put in place in order to ensure responsible use of these tools, the research firm advised.
In the first six weeks of educators using Turnitin’s new AI writing detection feature, the platform processed 38.5 million submissions, and the results — as well as plenty of feedback from educators and administrators — led Turnitin to tweak the detector and to further explain the meaning and accuracy rates of the detection scores.
Screen-sharing technology provider Airtame has released a new feature, Share to Call, on its hybrid conferencing platform to make screen sharing easy, the company said in a release. With Share to Call, anyone can instantly share their screen in a Zoom or Microsoft Teams call from their personal device without having to go through a lengthy process.
Based on a survey of college students over the last three semesters, students understand that remotely attending a lecture via remote synchronous technology is less effective for them than attending in person, but they highly value the flexibility of this option of attending when they need it.
The University of Southern California (USC), long known for its advances in computer science and as a leading provider of tech talent, has announced a $1 billion-plus initiative called "Frontiers of Computing" to focus on "AI, machine learning and data science, augmented and virtual reality, robotics, gaming, and blockchain," according to a release.
In the increasing climate of AI-generated content, educators are expressing growing concerns about plagiarized work from students and how to recognize it. Open LMS, a provider of Moodle-based open source learning management system platforms, has teamed up with AI detection company Copyleaks to help tackle this problem.
Amid a growing demand for ultra-wide conferencing projection and new virtual presentation apps with multiple live views, LG Business Solutions USA has introduced a new 4K UHD laser projector with 21:9 aspect ratio support offering “maximum visibility,” according to a news release.
A majority of chief information security officers in the U.S. education sector believe they’re likely to experience a material cyber attack in the next 12 months, and a majority have dealt with a material loss of sensitive data in the previous 12 months, according to the newest Voice of the CISO report published this week by cybersecurity company Proofpoint.
A new survey of public sector IT professionals conducted in January by independent research firm Market Connections found that careless or untrained insiders remains the top-ranked threat to higher education institutions’ network security, while the threat of malicious attacks by foreign governments is considered a bigger threat than in years past, according to the survey results.
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a $140 million investment in seven new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes on themes spanning trustworthy AI, next-generation cybersecurity, AI for decision-making, AI-augmented learning, and other important topics.
Gardner Campbell considers issues and concerns surrounding AI, identifies helpful resources, and offers some grounding thoughts on human learning.
Technology research firm Gartner advises chief information officers to include discussions about fatigue and burnout in order to reduce employee turnover and achieve better results in network management efforts, according to a new report.
Higher education SaaS provider Ellucian has revamped its partnership programs, combining them into a new Ellucian Partner Network, aiming to “ignite scale and acceleration of digital transformation across the industry,” according to a news release.
In a recent survey by Tyton Partners, nearly one in three college students reported being a regular user of generative AI. And 51% of students said they will continue to use generative AI writing tools, even if prohibited by their instructor or institution.
Despite a number of challenges facing the technology sector in 2023, the next five years will see significant growth in the proliferation of new wireless networking technologies, both in the enterprise and among consumers.
With today's advancements in generative AI, the dream of ultra-personalized learning may not be far off from reality. We spoke with Dr. Kim Round, associate dean of the Western Governors University School of Education, about the potential of technologies like ChatGPT for learning, the need for AI literacy skills, why learning experience designers have a leg up on AI prompt engineering, and more.
Open source learning management system Moodle has formed a partnership with AI content and plagiarism detector Copyleaks. With thousands of education institutions using Moodle's LMS, custom development, and learning design services, and the explosive use of AI-generated content, Moodle said in a release that feedback from its clients cemented its move to incorporate an AI detection tool.
Arizona's Mesa Community College is renovating its classroom audio systems with a variety of solutions from conferencing, collaboration, and streaming technology provider ClearOne. The goal: to "enhance the flexibility and quality of remote learning experiences" for the institution's 20,000 students, according to a news announcement.
At its 11th annual conference in 2023, educational company Coursera announced it is adding ChatGPT-powered interactive ed tech tools to its learning platform, including a generative AI coach for students and an AI course-building tool for teachers.
Effective change management addresses the cultural and workforce shifts that accompany technology transformations in higher education. Here's how to take a holistic approach to IT change across the institution.
Cybersecurity training and certification organization SANS Institute has partnered with Google to launch the SANS Cloud Diversity Academy (SCDA), a training initiative aimed at helping underrepresented groups pursue a career in cybersecurity, with a particular focus on cloud security.
Class Technologies has announced plans for a beta release of A.I. Teaching Assistant, a ChatGPT-powered tool designed to improve learner engagement and outcomes in live online courses.
Purdue University and Google Cloud have partnered, using Google's BigQuery and BigQuery GIS data sets, to show where rural areas need Level 3 DC Fast Charge Stations. This information can help public and private sectors plan investments to support equitable access to electric vehicles to help reduce and eliminate carbon energy impacts.
Since April 3, CISA has published alerts on seven known exploited vulnerabilities — two of which pose immediate risks for a long list of Apple devices — ordering federal agencies to remediate the identified vulnerabilities immediately and encouraging all organizations to do the same.
As the eduroam WiFi access service has grown to reach around the globe, so has its capacity to serve the changing needs of the research and education community. Why does ubiquity matter? Here, two eduroam-US advisory committee leaders tell CT why and how eduroam is working to be anywhere students are learning.
Worldwide IT spending is projected to increase 5.5% this year to a total of $4.6 trillion by the close of 2023, according to the latest forecast by market researchers at Gartner. And IDC analysts project significant growth in cloud infrastructure spending, tempered by a decline in spending on non-cloud infrastructure and devices.
Plagiarism detection software Turnitin now includes new live AI-writing detection features that “identify the use of AI writing tools including ChatGPT, with 98% confidence,” the company said.
Current attitudes toward generative AI hearken back to early skepticism about the impact of the internet on education. Both then and now, technology has created challenges but also opportunities that can't be ignored.
Managed technology services provider Apogee has added to its suite of Executive Advisory Services, expanding the offering to 15 disciplines, including IT infrastructure, networking, cybersecurity, and compliance assessments and strategies.
Coming to Orlando, FL, Nov. 7-9, 2023, the new conference from the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal will focus on cybersecurity and data practices across K–20 education.
The University of California, Riverside is boosting computing speed, agility, and scale for researchers through a new subscription agreement with Google Cloud. The deal is part of an effort to modernize the institution's enterprise infrastructure and provide more computing flexibility and innovative IT services on campus.
In a commitment to increase its campus waste recycling efforts, the University of Kentucky's Recycling department has installed Oscar Sort, an incentivized AI-powered sorting system to help people direct trash into the right bins and lessen the impact on landfills.
The use of AI for writing and communication presents an inherent contradiction: Those who can best write with AI will be those who can best write without it, according to Mark Warschauer professor of education and informatics at the University of California, Irvine, and founder of UCI's Digital Learning Lab. We talked about the potential of AI for teaching and learning, overcoming faculty skepticism about AI tools, research questions that should be asked about AI in education, and more.
A French generative AI ed tech startup called Nolej (pronounced “knowledge”) has made publicly available its new OpenAI-based instructional content generator for educators, called Nolej AI, ahead of its official introduction at BETT in London planned for Thursday, March 30, and its scheduled commercial debut at the ASU+GSV Summit on April 19, the company's chairman told Campus Technology.
What constitutes student success? Traditional measurements such as enrollment, retention, and graduation rates fail to paint the larger picture of the student experience. Here's how institutions can rethink the metrics that define successful outcomes on campus.
Thanks to the CIO's efforts on campus and through partnering with external cyber organizations, USC Aiken is enjoying a successful first year of its student-staffed Security Operations Center, expanding cyber-monitoring capabilities for not only the Aiken campus but also for sister campuses in the USC system — and the university is no longer short-staffed in the IT department.
Blackbaud, a South Carolina-based provider of administrative, donor management, and CRM software to thousands of K–12 private schools, higher education institutions, and nonprofits, has been ordered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to pay a fine of $3 million to “settle charges for making misleading disclosures about a 2020 ransomware attack that impacted more than 13,000 customers,” the federal agency said in a news release.
Starting in April 2023, Grammarly will roll out its beta version of GrammarlyGo, a personalized generative AI tool to complement its existing communication software. The prompt-initiated AI understands personal writing and brand style in context, according to the company, and will generate relevant, comprehensive text on demand.
Expanded multi-modal MathGPT Platform possibilities mean any math content or curriculum can be turned into a personalized GPT-powered chatbot with interactive text, audio, and video learning, and GotIt can configure the platform to work with a wide variety of applications in math education, the company said.
Registration is now open for Tech Tactics in Education: Data and IT Security in the New Now, a new conference from the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal. The three-day event, taking place November 7–9, 2023, at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., will offer hands-on learning, practical tips, and strategic discussions on critical cybersecurity issues and key data infrastructure and practices across K–12 and higher education.
From curriculum to technology concerns, consider these essentials for creating alternative education opportunities at your institution.
New research shows that an overwhelming majority of education institutions in the United States have incorrectly configured e-mail security settings and as a result are more susceptible to phishing and spoofing threats.
Global ed tech provider Territorium has launched LifeJourney, a suite of AI-powered tools for users to keep track of education, job skills, and career readiness capabilities.
FLINT Systems has introduced a new linguistic tool designed to detect whether a document was written by its attributed author. The system is designed not simply to detect whether a piece of writing was authored by an AI, but whether it was written by the person claiming authorship at all.
An informal survey from video platform Echo360 found that higher education technology users around the world are hopeful about the potential instructional and learning impacts of generative artificial intelligence and applications like ChatGPT.
Listening to students' wants and needs throughout their interactions with a college or university can help uncover the moments that matter — the intervention points that can make or break the student experience.
Career training and aptitude assessment provider YouScience has launched a new education-to-career platform called Brightpath that helps students identify their natural aptitudes and skills, select the learning path and school coursework best aligned to their aptitudes and future career opportunities, connect with post-secondary programs matching their aptitudes and interests, find internships and jobs matching their aptitudes, and even earn CTE certifications.
Through a new partnership with online learning platform edX, Pepperdine University plans to launch its first MicroMasters master's degree program, available later this year. The new program will offer a flexible pathway to completing a master's degree through career-relevant, skill-based introductory courses.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid office recently published detailed information security requirements for higher education institutions that previously or currently service, administer, or aid in the administration of a Federal Student Aid program, noting that IHEs participating in FSA programs fall under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and must comply with its mandates by June 9, 2023.
ChatGPT is groundbreaking, but it's also merely the first in what will likely be a series of innovations built on foundational developments in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing that are going to change the world. We spoke with Mark Schneider, director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, about how AI is transforming education and the evolving role of humans in an AI-powered future.
K16 Solutions is working with GPTZero to bring AI writing detection to K–12 schools and higher education institutions.
These best practices from the Learning Design and Technology program at the University of San Diego will help practitioners create the best possible learning experience for students and develop a rewarding career in instructional design.
Plagiarism detection company Turnitin announced that the AI writing detection tool it teased in January will be available as a feature of its existing products as soon as April.
In conversations with educators, have you ever heard one of them say they "love" a certain technology? With Valentine's Day this week, we are wondering what it is about education technologies that educators actually love. Here, we ask Gardner Campbell what he loves about education technology.
A new Showcase Series from Educause, titled “Privacy and Cybersecurity 101,” offers guidance for higher education leaders on pressing issues of the day: data privacy, information security, and institutional transparency around both.
Through its partnership with edX, an online degree and digital course content company, the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) will launch a fully online Master of Science degree in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI).
AVer USA, a provider of video collaboration and education technology solutions, has introduced a new all-in-one camera with AI audio built for education, called the A30, combining a document camera, web camera, microphone, and speaker.
Springboard, an online learning platform that emphasizes mentor-student relationships, today unveiled a new partnership with Gonzaga University to deliver two online “bootcamps” to learners aiming for careers in cybersecurity and software engineering.
Coming to Orlando, FL, Nov. 7-9, 2023, the new conference from the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal will focus on cybersecurity and data practices across K–20 education.
In its December 2022 report, "Solving Higher Education's Wicked Problems," WGU Labs, the research arm of Western Governors University, identified seven areas that need solutions based on the science of learning if higher education is to address the challenges facing it now and in the future.
Artificial intelligence can be a valuable learning tool, if used in the right context. Here are ways to embrace ChatGPT and encourage students to think critically about the content it produces.
How will technologies and practices like artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, digital transformation, and change management impact colleges and universities this year? Here's what the experts told us.
A new study, "Data Blind: Universities Lag in Capturing and Exploiting Data," conducted by UCLA School of Education and Information Studies professor Christine L. Borgman and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Press publisher and director Amy Brand, found that universities face serious challenges in capturing and using various data streams on campus, and these negatively impact decision-making ability.
Students who want to enroll in digital courses are finding that not enough information is provided ahead of time in order for them to be successful, a 2022 WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) partnership survey found.
The University of California, Davis, which offers massive open online courses on several other online learning platforms, has now also partnered with edX to launch a suite of free MOOCs, along with a professional certificate program in search engine optimization.
The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and the American Council on Education (ACE) have transitioned the Virtual Exchange/Collaborative Online International Learning (VE/COIL) Transformation Lab from ACE to AAC&U.
As higher education moves into the second wave of Dx — aligning digital efforts with institutional success — here are five key trends to watch.
The awards honor the outstanding product development achievements of manufacturers and suppliers whose products or services are considered to be particularly noteworthy in the transformation of education technology.
A new consent decree between the Justice Department and University of California, Berkeley resolving allegations that UC Berkeley’s digital content is not accessible enough may have much broader implications for education institutions with free online content and courses that are not fully ADA compliant — regardless of the platform where the institution’s content exists.
A new report from digital media advocacy organization Common Sense Media and the Boston Consulting Group, "Closing the Digital Divide Benefits Everyone, Not Just the Disconnected," examines how bringing internet connectivity to all results in broader benefits to society, using federal funds, with states and internet providers cooperating.
Why is learning about the metaverse important to first-year college students? Here, two Bentley University faculty meet with CT to explain how their unique course offering on the metaverse supports the goals of the institution's new undergraduate core curriculum.
Starting in January 2023, Amazon Web Services Machine Learning University will offer a free AI educator enablement program prioritizing community colleges, minority-serving institutions, and historically Black colleges and universities in the United States, to help these institutions prioritize teaching database, artificial intelligence, and machine learning concepts to historically underserved students.
Interactive display maker Promethean has acquired the digital whiteboard platform Explain Everything, which allows users to create lessons, activities, and interactive presentations on any mobile device.
The definition of a cloud strategy is fairly straight-forward: Gartner calls it "a concise viewpoint on the role of cloud computing in the organization." Still, within that simple statement there is a lot of room for error, says the research and advisory firm, asserting that "business and IT leaders continue to make 10 common mistakes when crafting their cloud strategy."
Georgetown University's School of Continuing Studies has partnered with Coursera to offer a new pathway to degree completion for adult learners.
Texas Tech University is launching a one-year pilot program to help students in the state complete their diplomas or earn a GED. The program is in partnership with TTU K–12, a fully online school district operated by Texas Tech, and is being made possible by a $1.8 million grant from the United States Department of Education and the Texas Workforce Commission.
With better international education data collection and reporting, the industry will have a more accurate and on-demand dataset that can bolster advocacy efforts and help organizations track trends and address emerging needs.
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), an arm of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), is taking proposals to compete for $750,000 in awards to develop projects that use innovative AI approaches, such as self-directed, remote AI tutoring, to train adults for the current and future national security workforce.
Learning technology company D2L has launched its Brightspace Creator+ package, allowing anyone to create digital courses without having to learn coding.
Occupancy technology company Occuspace has announced its expansion into several colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada to report real-time and historical space-usage data.
As VP for information technology and CIO at the University of Michigan, Ravi Pendse is committed to fostering a robust data culture that democratizes the use of data to inform decision-making. At the center of that culture is transparency: making sure students, faculty, and staff know exactly what types of data are collected, and how that data is stored, accessed, managed, and shared. Here, we talk about creating a data-aware, privacy-aware ecosystem, data governance challenges, making data visible to students, and more.
SXSW EDU recently unveiled nearly half of the lineup for its 2023 event scheduled for March 6–9, 2023, in Austin, featuring topics considered the most pressing in education, the organization said.
Online learning company 2U has moved its boot camp offerings to the edX brand with the introduction of edX Boot Camps, intensive technology training programs designed to meet the upskilling and reskilling needs of working adults.
At the 2022 Educause Annual Conference on higher education information technology, Informatica announced its launch of an AI-powered, cloud-native data management platform, called Intelligent Data Management Cloud.
The Educause 2023 Top 10 IT Issues, recently announced at the association's annual conference in Denver, emphasize the importance of putting a technology foundation in place for the future of higher education.
Maryville University is working to put data at the heart of the student experience — not just for the traditional four-year degree pathway, but to inspire a lifelong-learning journey.
Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management has partnered with ed tech company Instructure to provide its Canvas learning platform to the Francis and Dionne Najafi 100 Million Global Learners Initiative through 2030.
Nonprofit Digital Promise and the Edtech Equity Project have introduced Prioritizing Racial Equity in AI Design, a new ed tech product certification that takes aim at racial bias in AI-powered learning software.
Arizona State University has partnered with Zoom Video Communications to launch Zoom's first-ever Innovation Lab on the Tempe campus.
Google announced it is partnering with Columbia University, the University of Michigan, Arizona State University, and the University of Illinois' Gies College of Business to offer new industry specializations in growing fields to complement its Google Career Certificates.
As a predominately online institution geared toward serving adult students, University of Massachusetts Global is rethinking traditional models of education to embrace the flexibility and career relevance that working learners need. We spoke with Dr. David Andrews, chancellor of UMass Global, about developing a new credentialing ecosystem, listening to student and industry needs, and the data infrastructure that can really support student success.
A new report from Educause offers a concrete plan of action to move colleges and universities toward the future of hybrid learning.
According to a recent Educause survey, the number of students expressing preferences for courses that are mostly or completely online has increased 220% since the onset of the pandemic, from 9% in 2020 (before March 11) to 29% in 2022.
In a recent survey, more than half of students said that technology problems have caused them stress in the past year.
The United Negro College Fund and Deloitte Digital have embarked on an ambitious effort to reimagine online education for historically Black colleges and universities. Here's how they're leveraging technology to put community at the center of the online HBCU experience.
What can institutions do now, to use data science better and perhaps reinvent themselves in the process? Here, George Siemens talks with CT about data science in higher education.
Howard University and the nonprofit National Education Equity Lab have announced they are expanding a program that allows high school students in historically underserved communities to take college Algebra in their high school classrooms and earn college credit at no cost.
According to a global survey from Coursera, employers and students alike see value in microcredentials that document job-relevant skills and experience.
XPRIZE, an organization that operates competitions to "solve humanity's grand challenges," has announced three Digital Learning Challenge finalists that are using AI methods, big data, and machine learning to better study educational outcomes.
Mass personalization through data is key to innovation in higher education, according to Anthology Chairman and CEO Jim Milton. Here's how the company is moving forward after last year's Blackboard merger to enable data-informed decisions across the university.
Virtual and hybrid learning company ClassIn is entering the United States education market this fall, hoping to attract educators’ attention with its integrated content management and learning management systems. The platform is used by more than 60,000 K–12 and higher education institutions in 160 countries.
At Arizona State University Online, student success coaches cultivate deep relationships with students as individuals, get to know their unique life experiences and challenges, and leverage data to better understand the multitude of factors that can impact retention. We spoke with Nicolette Miller, senior director of student success initiatives, about her team’s student-centered approach and what institutions should be doing to help students reach the finish line of their education.
As flexible work policies become the norm, institutions must rethink their approach to employee engagement and workforce culture. Here's how Southern New Hampshire University is building a remote-first workplace centered on the employee experience.
When institutions rely on aggregated data to develop practices and policies for all "underrepresented" or "disadvantaged" students, equity suffers, according to a new report from Every Learner Everywhere (ELE).
Brigham Young University's BYU-Pathway Worldwide online education program has partnered with Anthology to roll out two of the company's six cloud-based ed tech platforms, creating a central hub for administrators, staff, mentors, and its 60,000 learners worldwide.
A new collaboration among the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education (HIDOE), University of Hawaiʻi System (UH), and Amazon Web Services (AWS) aims to build a cloud computing talent pipeline from high school through higher education, with a short-term goal of training and certifying 150 learners by 2025.
It's one thing to talk about innovation, but another thing to actually make it happen. Driving actual change is all about timing — having the right idea at the right moment, according to Phil Komarny, chief innovation officer at an institution known for innovation: Maryville University. And that moment is now: Komarny sees COVID as a catalyst for utilizing data to revolutionize higher education and the student experience.
Vernier Software & Technology has changed its name to Vernier Science Education to more closely reflect the company's focus on providing hands-on, socially relevant STEM education tools and resources, according to a news announcement.
Northeastern University's Institute for Experiential AI is launching an artificial intelligence ethics advisory board that will provide hands-on, independent guidance to help organizations, institutions, government bodies and others develop and deploy AI responsibly.
Saint Leo University and RobotLab recently announced a partnership to build an artificial intelligence and robotics lab on the nonprofit university's residential campus in Pasco County, FL.
In a recent survey, nearly all higher education chief online officers expected online learning of some kind to be a part of the typical student experience within the next three years. While survey respondents did not necessarily agree on how much online would become the norm, it's clear that hybrid models are favored to dominate instruction by 2025.
CT asks D2L CEO John Baker how today's LMS is getting smarter, and about the opportunities AI, machine learning, predictive analytics, and related technologies are presenting in the LMS marketplace.
The right data story can transform IT from a cost center to a driver of institutional goals. Here's how to make the most of benchmarking resources and formulate a narrative to help advance technology projects and lay the foundation for digital transformation in higher ed.
As colleges and universities pursue their digital transformation journeys, budget restrictions, lack of buy-in and other roadblocks often stand in the way of strategic goals. Here, we take the pulse of institutions' Dx efforts, where resources are being spent, top challenges and more.
2U, parent company of online learning platform edX, has revamped its partnership model, moving from a one-size-fits-all offering to a variety of revenue-sharing options that enable universities to select stackable bundles of technology and services to meet their needs.
San Joaquin Valley College, a private for-profit institution focused on career training, has created a new resource for online students that gamifies co-curricular learning outcomes to help boost student success.
Is your college or university on track to achieve its strategic goals? Taking the pulse of these four areas can identify problems that need attention or successes moving the institution forward.
Liaison International, provider of technology and services for recruitment, admissions, enrollment and student success, has released Intelligent Names, a new analytics platform geared toward identifying and re-engaging adult learners.
United Educators, a member-owned insurance and risk management provider for education institutions, has partnered with suicide prevention nonprofit The Jed Foundation to offer a premium credit to schools that successfully complete a JED program aimed at supporting students’ mental health and well-being.
Internet2 has signed a new three-year deal with Indiana University for the institution's GlobalNOC research and education network operations service to continue providing customer and break-fix support for the Internet2 national network.
EdX has launched two Spark Augmented Reality courses from Meta, developed as part of the online learning platform's partnership with Meta Immersive Learning. The goal: to "build a learning ecosystem for the metaverse and give professionals broader access to the tools and education needed to build a career in augmented reality."
A new cohort of higher education institutions is delving into the use of data to improve retention and completion through the Data Literacy Institute, a program developed by the Association for Institutional Research and offered by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities as part of its Powered by Publics initiative.
The time is ripe for higher education leaders to plan for data and analytics technology solutions and practices that will position their institutions for success, according to a new report from Educause.
Educause has released the inaugural Data and Analytics Edition of its Horizon Report, expanding the annual analysis of the trends, technologies and practices impacting higher education into "an emerging area of practice that is driving institutional decision-making and strategic planning for the future."
The University of Central Missouri is updating its classrooms with new AV technologies that use artificial intelligence and augmented reality to capture more engaging, flexible presentations and better serve the needs of hybrid learning.
What would a learning management system centered on culture and community look like? The United Negro College Fund hopes to answer that question with HBCUv, a new learning platform that aims to reshape the future of online education for historically Black colleges and universities. We spoke with Ed Smith-Lewis, VP of strategic partnerships and institutional programs at UNCF, and Nathan Young, head of strategy for Ethos at Deloitte Digital, about bringing the HBCU experience to an online environment, the defining characteristics of HBCUv and the equity-centered design process behind their work.
The University of Southern California has long utilized CollegeSource's uAchieve Degree Audit solution to manage the increasingly complex transfer articulation and degree audit process for students. Now, the institution is upgrading to uAchieve in the Cloud.
The University of South Carolina has replaced its data center with a custom cloud-based Software-Defined Data Center solution from digital infrastructure provider DartPoints.
Flexibility remains a key priority for students pursuing higher education, according to a new "College 2030" report from Barnes & Noble College Insights, the research arm of Barnes & Noble Education.
Turnitin has launched a new mobile app for its Gradescope assignment and grading platform that enables students to submit their assignments through any connected smartphone, the company announced this week, following a limited-access pilot in April.
Higher education technology provider Anthology has introduced Anthology Intelligent Experiences (iX), a new product approach that will enable "a connected ecosystem of products and services that use data to power meaningful interactions both in and outside the classroom," according to a news announcement.
More and more, higher education institutions are migrating their data centers to a cloud operating model. Here, Chris Wessells offers CT his perspectives on what this means for our institutions, for the IT professionals that lead them, and for data centers of the future.
In a project called "No Language Left Behind," Meta has built an artificial intelligence model — NLLB-200 — that can translate text across 200 different languages.
Data analytics software provider Watermark has unveiled a new tool for decision-making that brings together data from across the company's solutions to help identify areas of progress and opportunity.
As classrooms evolve to accommodate the flexibility and innovation of new learning models, it's important to provide ample training and resources for all constituents. Here are three key areas to consider.
Leveraged strategically, technology can streamline university services and processes and ultimately help advance the institutional mission. Here, higher education leaders share how they pursue digital efficiencies, optimize operations and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
The American Council on Education is launching a yearlong initiative to support community college systems, students and employees in the use of digital records and credentials.
Southern New Hampshire University is well known for innovation in online learning, but prior to the pandemic, the institution had less than 100 employees working remotely, and had only just begun building out its remote work policies. In March 2020, the abrupt shift to fully remote work required a new approach to employee engagement. We spoke with Jennifer LaFountain, director of employee experience at SNHU, about how the institution is developing a culture that allows employees to feel connected no matter where they are located.
Wireless provider Kajeet recently announced a partnership with Google to deploy its Private 5G platform through Google Distributed Cloud Edge.
Students at Ohio State University can now order food delivery via self-driving robot. The institution completed a pilot this spring using delivery robots from Cartken, a technology startup specializing in AI-powered robotics, as part of a partnership with the Grubhub mobile food-ordering and delivery platform.
Display manufacturer Optoma has introduced a cloud-based version of its Optoma Management Suite that is powered by Microsoft Azure and offers streamlined, real-time monitoring, diagnosing and controlling of connected audiovisual displays via a single platform.
Class Technologies, maker of the learning platform that adds teaching and learning tools to Zoom, has announced a partnership with Open LMS, commercial provider of the open source Moodle learning management system.
Google has introduced a slate of new apps for Chromebooks — including a new free Screencast app and a free Figma design app — as well as new functions in Google Classroom and Google Meet, and the company announced integrations with popular ed tech apps that will launch later this year.
Internet2 recently announced that two additional state research and education (R&E) networks have joined its Eduroam Support Organizations program.
In a recent study at Georgia State University, students who received timely messages about their coursework from a virtual teaching assistant demonstrated significant improvement in their academic success.
HIgher education technology company Jenzabar has introduced Campus Marketplace, a new platform that allows institutions to unbundle their courses from degree programs and make them available to both enrolled and unenrolled students through a branded online storefront.
Blending the best of face-to-face instruction with the flexibility of online learning can enhance the higher ed experience for all types of learners, lower the cost of a degree and better prepare students for the workforce.
Data breaches resulting from ransomware attacks jumped by 13% last year — equal to the last five years’ increase combined — and are impacting more education organizations than ever, according to the recently released Verizon Business 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report.
Wireless connectivity and IoT company Kajeet has launched a new cloud-based data analytics platform called Sentinel Insights to enhance its flagship Internet of Things management tool, according to a news release.
Northampton Community College recently won an Instructional Technology Council award recognizing its Smart Apartment Learning Lab: a combination escape room and technology sandbox in which students can learn about the tech we take for granted in our everyday lives. We spoke with Beth Ritter-Guth, associate dean of online learning and educational technology at the college, to find out how the Learning Lab is engaging students, building digital literacy and providing valuable training in the job skills of the future.
A growing number of community college students want online courses going forward, according to a new report from Bay View Analytics.
According to nonprofit ECMC Group’s latest Question The Quo Education Pulse survey of 14- to 18-year-olds, high-schoolers are paying attention to the career landscape and workforce shortages, and they’re looking for the fastest, least expensive route to careers in high-demand fields.
An accounting professor shares how best practices from online pedagogy have helped her create a blended learning environment that supports student success.
Is the education technology in your online course equitable and inclusive of all learners? Here are key equity questions to ask when considering the pedagogical experience of an e-learning tool.
Bentley students now tackle data analytics and work with large, real-world data sets early in their college careers, thanks to new and redesigned introductory courses.
Students at Bentley University in Massachusetts can now pay their tuition with cryptocurrency.
Online learning platform Coursera has introduced Career Academy, an offering that allows institutions to bundle self-paced online courses and career resources to help students gain in-demand skills for the workforce.
Following through on a pledge made at the close of its acquisition by 2U, edX is awarding $1 million in grants to 10 institutions to develop free online courses in "Essential Human Skills for the Virtual Age."
The University of Tennessee System has embarked on a major ERP revamp, replacing its legacy on-premise finance, HR and payroll applications with the Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite.
The University of Michigan has partnered with Coursera to launch 10 new courses that will use extended reality to provide immersive experiences in critical job skills.
One of the takeaways from this year’s Educause Horizon Report is that there’s likely no such thing as a return to normal: Many of the changes that higher education has undergone over the past couple of years are here to stay. To delve into the details of what’s on the horizon for higher ed in 2022, we spoke with Kathe Pelletier, director of Educause’s Teaching and Learning Program and co-author of the report.
In this free, one-day event, education and IT leaders will offer ideas and best practices based on expertise and research in the field, to help inform your digital transformation strategy.
This fall, students at 10 colleges and universities across the United States will be able to take courses on a "metaversity" campus, an exact virtual replica of their institution's physical campus.
The 2022 Educause Horizon Report Teaching and Learning Edition, released this week, offers six key technologies and practices that will have "a significant impact on the future of postsecondary teaching and learning."
Ed tech company Ellucian is collaborating with the Burning Glass Institute, a nonprofit specializing in labor market analysis, to uncover new insights on what makes students successful.
Zoom has introduced several new features for education users of its Chat and Meetings functions, fulfilling the most popular requests from teachers and administrators on its platform, the company announced today.
The State of Nevada has embarked on a strategic plan to train, upskill and certify 2,500 Nevadans in cloud computing over the next three years.
The need to anticipate change and transform uncertainty into opportunity is a driving force underlying the top trends in data and analytics this year, according to research firm Gartner.
Vermont's Champlain College is expanding the use of InSpace, a video collaboration tool, in its online learning division.
Clemson University is teaming up with data analytics company SAS to help build students' AI and analytics skills as well as support academic research.
Two professors of history at the University of Arizona have created a learning experience based on "Age of Empires IV," a real-time strategy video game about medieval warfare and civilization-building.
These days, we hear a lot about the "new normal" in higher education. Remote and hybrid learning is here to stay, offering students more flexibility in their learning journeys. But what if the new normal is not enough? We spoke to Mark Milliron, senior vice president of Western Governors University and executive dean of the Teachers College, and Kim Round, academic programs director and associate dean of the Teachers College, about their vision for reimagining education and why learning experience design is essential to student success.
Intel's AI for Workforce program, an effort to promote workforce skills in artificial intelligence through partnerships with community colleges, governments and other organizations, has announced its first AI incubator lab.
The City University of New York is launching CUNY Online, a new online education initiative tasked with producing high-quality online courses and programs and building online degree capacity across the institution.
CT talks with Ellen Wagner to learn about approaches to defining, measuring, and mitigating learning loss.
Online learning platform Coursera and the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD), a think tank focused on advancing economic and social mobility for all, have partnered to launch The American Dream Academy, a new program that will provide free job skills training to up to 200,000 underserved learners in the United States.
Digital transformation is not just about implementing new technologies — it's also about people and the ability to embrace change. In fact, you might say that's the hardest part: Culture is often cited as one of the biggest barriers to digital transformation in higher ed. In February, our Campus Technology Leadership Summit tackled that very topic with a panel discussion on building innovation into the culture of a university. Here's that conversation.
The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) has announced plans to build a new online learning platform for historically Black colleges and universities, dubbed HBCUv.
A new report from research firm The NPD Group found that just 50% of homes in the continental United States have access to broadband internet with a download speed of 25Mbps or higher.
The University of Illinois's Gies College of Business is employing an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to help prospective students gain information about its online MBA program.
Dixie State University in Utah has partnered with technology workforce development company Pluralsight to help boost students’ technology-based skills.
Analytics software provider SAS has launched a new program offering analytics skills training for higher education students.
Virtual teaching and learning company Engageli has launched version 2.0 of its platform, introducing a browser-based interface for instructors (in addition to the existing native application for Windows and macOS) as well as a spate of new features for learning.
Howard University recently announced that it will be partnering with VEIC and CustomerFirst Renewables to develop a five-year campus Sustainability Plan.
A new research hub at Northwestern University will explore the impact of artificial intelligence systems and seek ways to better incorporate safety and equity into the technology.
Education technology company D2L has announced an integration with Class Technologies, maker of online learning software built on the Zoom platform.
At Ohio State University, students developed a list of 10 ways that instructors can use the learning management system more effectively — common-sense guidelines that aim to make courses more consistent, predictable, easier to navigate and generally more student-friendly.
Cybersecurity training and certification provider SANS Institute has launched the SANS + HBCU Cyber Academy, a cybersecurity scholarship and education opportunity for students and alumni of historically Black colleges and universities across the country.
The National Humanities Center, and independent institute dedicated to advanced study in the humanities, is partnering with faculty from 15 colleges and universities to create and implement curricula for developing responsible artificial intelligence technologies.
The American Association of Community Colleges, Intel and Dell Technologies are launching an 18-month initiative that will design and build a network of Artificial Intelligence Incubators at community colleges across the United States.
Canada's National Research and Education Network, an ultra-high-speed network connecting researchers and educators across the country's 13 provinces and territories, has selected videoconferencing solution BlueJeans by Verizon to support hybrid learning.
In a recent survey, a whopping 97% of education professionals agreed that video is essential to students' academic experience.
College instructors have changed their attitudes toward academic integrity in online courses, according to a new report from Wiley.
California's San Diego State University has launched the SDSU Cyber Tech Academy, a suite of online cybersecurity certificates designed for security professionals and those seeking to move into cybersecurity careers.
A new report from Every Learner Everywhere, produced in collaboration with Tyton Partners and the Association for Public and Land-grant Universities, offers strategies for investing in digital learning infrastructure while bridging equity gaps to better serve under-represented students.
The pandemic has been a testament to the progress that has been made in the use of technology to support online learning, but it has also revealed how poorly traditional course design translates to a digital experience. And that’s an opportunity for institutions to become more sophisticated in leveraging digital learning environments to go beyond what’s possible in a brick-and-mortar classroom. That’s according to Luyen Chou, chief learning officer at 2U. Here, we talk about transforming online pedagogy, the potential of emerging technologies, the beauty of simple data, essential human skills and more.
In this free, one-day event, education and IT leaders will offer practical insights and advice to help your institution navigate the many facets of digital transformation.
It's no surprise that enrollment has been a pain point for colleges and universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent D2L survey of 171 higher education leaders across North America, 30% of respondents confirmed that enrollment was an area where they've seen the greatest drop-off for students over the past two years.
A new survey from Cengage Group examined why workers quit, what opportunities they are exploring next and what they are doing to achieve those goals.
A new Internet Security Report from global network security and intelligence provider WatchGuard Technologies found that endpoint malware and ransomware attacks during the first three quarters of 2021 totaled more than in all of 2020.
James Madison University has embedded a digital commons in its website, to better support students in continuing education programs. The institution has adopted software from InScribe, which sets up Q&A communities in online destinations where people already congregate, such as the learning management system.
Colorado State University System's online learning campus, CSU Global, has introduced a structure to woo hesitant returning students who don't want the hassle of designated term or semester start dates or having to submit transcripts before they're accepted.
Education technology company VitalSource has added a component to Bookshelf, its digital textbook platform, to generate practice activities. The new function, CoachMe, uses artificial intelligence to generate questions that are formed from the text and shown in the margins of the page.
Back in November, Campus Technology hosted a virtual summit about innovation in IT: all of the ways higher education technology leaders have embraced agility and flexibility in challenging times. A highlight of the event was a panel discussion on digital transformation, and how the pandemic has accelerated digital efforts on campus. Here's that conversation.
When asked about their preferences for a post-pandemic academic experience, most community college students in a recent survey said they want to take some courses in a fully online format, and many desired a combination of in-person and online instruction.
A new book shares new students' reflections on college during COVID.
IT leaders, faculty and a student offer a variety of perspectives on the future for their campuses in the new year.
CNM Ingenuity, a workforce training-focused nonprofit created by Central New Mexico Community College, is introducing accelerated training opportunities for in-demand job skills in blockchain technology.
With the Omicron variant spreading rapidly across the United States, colleges and universities face a familiar dilemma: Will COVID force a pivot to online when classes begin in the new year? A new project kicked off by futurist Bryan Alexander aims to crowdsource the answer to that question in a shared Google spreadsheet.
Liaison International, provider of technology and services for recruitment, admissions, enrollment and student success, has introduced a new integration that combine its Othot predictive and prescriptive analytics tools with its TargetX constituent relationship management platform.
The two-year Blockchain Innovation Challenge is over, with participants convinced more than ever that blockchain can play a role in helping students take control of their individual educational records and learning pursuits.
Audio conferencing company Nureva has launched a new classroom solution that integrates audio, video, device management and services.
How will emerging technologies impact the future of education? While it’s easy to get caught up in the hype around trends such as the metaverse and artificial intelligence, true progress comes in slow, incremental improvements in using technology to inform teaching and learning, according to Neil Heffernan, professor of computer science and director of the Learning Sciences and Technologies Graduate Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Here, we talk about augmented reality, intelligent tutoring systems and the need for better research infrastructure in ed tech.
During its 25th anniversary year we've been looking back at the evolution of Internet2, highlighting its technological advancements and the vibrant community at its heart. Today, we're talking with two Internet2 executives about InCommon, a key component of Internet2.
The California State University system has gone public with a multi-year initiative to provide faster development and updates of applications and greater access to data for its 23 campuses.
The Online Learning Consortium has announced a multi-year partnership with Instructure to collaborate on research projects and work together through Instructure's Canvas learning management system to enrich teacher training resources and expand access to equitable digital learning.
To gain more insight from analytics, consider whether your dashboards offer basic facts or dive into true understanding of patterns within your data.
Big data research operations in higher education could hit a wall. While universities are "meeting many current needs," according to a new research project, big data work is taxing institutional technology, human and financial resources.
The COVID-19 pandemic has left the global workforce in a state of flux, with the vast majority of employees — including those in the education sector — looking for changes in their careers and in the workplace.
Seventy-three percent of STEM faculty in a recent survey had to shift from face-to-face to remote learning in fall 2020, experiencing a multitude of barriers to teaching STEM courses online. Yet most survey respondents remain optimistic about the future of STEM postsecondary education, according to a new report from the Online Learning Consortium and Bay View Analytics.
Class, software that adds teaching and learning tools to the Zoom meeting platform, has introduced a number of new and updated features designed to improve the virtual and hybrid user experience.
The merger of 2U and edX announced in June is now complete. Combined, the companies now serve more than 230 partners and offer 3,500-plus online learning opportunities to more than 40 million learners, spanning free courses, executive education, boot camps, and undergraduate and graduate degree programs, according to a news announcement.
The University of Illinois Gies College of Business is partnering with Google to bundle certificate programs in job-ready skills and create microcredential pathways for adult learners.
The digital transformation of higher ed has been going on for years, but the current pandemic has brought that process into laser focus – and accelerated digital efforts perhaps like nothing else could. Institutions are going through deep shifts in culture, workforce and technology, enabling new educational models, transforming operations, and even changing the whole value proposition of a higher education. We spoke with Betsy Reinitz, director of enterprise and IT Programs at EDUCAUSE, about what digital transformation means, how to start a Dx journey, the biggest obstacles to Dx and more.
IT and analytics teams have had their time to shine during the past 18 months, as they integrated systems, built dashboards and tackled data governance challenges in order to provide the information needed to keep the campus community safe.
Working alongside others, Arizona State University is developing a space station that acts as a business park for research, manufacturing, travel, education and exploration.
The right combination of technology and training will ensure your learning spaces can adapt to ever-changing modes of instruction. Here are key considerations for future-proofing classrooms, supporting faculty and surviving the next pandemic.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas has introduced a number of hyflex classrooms, capable of accommodating students attending in person and online.
Georgia State University recently launched a Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Systems graduate certificate program.
Southern Methodist University is upgrading its high-performance computing operations. The Texas institution is investing $11.5 million in hardware, software and training, specifically to boost its HPC infrastructure for artificial intelligence-powered research.
With many cloud storage and collaboration vendors implementing limits on free storage, colleges and universities are grappling with the impact on IT.
The maker of learning management system Canvas, Instructure, has entered into a deal to acquire Kimono, which produces software for cloud-based data integration and interoperability.
Verizon Business has announced a number of new features for its BlueJeans Meetings product, designed to support hybrid and remote learning.
Through a $1.5million, four-year NSF grant, Oklahoma State University researchers are leveraging their earlier work with proven, college-level design courses that incorporate VR, AR, and 3D printing technologies. But this time, they are helping underserved Native American middle school students develop STEM skills.
EducationSuperHighway is shifting its attention away from the needs of K-12 internet connectivity and to the unconnected American household. The nonprofit, which helped close down the "classroom connectivity gap," has a new mission: to make sure the 18.1 million households that can't afford to connect to broadband get it.
EAB, a provider of research, enterprise technology and data-enabled services for education institutions, has announced the acquisition of Rapid Insight, maker of data analytics tools designed for ease of use and efficiency.
As the format of your meetings evolves, make sure you have engagement and flexibility, advises Joseph Allen, University of Utah professor and co-author of the books Suddenly Virtual and Suddenly Hybrid.
The top IT issues for 2022 reflect two years of upheaval and uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, but also the positive aspects of digital transformation.
Kent State University has gone public with a sizable network upgrade: The eight-campus system is deploying technology from Aruba for its wired, wireless, management and cybersecurity needs.
Zoom has introduced several new features specifically useful to educators.
The idea that college students don't care about the privacy of their data may be a myth. These digital natives are increasingly aware of the importance of data privacy, especially when it involves the protection of information about their academic or professional prospects, according to a new report from the Future of Privacy Forum.
Digital Promise has launched SEERNet, a five-year program that's intended to inspire research on digital learning at scale in both higher education and K-12.
The pandemic accelerated digital transformation and the adoption of new learning models at many colleges and universities — but higher ed culture has some catching up to do. While institutions traditionally measure change in decades, we're now in a time when flexibility, innovation and risk-taking are key to student access and opportunity as well as institutional survival. We spoke with Dr. Mark Lombardi, president of Maryville University, about why the business model of higher ed is broken, the importance of lifelong learning and technology's role in moving universities toward a better future.
Keysight Technologies has introduced PathWave Lab Operation for Remote Learning, a remote access solution designed for online learning that enables the remote setup of instrument labs.
WatchGuard Technologies has introduced four new mid-range models in its Firebox line of unified threat management appliances.
The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education is rolling out student wellness and mental health solution Uwill to provide counseling services at public colleges and universities across the state.
A new survey from Wiley Education Services has found that online learning "gained traction" in the pandemic.
In this one-day event, education and IT leaders will share how they are planning for the unexpected, identifying efficiencies and utilizing technology to help their institutions excel in these challenging times.
Colby College in Maine is investing $30 million to create the Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the first cross-disciplinary institute for AI at a liberal arts institution. Among its goals: utilizing AI to transform teaching, learning and research in a wide variety of disciplines. Yet it’s not just about how AI can inform the liberal arts, according to Amanda Stent, inaugural director of the Davis Institute. It’s also about how a liberal arts perspective can bring about a better understanding of whether, how, and in what ways the use of AI can benefit — or harm — our society.
With Internet2 in its 25th year, it seems fitting that this is the time the organization will transition to a new network. Here, CT speaks with Internet2 VP of Network Services Rob Vietzke for an update on Internet2's Next Generation Infrastructure to be launched in October.
Over a third of Americans changed their plans for education as a result of the pandemic, with Black and Latinx students more likely to do so than White students, according to newly released data from Strada and Heart+Mind Strategies.
UCLA Extension, the continuing education division of the University of California, Los Angeles, is introducing 11 fully online certificate programs that immerse students in the same resources and collaboration opportunities as the school's in-person classes.
A HESS Consortium project to build a shared ERP services model for private colleges and universities is now entering the pilot phase, led by two institutions: Saint Mary's College and Wheaton College.
Online program management company Academic Partnerships has acquired Coursetune, a maker of curriculum mapping software that provides visualization tools for curriculum and course design.
With fully online or hybrid course formats still very much in play at colleges and universities around the world, accessibility issues remain a key challenge, according to a recent study.
Research firm Gartner has identified four trends that are driving artificial intelligence innovation in the near term.
In collaboration with Google Cloud, Walden University has created a new tool that uses artificial intelligence to help students review and master course concepts.
Over the past few years, online learning in higher education has gone through a period of disruptive change. Not only did the pandemic trigger a massive shift from in-person classes to online, but it also brought new models of hybrid learning to the forefront. And micro-credentials, programs certifying specific competencies that can stand alone or be applied toward a larger degree, have gained momentum as learners have needed to reskill and compete in an evolving workforce. To explore these trends and more, we spoke with Dr. Betty Vandenbosch, chief content officer at Coursera, about the state of online education, the future of the traditional four-year degree, and what universities should be doing to keep up with alternative credential pathways.
Educause has created a new self-assessment tool to help colleges and universities better understand how their analytics capabilities can enhance teaching and learning practices, improve student outcomes and advance institutional goals.
Now in its 25th year, Internet2 serves the higher education community with many important programs. NET+ is one we know well. Here, CT asks Internet2 NET+ leadership for some reflections and an update as NET+ reaches its own 10-year anniversary.
The University of Tennessee Knoxville is working with AT&T to build out a 5G+ presence on campus. That project will incorporate a testbed to allow university and company researchers to understand how 5G and 5G+ technology can address unique communications challenges.
A statewide initiative in Idaho aims to train and certify 2,000 Idahoans in cloud computing over the next two years.
In a fall 2020 survey of institutions piloting adaptive courseware in gateway courses, 96 percent of faculty agreed that the technology helped them improve student learning, and allowed them to better monitor student progress and hold individual students accountable for engaging in class.
Online education company Noodle has introduced a new platform to help universities engage their students in lifelong learning programs.
InSpace, a new virtual education platform that allows students and instructors to interact online much like they would in physical spaces, has announced integration with Instructure's Canvas learning management system.
In 2019, the University of California Merced kicked off an initiative intended to replace its existing legacy finance applications with a new Oracle Cloud application. And as of earlier this year, Merced has gone live with what it calls "Alpha Financials."
Now, while we are not yet free from the COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions and technology market leaders are looking at the next big questions: What's in the future? Which of the changes we make during the pandemic should move with us into the future?
Through a new Adobe program, colleges and universities can now access the Adobe Analytics platform for free along with course materials aimed at advancing digital literacy in higher education.
A team from Indiana University set out to expand the scope of pedagogical research by creating ManyClasses, a model for studying how students learn not just in a single classroom, but in a variety of different classes across multiple universities. We speak with researchers Emily Fyfe and Ben Motz about how ManyClasses works, the challenges of using a learning management system to conduct research, what they learned from the first ManyClasses experiment, and more.
In this one-day event, education and IT leaders will share their insights and best practices for making meaningful use of data now and building a data strategy for the future.
The University of California, Los Angeles has gone public with piloting of a fairly new developer portal specifically for APIs. The API developer portal is intended to simplify the sharing and discovery of campus application programming interfaces and web services — some 200 — while also providing a campuswide API governance program.
While hybrid learning environments show great potential in higher education, there are still pedagogical and technical challenges to overcome. Here are key guidelines for moving forward, based on research in the field.
Blackboard recently announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services to integrate the company's Amazon Chime SDK service into Blackboard Collaborate.
The University of Pittsburgh is replacing its on-premise human resources system and paper-based processes with a move to Oracle's Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management solution.
Idaho's public colleges and universities can now share their online course offerings through the state's Online Idaho initiative, an effort to expand access to higher education via a statewide digital campus.
The Online Learning Consortium is calling for applications to participate in a new cohort that will work collaboratively to identify challenges and opportunities in online and blended learning.
Nonprofit Internet2 has launched eduroam Support Organizations, an effort to expand its secure, wireless roaming service into K–12 schools, libraries and museums.
According to a recent Gartner survey, 82 percent of chief financial officers plan to increase investment in digital capabilities in fiscal year 2021 compared to 2020, and 70 percent intend to increase their spending on information technology.
A team from Harvard University, Internet2, the University of California, San Diego and the University of Utah is developing a Research Computing and Data Resource and Career Center to support workforce development in the field.
Online education company 2U has announced it will acquire edX, the online learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT, for $800 million.
Burning Glass Technologies and Emsi have merged to create Emsi Burning Glass, a labor market analytics firm that will provide insights on the changing workforce to corporate, government and higher education clients.
When a recent survey asked higher education leaders if the pivot to remote learning during the pandemic changed their institution's priorities, the majority of respondents (53 percent) said yes.
Class, an application built on Zoom that adds teaching and learning tools to the popular meeting platform, is now widely available across Windows, Mac, Chromebook, iPad and Android tablet devices.
In 2015, California State University launched Graduation Initiative 2025, an ambitious plan to increase graduation rates and eliminate equity gaps in degree completion across the system’s 23 campuses. Then halfway through that work, COVID hit — and all those student supports and services had to shift online. We find out how CSU kept students on track despite the challenges of the pandemic, the technologies and infrastructure that were needed to support students remotely, and what will remain in place going forward.
Online student support became a key issue for higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their top priority: providing academic support services such as tutoring or academic advising, according to the 2021 Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE) report.
Researchers at Indiana University have developed a new model for studying the effectiveness of teaching practices — not just in a single classroom or context, but in a variety of classrooms at multiple universities.
The prevalence of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic is helping to drive staggering growth in the worldwide e-learning market.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Grainger College of Engineering is embarking on a 10-year partnership with IBM to support research, education and skill development in emerging technologies.
In order to meet the connectivity and bandwidth needs of blended learning, Texas A&M University-Commerce has rolled out a new wireless network across all of its residence halls.
The League for Innovation in the Community College is working to expand online learning at community colleges with a new course sharing network that will allow colleges to offer more high-quality, credit-bearing online courses to their students.
A recent survey from Top Hat asked college students about their online learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and their expectations for instruction in the Fall 2021 academic term.
A new guidebook from Achieving the Dream and the Advising Success Network offers ideas and tools to help colleges and universities understand their students better.
In recent survey of higher education leaders, 64 percent of respondents said the cloud has been "very valuable" during the pandemic. And another 32 percent found cloud-based computing services "somewhat valuable."
Two institutions have expanded their use of technology to make the transfer process more effective. Connecticut's Goodwin University and Vermont-based Norwich University have adopted Transferology, an online service developed by CollegeSource.
Every Learner Everywhere recently released an in-depth guide to blended learning, designed to help faculty, instructional designers, technological support staff and other stakeholders in their strategic planning for blended learning courses and programs.
UpGrad, which produces online workforce courses created by university faculty, has purchased Impartus Innovations, a company that specializes in video training technology, in a £14.5 million deal.
For many years, the Horizon Report has been tracking trends, technologies and key practices in teaching and learning. In this episode of the podcast, we speak with Kathe Pelletier, director of EDUCAUSE’s Teaching and Learning Program and co-author of the report, about key technology trends, their impact on IT departments, new education models and more.
The University of Waterloo in Canada has embarked on a five-year partnership with BlackBerry focused on research and technology in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning and safety assurance.
Every Learner Everywhere, a network of organizations focused on education technologies, teaching practices and support services for blended and online learning environments, is offering a free virtual workshop on the topic of equity in digital learning.
ProctorU, the academic division of Meazure Learning, has announced it is discontinuing services that rely solely on artificial intelligence for exam proctoring. Instead, it will use human proctors for every test session.
Data analytics company Othot has released Student Success Essential, a lower-cost version of its flagship Student Success Premier retention platform.
North Carolina’s Central Piedmont Community College has partnered with Aviso Retention to help boost retention in the wake of COVID-19.
A new feature in Anthology's Academic Economics tool uses predictive analytics to help institutions plan for possible financial futures.
In a recent Cengage survey, nearly three-quarters of students — 73 percent — said they would prefer to take some of their courses fully online post-pandemic. However, only half of faculty (53 percent) felt the same about teaching online.
The United States Department of Agriculture is awarding grants ranging from $50,000 to $1 million to institutions supporting distance learning and telemedicine in rural communities. The deadline for this competitive grant program is June 4.
Claremont Graduate University maintains a high-contact experience for students, based on exceptional access to faculty — even during pandemic times, when many academic and administrative functions must be suddenly transformed to remote processes.
Cybersecurity company StrikeForce Technologies is making its SafeVchat secure videoconferencing platform available for free to both K-12 and higher education institutions that are holding virtual or live-streamed graduation ceremonies this spring.
To accommodate the hybrid model of remote and in-person teaching and learning, William & Mary's Raymond A. Mason School of Business has rolled out virtual classroom technology in three learning spaces on campus.
There's no doubt that the pandemic caused incredible upheaval in higher education — but the positive impacts of that disruption are significant. Here's how the shift to online learning will benefit both faculty and students moving forward.
Colleges and universities are investing in both finance and human capital management (HCM) systems at an increasing rate, according to a new report from the Tambellini Group, a technology research and advisory firm focused on higher education.
Nine colleges across the United States are piloting a technology-focused career training initiative that aims to prepare 500,000 learners for jobs of the future by 2030.
Artificial intelligence company Juji has introduced a "cognitive AI assistant," an AI-powered chatbot designed to "engage users in a more human-like interaction."
Accounting and advisory firm BKD CPAs & Advisors has released a benchmarking tool that allows colleges and universities to compare their financial metrics and performance indicators with peer institutions.
Ed tech company EAB has launched a new data platform designed specifically for higher education.
The landscape of higher education has been transformed by COVID-19, and that impact is a major factor in the 2021 Educause Horizon Report. Here are three key technology trends to watch as the lasting effects of the pandemic play out.
Educause's latest Horizon Report outlines the biggest trends shaping teaching and learning this year. In particular, the report identified six technologies and practices that are key to higher education institutions' future planning, whether those topics are newly emerging or evolving from previous years.
When you picture a university innovation center, what comes to mind is usually a lot of hands-on collaboration and networking. But what happens when that heavily in-person experience is forced to go virtual? For this episode of the podcast, we talk with Matt Segneri, executive director of the Harvard Innovation Labs, to find out about the past year’s challenges and successes converting in-person student activities into virtual experiences that still capture that entrepreneurial vibe.
A new private 5G network at the University of Connecticut's Stamford campus will advance academic programs and expand entrepreneurial activities in the Stamford Data Science Initiative.
Ellucian has introduced a new "user experience platform" that pulls campus information and applications into one streamlined dashboard.
Virtual lab company Labster has expanded its portfolio of learning resources with a variety of new offerings designed to complement its core science simulations.
Dartmouth College has deployed an artificial intelligence solution from Aisera to enhance communication with students and faculty during COVID-19.
A new study out of MIT's Sloan School of Management explores the use of ideas and tools from the gaming community to improve online teaching and student learning outcomes.
Bentley University's CIS Sandbox is building on 10 years as a technology learning space.
Every college and university must redouble its focus on IT security in these unprecedented times. In this one-day event, education and IT leaders will share their insights, best practices and predictions for security and privacy in the post-pandemic era.
Almost three in five students (59 percent) in a recent Wiley survey complained that they are doing more assignments online than they ever did in their in-person classes, and nearly as many (55 percent) protested that much of it felt like "busy work."
To help job seekers gain the skills they need for employment in today's economy, Microsoft and LinkedIn are extending their global skills initiative through the end of 2021, providing free LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn courses as well as low-cost certifications that align to in-demand jobs.
Coursera is testing a new program that lets learners develop short courses for delivery on the MOOC platform. The pilot program is currently taking contact information from people interested in creating "community guided projects."
Many students have struggled with reliable internet access during the pandemic, according to a new report from Educause.
There's a lot that faculty have done right teaching with technology during the COVID-19 pandemic — but there have also been times when technology use has been subpar.
Online learning platform Udacity has launched a School of Cybersecurity, a set of nanodegree programs aimed at training the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
Audiovisual technology manufacturer Aver Information USA has launched a new camera for education that uses AI to “seamlessly track” instructors as they move around the classroom.
In a recent survey, the majority of faculty (71 percent) reported that their teaching in Fall 2020 was "very different" or included a "number of changes" compared to pre-pandemic times. And almost half (47 percent) felt those changes would remain in place post-pandemic.
A new innovation lab at the University of Missouri will focus on developing 5G devices and applications and exploring new use cases for the technology in a variety of fields.
Institutions no longer need to be members of Unizin to access the Unizin Data Platform, an integration and warehousing solution for data generated by learning tools. The nonprofit consortium has made the UDP available to any college or university through the Google Cloud Marketplace.
The University of Leeds has migrated its academic video content to Mediasite Video Cloud to support the growth in video usage the institution has seen over the past year.
Communications students studying online at Connecticut's Sacred Heart University will be doing at least some of their learning via virtual reality.
Two-thirds of people in education expect to see a continuation of remote work post-pandemic. Sixty-five percent of respondents in education agreed that due to the success of remote collaboration, facilitated by videoconferencing, their organizations are considering a flexible remote working model, according to a survey from Zoom.
In order to accelerate education programs in cybersecurity, computer science, privacy and artificial intelligence, Cisco is donating more than $600,000 in both capital and resources to multiple institutions in North Carolina.
While student data has long been mined to support retention efforts and institutional decision-making, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new and sometimes troubling uses for data in higher education.
Learners who complete a MicroMasters program on edX can now apply up to nine credits toward a Master of Science in Professional Studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
EDUCAUSE recently released its first Information Security Edition of the Horizon Report, profiling important trends, technologies and practices shaping the future of IT security and privacy in higher education. For this episode of the podcast, we talk with Brian Kelly, director of the cybersecurity program at EDUCAUSE, to discuss the new report, the technological trends on the horizon in IT security, how the pandemic is impacting privacy concerns, and more.
Atlanta's Morehouse College is launching an immersive virtual reality experience for students in two of its courses: Biology 105 and History 112.
Valdosta State University is furthering its student-centered and data-informed approach to student success with a new partnership with Civitas Learning.
In an effort to modernize its operations and improve the overall student and employee experience, Baltimore City Community College is rolling out Ellucian's Banner software-as-a-service platform.
The future of higher education means breaking down classroom walls, embracing digital tools and engaging students with creativity and innovation.
A new active learning classroom at University of Louisiana Monroe's College of Pharmacy is designed for one-on-one interaction in class as well as participation from remote students.
Financial pressures, political unrest, health concerns — here's how the pandemic and concurrent equity challenges have impacted both institutions and their students.
Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center now houses United States COVID-19 testing data — taking the reins from the COVID Tracking Project, which has compiled the data from publicly reported sources for the past year.
How can we move the remote learning experience farther away from a training model and closer to a collaborative learning model in which students participate together in the co-creation or discovery of knowledge? We asked Gardner Campbell for some perspectives from his research and from his own classroom.
Owl Labs has introduced a new suite of features for its Meeting Owl solution, designed to bring more immersive remote and hybrid capabilities to the flagship 360-degree camera, mic and speaker hardware product.
Pennsylvania's Lincoln University has boosted wireless connectivity in all its campus spaces with a network rollout designed to meet the demands of both in-person and remote instruction.
In a recent survey from Barnes & Noble Education, the vast majority of college students (94 percent) said they think schools should charge less for online courses. In contrast, less than half of administrators and faculty (43 percent and 41 percent, respectively) believe the same.
One unintended impact of the pandemic in higher education is the strain that remote work and learning has put on IT security. In this episode of the podcast, we talk with Stephen Heath, chief information security officer for Intrinium, an IT and security consulting and managed services company, to learn more about the security challenges institutions are facing — as well as evolving threats like ransomware.
When it comes to interactivity among classmates, nothing beats texting. Nearly a third of students (31 percent) in a recent survey chose that over any other interaction option in online learning, including interactive whiteboards (mentioned by 29 percent), breakout rooms (18 percent), live surveys and polls (14 percent) or gamification such as badges and contests (7 percent). That's according to a survey from customer experience company Sykes.
What would students give up if they could head back to college in person? Seven in 10 would relinquish their AirPods for a month if it meant a month back on campus, according to a poll undertaken by Grand Canyon University.
Four blockchain projects have received funding through the Blockchain Innovation Challenge, with the ultimate goal of helping learners take control of their educational records. Each of the projects will receive $150,000 from the competition overseen by the American Council on Education.
A new public data dashboard is intended to track the impact of COVID-19 on higher ed in three areas: state, institution and student. The "MAPS Project," as it's called, is being produced by the Sorenson Impact Center, which is part of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.
Migrating to the cloud can help institutions meet the infrastructure demands of the current pandemic and beyond.
Southern New Hampshire University recently launched two credential programs with online learning platform edX.
As students adjust to the realities of college life during a pandemic, the majority (71 percent) are having trouble staying focused on their coursework, according to a fall 2020 survey.
Thirty-three member institutions in the HESS Consortium have joined together to form the HESS Consortium ERP/SIS Collective — and selected the Oracle Cloud for Higher Education as the group's enterprise resource planning and student information system platform.
This year, Internet2 will celebrate its 25th anniversary as it continues to support and lead critical network infrastructure and services nationally while engaging the world's research and education communities.
To help academic administrators improve entry-level courses for digital learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, Every Learner Everywhere and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities have created a free guide focused on best practices for equity and student success.
The longer the pandemic lasts, the more students question the value of a college education. A December survey by New America and Third Way found that nearly three in five college students (57 percent) agreed with the sentiment that higher education was no longer "worth the cost," a bump up from 49 percent in a previous survey in August.
Colby College in Maine is establishing a cross-disciplinary institute for artificial intelligence — the first such major AI program at a liberal arts college, according to the institution.
Every Learner Everywhere has assembled a network of equity and digital learning experts to provide free professional coaching for higher education faculty, course coordinators, instructional designers and academic leaders across the United States.
The hybrid approach being taken by most colleges and universities to get through the pandemic could turn out to have the positive effect of making those schools more student-centered, not just in education but across the board. That's the takeaway in a new report by Deloitte.
In a recent survey focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students in introductory-level courses this past fall, faculty reported increases in DFWI rates (the number of students who receive a D or F grade, withdraw or fail to complete a course) — particularly at two-year institutions or those serving Pell-eligible students.
The COVID-19 pandemic will have a lasting impact on higher education. Here's how to weather the emerging "new normal" for the next semester and beyond.
How will higher education evolve as we head into — hopefully — post-pandemic times? Is it even possible to make predictions with circumstances still in flux? In this episode of the Campus Technology Insider podcast, we talk with Richard Garrett, chief research officer at higher education research firm Eduventures, about his predictions for 2021, the impact of the pandemic on online learning and ed tech, and the opportunities he sees for higher ed in the coming year.
Rhode Island's Brown University has announced its plan to hold commencement in person for graduates while members and guests will attend virtually.
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, a nonprofit that promotes "open, affordable, high-quality broadband connections," has issued a roadmap for 2021, laying out what it will be pursuing in its mission of supplying internet access to an estimated 42 million unconnected people in the United States.
Unity College in Maine, which frames itself as "America's Environmental College," has opened up debate about whether small institutions really need to have flagship campuses to survive.
Higher education's response to the pandemic has required agility, flexibility and perhaps most important, innovation. Join us Feb. 24 for this free one-day event, in which education and IT leaders will share how they are managing the challenges of remote work and learning, adapting to change and solving problems with outside-the-box ideas and practices.
The public mission of four-year colleges and universities needs to adapt to encompass adult learners, according to a new report. That's the population that may be most affected by the changes in education introduced during the pandemic — more so even than K-12 and college students, the report suggested.
San Diego State University is outfitting nearly 200 classrooms across its main and Imperial Valley campuses with Sony's MAS-A100 beamforming ceiling microphone, to support the hybrid classroom model.
A new initiative at California State University, Bakersfield offers prospective students dedicated enrollment coaches to help navigate the institution's online programs.
American College of Education, an online institution specializing in education, leadership, business, healthcare and nursing programs, has partnered with Study.com to offer adult learners affordable pathways to a college degree.
In higher education, we pay attention to who students are — to how they show up on our campuses and how they engage the university. But often that doesn't happen enough in online learning environments.
Math software company Maplesoft has launched a new online learning environment for high school and college-level mathematics instruction.
Understanding data visualization technologies is critical to recognizing and responding to enrollment trends and patterns — particularly for community colleges facing precipitous decline.
A new program out of Olivet Nazarene University's School of Graduate and Continuing Studies is using an online, asynchronous flipped model to provide adult students a pathway to earn a bachelor's degree.
San Francisco State University has moved its financial reporting, analytics, budgeting and forecasting to Oracle's Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management solution.
The University of Arizona College of Engineering has signed a renewal agreement with online program management provider All Campus, extending the partnership that has been in place since 2015 to support the institution's engineering master's degree programs.
CT spoke with Doug Foster, vice president for information technology and CIO at the University of South Carolina's Division of Information Technology, to find out how an annual report can help the institution's resolve by putting goals and accomplishments in context.
A project dedicated to sharing best practices in COVID-19 data visualization is offering free resources to help colleges and universities create their own dashboards for disseminating public health information to students, parents, faculty and staff.
National University in California has partnered with GreenLight Credentials to create blockchain-secured digital student transcripts that can be shared with other educational institutions or prospective employers.
If you’re looking for software and services to augment online and blended instruction this year, start here.
According to a new report by Class Central, a company that tracks massive open online courses, of all learners who have registered for MOOCs throughout their history, a third did so last year.
Education technology may have come into its own during the pandemic. But will it remain front and center forever? Here, education and industry leaders alike offer their views on higher ed's future.
In a recent survey, 70 percent of global IT leaders reported that more than half of their companies' employees are working remotely due to the pandemic. That's roughly triple the share of staffers working remotely before the COVID-19 shutdown, according to a report from Infoblox and Zogby Analytics.
When Boston University launched its hybrid learning initiative this fall, it also created a Classroom Moderator program: an army of student workers deployed in the classroom to help ensure that hybrid learning could run smoothly. In this episode of the Campus Technology Insider podcast, Ernie Perez, director of educational technology for BU Digital Learning and Innovation, and Jill Beckman, executive director of Client Services, talk about how they rolled out the classroom moderator service and made it a success.
The shift to online learning in response to COVID-19 has revealed pedagogical benefits that will carry on into the future.
The reopening of campuses post-pandemic won't necessarily spell the end to online learning, according to a recent survey from Top Hat.
A look back at the most-read stories of the year in higher education IT.
This institution has found new uses for data analysis to guide campus leaders, improve user experiences and work with researchers.
Georgia Career Institute, a vocational school with three campuses, has adopted 16 Google Jamboard interactive displays from BenQ to add interaction, engagement and better student comprehension to its remote instruction.
The University of Arizona has announced that starting in the spring it will require weekly testing for COVID-19 among students living in dorms or attending in-person classes. If they refuse or forget, they'll lose access to the campus WiFi network.
An Historically Black University has chosen to upgrade its wireless networking capacity through a managed service. Founded in 1875, Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University recently announced that it had selected Apogee to implement a new high-speed WiFi network in its four colleges and at a 972-acre off-campus agricultural research station.
The pandemic has put higher ed institutions at an increased risk of liability and lawsuits. Here's how to navigate the legal considerations of reopening.
Rice University is using Google Cloud's data analytics tools to track COVID-19 cases among its campus community and make real-time decisions to keep students, faculty and staff safe.
The biggest uses for artificial intelligence in education haven't been invented yet. But whatever they end up being, people working on AI applications need to keep educators and education policy makers well informed "early and deeply." That's the conclusion of a new report recently issued by the Center for Integrative Research in Computing and Learning Sciences.
Online program manager 2U has issued its first transparency report, which shares details of its agreements with 70 universities, all public or private nonprofit institutions that are supported to some extent by state and federal funding.
An online tool developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute helps project back-to-school COVID-19 outcomes based on data such as testing frequency, number of in-person classes per day per student, mask-wearing compliance and more.
Purdue University Global, the institution's public online campus, is signing student transfer agreements with community colleges in states other than its own. In the last month, the Indiana-based university announced articulation agreements with Maricopa Community Colleges in Arizona and Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland.
Pennsylvania's Manor College is rolling out the Echo360 video platform to support the student learning experience both in the classroom and online.
A company with a focus on "working learners" has launched a new marketplace for community colleges to sell their courses online. Unmudl from SocialTech.ai features courses from seven community colleges.
For colleges and universities that have pivoted to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the evolution is not over. In order to better meet student needs both today and in the future, here are three key considerations.
The University of Wyoming has signed an online program management agreement with Wiley Education Services, to help faculty shift courses to online formats in time for the spring 2021 semester.
Education technology company Campuswire has introduced a platform that allows professors from around the world to deliver their live online classes to anybody on the internet.
Panopto and Webex users will now be able to transfer their video recordings to their media library. Panopto produces video management applications; Webex is a videoconferencing program.
Last fall, Oregon State University launched an Ecampus online program for its introductory physics courses, with an emphasis on collaborative, hands-on work. In this episode of the Campus Technology Insider podcast, Senior Physics Instructor KC Walsh and Associate Department Head David Craig talk about how they’ve used technology, open educational resources, take-home lab kits and more to engage students from a distance.
Even though first-year college students are more likely than students in later years to say they intended to return to school in the spring (73 percent versus 68 percent), they're less confident they'll see the value of the investment in higher education (45 percent compared to 51 percent), according to a recent survey done by education technology company Top Hat.
As touch becomes a dirty word, voice technology is positioned to provide a safer alternative. In a survey by Adobe of a 1,000 voice technology users in the United States, nearly a third said sanitation (such as not needing to touch high-traffic surfaces) was a big benefit of voice technology.
Consultancy Ithaka S+R has made five datasets newly available for download from its higher education research. The work is stored by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.
Unizin's 14 member institutions can now tap into Blackboard's Ally accessibility solution. The higher education consortium recently announced a partnership with Blackboard to help "create a more inclusive and data-informed learning environment" for its members, according to a news announcement.
Getting students actively engaged in their remote learning has a difference on the outcomes during a pandemic, according to a report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
A new app at Grand Valley State University will serve as a campus assistant for students. MyBlueLaker Assistant uses voice and artificial intelligence to help students answer questions about such topics as buildings, transportation and dining; registration and class details; and grade alerts.
For information technology leaders in higher education, one silver lining of the pandemic has been the opportunity it has given IT to shine at a strategic level. In this bonus episode of the podcast, university CIOs Jill Albin-Hill and Paige Francis share how they have been able to get involved in pandemic response planning, fast-track IT projects, provide critical solutions to campus challenges, elevate the position of IT within institutional leadership, and more.
Two schools in Ohio have teamed up to help union members obtain bachelor’s degrees. In a new program called "CSU Career Plus+," Central State University is working with Eastern Gateway Community College to help graduates of the two-year college who are also members of the AFL-CIO finish their four-year degrees in online classes.
A state economic development agency in Arizona hopes to train up to 5,000 students for entry-level cloud computing work by June 2022. The Arizona Commerce Authority will be promoting the use of Amazon Web Services instruction throughout the state's high schools, community colleges and universities.
California State University has signed a site license with Labster, giving each of its 23 campuses the option of using the company's 159 virtual laboratory simulations.
Learning quiz program company Kahoot! has announced an integration with Zoom, allowing users to access, host and play Kahoot games directly in Zoom meetings.
As the pandemic continues, what's happening to all the data being collected by the various programs being used by colleges and universities to deliver remote learning? That's a question explored in a new report published by think tank New America.
The Utah Education & Telehealth Network, which connects the state's K-12 schools, colleges and universities, public libraries and healthcare providers, is forging ahead with plans to set up a private LTE network to address the digital divide.
Educause has released its top IT issues for 2021, explored via three possible scenarios for how colleges and universities "might emerge" from the pandemic next year.
Champlain College is piloting a new virtual education platform that allows students and instructors to interact online much like they would in physical spaces. Conceived by Narine Hall, a data science and machine learning professor at the college, and recently formed as a private company, InSpace is "designed to mirror the fluid, personal and interactive nature of a real classroom," according to a news announcement.
Carnegie Mellon University is tracking mask use across the country, along with testing availability for COVID-19 and the test results, as part of a symptom survey distributed each day.
Pennsylvania's Duquesne University has installed audio conferencing systems in more than 40 classrooms to support its shift to the hybrid learning model, in which some students attend class on-campus while others participate remotely.
Since students have returned to school and remote learning this fall, there has been a dramatic increase in internet searches related to academic fraud — that’s according to data from Cisco Talos. In this episode of the Campus Technology Insider podcast, Executive Editor Rhea Kelly talks with Jaeson Schultz, technical leader at Cisco Talos, about his research into academic fraud and the potentially hazardous websites and applications that go along with it.
St. Mary's University in Texas has partnered with Spectrum Enterprise to establish the institution's new Spectrum Esports Arena and power it with a dedicated Fiber Internet Access circuit.
Indiana's University of Evansville is developing its online education and learning efforts thanks to a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment. The university will use the funds to "implement major initiatives that will enhance the campus as well as the online learning environment," according to a news announcement.
Amazon has added new cities for its full-time, 12-week technology upskilling program, AWS re/Start.
Higher ed's response to the novel coronavirus has exposed issues of pedagogy, equity and more — but also offers opportunities to reshape the future.
On the horizon for 2021, 10G offers the promise of delivering 10 times the current most prevalent maximum speeds offered to consumers.
Coursera has announced that it is continuing its offer of free courses for students and whole campuses, along with some enhanced functionality.
Even with the recent emphasis on remote instruction, now is the perfect time to consider strategies for physical classroom spaces.
When asked about the most pressing issue on their campuses, college and university presidents in a recent ACE survey deemed the mental health of students their top concern.
Both industry and higher ed experts see opportunities and risk, hype and reality with AI for teaching and learning.
In a recent survey, three-quarters of U.S.-based students, faculty and administrators reported that COVID-19 has negatively affected student engagement. Nearly as many (73 percent) said the pandemic has damaged their work and career readiness. And seven in 10 (70 percent) said they believed that more students are falling behind in their studies as a result of COVID-19.
The nonprofit high-speed internet community that is Internet2 has struck an agreement with Cisco to build out its research and education infrastructure using technology from the company. The alliance between the two organizations is part of a "next-generation infrastructure" initiative at Internet2, begun to provide support specifically for data-intensive research projects.
A three-page brief from thinktank MDRC recapped a number of "rapid adaptations" educators are making to address the unique challenges faced by rural populations — especially now, when schools are delivering courses remotely.
A recent report from Every Learner Everywhere and Tyton Partners recommended five key actions institutions can take to ensure they are delivering high-quality digital learning experiences for all students.
Faculty feel ready to teach online this fall, either partially or fully. In a recent survey produced by Bay View Analytics in partnership with four online learning organizations and underwritten by Cengage, 49 percent "strongly" agreed that they're prepared, while 35 percent said they "somewhat" agreed.
In a recent ASU+GSV session, five college presidents gave their views of what’s next for higher education.
As colleges and universities navigate the ever-shifting challenges of higher education's "new normal," they are also looking ahead: How can the lessons learned from the pandemic redefine teaching and learning moving forward? On Oct 20, the Campus Technology Distance Learning Summit will convene education and IT leaders to share their ideas, experiences and outlook for the future.
China’s Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University was one of the first to shift to remote learning when the COVID-19 pandemic hit earlier this year. Now, it’s stepping things up for the fall by outfitting classrooms for the HyFlex model. In this episode of the Campus Technology Insider podcast, Executive Editor Rhea Kelly talks with Roland Sherwood, manager of the university’s educational technologies team, to find out more.
A startup founded by ed tech veterans has announced a program intended to make Zoom more effective in replicating the classroom experience for instructors and students. Class for Zoom is currently seeking people to beta test the software.
While 40 percent of IT higher education IT leaders and instructional technologists said in June 2020 that their college or university was planning for "mostly in-person" classes for the fall, that share plummeted to less than 5 percent by August, according to a recent study by Educause.
The University of Kentucky has expanded the use of technology in classrooms to accommodate whatever format is appropriate for the course content and faculty and student preference. As the home page for the institution stated, "Work Anywhere. Learn Anywhere. Teach Anywhere."
New York's Colgate University has sought outside help to improve the quality of its hybrid learning experience. The university, which has reopened to students on campus, is also continuing its remote learning programs. Now, some faculty will have access to 2UOS Essential from 2U, a set of services for course production and development, technology and support.
The University of Massachusetts has launched the Inter-campus Course Exchange, an initiative to make courses from all UMass campuses available to students at any institution in the system.
To offer more than pre-recorded lab demonstrations or virtual laboratories to remote students, two chemistry instructors at Missouri S&T have refined their approach, which uses real-time live-streamed demonstrations of experiments.
Now that students are returning to campus at Missouri S&T, with a mix of online and in-person classes, an instructor in electrical engineering is perfecting his approach to lab activities.
Social networking giant Facebook is partnering with Coursera to launch a new Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate, designed to prepare learners of any background for jobs in the social media marketing field in just 20 weeks.
Nathan Mentzer, an associate professor in Purdue University's Polytechnic Institute and College of Education, got an early start with the HyFlex model just as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to impact higher ed institutions across the country: He started blending both face-to-face and online instruction in his classrooms weeks before Purdue officially shifted to remote learning last spring.
Southern California's Pepperdine University has upgraded 166 classrooms on campus with hybrid learning technology for the Fall 2020 semester. While fall instruction will remain fully online, the institution wanted to ensure its learning spaces could accommodate any combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning, according to a news announcement.
Data analytics company HelioCampus has acquired ABC Insights, a higher education benchmarking consortium focused on administrative spend and financial decision-making.
According to a recent study out of Rutgers University-New Brunswick, students need a sense of community and connection in order to thrive in remote learning experiences.
Kyle Bowen tells CT how Arizona State University is continuing to offer students the experiences they expect from an ASU education during the current phase of remote learning and how, at the same time, the institution can leverage its work into plans for the future.
Learning platform Quizlet has added a new Learning Assistant to its AI-powered study tools, that uses machine learning to provide personalized study sessions, progress insights and smart grading for students.
Emerson College has launched an online Data Analytics Boot Camp geared toward adult learners and working professionals.
The University of Louisiana System's Compete Louisiana college completion initiative is collaborating with StraighterLine to create a new re-entry academy designed to help adults who have stopped out of university return to earn their degree.
The University of Michigan's College of Engineering has dedicated $500,000 to help create high-quality learning experiences for students in hybrid and remote courses — particularly when it comes to hands-on projects.
Microsoft is expanding the features of the Education Insights app in its Teams collaboration platform.
Arizona State University has announced a new initiative focused on accelerating innovations in higher education that expand access and empower learners. Coordinated by ASU's University Design Institute and supported by the Stand Together philanthropic community, the initiative is kicking off with nearly $12 million in donor gifts and an overall campaign to raise a total of $30 million.
The University of Cambridge is partnering with edX to launch a new MicroMasters program in Writing for Performance and Entertainment Industries — the university's first offering on the online learning platform.
Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science is working with 2U to launch the Columbia Artificial Intelligence Program, an online executive education offering aimed at advancing the next generation of technology leaders.
According to a new survey from Visual Objects, 51 percent of high school and college students do not have consistent access to high-speed internet and WiFi.
Emory University, in partnership with Fullstack Academy, is launching online coding and cybersecurity training programs to help develop tech talent in the Atlanta area.
In a recent survey, just over half of faculty in higher education expressed doubt about the new academic year: Fifty-one percent said they were "uncertain" about the fall term. Yet 55 percent have said they're moderately or very satisfied with the plans their schools have publicly stated for the fall, and six in 10 said they'd rate the level of clarity their schools have provided regarding how students will be taught as either "excellent" or "good."
The fall semester is beginning, and we are finally starting to see reopening plans play out at colleges and universities across the country. In this episode of the Campus Technology Insider podcast, Executive Editor Rhea Kelly explores the pandemic decision-making process with Dr. Eric Monday, executive vice president for finance and administration at the University of Kentucky, and also the chair of UK’s Pandemic Response Team. He talks about how the team is structured, what types of data they monitor, what kinds of challenges they have been working through, and how they are approaching contingency planning.
Ryerson University is working with an augmented reality company to develop a series of labs for science courses. The project is based on InfernoAR from NexTech AR Solutions.
Research and advisory company Gartner recently released its latest "Hype Cycle" analyzing emerging technologies that "show promise in delivering a high degree of competitive advantage over the next five to 10 years." Notably, social distancing technologies have fast-tracked to the top of the cycle — the "peak of inflated expectations." They are also anticipated to reach the "plateau of productivity" in less than two years.
The University System of Maryland has partnered with Labster to provide its virtual laboratory simulations across all USM institutions.
Houston Baptist University is revamping its residential network to ensure students can connect to their online classes as they follow social distancing requirements in their dorms.
Arcadia University is partnering with ed tech company 2U to launch an online Semester of Code program that will provide credit-bearing, market-relevant coding experiences for undergraduate students across the United States.
The American Council on Education has announced a $900,000 competition designed to identify blockchain-based solutions that will help underserved learners document their skills and credentials and share them with potential employers.
Healthcare has become a big topic of interest to college students. In a study by Quizlet, analysts found that while participation in healthcare (as measured by activity in the company's study tools) initially dropped to 86 percent of usual levels of interest as school closures took place, it rose to 113 percent as remote learning got underway.
Babson College, like so many schools, is priming for the start of fall classes, which begin in just a few days. Here's how the Boston-based institution has positioned itself to succeed.
In a recent survey of learners of all ages around the globe, 79 percent of respondents agreed that colleges and universities will fundamentally change because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stony Brook University in New York has introduced a virtual version of its "involvement fair," intended to help students on and off campus partake in club activities and meet other students, even if they can't do it in person.
The University of Michigan is replacing its current cloud-based file storage, Box.
A survey of college students found that most were comfortable heading back to campus. The survey was done by OneClass, a company that sells study guides posted by students and faculty.
A survey by online education solution provider 2U has found that nearly three-quarters of prospective students said the COVID-19 pandemic has made them more likely to consider online programs.
This fall, students at any of the seven participating Big Ten Academic Alliance universities will have access to free online courses at other Big Ten schools.
AVer has introduced a new distance learning camera that uses artificial intelligence to automatically detect and follow an instructor's movement in the classroom, with no need for a camera operator.
One outcome for the shift to online classes, according to the college and university instructors now teaching them, is that students will be more likely to cheat. In a recent survey, 93 percent of educators said they expected online learning to be more conducive to academic dishonesty.
In this bonus episode of the podcast, Dr. Elliot Stern, president of Saddleback College in Southern California, talks candidly about how his institution is making strategic decisions for the fall and what kinds of policies and infrastructure they are putting in place to move forward. The conversation comes from Campus Technology's recent Distance Learning Summit – a virtual event focused on the most critical considerations for managing higher ed's "new normal" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The University of Southern California is investing close to $2 million in a project to deploy an AV network to cover 248 classroom spaces for hybrid learning.
The University of Illinois Center for Health Informatics recently collaborated with the World Health Organization/Pan-American Health Organization to create an experiential learning program for students.
The University of Florida and NVIDIA have announced a $70 million artificial intelligence initiative that includes building what they're claiming to be the fastest AI supercomputer in academia.
Active learning courseware platform Top Hat has introduced Slate, an integrated communication tool that enables course announcements, real-time discussions, project collaborations, peer connections, community building and more, all in one centralized hub.
The University of St. Augustine faces a problem unique to programs delivering healthcare training — how to help students prepare for clinical careers.
Zoom Video Communications has announced a new device specifically designed for home videoconferencing. But at least one analyst suspects the price may keep buyers at by. In mid-July Zoom announced it would be taking pre-orders for Zoom for Home, a dedicated appliance for allowing employees to meet and collaborate online. Currently, the device is available for pre-order.
Learning platform edX recently convened the first (virtual) meeting of its MicroBachelors Program Skills Advisory Council, a group launched in early 2020 that brings together foundations, corporations and academic institutions to "solve shared challenges around reskilling and upskilling in order to address the demands of the future workplace." Discussions in the meeting centered on two key areas: credentials and content.
Blackboard has introduced new capabilities in its Blackboard Data Platform, allowing users to access reports on learning tool usage across their institution. In a separate announcement, Blackboard also introduced Blackboard Retention Coaching Powered by Predictive Data, a student retention solution that combines predictive analytics from Blackboard Predict with personalized student success coaching.
Just a few weeks after announcing a phased reopening plan for the fall semester that would have included both in-person and online instruction, Spelman College has made the decision to switch to an entirely online model.
As more and more colleges and universities have shut down their campuses to curb the spread of COVID-19, education technology companies have stepped forward to help move student learning to the virtual realm.
When the University of Arizona's fall semester begins on Aug. 24, instruction will be a mix of in-person and remote learning — with more than half of all classes including an in-person component.
Julie Johnston, director of learning spaces for Indiana University, has been working hard to make classrooms safe for students and faculty this fall. In this episode of the Campus Technology Insider podcast, she talks with Executive Editor Rhea Kelly about how the new reality of COVID-19 is impacting IU’s campuses, the challenges of preparing classrooms for the fall, and technology’s role in ensuring a successful teaching and learning experience.
Education technology company Cengage is running free math readiness boot camps for students, to help them prepare for college.
A single-question survey of more than 17,000 incoming college students across the United States and Canada has found that students believe online courses don't have the same value as the in-person experience.
Google has unveiled some of its plans for updates to Meet, the web conferencing tool that's part of the company's G Suite for Education. The basic thrust is to give instructors more control over their real-time sessions and help them make the classes more engaging.
A survey among college-bound students in California has found that four in five have had to change their college plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indiana University has released preliminary findings from a survey of undergraduates and instructors across its all of its campuses, examining their experiences of the transition to remote instruction this past spring.
San José State University is partnering with Fullstack Academy to create two new Tech Bootcamp programs focused on coding and cyber security.
Vanderbilt University has announced a new Instructional Design Support Center focused on improving online teaching and course quality.
Google has announced three new certificate programs on Coursera: Data Analytics, Project Management, and User Experience Design.
Microsoft intends to provide free online job training through its company, LinkedIn, to 25 million people by the end of this year. The goal: to help those who have been hit by unemployment, furloughs and reduced paychecks to acquire new digital skills as part of accelerating the economic recovery.
Packback, an online platform that uses artificial intelligence to facilitate class discussions, has introduced an Instant Feedback feature that provides students with a real-time assessment of their contributions and allows them to revise and improve their work before final submission.
A new program at Rice University gives students outside the institution a chance to take select online courses for credit.
The University of Oklahoma has pulled together its online graduate degree programs under one central umbrella: OU Online.
Education technology companies Campus Management, Campus Labs and iModules are combining to form a new company, dubbed Anthology.
Spelman College in Georgia has announced a phased reopening plan that includes both in-person and online instruction, in a "low-density hybrid" model.
Pre-pandemic, a slim majority of students considered affordability the most compelling driver for choosing their online school.
The University of West Georgia has announced plans for a "full return" to campus on Aug. 12, for in-person instruction. The school has also developed contingency plans, one for fully online classes and one that shifts from on-site to online at some point during the fall term.
A new artificial intelligence consortium has funded 26 projects intended to advance the use of AI to mitigate COVID-19 and future pandemics.
According to a recent survey by education technology company Cengage, nearly nine in 10 colleges and universities (86 percent) haven't yet announced plans for the fall semester.
Arizona State University is hosting a free two-day online conference to help all higher education faculty prepare remote courses for the fall.
In this first episode of the Campus Technology Insider podcast, "A Futurist's View of the Fall Semester," Executive Editor Rhea Kelly speaks with futurist Bryan Alexander about higher education's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how the fall semester might play out as colleges and universities reopen.
Instructors teaching remotely or in HyFlex learning environments can now access Zoom videoconferencing directly from HoverCam's Flex 11 document camera software.
Research funded by the U.S. Department of Education has found that the use of blockchain "holds promise to create more efficient, durable connections between education and work."
Colorado State University's online campus, CSU Global, has joined the Higher Education Course Recovery Consortium, a network of institutions that are sharing high-quality online courses to help connect students with the courses they need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vermont's Champlain College has introduced a Virtual Gap Program that allows high school graduates to spend a semester focused on intellectual, personal and professional growth before beginning their higher education experience.
Refer your college students to these services to help them keep up with school work.
Now that the initial fires of COVID-19 response have been put out, institutions are faced with a lot of unknowns for the fall semester. Campus Technology is convening campus leaders and ed tech experts to share their ideas and best practices in a second virtual event July 16.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the massive rush to move courses online this spring, it’s that a sudden change to fully online, even in the year 2020, isn’t easy. Here, Jared Stein proposes an important takeaway from the pandemic: Blended learning environments can help us prepare for the future.
New Jersey Institute of Technology started the process of planning its return to campus with a strength — the concept of converged learning — and began building from there.
Online learning provider Coursera has opened up its certificate programs to current undergraduate, graduate or recently graduated college and university students.
In a statement today from President Michael McRobbie, Indiana University announced its plans for resuming fall instruction.
Arizona's Prescott College will reopen on-campus classes this fall with a new risk-management strategy: using a flexible block-class schedule to minimize contacts among faculty, staff and students.
Education technology company Kahoot has added integration with Microsoft Teams, allowing users to play Kahoot games while collaborating remotely via Teams’ web conferencing and chat tools.
In a special arrangement with Bloomberg Philanthropies, a new course by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Health is training people to do COVID-19 contact tracing.
A "playbook" from a team of higher education organizations provides advice and tips for faculty on how to design their courses for online delivery, enhance their online instruction and pursue continuous improvement.
Rice University transitioned its annual Center for Transforming Data to Knowledge (the D2K Lab) showcase to a virtual showcase.
The Online Learning Consortium has received a grant to work with minority-serving institutions as they shift to online instruction. The $50,000 award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will fund delivery of affordable, short-term workshops to reach instructors in institutions that need professional development resources most.
To cover all bases, Simmons University, a private women-focused institution in Boston, has announced its intention to develop an online undergraduate experience in time for the start of school in fall 2020. The new program, being built with the help of 2U, will give students the option of enrolling in hundreds of Simmons courses redesigned this summer for online delivery.
A survey undertaken by the University Professional and Continuing Education Association and online learning producer MindEdge found that two-thirds of respondents in colleges and universities have seen growing interest in alternative credentials among students in recent years, and nearly half would call it "significant growth" in interest.
Google has just made premium functionality in its online video meeting software freely available to anybody with a Google e-mail account.
From determining a remote learning strategy to planning for the new normal and enabling standards-based practices, these five phases describe the progress institutions are making toward excellence in teaching and learning online.
This fall, California State University will be keeping most of its institutions' courses online, in response to the ongoing health and safety concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The University of Arizona plans to resume in-person classes this fall, after the state began statewide antibody testing with help of the university.
A new set of guidelines from the American College Health Association has provided a run-down of key considerations for safely reopening institutions of higher education as the COVID-19 pandemic slows.
The University of Arizona has expedited plans to launch a global campus, involving other institutions of higher education on five continents, to reach international students whose plans have been disrupted by COVID-19-induced campus closures, international travel restrictions or visa moratoriums.
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is launching a new interdisciplinary institute on AI.
A new report has identified five areas where colleges and universities will have to develop strength in order to woo future generations of international students: social engineering, sustainability, mindfulness, savvy use of technology and the ability to deliver a "transnational" education.
MOOCs — massive open online courses — have become a major part of the online learning conversation with the advent of school closures due to coronavirus. Class Central, a site that tracks and catalogs the online learning platform segment, reported a "surge" of attention on MOOCs beginning on March 15, a date when "social distancing" became part of the common language.
Thunderbird School of Global Management, a school within Arizona State University, is planning for a robot-filled graduation. The institution will be using telepresence robots equipped with a tablet computer to provide video and audio of the graduating seniors.
Three universities have gone public with their use of remote laboratory equipment from National Instruments (NI) to give students hands-on practice with live data and instrumentation, even as they made the switch from in-person to remote classes.
Video lectures may have worked as a stop-gap measure in the emergency move to online learning, but they just don't cut it for the long term. Here are nine ways to bring distance education courses to the next level.
Nearly half of faculty in a recent survey said they lowered their expectations about the amount of work they could expect from their students after the switch to online learning in response to school closures caused by COVID-19.
In an April survey done by education technology vendor Top Hat, a quarter of college students said they're undecided about whether or not to continue their education in the fall.
This community college was one of the first to announce its plans for the fall semester. And no matter what students might prefer, they won't be returning to standard classroom settings anytime soon.
Berkeley College resumed its spring semester this week with online courses. To make sure students had access to computing devices, the private for-profit school, with locations in New York and New Jersey, handed out free laptops to all new incoming students.
Higher education's current move to online learning may be leaving a sour taste in the mouths of students and faculty across the country, but there is a silver lining.
An education study site ran an informal poll with students about whether they'd return to school in the fall if it were only delivered remotely; a third said they'd withdraw.
Ed tech company ProctorU has created a "student bill of rights" that outlines seven areas of expectations students should be able to count on from their academic institutions.
To help keep students on track to enter college in the fall, Common Application is working with AdmitHub to provide access to a free conversational artificial intelligence chatbot.
Piazza, the company that produces a social learning application for colleges and universities, has added new functionality to its software. Piazza "Live Q&A" offers a dedicated place within courses where students can ask questions and upvote questions in real time as instructors are running their classes.
California State University, Fullerton has had to mop up the confusion generated when local news stations reported that the campus would be delivering its courses virtually on the first day of classes in fall. According to a statement issued by Provost Pamella Oliver a day later, the reporting was wrong.
When Arizona State University shifted the whole student body to online learning during its COVID-19 campus closure, it had an advantage: Lessons learned by EdPlus and ASU Online. In this interview, EdPlus CEO Phil Regier shares the pain and the promise of digital education at distance.
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all higher education institutions (90 percent) in a recent survey used some form of emergency distance education to complete the Spring 2020 term. And 56 percent of faculty who moved courses online were using teaching methods they had never used before.
With campus closures leading education institutions everywhere to scramble to move instruction to an online format, Campus Technology is convening ed tech experts and practitioners to share their ideas and best practices in a virtual event on May 5.
Data analytics company HelioCampus has released the LMS Explorer Kit, a free tool that allows institutions to extract and organize data from their learning management system to better inform resource planning and decision-making.
An education technology company has enhanced a program for experiential learning and assessment that can be used with K-12 and career and technology students.
The University of Michigan is adding new online programs for the fall, including a new master's degree in public health.
At last count, 4,235 higher education institutions across the United States have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic — affecting an estimated 25,798,790 students, according to a visualization from Entangled Solutions.
Amazon Web Services Education has introduced a set of free resources intended to help teachers and faculty in K-20 with their transitions to remote teaching and learning.
With nearly all campuses transitioning to online learning during the COVID-19 outbreak, California's community colleges will let students continue their science lab-based education by giving them access to virtual laboratories.
Coursera has introduced a new tool that helps universities identify courses on the company's online learning platform that most closely match their on-campus offerings.
These practices will help engage students and improve outcomes throughout the online learning process.
Lamar University in Texas is using a chatbot to help share information with students during the coronavirus pandemic.
Colleges and universities have been impelled, in recent weeks, to conduct nearly all academic and business processes online for our health and safety amid the hazards of COVID-19. Out of this, a persistent question has emerged: Are we really able to carry on the best values of higher education through our online presence? Gardner Campbell considers the question.
To take advantage of the momentum created by a quick switch from face-to-face courses to online version, one Texas university is ramping up plans for a major online summer session too. Rice University, which switched to distance learning in March in response to coronavirus, has decided to offer all of its summer courses online.
A new analysis by App Annie has found that mobile education applications have experienced a 90 percent increase in weekly downloads usage worldwide between the last three months of 2019 and the first three months of 2020.
CRM implementations are never easy; but choosing one that's cloud-based brings its own unique challenges.
A Nordic company has introduced a virtual reality collaboration platform. Glue Collaboration's software by the same name facilitates virtual environments where remote participants can come together to learn, share, plan and create as if they were in the same physical space.
Some students are hitting Minecraft during their "self-quarantines" to recreate their campuses. And at least one group is planning a national graduation ceremony to take place in their virtual world.
Colleges and universities everywhere are rushing to move courses online and keep teaching and learning going during the coronavirus pandemic. Here's how to cope with what may feel like an impossible task.
While university instructors around the world scramble to implement delivery of their courses online — a medium with which they may have only limited experience — they can learn from the field notes of their counterparts at the largest international joint-venture university in China.
Enrollment for online education rose in 2019 at universities and colleges, but not as quickly as it had been doing in previous years, according to a new survey from Quality Matters and Eduventures Research.
This year's report on The Changing Landscape of Online Education comes as nearly every college and university in the land is taking its courses online in response to COVID-19. In an 11th-hour addition to the report, CHLOE researchers suggested that the immediate goal for any institution right now should be to have faculty communicate with students on completing the tasks and assignments they need to satisfy course requirements.
The rushed transition to online instruction during the coronavirus pandemic can be wrought with anxiety, technical issues, concern for students and more. What's the best way to stay positive and support faculty?
With the coronavirus pandemic closing college and university campuses everywhere, faculty are tasked with a quick move to online instruction. Here, education experts offer advice on how to make the transition.
As coronavirus changes life as we knew it, these education experts offer advice on how to make the transition to online instruction.
Foundry College, a two-year-old institution that provides "face-to-face" classes online, has spun off its active learning platform as a stand-alone service.
A tuition-free university, the University of the People, said it would make its online courses available to American universities, enabling their students to take courses for credit.
2U just launched "No Back Row PRO," a free set of services to help faculty who are part of its university partners ramp up their online delivery of courses.
The University of California, Irvine School of Education has created a new research center that will aim to provide "evidence-based resources, materials and guidelines for teachers and students to improve academic achievement and equity in online learning."
As more and more colleges and universities are shutting down their campuses over the next several weeks in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, education technology companies have stepped forward to help move student learning to the virtual realm.
Learning management system company Blackboard has enabled a self-service portal where colleges and schools can immediately subscribe to its digital collaboration platform, Blackboard Collaborate.
Quality Matters, a nonprofit focused on standards for online learning, has created a set of checklists for rapidly moving classes online in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kahoot! has begun offering free access to the "premium" version of its game-based learning software. This move comes in response to the number of schools and colleges that are shifting to online education to minimize face-to-face contact during the coronavirus pandemic.
The country's largest community college system, Los Angeles Community College District, announced this week that it is moving as many courses as possible to online formats across its nine colleges, at least until April 13.
With universities all over the world looking to quickly move face-to-face classes online, massive open online course companies Coursera and edX have stepped in to offer access to their vast portfolios of course content.
In the face of coronavirus, institutions large and small, public and private, two-year and four-year are canceling classes for the foreseeable future to reduce the likelihood of face-to-face interactions as much as possible.
Oregon State University's College of Engineering has deployed six new supercomputers to support research and education on campus.
The Flipped Learning Global Initiative has launched a free online course to help instructors and institutions that need to make a quick move to remote learning.
McGraw-Hill has updated its writing assignment software to use artificial intelligence in giving feedback. Intended for high-enrollment courses where writing is an important aspect of the work, the technology uses AI to do auto-scoring on content and writing style and delivers instant feedback based on scoring rubrics set by the instructor.
The Educause 2020 Horizon Report has identified 15 social, technological, higher education and political trends that are influencing teaching and learning in higher ed today — and will have a lasting impact on tomorrow.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued interim guidance for higher education administrators on how to respond to coronavirus.
To help institutions prepare for emergency situations such as a coronavirus outbreak, the Online Learning Consortium has put together a list of tools and advice for handling a quick shift to online courses.
While the physical campus at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University has been closed due to coronavirus (now referred to as COVID-19 by health experts), faculty have quickly adopted an online teaching platform to reach their students through remote instruction.
As universities in China move courses online to serve students remotely in the face of COVID-19 lockdowns, instructors are rushing to modify their pedagogy and incorporate digital teaching tools. To help ease that transition, we've gathered our top stories on online teaching and instructional design, chock full of tips and best practices from the trenches.
Graduates at Purdue University Global recently had the option to participate in their commencement ceremonies virtually, thanks to a pilot program using virtual reality to provide an immersive remote experience of the event.
When New York University closed its NYU Shanghai campus in response to the COVID-19 epidemic in China, little did it realize how much students would appreciate the efforts the university went through to keep their learning on track. The spring 2020 semester kicked off with school officials determined to use digital tools to deliver learning online as an alternative.
Within the next three years, artificial intelligence will power 40 percent of privacy compliance technologies. That’s up from 5 percent now, according to market research firm Gartner.
A new study from the Online Learning Consortium and Every Learner Everywhere outlines seven primary trends in digital learning innovation as well as four secondary trends worth watching.
Students in an ethics course are the first to work with an artificial intelligence teaching assistant in California's Notre Dame de Namur University.
Amazon Web Services has expanded its AWS Educate Cloud Ambassador Program to provide professional development resources and opportunities not just for educators, but also for students.
Students at Gannon University can now receive industry certification in networking technology as they complete their coursework, thanks to a partnership with Extreme Networks.
The need for ethics, standards and policies for the ever-increasing use of artificial intelligence and other emerging tech is the impetus behind a new research center at the University of Michigan.
Want to improve your course videos? A video producer at Miami University shares her expert advice.
South Dakota's Mitchell Technical Institute recently rolled out a new WiFi network to enable collaboration and meet the expectations of students and faculty.
From virtual reality to learning space design, here are the trends and ideas that garnered the most attention over the last year.
This year's top issues in education technology reflect the bigger picture of a student's pathway from individual course all the way to graduation and career.
An intensely researched study published on Class Central has dissected the economics of boot camps and found them to be poor venture capital investments — and possibly poor investments for their students too.
That largest of research organizations, the Association for Institutional Research, has published a statement of ethical principles to help steer the use of data for decision-making in higher education.
Education technology company EdSights has launched an SMS-based chatbot that uses natural language processing and machine learning to identify and engage with at-risk students.
Boot camps generated nearly half a billion dollars in 2019 and graduated almost 34,000 students, yet the year-over-year growth rate slowed, according to a report from Career Karma.
For decades, developers at South Orange County Community College District have been creating innovative and useful digital tools that automate tasks to assist faculty and benefit students. Here, SOCCCD's Vice Chancellor of Technology explains how a strategy of human-centered design has been key to the success of these tool-building development efforts over time.
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and Association for Institutional Research are teaming up for a pilot that will provide data literacy training to APLU member campuses.
The American Council on Education is exploring the use of blockchain in education with a new initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
A virtual version of the escape room concept is engaging students at Northampton Community College. Here's how the setup works.
Post University has wrapped up its latest network upgrade. The work at the Connecticut university involved deploying a second Ethernet Private Line and streaming television.
According to a report that tracks global learning tech investment trends, investments directed to higher education technologies saw a substantial bump in the last year, while investments specifically in Pre-K–12 sunk dramatically.
Educause and its membership have identified four challenges that higher education will face in the coming year: student success; financial health; reputation and relevance; and external competition.
A company that has made a name for itself in lecture capture and web streaming has acquired another company that provides similar services.
A new report covering trends in virtual reality has suggested that three-dimensional audio will begin appearing along with "conversational platforms" and the increased use of artificial intelligence.
A new online science education platform offers free access to personalized learning content, virtual lab experiences and networking with the global scientific community.
This year's keynoters are bound to set the agenda for discussions on education in 2020 in new and provocative ways. That includes sessions with Sir Ken Robinson, whose critical examinations of education have inspired transformation initiatives in schools around the world; Jennifer Eberhardt, the Stanford professor who has pointed out the negative impact of bias in teaching and learning; Mary Murphy, Indiana University professor whose research has called into question how academic motivation and achievement affects "majority" and "minority" students differently; Ted Dintersmith, whose documentary, Most Likely to Succeed, has been screened in thousands of communities; and David Yeager, from the University of Texas at Austin, who will explore his groundbreaking work in the processes of adolescent development.
A pilot linking degrees with earnings that offered an alternative to get around a federal ban on student-level data collection has been deemed a step forward.
The University of North Texas is giving non-traditional students a pathway to complete a bachelor's degree online. The Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences program will launch on Coursera beginning in fall 2020.
More than half of faculty prefer using a blended environment with their students, which includes both blended and in-person elements, but nearly three-quarters would choose a completely or mostly face-to-face approach for most elements involving interaction with students, according to a survey from the Educause Center for Analysis and Research.
A two-year campaign is being undertaken by the Flipped Learning Global Initiative and Teachers Pay Teachers to develop high-quality flipped learning resources for the classroom.
The University of Pennsylvania is upgrading communications across all departments with a cloud communications solution from Vonage.
Google has introduced a new Google IT Automation with Python Professional Certificate, a program designed to provide job-ready skills in Python, Git and IT automation in under six months.
Blockchain is the hard skill employers most want in potential hires this year, according to an analysis from LinkedIn, while creativity is the most-needed soft skill.
Online exam security and identity management company ProctorU is merging with Yardstick Assessment Strategies, a provider of psychometrics and computer-based exam administration for professional testing organizations.
Richard Garrett, chief research officer at higher education research firm Eduventures, has released three predictions for 2020 and at least two of them expect innovative education to beat out traditional — at least by some counts.
Indiana University has acquired a new artificial intelligence supercomputer that claims the distinction of being the fastest in the state of Indiana and one of the fastest university-owned supercomputers in the United States.
EdX has introduced a new MicroBachelors program designed to offer working learners job-ready skills in a credit-backed, stackable credential that can be applied toward a full bachelor's degree.
According to a team of researchers from Canadian University Dubai, Lancaster University and the University of Adelaide, a review of literature found that massive open online courses can provide flexible learning, address rapidly changing skills needs and deliver credentials.
The flipped learning model doesn't necessarily work in the long term, according to an experiment at West Point.
East Coast Polytechnic Institute is giving students full control over their academic records with blockchain-enabled digital credentials that are sharable and verifiable anywhere in the world.
Veteran education technologist Ellen Wagner examines a point that is too often missing from discussions of "digital transformation".
Recent research uncovered just a handful of distinct elements that set great online teaching apart from the merely good. The findings came out of interviews with eight faculty members who have won awards for their online teaching from three professional associations: the Online Learning Consortium, the Association for Educational Communications & Technology and the United States Distance Learning Association.
A statewide study of 30 SUNY community colleges found that, overall, students who successfully completed online courses nearly doubled their chances of earning a degree or transferring to a four-year college.
As legacy ERP solutions begin to show their age, the difference between "cloud-enabled" and "cloud-native" software is becoming a flash point for many higher education institutions.
"The human condition is being challenged as technology creates varied and ever-changing expectations of humans," according to research firm Gartner. That's the theme behind 10 strategic predictions it has made for 2020 and beyond: ways that technology will change the way humans work and interact with their environment and each other.
Arizona State University has partnered with Cox Communications to launch the Connected Environments Collaboratory, an incubation center and convening space devoted to connected environments and the Internet of Things.
China's government has gotten into the MOOC game, setting annual targets for how many high-quality massive open online courses should be produced each year.
To prepare students for the job market of the future, online institutions must equip them with interpersonal skills such as leadership, communication and management. Here are four strategies for prioritizing the human connection.
The latest word on the use of "pre-class activities" — flipped learning — is that it improves student engagement in the class itself as well as students' assessment scores. A recent study by a team of researchers from Macmillan Learning and the University of Connecticut examined the use of flipped learning through Achieve, a new Macmillan digital learning tool, and found a "significant effect" with its use.
Education and social policy research organization MDRC recently issued a 10-page brief laying out the challenges career and technical education programs face in collecting data and four steps they can take "to strengthen their own CTE data-collection and measurement activities."
A recent report from child care and education benefits company Bright Horizons found that four out of five working learners do some of their learning online, and more than half are enrolled in courses that are entirely online.
Pearson has announced the acquisition of Lumerit Education, an ed tech company that uses data analytics to match learners to academic programs and helps them earn the right credits for their desired degree path.
Led by the American Council on Education, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, and Educause, 15 national higher education organizations have signed a joint statement in support of credential data transparency.
U.S. colleges and universities and other nonprofit education organizations have until Jan. 21, 2020 to apply for big grants from the National Science Foundation for improving multi-campus networking and cybersecurity infrastructure that specifically support science applications and distributed research projects.
Coding Dojo is launching a new program at its Bellevue campus to train the next generation of data scientists and data analysts.
An initiative between Arizona State University and telecommunications company Sprint will focus on 5G and the Internet of Things. The multiyear program will build on 5G connectivity in place on campus, produce new IoT curriculum and launch a spate of joint research projects.
If schools were wondering whether student success tools are worth the investment, a survey among students by Educause has put the question to rest. Students rated degree audit tools that show the degree requirements completed as the most useful (ranked by 80 percent of respondents as "very" or "extremely" useful).
Kapi'olani Community College instituted comprehensive training to help faculty design, develop and assess online courses — including supportive incentives to make sure instructors can successfully complete the program.
Blackboard has added a live conversation simulation tool to its suite of student support offerings.
A new software coding program at Bellevue College aims to build students' tech skills for technology jobs in the software development field. The institution's Continuing Education division partnered with coding education company Coding Dojo to create the new line of accelerated education courses, beginning with a 12-week program in Python development.
A big WiFi upgrade at West Texas A&M University's Buffalo Stadium is enabling a number of digital "game day" experiences, including social sign-in, mobile ticketing, access to real-time stats, streaming video and more.
A new supercomputer at the Milwaukee School of Engineering will serve both research and instruction in artificial intelligence and deep learning for the university's computer science program.
The company’s Wireless Intelligence Platform uses artificial intelligence to identify potential WiFi connection threats and provide actionable steps to optimize performance.
Temple University's College of Public Health is a diverse school experiencing significant growth online. Here's how the institution is supporting the development and maintenance of high-quality online faculty.
Ocelot, a provider of conversational chatbots for higher ed institutions, has announced a bilingual English-Spanish chatbot.
After years of researching the factors that impact student success, Marist College developed an open source early alert dashboard that turns interventions into a proactive, rather than reactive, process.
The National Science Foundation has announced a new joint federal program to fund research focused on artificial intelligence at colleges, universities and nonprofit or nonacademic organizations focused on educational or research activities. The National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes program expects to award approximately $120 million in 2020 to fund planning grants and up to six research institutes.
Graduates of Bow Valley College in Alberta, Canada can now carry validated digital credentials with them anywhere, any time. The institution partnered with TerraHub Technologies, a software company focused on blockchain and artificial intelligence, to launch a mobile digital credential wallet based on the company's Sync platform.
A new systemwide initiative at Texas A&M University is working to help "stopouts" — students who have left school without completing a degree — return to college. The institution has partnered with ReUp Education, a startup that combines advanced analytics and hands-on coaching to identify, recruit and support reentry for stopout students
Coursera is expanding its portfolio as an online learning platform to work with colleges and universities on campus. Coursera for Campus provides universities with content that they can integrate into their curricula as credit eligible courses and supplemental learning.
According to a recently published research project, large classes — those with 40 or more students — are best for "foundational and factual knowledge acquisition," and smaller enrollments — 15 or fewer students — are better for courses intended "to develop higher order thinking, mastery of complex knowledge and student skill development."
MIT's new TX-GAIA supercomputer combines nearly 100 Intel processors and 900 Nvidia GPU accelerators to create a system optimized for AI applications.
A new associate degree in cloud computing developed by the Dallas County Community College District Office and Amazon Web Services will be offered at every Texas community college and technical school in spring 2020.
The DNSWatchGO solution from WatchGuard Technologies alerts educators about real-time phishing attempts and protects them against malicious websites both on and off school premises.
California is taking on the skills gap directly by opening a community college dedicated to addressing the needs of working adults and hiring managers. Calbright College, which opened for course registration today, will use a combination of online classes, mobile apps and in-person apprenticeships to give its adult students the specific skills they need to get higher paying jobs.
Internet2 and E&I Cooperative Services have announced a pilot project aimed at providing U.S. higher education institutions with competitively solicited contracts for cloud services.
Workcred, a nonprofit affiliate of the American National Standards Institute, is looking to form a network of 25-30 credentialing bodies that will be "early adopters and influencers" in sharing data.
Amazon has introduced a new application programming interface that will give developers the ability to create Alexa skills that can be integrated into their education technology systems and platforms
The University of Pennsylvania, IBM and the Linux Foundation are developing an open source starter kit to help any institution in the world launch its own data science program.
Seneca College is utilizing the latest generation of Aruba's WiFi access points to boost its network capabilities to handle more devices and boost connectivity speeds.
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities has announced three finalists for its 2019 Degree Completion Award, an annual recognition program that identifies higher ed institutions that "employ innovative approaches to improve degree completion while ensuring educational quality."
AWS is working with a group of California community colleges and state universities to develop a multi-course curriculum that will give those institutions a framework to develop courses focused on cloud computing.
For students to succeed in online learning, faculty must be encouraged to go back to class themselves.
Instructional design firm iDesign has unveiled a new competency-based education program for learner experience professionals.
A do-it-yourself mindset is changing the face of education worldwide, according to new survey results from Pearson and Harris Insights & Analytics. Learners are "patching together" their education from a "menu of options," including self-teaching, short courses and bootcamps, and they believe that self-service instruction will become even more prevalent for lifelong learning.
The Oracle Academy Cloud Program will give students, schools and higher education institutions access to workshops, product discounts and other resources focused on computer science.
In its latest Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, research firm Gartner has identified five key trends expected to have "transformational impact" on enterprise organizations. Why? They will "create and enable new experiences, leveraging artificial intelligence and other constructs to enable organizations to take advantage of emerging digital ecosystems," according to statement from the company.
Artificial intelligence and mixed reality have driven demand in learning games around the world, according to a new report by Metaari.
A damning report from the Century Foundation calls into question the continuing use of for-profit companies to deliver online courses in public institutions, referring to the companies as "wolves in sheep's clothing."
When graduation rates plateaued, the University of South Florida turned to predictive analytics and a case management approach to student support — with striking results.
Even as the Century Foundation was doing its best to damn the practices of online program managers that work with colleges and universities to deliver online courses and programs, OPM pioneer 2U sought proactively to counter the report's punch by calling for greater visibility in online program management with a new "Framework for Transparency."
Students in the Los Angeles Community College District now have access to online tutoring to augment on-campus tutoring services.
Technology consulting company Atrium is utilizing artificial intelligence-based algorithms and monitoring tools to give higher education institutions the ability to choose the best technology solutions for their specific needs.
According to a recent analysis from Civitas Learning, only 60 percent of student success initiatives have a measurable positive impact on student persistence. That leaves a full 40 percent of initiatives having no impact whatsoever.
Chegg is growing its learning platform with the acquisition of Thinkful, an online learning company specializing in bootcamp-style tech training.
Coursera has introduced Coursera Labs, a new offering that allows learners to work hands-on with almost any third-party software application, without any environment setup or software downloads.
Arizona State University is finding out what refugee farmers in Uganda and online course creators have to teach each other about making do with very little.
Plagiarism and cheating prevention software company Unicheck has introduced Emma, an artificial intelligence tool for authorship verification.
Analytics can save higher education, according to a bold new statement from the Association for Institutional Research, Educause and the National Association of College and University Business Officers. The associations' call for action highlighted the importance of harnessing analytics to improve completion rates, campus operations, strategic decision-making and more.
Masterclass co-founder Aaron Rasmussen is turning his attention to making introductory college courses more affordable for students. His new venture, dubbed Outlier.org, is launching online courses for Calculus I and Introduction to Psychology this fall.
A clever use of software-defined network virtualization took Mohave Community College from a crippling 72-hour outage to a 45-minute (and still dropping) recovery time.
Capella University has issued a report of findings based on five years of learning outcomes from its competency-based education or "direct assessment" program. According to the fully online institution, CBE students have a higher two-year persistence rate than peers following traditional programs; they're getting through their courses of study at a faster pace; and they pay less in tuition and also borrow less.
A new partnership between Southern New Hampshire University and Salesforce will give students the opportunity to earn college credits for completing Salesforce training badges.
The top five free online courses of all time follow no pattern whatsoever. One covers programming, two are about natural sciences and two others examine brain topics from very different perspectives, and they come from universities all over the world. But all five have one thing in common: They've been judged as the best-ranked by the people who have taken the classes and voted on them through Class Central.
Making videoconferencing available to students who can't attend class in person can improve attendance and student satisfaction, according to a two-year project that took place at Indiana University.
On the heels of wrapping up a 10-year network master plan, Indiana University has gone public with a new plan to undertake a massive upgrade of its network infrastructure. The university said it intends to build up its administrative and learning environment to support a quarter of a million concurrent devices across all of its nine campuses.
New forms of wireless technology are poised to enable emerging tech such as robots, drones, self-driving vehicles and more, according to a recent assessment by Gartner. The research firm identified 10 key wireless trends worth watching as the technology continues to develop over the next five years.
This year coding bootcamps are expected to graduate more than 23,000 developers, an overall growth rate of 705 percent since 2013, according to a recent report by Course Report, and an increase of 49 percent over 2018.
A new report has provided SWOT analyses of seven regions around the world related to digital and distance education. The bottom line: While online learning is on the rise everywhere, programs and courses show great unevenness because of a lack of standards.
The U.S. Department of Education is allowing California's new process for students receiving federal aid despite a change in ED regulations that would have impacted 80,000 online students.
2U is partnering with the London School of Economics and Political Science to offer the company's first online undergraduate degree program.
The University of San Francisco is in the process of moving its student information system to the Ellucian Banner cloud.
Boston University's Questrom School of Business has partnered with edX to create a fully online Master of Business Administration with a total tuition cost of $24,000.
The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign has launched a new set of courses through Coursera that will help prepare non-technical people to tackle technical master's degrees.
Recent reporting by Class Central shed light on a new initiative in Europe among MOOC providers and the universities they work with to launch a program for creating portable credentials for learners. The European MOOC Consortium announced its Common Microcredential Framework in April.
Blackboard has introduced the Blackboard Reporting Stack Developer Tier, the first release on the Blackboard Data platform, which gives colleges and universities direct access to data sets to analyze their learning ecosystem and support institutional goals.
Higher education advisory company EAB is partnering with the National Student Clearinghouse to help institutions boost degree completion, particularly among students who started or expressed interest in college but did not complete an undergraduate degree.
In a recent survey from the AI in Advancement Advisory Council, nearly a third of advancement professionals reported that they're using artificial intelligence in their work or intend to within the next six months, while the remainder have no plans for using AI applications within the year or deploying or researching AI at all.
Northern Virginia Community College is working with the U.S. Marine Corps and Amazon Web Services to develop a set of courses focused on data intelligence.
Americans put little faith in higher education for teaching students what they need to know to prepare for a future that includes artificial intelligence, according to a survey from Gallup and Northeastern University.
Pearson has created an Amazon Alexa skill for its Revel digital courseware product, allowing students to access text audio, homework reminders, class schedules and more via Alexa-enabled devices.
Moving a course from brick-and-mortar to online requires rethinking how you deliver content, replicate in-class interactions and pinpoint areas for improvement.
The FCC is moving forward with a plan to auction off spectrum from the Educational Broadband Service to commercial providers.
The Atlanta University Center Consortium is getting a major investment from the UnitedHealth Group to prepare students for jobs in the data analytics field.
California's community college system has issued 70 grants totaling $27.5 million to help its colleges develop and strengthen career education programs that can be taken online.
About one-third of higher education institutions have budgeted more than $2.5 million annually for on-campus technology and networking services — nearly triple the number of schools with budgets of that size last year.
CT asks Gardner Campbell about a current teaching and learning strategy in which students create and publish their own contributions to Wikipedia articles on the open Web — moving them from information searchers to Wikipedians.
About three-quarters of higher education institutions in a recent survey currently offer wireless coverage for 81 percent to 100 percent of the entire campus.
The majority of colleges and universities — 72 percent — allow students to connect as many devices as they wish to the residential network. But far and away the devices consuming the most bandwidth on campus are smartphones, according to the latest State of ResNet Report from the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International.
South Carolina's Claflin University is working with ed tech startup Upswing to offer a variety of support resources for its online students.
Video technology provider Kaltura has introduced new analytics capabilities for its video platform, including granular data on viewing, engagement and creation.
These two institutions are learning how to use data to reduce the manual effort required in all kinds of activities — from expediting help requests to counting actual software usage to improving student communications.
A new collaboration between edX, Arizona State University and MIT has resulted in an online master's degree program in Supply Chain Management that stacks credits from both universities.
In an effort to expand access to online learning, the University of North Texas is partnering with Coursera to offer non-credit courses in the massive open online format.
Ruckus Networks (acquired by CommScope earlier this year) has introduced two new multigigabit access products.
At the start of the spring 2020 semester this January, Penn State World Campus will have a new artificial intelligence tool for answering the most common requests from its undergraduate students.
The immediate future looks bright for the wireless hardware market, thanks in part to anticipated enterprise adoption of WiFi 6.
A million-dollar grant is helping John Carroll University fine-tune a targeted intervention and early alert system that helps boost student learning and retention.
Online institution Capella University is opening its first brick-and-mortar Campus Center.
Amazon Web Services is releasing three new badges focused on robotics, augmented reality and machine learning.
A new cloud computing degree program will enable students from Northern Virginia Community College to extend their learning opportunities beyond an associate degree to a bachelor's degree at George Mason University.
A new survey from learning platform edX has identified two major skill areas where respondents reported feeling a lack of proficiency in their jobs: data sciences, and business and soft skills.
Cal Poly is working with Amazon Web Services to harness data from Low Earth Orbit satellites through the Satellite Data Solutions Initiative.
How often do you hear comments like "We're just not there yet…" or "This is a technology that is just too slow to adoption…"? CT talks with veteran education technology leader Ellen Wagner, to ask for her perspectives on the adoption of impactful technologies — in particular the factors in our leadership and development communities that have the power to influence change.
The University of San Diego Division of Professional and Continuing Education is working with online coding school Thinkful to provide job training for high-demand tech careers in the greater San Diego area.
In spite of the notion that students could conceivably take online courses from an institution anywhere in the world, two-thirds stick close to home — choosing a college or university within 50 miles of where they live, according to an annual survey of online students done by Wiley company Learning House.
A multi-year campaign to improve student success at Lorain County Community College is seeing positive results. The institution utilized Civitas Learning's student success platform and suite of application to identify common barriers to student persistence and streamline pathways to completion, increasing full-time student retention by nearly 12 percentage points.
Global spending on IT is expected to increase 1.1 percent this year compared to 2018, reaching a total of $3.79 trillion, according to a recent forecast from research firm Gartner.
For the last five years, Gallup has surveyed a national sampling of 75,000 college graduates to understand their post-college "well-being and workplace engagement." Recently, the survey company did the same specifically for graduates of Western Governors University.
The Department of Education has updated the College Scorecard to include information on 2,100 additional postsecondary education options.
Jitterbit's Harmony online application integration service has been updated with 250 features, including a new "connector builder" and an enhanced user interface.
While SRUs do some things well, the current model is not sustainable, with students taking on enormous debt and receiving relatively little income benefit in return. Here's how technology can help change the equation.
MIT will be working with the U.S. Air Force to develop a program that focuses on the rapid deployment of AI solutions to improve Air Force operations.
Internet2 has moved beyond its piloting of "Cloud Connect" and made it generally available to members that want direct access to major cloud services.
Does online learning spend more on technology and less on people? That's the latest question posed by Eduventures Chief Research Officer Richard Garrett, in an essay published on the Encoura website.
As part of the Education Design Lab’s Seamless Transfer Pathways design challenge, four college and university teams are using artificial intelligence, interactive tools and more to address low transfer and completion rates among community college students.
The last day of finals week wasn't a good one for students at Western Michigan University. Two failed routers that were meant to provide redundancy to each other created an "unprecedented computer network failure" at the campus, preventing many students from logging into the network, taking online exams or turning in last-minute assignments.
Jenzabar is adding several analytics tools to its Jenzabar One suite of cloud-based higher education technology products and services.
Software analytics provider SAS is making a major investment in education through the launch of four new offerings that it says will enhance the learning experience.
Arizona State University is expanding its use of an online calculus application with built-in artificial intelligence. Currently, two courses — Calculus for Business and Calculus for Engineering — are using Gradarius from Castle Point Learning Systems, which personalizes the learning based on topics already understood and those still to be learned.
Today, Western Governors University is launching a new competency-based series of courses through an independent entity. According to the institution, the courses to be offered through WGU Academy, as it's called, are intended for students who need a little extra help before they're ready for college.
It isn't often that forward-looking organizations take the time to look backwards too, but that's exactly what Educause has done in its latest Horizon Report. The association for IT professionals in higher education included a section in the report titled "Fail or Scale," which pulled out three technologies — adaptive learning, augmented and mixed reality and gaming and gamification — that have appeared in previous forecasts, to understand what's happened in the intervening years since they were predicted to have wide adoption.
From mobile learning to virtual assistants, these technologies are deemed by the latest Educause Horizon report to be "important to teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in the future."
The latest Educause Horizon Report identifies six trends expected to have a major impact on higher education both in the near future and in the long term.
The latest Educause Horizon report names six major barriers to the innovation, adoption or scale of technology in higher education.
Supercomputing resources at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, hosted at the University of Texas at Austin, played a role in the processing of data related to the recent headline-worthy release of the first image of a black hole.
A new report from Strada Education Network offers key takeaways from last fall's Online Student Success Symposium, a two-day workshop focused on challenges, innovative practices and future opportunities in online learning.
Purdue University is expanding into the corporate learning realm with two new deals with Fortune 500 corporations Cisco Systems and Eli Lilly and Co. The institution worked with each company to create custom courses for their employees, with a focus on providing high-quality content in a flexible online format.
Ten student teams at Pennsylvania State University are competing to develop artificial intelligence solutions as part of the institution's Nittany AI Challenge, a program offering a total of $50,000 in prizes for "developing AI–based solutions that improve the Penn State student experience and/or university operations."
Salesforce.org has announced Education Data Architecture, an expansion of the Higher Education Data Architecture that is the foundation of its Education Cloud.
Colorado State University's College of Business has set up a pilot for what it calls a first for a business school: a blended classroom that connects on-campus and remote students in real time. The approach uses technology from mashme.io for live connectivity and collaboration.
A Wisconsin university has signed on with an online bootcamp to provide crash courses in in-demand tech skills to address the state's job training needs. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Continuing Education is working with coding school Thinkful on the initiative.
A research project at the University of Missouri is using "deep learning" to develop new materials and hopes high-performance computing can speed the process along.
Augmented analytics and “explainable AI” are just two changes to data and analytics technology that should have "significant disruptive potential" over operations in the next three to five years.
No, artificial intelligence can't replace the human brain, and no, we'll never really be able to make AI bias-free.
The Christensen Institute has weighed in on the potential for coding and computer science bootcamps to disrupt traditional higher education. In a new report, "Betting on Bootcamps," the organization, which focuses on "disruptive innovation," has offered five scenarios for the future of these short-term, workforce-aligned training programs that emphasize professional success.
Modest investments in the Internet of Things can have a significant impact on students' journey through college. Here's how one institution implemented IoT tech to provide extra student supports in key areas.
California's Chaffey College is pairing an ERP move to the cloud with a constituent relationship management and analytics rollout to streamline IT processes, enhance business continuity and support a new guided pathways program. The institution is working with Ellucian to implement Ellucian Colleague, Ellucian CRM Advise and Ellucian Analytics as part of a strategic alignment plan.
Watermark is connecting the dots between course evaluations and faculty activity reporting with a new integration aimed at extending the life cycle of institutional data.
Arizona State University is joining forces with The Rise Fund to launch InStride, a new partnership program with employers to provide opportunities for employees to obtain a university education.
Georgetown University is expanding its efforts with Google Cloud to improve the institution's ever-expanding data needs and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration.
Ruffalo Noel Levitz has begun working with Infogix to introduce a solution intended to help colleges and universities tighten up their data governance practices. According to the companies, the arrangement will combine R.N.L.'s work in enrollment and fundraising management with Infogix's data management expertise to help schools do a better job of understanding, tracing and using their data assets.
Udacity is launching a new Nanodegree program on the foundations of C++, the programming language used to code self-driving cars, robotics and other complex autonomous and artificial intelligence software systems.
Prospective students at the University of South Carolina Aiken can now get on-demand support throughout their admissions and enrollment process by communicating with an artificial intelligence chatbot.
Computer-based testing center company Pearson VUE will be embedding new identity verification into its remote testing service.
At Penn State University, campus conversations once centered on digital literacy. Now, they’re focused on digital fluency.
In an effort to improve the IT support experience for students and instructor, Gonzaga University has rolled out virtual assistant technology from noHold that uses artificial intelligence to communicate with users through a chat interface.
Arizona State University intends to co-launch a for-profit company to expand the number of partnerships with corporations for its education programs.
In a typical online course, students are more likely to interact with course materials — 52 percent of the time — than they are with faculty, other students or staff, according to a recent survey from Quality Matters and Eduventures Research.
Where faculty are compelled to work with instructional designers on development of their online courses, students have better outcomes, according to a recent survey from Quality Matters and Eduventures Research
Students who takes classes fully online perform about the same as their face-to-face counterparts, according to 54 percent of the people in charge of those online programs. Another 11 percent of "chief online officers" said the online students did better; and 35 percent said they did worse. Those results came from a recent survey done by Quality Matters and Eduventures Research.
According to IT research firm Gartner, artificial intelligence conversational interfaces, predictive analytics and digital credentialing are among the top technologies that higher education CIOs should be watching this year. The company's analysis of the top 10 strategic technologies impacting higher ed ranges from IT-oriented tech, such as security and risk management, to tools focused on student success, such as nudge tech and career software.
Fully online courses are more likely to drive enrollment growth, according to a recent survey of institutions from Quality Matters and Eduventures Research.
The Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment is partnering with the Aristotle Cloud Federation to help institutions deploy the OpenStack cloud on their campuses.
Dhawal Shah, founder of Class Central, has been tracking the machinations of the MOOC business since before it was a business. Here, he provides perspective on the revenue side of open and online courses.
A recent paper on algorithm development provided some guidance for how to reduce the bias inherent in AI algorithms as well as the harm those biases can have on underprivileged groups.
Education will experience the third-largest growth of any sector, coming in slightly behind government (44.3 percent) and "personal and consumer services" (43.3 percent).
Stanford University is launching a new institute with the mission to "advance artificial intelligence research, education, policy and practice to improve the human condition."
The innovation "is heading on the path to essentially allowing anyone to be a manufacturer."
The use of data analytics and artificial intelligence, the inevitability of data breaches and six other topical subjects made up the latest "State of Higher Education" report from consultancy firm Grant Thornton.
How long is a credit hour? That's the question at the heart of a discussion going on in a committee of distance learning influencers who are part of a negotiated rulemaking process that has met for the last three months to set out a proposal for federal regulation on accreditation for the U.S. Department of Education.
In a recent study on the use of technology to reduce academic costs in liberal arts colleges, four distinct themes emerged: the strategic role of IT; the importance of data; the potential of alternative education delivery modes; and opportunities for institutional partnerships. Here's how IT leaders at these small colleges understand the future of their institutions.
A bipartisan bill would modernize the U.S. Department of Education's college reporting system for post-secondary data.
Purdue University will be working with Chegg, a company that produces online homework help among other lines of business, to amplify its Online Writing Lab services.
Carnegie Mellon University and the Army Research Laboratory are combining their AI efforts under a $72 million R&D agreement.
Could online learning help institutions provide a lower-cost education to more students? That's a question that Richard Garrett, Eduventures chief research officer, examined recently in a brief on the Encoura website. What's needed, Garrett concluded, is a "creative [blend] of in-person and online learning" within institutions to "produce the best mix of cost reduction and high quality."
The North Carolina Community College System is experimenting with machine learning to understand how it might make recommendations for digital learning content.
A "data point" study by the National Center for Education Statistics reported that about a third of high school students in the 2009 to 2013 cohort took dual enrollment classes, mostly at their own schools.
A survey of chief academic officers at public colleges and universities found that while most online courses are taught by full-time faculty, their preparation for and oversight in doing so is highly inconsistent. The survey was undertaken by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities working in tandem with Learning House, a Wiley division that provides online program management services.
Digital academic program management provider 2U is collaborating with LinkedIn and the We Company to give students and faculty in its partner institutions access to new resources.
University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan recently announced plans for the five-campus university to launch an online college intended for adult learners.
Georgetown University wants to create a hub focused on how artificial intelligence and policy intersect.
Transcription and captioning company Verbit has unveiled its real-time transcription product, a Communication Access Real-Time Translation (CART) service that uses a combination of artificial intelligence and human transcribers to generate live closed captions.
Amazon Web Services is investing in educators who use the cloud and distributed computing in their classrooms through a promotional credits program.
Higher education I.T. association Educause recently released a preview of its 2019 Horizon Report, an analysis of the trends and technology developments that are likely to impact higher ed in the short-, mid- and long-term future.
The University System of Maryland is experimenting with the use of massive open online courses to accelerate the path to an advanced degree — and the work has shed light on surprising new benefits of the MOOC format.
Google is helping people who want to launch their computer science careers by delivering a free machine learning "boot camp" at five colleges around the country.
In a recent survey, community college students cited online learning as one of their top five challenges to success. Conducted by researchers from North Carolina State University, the Revealing Institutional Strengths and Challenges Survey polled 50,097 students at 10 community colleges across the United States on the challenges they face in five areas: academic support services; campus environment; finances and financial aid; succeeding in their courses; and work and personal issues.
Is the rate of technology change outpacing your ability to understand its impact, respond to its potential, or adapt to it appropriately? Here, Daniel Christian shares his insights about closing this knowledge gap.
Often, national rankings of universities attempt to highlight those schools providing the greatest opportunities for low-income students. The problem is that they're, well, national: They don't take into account regional factors that may paint a very different picture. A new measure proposed by a couple of economics professors aims to remedy this by allowing universities to judge their recruitment efforts against their own missions and circumstances.
Almost every institution in the California Community Colleges system will be adopting the same cloud-based, systemwide library services platform. The goal is to connect every student to the "most useful, high quality resources" through a uniform application. The platform is expected to replace the various library systems currently in use by participating community colleges in the state and is built on two products produced by ExLibris, which specializes in content applications for higher education.
Indiana University's Research Technologies center has received $1.3 million from the National Science Foundation to fund operations for the Jetstream research computing cloud through 2020.
Florida International University is testing out the use of a virtual learning assistant pegged as "artificial intelligence tutoring" in an online program. The university has begun a pilot with Cognii, an education technology company that uses natural language processing to interact with the student as he or she learns a particular topic, gets assessed on comprehension and receives coaching to master the concepts.
A publishing company that creates digital learning experiences has introduced a new course to help students navigate through difficult obstacles on their path to graduation. Perceivant launched reMIND, which is designed to improve the success of first-generation, low-income college students but is applicable to all undergraduates.
A look back at the topics that resonated most over the last year
From artificial intelligence to STEM education, these technologies and topics are worth paying attention to this year.
Ever-increasing numbers of universities and colleges are teaming up with boot camps to deliver tech training. Does your campus need one too?
An intriguing survey on American attitudes to artificial intelligence found that more people in this country support development of AI (41 percent) than oppose it (22 percent). But there's no consensus on who should handle its governance: Americans place the greatest amount of trust in university researchers to build AI (50 percent), followed by the U.S. military (49 percent). The research comes out of the Center for the Governance of AI in the Future of Humanity Institute, which is part of the University of Oxford.
A Washington, D.C. blizzard was bad enough to knock a day and a half off of the first three-day effort to dig into work on proposed regulations for federal student aid programs. The regulations, authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act, are being undertaken by a "negotiated rulemaking" committee that brings together various stakeholders to hammer out language that the U.S. Department of Education is expected to use for two regulatory areas: accreditation and innovation.
Coursera has partnered with 15 universities to develop a portfolio of health-related online courses to help address the global shortage of skilled workers in the healthcare industry.
In our latest Teaching with Technology Survey, the vast majority of faculty members said they teach in either a fully online or blended format.
Learning engineering has taken many forms since the term was coined by Herbert Simon back in the 1960s. Ellen Wagner, who chairs IEEE's ICICLE SIG on Learning Engineering Among the Professions offers some perspective — from Simon's original insight to LE's application and potential today.
Predictions abound at the beginning of a new year, and Encoura's Eduventures chief research officer, Richard Garrett, has weighed in with three of his own for 2019.
Artificial intelligence is making its way into a variety of education technologies. Here, vendors talk about their current and future work with AI in the higher education space.
EdX has gone public with its latest monetization plans. In an effort to develop a "sustainable long-term business model," the MOOC provider has made changes to both its free and paid options for courses.
Three researchers argue in a recent article in the IEEE magazine that it's time to create an engineering discipline in more colleges and universities as well as vocational schools focused on the Internet of Things and cyber-physical systems.
Coursera today launched a three-course specialization that lays the groundwork for certification in SAS analytics skills. The SAS Programming Specialization "takes learners from the basics through what they need to become SAS certified," according to a news announcement.
The U.S. Senate passed a bill on Thursday to improve the way that the IRS and Department of Education communicate information for FAFSA applications.
Gen Zers aren't shy about saying money motivates them to learn. According to a survey conducted online for LinkedIn in October among 3,072 adults working full time, the top two reasons these individuals consider learning important is to improve at their jobs and to make more money.
Will artificial intelligence make most people better off over the next decade, or will it redefine what free will means or what a human being is? A new report by the Pew Research Center has weighed in on the topic by conferring with some 979 experts, who have, in summary, predicted that networked AI "will amplify human effectiveness but also threaten human autonomy, agency and capabilities."
Cornell University and r4 Technologies, a company that produces an artificial intelligence platform, are collaborating on a cross-disciplinary endeavor that will eventually introduce required undergraduate courses in data science and AI. The partnership will also launch a program in which master's students will work in teams to tackle real-world projects for r4 and other companies.
There's no consistency in how employment data is collected or reported, according to a report recently produced by the Institute for College Access & Success. The result is a "patchwork" of data that makes comparing programs and colleges "nearly impossible."
According to a new report, the four areas where artificial intelligence could prove most beneficial in higher education are: student acquisition; learning and instruction; student affairs; and institutional efficiency. The report was developed by online program management company Learning House.
If the United States wants to maintain its leadership stance in the world for development and use of artificial intelligence, it's time to adopt a national strategy. That's the conclusion of a report developed by the Center for Data Innovation, a self-described thinktank that studies the "intersection of data, technology and public policy."
Indiana University led the creation of an on-demand cloud platform that extends scientific and research computing resources to more higher education communities.
Enrollment in artificial intelligence introductory courses in the United States grew by 3.4 times between 2012 and 2017, and introductory machine learning classes grew by five times during that same period. That's according to the latest AI Index 2018 Report, a rich collection of data intended to serve as a "comprehensive resource" for anybody interested in the field. The information was contributed by universities, companies, consultancies and associations.
The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and College Consortium recently hammered out an online course-sharing initiative. The program is intended to help the private schools increase course access to students, with all kinds of benefits.
The share of college students taking online courses has grown, up by about 6 percent, even as the overall number of people enrolled in higher education institutions dropped by about half a percent. According to preliminary numbers issued by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, of the 20.1 million students enrolled in fall 2017, 6.7 million were taking at least one distance education class, representing 33 percent of the total — a boost from 31 percent in the previous year.
FLEXspace, the Flexible Learning Environments eXchange, has changed over time, starting out in 2013 as a great place to showcase and exemplify learning spaces, then rapidly growing to include a comprehensive toolset for planning and assessing these spaces, and now connecting a vibrant research community. Here, CT gets an update from FLEXspace.org pioneers Lisa Stephens and Rebecca Frazee.
Campus IT leaders aren't wildly enthusiastic about the investments in technology their institutions are making. In just a single area — student recruitment — do at least half of these individuals (52 percent) rate the IT investment "very effective." That's according to the latest the Campus Computing Survey, produced by Kenneth Green.
Microsoft is the latest company to join a program at Carnegie Mellon University to experiment with "edge" computing, the idea of bringing computing and storage resources closer to the user to reduce latency and data traffic. The university's Open Edge Computing Initiative is running a set of projects to help researchers and industry understand the benefits and limitations of this technological approach.
California State University Long Beach is turning to online crowdsourcing to help map out its future. Using a platform developed by game designer and researcher Jane McGonigal, "Imagine Beach 2030" invited participants to share their ideas and provide feedback on others' ideas during two days in November.
An Ohio institution is applying predictive analytics to grow its enrollment. Beginning in early 2019, Wittenberg University, a private nonprofit, will be applying predictive analytics services from SightLine, as it aims to expand enrollment from 1,900 students currently to 2,100 by 2020.
The University of California Berkeley is setting up a new division dedicated to data sciences to build on the momentum it already has in the discipline. The new Division of Data Sciences connects departments from the College of Engineering, the College of Letters & Science and the School of Information.
Arizona State University is partnering with Amazon Web Services to create the ASU Smart City Cloud Innovation Center to build smarter communities in the Phoenix area.
The University of Oxford's Saïd Business School is using cutting-edge videoconferencing technology to connect students and academic scholars in a truly global classroom.
A joint study involving researchers from MIT, the University of Michigan and the Wikimedia Foundation has identified why so many Wikipedia disputes unresolved and developed predictive tools to help improve editorial deliberations.
Personalized communication matters in higher education. According to a recent survey, not only did students say they'd be more likely to choose a school that personalized its communications to them during the recruitment process, but alumni said they'd probably donate more often if they knew their money was funding organizations or projects they were involved with themselves as students. Those results surfaced during a survey undertaken on behalf of education technology company Ellucian by Wakefield Research.
Microsoft is hoping to replace the concept of the physical computer lab on campus with its cloud-based version. The company already has DevTest Labs for test environments. Now it's promoting Azure Lab Services to enable a campus to set up an environment, provision Windows or Linux virtual machines, install the software and tools that are needed and make them available to users.
Microsoft has introduced a new series of open access courses on cybersecurity that can be taken for free or, for more formal recognition, as a certificate program for a fee. The Microsoft Professional Program Cybersecurity track includes 12 courses — 10 of which must be completed successfully to earn the certificate. The program is hosted on edX and includes labs, community interaction and quizzes. Content is delivered online through videos.
Facebook is launching Learn with Facebook, a career development site offering training, tools and resources aimed at helping people access new job opportunities.
Virginia's Liberty University has updated its stadium network infrastructure as part of an overall remodel undertaken as part of its decision to move its football team into a new NCAA division for the start of the 2019 season.
Google has set aside a $25 million pool to fund research work by schools and other organizations using machine learning for "social good."
A company that produces commercial and open source software for big data analysis has also launched a university program. Participants in the H2O.ai Academic Program will receive free use of specific tools for educational purposes, support in building machine learning courses and access to an academic Slack community, the company's online training tools and courses, and guest lectures delivered by its data science experts.
Southern New Hampshire University, which in a few short years has transformed itself into an online learning powerhouse, is merging with LRNG, a nonprofit organization focused on workforce and education needs of urban communities.
Online program manager 2U has signed a 15-year contract extension with one institutional client and announced a new suite of online "short courses" with two others.
South Carolina has introduced free coding education for all of its residents through an agreement between the state's Department of Commerce Office of Innovation and Build Carolina, a nonprofit that generates internships, apprenticeships and other education endeavors in innovative fields.
Dartmouth University has joined the Aristotle Cloud Federation, the federated cloud-based research computing project established by Cornell University and its partners, the University at Buffalo and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Georgetown University's enterprise-wide constituent relationship management system provides a holistic view of students, faculty and alumni, enables proactive advising and promotes lifelong, meaningful interactions with the institution.
The University of North Dakota has teamed up with for-profit training company Woz U to provide short-term technology education programs. The institution is including the courses provided by Steve Wozniak's education company as part of its "personal & professional development" catalog.
A research project at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is exploring the use of flipped teaching in science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses.
In the coming year, IT organizations in colleges and universities expect to be grappling with "data-enabling" their institutions, funding, and setting up their units as institutional leaders and change agents. That's what IT leaders told Educause in its latest survey to determine the top 10 IT issues for higher education.
Gardner Campbell tells CT that faculty development programs, even when they focus on operational, procedural, or technical details, can and should reflect higher education's fundamental values and principles, provide time and space for insight, and encourage deep thinking about higher purposes.
The National Science Foundation’s Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program is getting more support from the federal agency in the form of a $78.2 million portfolio of technology projects.
A new laboratory experience at Rice University is giving students ample opportunities to tackle real-world problems in data science. The Houston institution's new Center for Transforming Data to Knowledge allows learners to work directly with companies, academic labs, government agencies and nonprofits.
The University of Colorado Boulder has formally introduced a "remote presence" technology to enable students who can't be physically present in a course to attend remotely. Kubi is a robotic neck that holds a tablet and is controllable by the remote user to allow him or her to look around the room through a Zoom videoconference meeting.
A new College of Computing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will focus on the global opportunities and challenges of computing and the rise of artificial intelligence. The Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, made possible by a $350 million gift from Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, will nearly double MIT's academic capabilities in computing and AI, adding 50 new faculty positions within the college and jointly with other departments across the institution.
The Khan Academy has launched a new series of videos focused on civics for students in K-12 and higher education — and anybody else interested in learning how government works in the United States.
YouTube, a Google company, has announced plans to invest $20 million in YouTube Learning, an initiative hinted at during the summer. The goal: "to support education-focused creators and expert organizations that create and curate high-quality learning content on the video site."
Drexel University created an open source website to showcase leading technologies, practices and research in virtual education.
A new report from Deloitte Insights and Georgia Tech examines a variety of ways public university systems can become more economically efficient.
IT analyst firm Gartner has named its top 10 trends for 2019, and the "immersive user experience" is on the list, alongside blockchain, quantum computing and seven other drivers influencing how we interact with the world. The annual trend list covers breakout tech with broad impact and tech that could reach a tipping point in the near future.
Even as online enrollments continued growing (3 percent last year) while overall higher education enrollments fell, a new survey among deans and directors has uncovered a "mismatch" between the online programs they help deliver and student preferences. These kinds of disconnects, according to a report on the findings, result in "mass-market opportunities that are being lost" by the institutions. The project was undertaken by the Association for Continuing Higher Education and Learning House.
A new initiative at Trinity College is tasked with preparing students for the digital workplace of the future. The college has partnered with Infosys, a provider of consulting, technology and next-generation services, to establish the Trinity-Infosys Applied Learning Initiative.
A team of seven Penn State undergraduates received $30,000 to continue development of an application to help students figure out the shortest path to graduation. "LionPlanner" won first place in a competition that challenged students to use artificial intelligence to solve real problems.
Southern Connecticut State University has spent 10-plus years homing in on factors that really contribute to student success — and how best to help keep students on track.
Learners who complete a M.I.T.x. MicroMasters credential in Data, Economics, and Development Policy or Supply Chain Management can now apply their work toward a Master of Liberal Arts degree at Harvard Extension School.
Online learning destination EdX today announced nine new master's degree programs, which offer a top-ranked, high-quality alternative to an on-campus degree at a fraction of the cost, according to the company. Three of the programs, in fact, are from top-10-ranked institutions and priced at under $10,000.
A new two-year online college opening in January 2019 promises to instill the "future-proofed" skills students will need for management jobs that are ubiquitous and growing. Intended for working adults in the United States, Foundry College will be granting free tuition for the entire two years for its first cohort.
Some of the University of Michigan's most innovative strategies for online learning are based on values held throughout its 200-plus year history. Here, U-M's associate vice provost for academic innovation explains why Michigan Online — a relatively recent initiative — brings communities of motivated learners together, both to learn together and to apply their knowledge to solving significant problems.
Houston Community College launched a new online college, HCC Online, with 31 fully online programs, including 15 associate degree-level and 16 certificate offerings in both academic and workforce areas.
A company that specializes in "conversational" artificial intelligence for sales professionals just turned its attention to the realm of higher education: Conversica has launched a version of its service specifically for helping the admissions department. Admissions Assistant can help by contacting and engaging prospective students through e-mail as part of the recruitment and admissions processes.
With more employers looking for specialized skill sets, the University of Connecticut's Operations and Information Management Innovate initiative is working to give students real-life experience with 3D printing, internet of things, virtual reality and microcontrollers. In 2018, the program started to work with the university's Spring Valley Student Farm to deploy sensors and data analytics to help monitor real-time conditions in its aquaponics greenhouse.
Amazon Web Services has put its Storage Gateway — for connecting on-premises applications to AWS storage services — into a hardware appliance.
For Puerto Rico's Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, the process of restoring campus systems after Hurricane Maria led to new opportunities for active learning and community engagement.
A new self-evaluation tool from the Online Learning Consortium measures the services and supports in place for online students.
In an effort to increase degree attainment for non-traditional students, Ohio's Central State University is rolling out Oracle's Student Management product for student recruiting, engagement and support.
Talari Networks announced a new offering targeting the growing software-defined wide-area-network space, highlighting connectivity to multiple cloud services.
The ninth release of the OpenDaylight software-defined networking and network functions virtualization platform is out, adding new functionality and marking adoption gains.
Salesforce.org today announced a number of updates to its Education Cloud platform, including enhancements to its Salesforce Advisor Link product, new features for developing alumni and donor relationships, new Higher Education Data Architecture capabilities and an expansion to Education Cloud data architecture for K-12 institutions.
The University of Pennsylvania will become the first Ivy League college to offer an online bachelor's degree program in the fall of 2019.
Computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have invented a new machine learning model for object recognition that incorporates audio descriptions (versus transcripts of audio) along with images.
This coming January, the University of Oregon is launching its first coding bootcamp: a 24-week, part-time web development program geared toward adult learners and working professionals.
Washington State University has made a deal with Examity to use its online proctoring platform exclusively for up to 18,000 exams per year. And that number is expected to grow by 20 percent over the next seven years, according to a news announcement.
A new study found that organizations across sectors, including education, are hard put to keep pace with new developments in the networking industry.
When you can bring huge numbers of students together with lots of well-branded universities and global enterprises seeking a highly skilled workforce, could those linkages be strong enough to forge a new future for massive open online courses?
The latest version of ProctorU's Live+ online proctoring solution is using artificial intelligence to add a "second set of eyes" to live human proctoring.
In a recent survey from Champlain College Online, 41 percent of respondents said they would consider returning to college for a cybersecurity degree or certificate in order to prepare for a cybersecurity job. And 72 percent would be willing to do the same if their current employer would pay for their training.
Samuel Conn, president and CEO of NJEdge talks about his organization's priority of fostering "excellence in education through the effective use of technology".
Columbus State Community College created a multimedia e-book for English composition students that reduces textbook costs and reimagines the ways learners engage with course material.
Two universities will be working with international digital media intelligence firm Meltwater on artificial intelligence research. Both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Oxford have announced projects that use the company's AI platform. Fairhair.ai, as it's called, provides tools for building AI models and doing advanced analytics.
Imagine the process of going into a restaurant and ordering food. Simultaneously, you could be glancing through the menu while also listening to and speaking with the waiter or your companions. When you're in a place where people are speaking a different language, the complexity of those activities increases multifold. A project taking place at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute hopes to understand how the use of an immersive environment and artificial intelligence can help students practice foreign language skills and increase their confidence when speaking.
In response to greater faculty and student demand for faster internet speeds, Valdosta State University has expanded its bandwidth capacity from 2 gigabits per second to 5.
When Arizona State University Online students hit the biology lab, they head to their locker, don a lab coat and gloves and start following through on the exercises they've been assigned, perhaps taking blood samples from basketball players to measure their blood glucose levels, using confocal microscopy to help a farmer save his crop from a mysterious plant disease or sequencing DNA. Except these students haven't left their own study spaces. They're tackling these activities through virtual reality, which means they can take as long as they want, repeat the activity multiple times and get feedback from the software when they get something right or wrong.
Amazon has chosen recipients from higher education institutions around the world to receive Alexa Fellowships. The goal: to help people dedicate research energy to exploring speech and language technologies.
This week, Saint Louis University will open up for move-in, when students begin occupying their dorm rooms and apartments. They'll be greeted by Amazon Alexa-enabled devices primed and ready to answer questions about the university and the campus experience.
Education technology company ProctorU announced that it has integrated automated online proctoring into Pearson's MyLab product set.
By nature, an initiative that employs data analytics for student advising is built on the latest technology. But for Syracuse University, technology is always looked upon as a path to a solution; not a driver of change in itself. Find out why understanding campus culture is central to the university's "Orange SUccess" initiative.
A study undertaken jointly by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and education technology companies Blackboard and VitalSource found that early activity with digital tools is a "strong predictor" of passing a class — even more so than the grade point average a student enters the class with.
IBM is introducing two new Professional Certificate programs on the edX platform, focused on emerging tech in artificial intelligence: deep learning and chatbots.
Foundations of Science, a set of tools that will use machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide personalized support for students in college-level science courses, has taken the top prize in New York University's inaugural Algorithm for Change competition.
GitHub has released four new courses on its Learning Lab, an online learning hub intended for people "of all skill levels."
The Certified Lesson Planning Specialist is a set of online courses designed for educators who want to see what flipped classes look like and hear from peers about the reasons for their instructional choices.
The California State University system has hit its share of potholes as it tests predictive analytics to forecast student performance in high-failure-rate courses. Here are its lessons learned.
Hobsons has introduced a number of enhancements to its Starfish Analytics product aimed at better understanding barriers to student achievement.
The University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science is launching its first fully online master's degree. Delivered on Coursera, the online Master of Computer and Information Technology costs a total of $26,300, about a third of the cost of its on-campus equivalent.
Loyola Marymount University is rolling out the Echo360 cloud-based video platform in more than 100 classrooms. Key factors behind the implementation include the need to provide students with consistent, on-demand access to their courses on any device, as well as ease-of-use for faculty, according to a news announcement.
A new center at Columbia University will focus on research and innovation in blockchain technology. The institution partnered with IBM to create the Columbia-IBM Center for Blockchain and Data Transparency, which will "combine cross-disciplinary teams from the academic, scientific, business and government communities to explore key issues related to the policy, trust, sharing and consumption of digital data when using blockchain and other privacy-preserving technologies," according to a news announcement.
Unizin's Data Platform has a new dimension for analyzing student success: data on the reading and writing process. The consortium of 25 U.S. universities partnered with Turnitin to "give college and university instructors better data about how students write and revise their work," according to a news announcement.
The Online Learning Consortium has introduced a series of original reports to keep people in education up-to-date on the latest developments in the field of digital learning. The first report covers accessibility and addresses both K-12 and higher education. The series is being produced by O.L.C.'s Research Center for Digital Learning & Leadership.
Google is seeking beta testers for Course Kit, a free toolkit that uses Google Docs and Google Drive to create and collect assignments, give feedback to students and share course materials within the learning management system already being used.
At the BbWorld conference taking place this week in Orlando, Blackboard introduced a new version of CourseSites, a free platform for individual instructors to deliver e-learning.
Rice University has intoduced a new program geared toward working adults looking to bone up on their data science skills. The 24-week Data Analytics Boot Camp was developed in partnership with workforce acclerator Trilogy Education.
Social Science One, an independent research commission formed to give scholars a way to conduct research about private industry data, is kicking off its first project: analyzing Facebook data to better understand the role of social media on elections and democracy. The organization comes out of an initiative Facebook announced in April in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, to make its data available for academic research while protecting the privacy of its users.
Coursera is now allowing for A/B testing on its MOOC platform. This lets instructors and researchers test a single variable to see how it affects some aspect of the course, such as participation. As a Coursera blog article explained, the testing is done by "randomizing enrollees into different versions of the same course" and then seeing what impact the change-up makes on the "learning outputs."
A recent survey among IT, housing and business people at colleges and universities found that the number of schools with a strategic plan incorporating the ResNet has fallen from 62 percent in 2017 to 52 percent this year.
For the first time, smartphones top the list for having the greatest potential impact on bandwidth consumption on campus, surpassing desktop computers and laptops. In a survey on residential networks ("ResNets"), respondents consisting of IT, housing and business people at colleges and universities were asked to rate a list of devices based on the impact each could have on bandwidth consumption for the ResNet in coming years. iPhones and Androids were rated as having the most severe impact among 73 percent of survey participants, an 11 percentage point jump over 2017.
UCLA's chief privacy officer talks about the differences between privacy and information security in higher education along with the need to consider opportunities as well as risks.
What do students want in the learning activities for their online STEM courses? They'd prefer more real-life problems to solve and instructional resources such as simulations, case studies, videos and demonstrations, according to a research project from the Center for Distributed Learning at the University of Central Florida
With a $4 million Mellon grant, Stanford Libraries is leading the shift to a "linked data" metadata environment.
As colleges and universities seek innovations that will allow them to address their current crop of challenges — a growing number of non-traditional students, a bigger emphasis on workforce preparation, the use of data and new technologies to improve learning — accreditors can help or hinder those efforts. A new report from the Christensen Institute has suggested that until accreditation bodies do a better job across the board of helping their institutions by supporting innovation, they're just getting in the way and allowing unaccredited schools to hold the competitive advantage.
Five organizations with expertise in online education have collaborated on a new resource for students looking for online programs. Together, Berkeley College, the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements, the Online Learning Consortium, Quality Matters and the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies formulated a list of questions students should ask themselves in order to find an online program that best fits their needs.
Universities share how the expanding Internet of Things is impacting their institutions, from the sheer volume of data to staffing issues and the overall potential for students.
A network revamp at the University of Minnesota is providing wireless connectivity for 48,000 students, 18,000 faculty and staff and 116,000 unique devices daily. It has also boosted the institution's capacity for secure authentication of Internet of Things devices such as game consoles, Amazon Echos, Google Homes and others.
Starting this fall, Google's IT Support Professional Certificate will be available through more than 25 community colleges in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas, California and New York. The company's charitable arm, Google.org, is funding workforce development nonprofit J.F.F. to help community colleges integrate the certificate into their IT education programs.
An organization that has blocked efforts to allow the federal collection of student outcomes data on the basis of protecting student privacy rights has come out in support of an alternative approach being kicked around in Congress. The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities issued a statement recently in support of legislation that would bypass the idea of a central federal database but still enable the generation of insights about how students fare after graduation.
In spite of the fact that nine in 10 people believe online and distance learning programs will grow in popularity over time, seven in 10 don't think that students can a get a "true college experience" from an online-only program. That drops to five in 10 for those students who have attended a blended learning course. Those results surfaced in "Online Education Trendspots," a survey intended to understand experiences and perceptions of online or distance education programs.
Class Central recently made a list of all the courses it could locate that are part of for-credit programs and are still free to access. There are 370 of them, according to the company, which operates an online MOOC search engine and curates a MOOC catalog. The search found offerings from 49 different universities, with subjects "spanning technology, business, the arts and engineering."
This fall, Northern Virginia Community College will offer a Cloud Computing specialization for its Information Systems Technology associate of applied science degree. The college worked with Amazon Web Services' A.W.S. Educate program to create the new degree offering, which is "designed to address one of the most pressing skill-demands in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and the nation," according to a news announcement.
H2O.ai, an artificial-intelligence platform producer, is partnering with AI4ALL, an Oakland, CA-based nonprofit working to increase diversity and inclusion in AI and to educate future AI workers about how it can be a force for social good. The goal: to democratize AI.
In a survey of 1,500 "past, present and prospective fully online students," most are taking advantage of — or want — the option to use smartphones or tablets for their class work. Among current and past students, 67 percent completed at least some of their online coursework on a mobile device. The research was conducted by Learning House and Aslanian Market Research.
In a survey of 1,500 online students, most considered the value of their degree equal to or greater than the cost they paid to take it. Among those who have attended face-to-face and online courses, the majority said that online learning is as good as or better than attending courses on campus. The survey was conducted by Learning House and Aslanian Market Research.
A research project at MIT has developed an algorithm in which a constantly updating network — of sensors, drones or data-sharing vehicles — minimizes how much new information is received at any moment to avoid data congestion, while still keeping the most important data "as fresh as possible." Right now, the approach works for "simple" networks; but eventually, the team expects to tackle complex ones as well.
Information about students has become fair game for data brokers, which don't adhere to any protective measures currently in place, according to a new study by Fordham University's Center on Law and Information Policy. As "Transparency and the Marketplace for Student Data" reported, lists of student information are widely available for purchase "on the basis of ethnicity, affluence, religion, lifestyle, awkwardness and even a perceived or predicted need for family planning services." Those who trade in student information are governed under no federal privacy law.
MOOC provider edX will be moving away from its current model of offering almost everything free. The nonprofit announced last month that the decision was intended to help it and its partners "achieve sustainability." The first charge to be introduced is a "modest" support fee, according to a blog post on the change.
Among those who view the internet as a "bad" thing for society, the most common issue that stood out (cited by 25 percent) was how it isolates people or pushes them to spend too much time on devices. Sixteen percent talked about the spread of fake news; 14 percent were concerned about its impact on children; and 13 percent suggested that it "encourages illegal activity."
Google and Udacity have teamed up to offer 12 free career courses for recent graduates, mid-career professionals and those re-entering the workforce. The duo tested out the concept in March, when Udacity launched a "Networking for Career Success" course for 60,000 "Grow with Google" learners in Europe and the United States.
How can institutions respond to the challenges of dwindling enrollments and vanishing state budgets, while leveraging the important role faculty have in strategic change? CT talks with NCHEMS President Sally Johnstone.
An online educator offers a way to get your e-mails noticed — and get a few laughs.
Microsoft and a UK-based institution have teamed up to launch a "future of fashion" incubator, a short-term intensive program where students work together on multi-disciplinary projects. The London College of Fashion, a constituent college of the University of Arts London, co-created curriculum with Microsoft for the semester-long program, which brings together students from the Fashion Business School, the School of Design & Technology and the School of Media & Communication.
A new report has recommended continuation of a pilot to allow high school students to use Pell grants to cover the costs of college courses. The Alliance for Excellent Education is pushing Congress to consider the test involving early college high schools and dual-enrollment programs because it believes the move could boost college enrollment and completion.
A startup based in Israel has raised $11 million to expand the growth of its solution for doing artificial-intelligence-powered transcription. Verbit technology, according to the company, will be helpful to schools in addressing the Americans with Disabilities Act regulation.
A competition hosted by the NYU Tandon School of Engineering is challenging humans to create algorithms for producing adaptive settlements in Minecraft. (These are the villages and cities and other environments that players create at will in the online game.) The competition addresses a fairly new area of inquiry for machine learning in games: how to develop algorithms that can design rather than play.
The California State University and California Community Colleges systems have teamed up to launch a new online course finder that will provide students enrolled at either set of institutions access to more than 10,000 online, transferable classes. "Finish Faster," as it's called, is part of the Online Education Initiative, a collaborative effort among several community colleges in the state to push students to finish their educational goals faster.
The University of Michigan's Office of Academic Innovation has launched a new portal, Michigan Online, to bring all of the university's digital learning opportunities together in one place. The new site serves as gateway to more than 120 programs, including massive open online courses, certificates, teach-outs, specializations, Xseries courses, micromasters and more.
Western Governors University made the offer for people who want to earn their bachelor's or master's degree in education and aren't already enrolled there.
With the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation looming, colleges and universities in the United States are working out how to achieve compliance.
A new nonprofit has formed to focus on "identifying and supporting global standards for flipped learning and related active learning instruction." Known as the Academy of Active Learning Arts and Sciences, the organization was created out of the Flipped Learning Global Initiative's Global Standards Project, an effort to establish an international framework for flipped learning.
Research suggests that blended learning is more effective than both face-to-face and online education, according to a new e-book released by the Online Learning Consortium and academic publisher Routledge.
For all the talk of technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics doing away with the human element in corporate life, well trained human beings are still an essential ingredient. In fact, if the current skills gap remains unplugged, by 2030 the world will see "tens of millions of unfilled jobs and trillions of dollars in unrealized revenue," according to a new study.
Less than a year after Rice University in Houston announced plans to introduce a new online master of business administration with program management company 2U, the institution said it would work with the company to deliver master's-level "online short courses" in business and management as well. The first short course to be offered by Rice and 2U will be project management, expected to launch this fall.
All college students in one Canadian province will receive access to Lynda.com courses. The Ontario government has signed an agreement with LinkedIn, a Microsoft company that owns Lynda.com, to provide skills training through LinkedIn Learning that will help post-secondary students "prepare for the jobs of the future."
Carnegie Mellon University has unveiled plans to launch an undergraduate degree program in artificial intelligence this fall. Offered through the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, the program will be the first undergrad degree in AI offered in the nation, according to information released by the university.
Cornell University's Department of Sociology is offering five large introductory courses that have been reimagined as part of the College of Arts and Science's Active Learning Initiative. The initiative is remaking discussion sections and lectures, in part by better relating them to one another. Other changes include clicker polls, short data analysis assignments and "think-pair-share" activities.
A student team at Penn State University has created Aspire, an application to help students map out their college careers by offering A.I.-generated recommendations on experiences and skills needed for their dream jobs after graduation. Another team is using machine learning to scale up competency-based learning by integrating human and algorithmic grading for instant student feedback. These are two of the five prototypes students, faculty and staff at the university are working on as part of this year's Nittany A.I. Challenge. The artificial intelligence challenge is overseen by Penn State's EdTech Network, which builds relationships between the campus and industry.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is upgrading its network in an effort to better serve students and employees, streamline the network infrastructure and support emerging technologies like the Internet of Things. The university decided to deploy approximately 3,200 Aruba gigabit WiFi access points and Aruba 303H access points, which are designed specifically for housing and hospitality environments; Aruba access and core switches; network management solutions AirWave and I.M.C.; and ClearPass for additional security.
One out of every 10 students who fail to graduate from their college or university have already completed 90 percent or more of the credits they need for a degree, according to a new analysis from Civitas Learning. And nearly one in five students who do not graduate have completed 75 percent or more of their credits. The student success company analyzed data from 53 institutions (30 community colleges and 23 four-year universities), totaling more than 300,000 students, to better understand "near-completer" students and how institutions can target their support services to improve graduation rates.
U.S.-based advisory, tax and audit firm Grant Thornton has issued its seventh annual report on "the state of higher education." Among its many topics of interest: preparing for social media risks, building quality into IT systems, outsourcing via a shared services consortium and preparing for disruption. The report's articles, which include general guidance, are developed by its practitioners working in the field at 200 colleges and universities on new projects and programs.
The rise of analytics in higher education raises questions about the responsible use of student data. Here are some of the issues and how institutions are dealing with them.
Two institutions, one in the United States and the other in France, have announced partnerships with industry to accelerate their research and development work in the area of artificial intelligence. Carnegie Mellon University has teamed up with Sony Corporation of America to collaborate on AI and robotics in the areas of cooking and delivery, and the École Polytechnique in Paris is working with Google France to fund a new academic and research chair in AI. The goal of that position is to attract AI talent to the institution and begin programs of training for students in the field.
After acquiring the rights to the New Media Consortium's Horizon project earlier this year, Educause has now published a preview of the 2018 Higher Education Edition of the Horizon Report — research that was in progress at the time of N.M.C.'s sudden dissolution. The report covers the key technology trends, challenges and developments expected to impact higher ed in the short-, mid- and long-term future.
Unizin, the consortium of 25 colleges and universities focused on improving teaching and learning with technology, is turning to the Google Cloud as the foundation for an "interoperable, standards-driven ecosystem for teaching and learning data." The Unizin Data Platform will allow member universities to securely store, integrate and analyze student data and leverage those insights to improve student outcomes.
Two-year institutions consider learning analytics more important than institutional analytics (those that improve operational efficiency), while four-year institutions believe the opposite. In a survey of 200 college and university leaders, 52 percent of two-year leaders favored learning analytics over institutional analytics, while just 35 percent of four-year schools did the same. The survey was sponsored by Ellucian, a major technology company serving higher education, and managed by Ovum, which contacted survey participants by phone. Respondents included presidents, provosts, chief financial officers and CIOs or CTOs.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently held the M.I.T. Policy Hackathon, an event that brought together data science, engineering and policy students to come up with solutions to real problems brought by the event's organizers. Participants were given access to datasets from government, education and nonprofit institutes and asked to tackle problems in fields such as transportation, the future of work, cybersecurity, energy and climate and health.
Four research teams at the University of Michigan will explore the intersection of music and data science thanks to the support of the Michigan Institute for Data Science's Data Science for Music Challenge Initiative. The challenge asked participants to propose research projects that applied data science tools such as data mining or machine learning to the study of areas such as music theory, the connection between music and words, performance and more.
The Statistics and Data Science Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is launching a new online micromasters in statistics and data science. Currently under development by M.I.T. faculty, the program will be available through edX in the fall and will feature a curriculum covering foundational knowledge of data science's methods and tools, in-depth coverage of probability and statistics and opportunities to experiment with data analysis techniques and machine learning algorithms.
Should higher education institutions invest money in their innovation efforts? Most colleges don't seem to think so. A survey among U.S. academic administrators found that while 91 percent of institutions reference innovation in their strategic or academic plans, just 40 percent have a dedicated budget for innovation. According to "The State of Innovation in Higher Education," a report from the Online Learning Consortium and Learning House, without earmarked funds to support innovation efforts, formal planning goals backing innovation may not succeed.
A study at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that in a health science course following the flipped classroom model, there was no statistically significant differences in test scores or students' assessments of their course, compared to a traditional lecture course.
Recognizing that data science is becoming the lingua franca of the 21st century, Purdue University has kicked off a new initiative to embed it in courses, physical spaces and industry collaborations. According to campus officials, the new Integrative Data Science Initiative will make data science education a part of every student's learning experiences on campus, no matter what field he or she is studying.
Crypto currency is funding development of ODEM, an "on-demand" education marketplace with aspirations of replacing or supplementing a college education. ODEM, which deals in digital tokens on several crypto-currency trading platforms, recently announced completion of its "crowdsale," selling more than 100 million ODEM tokens, equivalent to about $9.6 million at the current trading rate. The company said the proceeds will be used to fund on-going development of a blockchain-based service that brings students, instructors and other professionals together online to buy and sell education.
Many postsecondary professional schools are recognizing that they must develop innovative programs to address the changing environment that surrounds them as well as the new requirements their graduates currently face. Here, CT talks with Dean and Professor of Information Thomas A. Finholt at the University of Michigan School of Information to find out what changes UMSI is anticipating.
Universities that contract with an online program management company tend to outperform those that go it on their own, according to research by Eduventures. On average, schools working with O.P.M. providers have seen a five-year online enrollment increase significantly above that of peers.
Online courses are associated with higher retention and graduation rates, increased access and cost savings of as much as 50 percent, according to a new study from Arizona State University.
NYC Data Science Academy, a provider of bootcamp-style data science and data engineering training in New York City, has launched a remote option for students who are not able to attend in-person classes. The Remote Intensive Bootcamp offers live-streamed lectures plus access to prerecorded modules and more than 1,000 practice questions. Students attend full-time, five days a week; the first cohort began this week and runs through June 29.
Data and assessment company Campus Labs is expanding its analytics platform with the acquisition of Chalk & Wire. Chalk & Wire's learning assessment and credentialing tools will "allow Campus Labs to provide enhanced and integrated ways to assess student learning [and] unlock the power of student learning across varied, measurable learning paths," according to a news announcement.
EdX has its "MicroMasters" program. Now Coursera has introduced the "MasterTrack." The massive open online course provider recently announced that it will pilot three MasterTrack certificate programs in coming months: one at the University of Michigan and two others at the University of Illinois. The news came during Coursera's partners conference, hosted at Arizona State University. The idea: to parcel up degrees in small, more digestible chunks for prospective students.
MOOC provider turned for-profit educational provider Udacity has launched a new "School of Artificial Intelligence," which features four "nanodegrees" covering AI and machine learning. Each program has tuition and a set period in which to participate and complete the lessons. The courses consist of video lectures, personalized project reviews and a dedicated mentor. Those who successfully finish the program receive certification.
A pilot effort at the University of Texas is joining forces with the U.S. Census Bureau to track post-college outcomes for UT graduates living across the country. The goal: addressing "a major gap in the federal statistical infrastructure for education statistics," said John Abowd, chief scientist and associate director for research and methodology at the Census Bureau.
Panopto has added support for the NewTek NDI standard to its lecture capture system. This allows Panopto's software to be used in conjunction with NDI-enabled devices, including IP-based cameras.
The Rochester Institute of Technology will host DataFest, a national undergraduate data hackathon, for the second consecutive year later this week. Sponsored by the American Statistical Association, the competition asks teams of students from any major and at any point in their data science education "to tackle what's probably the richest, most complex dataset you've seen so far provided by a real-life organization," according to information on the RIT DataFest site.
This frequency could provide a cost-effective link between cellular and WiFi.
The majority of online education leaders agree that most relied-upon metrics currently in use by online programs are student retention and graduation rates and student course/program evaluations, according to a recent survey from Quality Matters and Eduventures Research. While those two indicators topped the list by far, other quality measures, such as faculty training, summative student assessment, program reputation and external rankings, were less commonly cited by the survey respondents.
When instructional designers are involved in online course design, student-to-student interaction goes up, according to a new survey of online education leaders from Quality Matters and Eduventures Research. The survey compared reported student interaction levels at institutions where instructional design support is required for online course development vs. those where such support is absent or optional. Perhaps not surprisingly, respondents perceived interactivity to be significantly higher for the former.
Asynchronous discussions and group projects are the most important techniques currently used for online learning, according to a new survey of online education leaders from Quality Matters and Eduventures Research. When asked which online learning methods were most important at their institutions, respondents pointed to those two activities first, followed by problem-based learning, quizzes and research projects.
When asked what tools and technologies they would most like to adopt for their online programs, online education leaders cited adaptive learning and learning analytics as their most wanted tech, according to the latest Changing Landscape of Online Education report, a joint initiative of nonprofit Quality Matters and Eduventures Research.
Infusing online courses with a little fun can make a big difference in engaging and motivating students.
Aruba today announced NetInsight, a network analytics and assurance product that uses artificial intelligence to monitor and optimize network performance. NetInsight constantly monitors an institution's network and establishes baselines for normal performance. Its machine learning tools then tag deviations, analyze the impact and provide insights so that IT departments can identify problems before they impact users, according to information from the company.
Spending on security for the internet of things will reach $1.5 billion, up 28 percent over 2017's $1.2 billion, according to a new forecast from market research firm Gartner. Professional services will account for the bulk of the spending throughout the forecast, at $946 million this year and growing to $2.07 billion by the end of the forecast in 2021.
When MOOCs generated a huge demand for video production at Princeton University, the institution responded with organizational change, an AV upgrade and a new commitment to sharing campus resources.
At its annual user conference this month, Qualtrics revealed a slew of new features for its flagship Experience Management (XM) Platform, a data collection and analysis tool used in some 2,000 colleges and universities and 6,800 schools. All told, Qualtrics has about 1.2 million education users in 90 countries.
Universal access to clean water should be the world's highest priority, according to a recent pronouncement by a "swarm artificial intelligence" system that connected 70 people in real time via AI algorithms designed to turn them into a "hive mind." Participants in the swarm were attendees of the South by Southwest conference this month in Austin, who were gathered by AI company Unanimous AI to "think together" on a variety of topics and provide "optimized insights."
Oral Roberts University built a Global Learning Center that combines anytime, anywhere access to information, course materials and streaming media with a deep dive into augmented and virtual reality.
MIT's Connected Learning Initiative has won the King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The project uses pedagogical design and technology to improve the academic prospects of students underserved students in India.
Online learning company 2U is extending its partnership with WeWork by offering $390,000 in additional scholarships and apprenticeships for WeWork students. Twenty students in WeWork's Access Labs Initiative will be able reduce their tuition payment by half with 2U's new "No Back Row" Future Devs Scholarship. And 10 graduates of the program will receive paid internships at 2U.
The University Professional and Continuing Education Association has launched a program to recognize excellence in online higher education: the Hallmarks of Excellence in Online Leadership Review. The program evaluates online education programs based on seven key elements, such as internal advocacy, entrepreneurial initiative and faculty support, and then issues Credly digital badges to qualifying colleges and universities.
A wiki developed by Contact Nord, a nonprofit funded by the government of Ontario, describes the "breakthrough innovations" being tested at open universities around the world. TeachOnline.ca profiles the work of 66 open universities dedicated to increasing access to courses for those who want higher education, no matter what their backgrounds.
Phil Long, a veteran strategist in technology and learning, comments on some of the most asked-about challenges for higher education institutions today.
Two new reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine tackle data science for educators. One report summarizes the findings of a workshop on training students to "extract value from big data." The other is intended to help institutions envision data science from an undergraduate perspective. Both reports are available on the National Academies Press website.
Here's a university that started planning its degree programs with the end in mind: making sure students had what they needed to find and keep a good job in their field.
The secret to successful business intelligence is data governance and a metadata repository that connects data to standardized definitions across the campus.
Rice University and 10 other institutions in Europe, Asia and Australia have agreed to be part of a three-year "Credits for MOOCs" program that allows students from the participating schools to enroll in specific free online courses from the other member schools and receive transfer credits for passing them. When it's fully up and running, the pilot effort will feature from three to 10 credit-bearing online classes from each institution for the "virtual exchange." The program, which is in its second semester for the 2017-2018 academic year, currently features 18 courses.
Paul Allen has committed $125 million over three years to support the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and to launch "Project Alexandria," a new research initiative to explore "common sense artificial intelligence." Allen is, of course, the co-founder of Microsoft and a philanthropist known most recently for investing in efforts to discover the underwater wreckage of American naval ships sunk during WWII.
According to a new national survey from MindEdge Learning, 52 percent of employees in the United States are concerned about losing their jobs to robotics, artificial intelligence and automation. The edtech firm polled 1,000 management-level workers across a variety of industries, including technology, manufacturing, financial services and healthcare, about the rise of robots and AI in the workplace and the skills workers will need to remain secure in their careers.
Online education platform vendor Coursera has announced six new online degrees with major universities, more than doubling the number of degrees offered on its platform. The new degree programs, all expected to launch later this year or in 2019, will bring the number of programs offered on the platform to 10.
A little over two years after the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science announced an initiative to build a lab that brought researchers and faculty from across the school together to work on projects involving both the cyber and physical realms, the university has opened its $4.8 million, 17,000-square-foot facility. The "Link Lab," as it's called, currently focuses on projects in three areas: smart cities, smart health and autonomous vehicles and robots.
A non-partisan, nonprofit think tank has produced an online resource where people can access and download data on U.S. higher education for use in research, reporting and public access. New America's new Higher Ed Index pulls data at the institution level from three federal sources: the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the Federal Student Aid Data Center and the College Scorecard. The data can be viewed over time at the institution, state and national levels and can be filtered by dozens of categories.
A research and education network in New Jersey has signed a deal with Amazon to offer that company's web services to its members at reduced prices. Institutions, schools and districts that are members of N.J. Edge will be able to connect directly through the state's fiber connections run by N.J. Edge or create new ones through AWS Direct Connect, putting them, "one hop away" from Amazon's web services, according to N.J. Edge C.E.O. and President Samuel Conn.
Video doesn't need to be a passive medium. Here's how to keep students watching and make them feel like they have a stake in their own learning outcomes.
The disregard for net neutrality voted into reality by current White House appointees may inspire commercial internet service providers to charge colleges and universities more to deliver their bandwidth-hungry videos, simulations and interactive programs to students. That would add additional pressure to fiscal management of online programs, according to a new report by U.S. higher education consultancy Hanover Research. Other challenges outlined in the report include shrinking enrollment; skepticism on the value of higher ed; and unsustainable tuition strategies.
Seventy-six percent of respondents in a recent survey "agree" or "strongly agree" that artificial intelligence "will fundamentally change" the way we live and work over the next decade, according to Northeastern University and Gallup researchers. A majority among employed respondents agreed that they'll need more training to get a new job at an equivalent salary. Given a list of retraining options, the largest number (49 percent) would look to employers for on-the-job training.
In the wake of the New Media Consortium's bankruptcy and an uncertain future for the organization's "Horizon" reports, a new initiative undertaken by a group of volunteers aims to provide an alternative forum for forecasting the future of technology in education. The "Future of Education & Everything Community" (FOECast) is kicking off this week with a set of activities intended to capture ideas from people worldwide.
Neural networks have been behind many advancements in AI in recent years, underpinning systems designed to recognize speech or individual faces, among others. But neural nets are also large and power hungry, making them poor candidates to run on personal devices such as smartphones, and forcing apps that rely on neural nets to upload data to a server for processing. But researchers at M.I.T. are working on a new kind of computer chip that might change that. The new chip improves the speed of neural-network computation by three to seven times and reduces energy consumption by 94 to 95 percent, according to the research team.
The IMS Global Learning Consortium has announced Caliper Analytics v1.1, the latest version of its interoperability standard for learning data, designed to foster an open ecosystem for educational data and analytics.
A proposed budget by California's governor would allocate $10 million to set up a new online "intersegmental" higher education initiative. The project would fund competitive grants for intersegmental teams of faculty to create new and redesign existing STEM courses — both online and hybrid — in a program titled the "California Education Learning Lab." While the Legislative Analyst's Office found Governor Brown's goal of improving student outcomes "laudable," this approach isn't the answer, the office wrote in an analysis of the proposal. First, the analysis noted, the proposal doesn't address "the root causes of STEM disparities among student groups"; and second, it overlaps with other online initiatives already underway.
The Online Learning Consortium is launching a new program that provides hands-on research and networking opportunities for current and recently graduated doctoral students in the field of digital learning. Participants in the O.L.C. Emerging Scholars program can contribute to projects in the O.L.C. Research Center, collaborate with researchers at institutions and organizations around the world, and network with peers and mentors.
According to Class Central's annual review of MOOC stats and trends, massive open online courses are evolving from a technology expected to disrupt higher education to one that generates revenue with tiered services targeted to lifelong learners. MOOC platform Coursera, for example, saw a 70 percent increase in paying customers in 2017.
The National Science Foundation is partnering with cloud providers on its Critical Techniques, Technologies and Methodologies for Advancing Foundations and Applications of Big Data Sciences and Engineering (BIGDATA) program in an effort to encourage projects that focus on large-scale experimentation and scalability.
A new survey from Champlain College Online reported that while most adults see the value in higher education to prepare them for career advancement, concerns about college affordability are the major barriers they face in returning to school. Three-quarters of respondents said they didn't want to be "burdened with student debt." Seven in 10 said they couldn't afford college. A solid third said they couldn't afford to return to school because they were supporting their children's education.
MIT considers its ongoing experiment in "MicroMasters" to be a success. The first cohort of students is expected to graduate this June, earning a full master's degree in supply chain management at a much-reduced cost compared to tackling the program fully on campus. Announced in 2015, the program combines months of online work with a shorter period of on-campus courses. A group of 40 students from around the world have now begun their first residential semester in Cambridge at MIT's campus.
The Flipped Learning Global Initiative has introduced a new effort to establish international standards for flipped training. The standards are meant to ensure that educators are trained using the most current global research and best practices in flipped learning, according to a news announcement.
A deal between 2U and WeWork will give students enrolled in 2U-produced online university programs access to physical co-working space around the world and provide scholarship funding for WeWork members interested in pursuing graduate degrees in 2U schools.
One of the founders and former CEO of online proctoring company ProctorU, Don Kassner, is launching a new venture: MonitorEDU, an online proctoring service powered by technology from ProctorExam. Kassner created Proctor U in 2008 with colleague Jarrod Morgan while serving as president of Andrew Jackson University, and left the company in 2016.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Manhattan College and California Polytechnic State University have won $556,000 from the National Science Foundation to study the ethics of self-driving cars. Dubbed "Ethical Algorithms in Autonomous Vehicles," the project has two main goals: The development of ethical algorithms for use in self-driving cars; and development of a model of the projected health outcomes resulting from the implementation of their algorithms.
Wake Forest University's School of Business is expanding its Master of Science in Business Analytics program through a partnership with online higher education provider Noodle Partners. The new offering will cater to working professionals who want to hone their big data skills in an online format.
Three assessment management vendors have joined forces to launch Watermark, a new provider of assessment software for higher education. The new company, which comes out of the mergers of Taskstream, Tk20 and LiveText last year, offers products for assessment and accreditation planning, learning outcomes measurement, and e-portfolios and student assessment.
If you have an Alexa device such as the Amazon Echo, you can now receive the latest ed tech news as part of Alexa's Flash Briefing.
While no one can reliably predict the future, these four forecasting methods will help you anticipate trends and spur more collaborative thinking.
Invest a penny of every federal dollar in evaluation. Appoint a chief evaluation officer. Fund programs based on post-graduation goals and publish employment outcomes by major. Create accurate graduation rates. Those are some of the recommendations proposed in two new reports from Results for America, a bipartisan nonprofit with a mission of persuading decision-makers in government to use data and evidence to address the biggest challenges. The reports urge government at all levels to improve measures of student success, to build and use evidence of what works and help colleges act on that information, and to put resources behind student success.
Attempts by the faculty union at Eastern Michigan University to fight a recent agreement the institution made with online education services provider Academic Partnerships have failed. But an independent mediator warned campus officials that the university had better limit AP's services to the confines of its contract. Otherwise, faculty and administration could well find themselves back in arbitration.
According to the Babson Survey Research Group's latest annual report on distance education in the United States, online student enrollment has grown for the 14th year in a row. Nearly a million additional students took distance education courses in 2016 compared to 2012, and more than 30 percent of college students took at least one distance education course during the 2015-2016 academic year.
This week Google and Coursera will officially kick off the "Google IT Support Professional Certificate," a program that offers training to people who want to enter the information technology field but lack the time and resources for a formal education. A new series of massive, open, online courses available through Coursera and developed by Google experts will train beginners and prepare them for job readiness in eight to 12 months, according to the two companies.
A new training center at the University of Memphis hopes to foster data analytics talent in the Mid-South region. The institution's FedEx Institute of Technology, a technology and research organization focused on innovation and emerging tech, has partnered with analytics company SAS to launch a series of courses on SAS programming and advanced analytics topics. The collaboration marks the first SAS public training center at a university.
Over the next year, the higher education segment can expect to see a major shift to blended learning; an innovative education stack from an existing institution to "rival" the bachelor's degree; and serious inroads to cross-border online learning. Those are the predictions for 2018 from Eduventures, a membership advisory service for colleges and universities.
An American Council on Education survey found that only 12 percent of college and university presidents ranked the use of institutional research and evidence in the top five areas of growing importance for the future.
According to a new report, the California State University system could do a better job of tracking enrollment and outcomes and helping students know what's available online.
The University of St Thomas will begin offering graduate certificates in STEM engineering education online this year.
Purdue's New U, the online institution formed from the university's acquisition of Kaplan University, is now going to be called "Purdue University Global."
Virtual reality, online learning, digital literacy and tech adoption concerns have all been among the most popular topics on our website.
What education technologies and trends will have the most impact in the coming year? We asked four higher ed IT leaders for their take.
A new report from the Community College Research Center has suggested that while a college degree or a certificate has an impact on earnings, the impact of stackable credentials is still iffy.
California may open an all-online community college by 2019, if a line item in the proposed budget by Governor Jerry Brown makes the final cut. California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley said the new institution would be targeted to offering short-term credential programs aimed at serving the working adults in the state who have some or no college experience and lack the time to enroll in a traditional community college. The goal: to help them earn higher wages.
Hobsons VP for Research Ellen Wagner provides an update on the Predictive Analytics Reporting Framework (PAR), as well as her vision of more general directions in predictive analytics for education.
A higher education technology leader offers his take on three transformative themes that will dominate in colleges and universities for 2018.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will be offering a free online course on how to operate drones.
Creativity, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence at the Rochester Institute of Technology are getting a boost thanks to a $50 million alumni gift, the largest donation ever made to the university.
A report recently published by New America posed a set of questions related to how those policies affect the early education teachers who need to attain bachelor's degrees, especially in areas of quality and access — and whether online education could provide a leg up.
Following a nearly three-year pilot, Indiana University has chosen to adopt the proctoring platform Examity over other choices for its "flexibility, security and support."
Telecommunications engineers at the Rochester Institute of Technology have created a new smartphone app that maps cellular coverage areas and measures the actual download speeds of different carriers.
The University of Southern California will be launching two new graduate degrees completely online.
A senior at Miami Dade College's West Campus has programmed the Amazon Echo to help students in need of directions, department hours and other information.
Could education be the vital ingredient that helps bring civility back to the national discourse and shows us how to bridge our differences? That's what a new report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences suggested. And technology will play a role — albeit not a starring one — in that outcome.
Founded in 2014 by Colorado State University, Indiana University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Florida, Unizin is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to improving the learning experience with technology and creating a common, interoperable infrastructure for education.
Amazon Web Services today announced Alexa for Business, a new service that provides voice control for office tasks.
According to a recent survey, higher education people most often turn to each other when they're trying to make decisions about education technology. And it's not uncommon for them to start with a particular technology and then find a problem to solve, vs. identifying a pedagogical need and then looking for the tech tools that would address the challenges.
The key to student success is an institutional culture steeped in data, from faculty and administrators all the way down to the students themselves.
When September's massive storm knocked out access to electricity, clean water and communications for the entire island, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón needed to get up and running fast. Thanks to an extraordinary IT team and the resources of the cloud, the school was back in action within a few weeks.
Research led by a professor at MIT aims to use artificial intelligence to help materials scientists find recipes for particular materials in a sea of data.
An MIT research project has come up with a way to crowdsource development of features for use in machine learning.
George Washington University created a visual, interactive collection of high-level metrics designed for a group of pivotal campus decision-makers: university deans.
Online learning platform Udemy has partnered with Unity Technologies to create a series of online courses that teach developers how to build interactive 2D and 3D games with the Unity game engine.
In an effort to increase access to its bachelor's and graduate programs and improve time to degree, the University of Nebraska is partnering with iDesign to grow its online offerings.
The program allows students to take a mix of self-paced and traditional courses, as well as self-directed interactive assessments whenever they feel prepared to do so.
For the third year running, information security is topping the list of IT issues in higher education. The topic took the No. 1 spot in Educause's "Top 10 IT Issues and Strategic Technologies for 2018," announced last week at the organization's annual conference in Philadelphia.
Engineering students at Purdue University can track their study behaviors with Pattern, a quantified-self tool designed to help learners regulate and improve their habits.
North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have teamed up to launch a competency-based teacher education program they hope will help address a widening teacher shortage in the state.
A new project at California Polytechnic State University will focus on problem-solving and innovation around public sector technology challenges.
Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is teaming with a private partner to launch a competency-based master's of education in online teaching program.
Unicon has introduced Jump Start for AWS, a new cloud consulting service that helps institutions migrate to Amazon Web Services.
An information technology overhaul at Johnson County Community College has resulted in true culture shift, coupled with better-fortified infrastructure and deeper partnerships with vendors.
OLC's Quality Scorecards are worksheets that gives schools criteria and benchmarking tools to assess the effectiveness of their online instructional efforts.
Nonprofit consortium Unizin is expanding its suite of education technologies and services through two new partnerships with edX and Cengage.
Babson College's Lewis Institute for Social Innovation has launched the IoT For Good Lab to encourage the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) for social good.
In an effort to boost recruitment and retention as well as enhance the student and faculty experience, Emory & Henry College has upgraded its wireless network with a managed WiFi service from Apogee.
A certification provider has begun issuing credentials via the blockchain, a technology that is becoming a new standard for ensuring trust and verification of data.
CT talks with Indiana University's AVP for Learning Technologies Anastasia Morrone about the impacts consortia can have in higher education.
Mixed reality tools are helping scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute see connections between proteins and genes that could hold the keys to curing complex disorders like cancer, diabetes and autism spectrum disorder.
One big flaw of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Database System (IPEDS) has been fixed. The U.S. Department of Education has revamped its higher education database to begin tracking non-traditional students — the ones who aren't attending school full-time or aren't entering college as freshmen right from high school.
Binge-watching leads to poorer sleep, less family time in front of the TV and even less enjoyment of the content. But at the same time could it also generate better learning outcomes and higher completion rates?
Students taking courses through Excelsior College's CourXam platform can now take exams from anywhere using a computer, webcam and internet connection, thanks to a partnership between the institution's Center for Educational Measurement and online proctoring company ProctorU.
MIT Professional Learning is launching a new program designed to offer organizations courses for their employees that feature project-based challenges designed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty.
Lessons will train participants in smart transportation, including the software skills needed for building autonomous flight systems.
A team of computer scientists at Cornell University is looking to ensure that data management systems are responsible and used for the public benefit.
The University of Oklahoma and several other institutions recently held what they believe to be the first multi-state, multi-campus virtual reality class.
Nearly every app and service will incorporate some level of artificial intelligence in the next few years. Whether they're obviously intelligent or use intelligence behind the scenes, these tools "create a new intelligent intermediary layer between people and systems and have the potential to transform the nature of work and the structure of the workplace," according to a new trends forecast.
Barely a week after Apple unveiled its new augmented reality development framework, dubbed ARKit, for-profit online educational services provider Udacity has announced a new program for developers who want to learn how to use the framework to build AR apps for iPhone and iPad.
Spending on software-defined storage will reach $16.2 billion in 2021, growing 13.5 percent each year, according to a new forecast.
A new bootcamp is coming to America, this one by way of France. OpenClassrooms is an online program that offers certification tracks in development, product management and, soon, design.
Algorithms can help faculty discover and select open educational resources for a course, map the concepts covered in a particular text, generate assessment questions and more.
The Online Learning Consortium is launching a new research center focused on digital teaching and learning.
The team will look to consumers, other researchers, providers and regulators in the United States and abroad to understand how different interested parties understand their obligations and decisions and how those decisions affect the way systems are designed and used.
An IDC survey found that bandwidth optimization (36 percent), consistent application security (31 percent), integration with existing WANs (28 percent) and improved automation and self-provisioning (28 percent) were the most common reasons enterprises are considering SD-WAN adoptions.
Expert shopping advisors and product recommendations will be the use case to see the fastest growth throughout the period, at 96.6 percent CAGR, with public safety and emergency response close behind at 96.2 percent and intelligent processing automation holding the third spot at 69.2 percent CAGR.
A new online program from SAS provides training in big data management, advanced analytics, machine learning, data visualization, text analytics and communication skills.
Ohio University students and alumni will now have access to intensive online and on-site training in coding and other tech skills, thanks to a partnership with technology talent development company Revature.
A team led by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Professor Jack Mostow has won $1 million as a Global Learning XPrize finalist for its RoboTutor software.
Loma Linda University has tapped a private partner to help design an online bachelor of science nursing program that reduces tuition costs for students by nearly 50 percent.
A team of researchers from Brigham Young University is using Wikipedia to make sure a future android won't try to tickle a refrigerator, drive a teapot or eat a table.
Artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and security concerns are among the biggest forces that will impact the internet over the next five to seven years, according to a new report from the Internet Society, a nonprofit focused on the open development, evolution and use of the internet.
Most faculty in our second annual Teaching with Technology Survey said they employ a mix of online and face-to-face instruction, and many are using the flipped model in their courses.
Mythics, a consulting firm and managed services provider specializing in Oracle products, is partnering with Internet2 to launch Oracle Cloud services for Internet2 members, InCommon participants and higher education institutions in regional partner programs.
Video has become as ubiquitous in higher education classrooms as big screens in the fitness center and Hulu in residential halls, according to the latest results of Kaltura's "The State of Video in Education" report.
A recent survey of thought leaders in the nursing field revealed that nursing education programs are accelerating adoption of virtual simulation and other cutting-edge technologies.
One issue the team will look into is whether machine learning systems leak information about the datasets they're trained on through the conclusions that they come to.
A lack of widely available broadband is correlated to a smaller percentage of residents with college degrees or certificates. That's the suggestion of a presentation made recently in Florida to the Higher Education Coordinating Council.
Students at Georgia's Savannah State University can now get the apps and tools they need any time, anywhere and from any device through a secure hybrid cloud from U2 Cloud.
Cloud solutions can drive IT efficiency, improve security, save budget dollars and more. Here's how four higher ed CIOs made the transition at their campuses.
A new online program from Rochester Institute of Technology launching on edX will help learners hone their "soft skills" — the interpersonal, communication and social intelligence skills that help build relationships, improve productivity and foster collaboration in the workplace.
What can be gained from the immense effort put forth in an LMS migration? It can be far greater than a well-functioning LMS, explains University of Oregon Associate Dean of Libraries and Chief Academic Technology Officer Helen Chu.
Online proctoring and identity management company ProctorU today launched ProctorU Auto, an automated online proctoring solution that uses artificial intelligence to flag suspicious test-taking behavior in real time.
IBM will invest $240 million over 10 years to establish the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab — one of the largest long-term university-industry AI collaborations to date.
The free, online event from Symantec starts on Oct. 19 at 8 a.m. EST and end on Oct. 20 at 5 p.m. EST. Winners will receive recognition at the upcoming Educase Annual Conference (Oct. 31-Nov. 3).
The California State University System is transforming the way it delivers services to students, faculty and staff with a systemwide hybrid cloud from Unisys.
Fifty-nine percent of IT and network managers in a recent survey use the cloud to support e-mail at their institution, and 41 percent for data file storage.
A new AI-driven chatbot is looking to give educators deeper insights from course feedback by starting conversations with students.
EAB, a provider of research, enterprise technology and data-enabled services for education institutions, is separating from its parent company, The Advisory Board Company, to become a stand-alone business.
Large data transfers, cross-campus collaboration and information sharing are advancing research at Florida Atlantic University, thanks to 10 Gigabit-per-second Ethernet from Comcast Business.
Two universities will be receiving funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop new systems for crime-fighting, including one for building a system for organizations and individuals to use for auditing and controlling personally identifiable information leaks from connected devices.
The solution? Drenthe College installed hundreds of Bluetooth-enabled sensors around campus connected to an Azure IoT Hub, which lets administrators measure classroom capacity as well as update the campus’s scheduling system to allow more on-the-fly-meetings.
When a project undertaken by NASA and a research team at the University of Minnesota to baseline expected carbon dioxide uptake by trees on the south side of the Sahara desert ran out of elbow room within a private cloud maintained by NASA, the two institutions took the work to Cycle Computing.
Forward-thinking CIOs are exploring the potential of IoT technologies in higher education and heading off challenges along the way.
The Modern States Education Alliance, a group of public colleges and universities, has posted a set of on-demand college classes that wannabe-students can take for no cost, including digital textbooks used in the courses.
Kent State University is teaming up with Proctorio to protect the academic integrity of online exams in its undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs.
The Connect America Fund Phase II auction (otherwise known as "Auction 903") will award up to $198 million annually for 10 years to service providers that commit to offer deliver 10 Mbps-caliber voice and broadband services to fixed locations in unserved high-cost areas.
The latest industry report from Technavio predicts the visual tech market in education will grow 33 percent through the forecast period 2017-2021, with VR, AR, 3D printing and visual data analytics as the top four product segments.
Purdue and Infosys will work together to develop course materials in digital agriculture, cybersecurity, biopharma analytics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and data analytics.
These are attractive targets because 3D-printed objects and parts are used in critical infrastructures around the world, such as healthcare, transportation, robotics, aviation and space, according to new research from the Rutgers University-New Brunswick and the Georgia Institute of Technology who have found three way to detect cyberattacks on 3D printers.
Global spending on information security is expected to hit $86.4 billion in 2017, according to a new forecast from market research firm Gartner.
The Georgia Institute of Technology is opening the "Robotarium" this month to allow users from around the world to test out their code on a rotating pair of robot swarms.
Existing virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa aren't always suitable for software engineers who are accustomed to using technical language. Experts in Notre Dame's Department of Computer Science and Engineering are working on a virtual assistant specifically for programmers.
Tulane University has tapped a private partner in an effort to expand and improve its online offerings.
Amazon Web Services today introduced Amazon Macie, a security service that uses machine learning to automatically discover, classify and protect sensitive data housed within AWS.
Carnegie Mellon University has deployed an array of videoconferencing technologies in an effort to enhance the education experience for remote students and faculty.
South Orange County Community College District IT leaders Bob Bramucci and Jim Gaston talk about the long history of decision support technology development at SOCCCD. They explain why guided pathways projects — that use technology tools like Sherpa, MAP, and Smart Schedule — are so important for community colleges now.
These accelerated computer science education programs have grown 10-fold in five years and continue to attract more aspiring developers, according to a new study.
Blockchain records and keeps information safe by creating a decentralized record of data that can be confirmed and validated without relying on a single authority.
Ed tech companies Instructure, iDesign and Credly have partnered on Course Market, an online marketplace that works with higher education institutions to deliver workforce-relevant credentials and certificates to working learners.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and around the world will now have access to advanced weather and lightning data, thanks to a collaboration between the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative and weather data company Earth Networks.
To help IT staff manage applications and data growth within the cloud, Berkeley College recently switched over to using Rubrik for backup, disaster recovery, replication, cloud archival and test/dev. workflows.
The institution, one of the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities, also launched a new online degree certificate for artists who want to teach.
Sinclair Community College's competency-based education program for online students forces candidates to write a "vision" statement, has disabled discussion forums in its courses and boots out students who don't make the 80 percent cut score. And its CBE students are credentialing at three times the rate of students in ordinary online programs.
The private Catholic university in Ohio saw 39 percent growth in its master's nursing program between 2011 and 2016 and a 62 percent growth in its RN-BSN programs over the same period.
RepVisits is now available at no cost to all high school counselors directly within the Hobsons Counselor Community social network. It’s integrated into Hobsons’ Intersect platform that launched last month and the college and career readiness platform Naviance as well.
Faculty, staff and students at the University of Miami now can utilize the full suite of Adobe Creative Cloud software at no cost.
COpilot now offers video-powered PD through Edthena. Educators can use the platform to upload videos of their classroom instruction and then share those videos with coaches who can give timestamped comments categorized as questions, suggestions, strengths and notes.
ClearScholar has partnered with Salesforce.org, the philanthropic arm of Salesforce, to help drive mobile connectedness on campus and boost self-advocacy for students.
The 58-campus North Carolina Community College System recently selected Fujitsu M10 servers and Ellucian software to be implemented at 40 colleges. As a result, NCCCS is experiencing a 50 percent decrease in power consumption using the energy efficient green technology, in addition to faster response times.
Five information technology leaders explain how they use metrics to measure the impact of IT projects or cost-justify new investments.
The University of North Texas recently landed funding from a private partner to develop new analytics techniques.
The School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University has launched CMU AI, a new initiative designed to connect work on artificial intelligence across seven departments within the school.
Last year, a team led by Vivienne Sze, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, developed an energy-efficient chip designed for neural networks that might allow them to run on smartphones.
A team of faculty at Stanford University has launched the Platform Lab, a new initiative that aims to develop infrastructure to control swarms of devices, such as drones or autonomous vehicles.
Artificial intelligence will be in nearly all new software products by 2020 and a top five investment priority for more than 30 percent of chief information officers, according to a new report from Gartner.
There is no single best way to handle proctoring for digital courses, as this community college system pilot discovered.
Four higher ed IT leaders weigh in on the current state of education technology and what's ahead.
Communication is far and away the most relevant job skill for engineers to have for success with the Internet of Things, according to a survey of IEEE engineers.
An upgrade to Acrobatiq's adaptive learning and analytics platform boasts enhancements to the Acrobatiq Smart Author digital publishing application as well as improvements to the Acrobatiq learning analytics engine.
Two research groups at Cornell University were recently awarded grants from the Department of Defense (DOD) of up to $7.5 million each to study artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.
A 10-year data analysis at Southern Connecticut State University revealed that campus experiences are more important than student demographics when it comes to retention and student success.
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $1.025 million grant to RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf to develop training programs for deaf and hard-of-hearing undergraduate students to become future scientists.
This fall, courses delivered on the Open edX platform will be able to incorporate live, recorded or fully automated proctoring from online proctoring and identify verification company Examity.
It's time to get serious about growing online education programs if your institution wants them to be sustainable. This Arizona State University research project is examining the costs and benefits of scaling digital learning in order to share replicable return-on-investment mechanics and tools for any school willing to take on the challenge.
Online students at Oregon State University will soon be able to perform lab experiments virtually, thanks to a new project with adaptive learning and instructional design company Smart Sparrow.
Zagg, a Salt Lake City-based mobile device accessories company, today has introduced a wired keyboard for all Apple iOS devices with a Lightning connector.
The University of Nebraska system has expanded its membership in the Unizin Consortium, with the University of Nebraska at Kearney, University of Nebraska at Omaha and University of Nebraska Medical Center joining Unizin founding member University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the nonprofit consortium.
Seeing a conflict between open and proprietary developments in educational technology and in society at large, Moodle founder Martin Dougiamas has started to refocus the open source learning platform's activities to do a more effective job of spreading openness.
Market research firm Technavio has identified the top five vendors in the global augmented reality (AR) in education market. The companies are EON Reality, DAQRI, GAMOOZ, Magic Leap and QuiverVision.
For university leaders in need of solid information, often the problem is that they have data in too many places and in formats that aren't helpful. Indiana University's solution uses virtualized data.
According to the latest Worldwide Black Book forecast from International Data Corp., worldwide IT spending will increase by 4.5 percent in 2017, rebounding from last year's growth of 2.5 percent.
Mining two years’ worth of expert feedback, a nonprofit has identified six root causes to more than 100 issues facing STEM education today. The resulting “Grand Challenges” interactive map is a two-year project from 100Kin10 based on input from teachers, principals, nonprofit leaders, researchers, policymakers, union representatives and other education stakeholders within its network.
With more than 1.3 million positions in computer and mathematical occupations expected to be open by 2022, the Kentucky Department of Education, Amazon Web Services, Project Lead the Way and others are taking action to build a pipeline of talent for a cloud-enabled future workforce.
The latest fight for net neutrality has officially begun. On one side of the ring stands FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Trump appointee who controls a majority of votes for any decisions currently made by the Federal Communications Commission.
The University of Arizona developed a toolkit to help new instructional designers and online instructors get up to speed in creating courses for students that might never show their faces on campus.
The third annual Maker Faire San Diego, Oct. 7-8, in Balboa Park, is now open for entries. This family friendly, two-day event, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., welcomes a variety of diverse, out-of-the-box ideas from makers, inventors, tinkerers, do-it-yourselfers and hackers.
A professional development program operating in rural Maine was recently awarded a $1.85 million grant from the National Science Foundation to turn its hybrid video coaching program into an entirely online format. The Afterschool Coaching for Rural Educators in STEM teaches educators as well as librarians how to bring out-of-school STEM learning opportunities into their communities.
Vernier Software & Technology is providing tips and resources for viewing the “Great American Eclipse,” Aug. 21, 2017, and the scientific data-collection company is urging educators to collect and share data from the event.
Is higher education responding effectively to the changes going on all around us? Here, education futurist Daniel Christian reminds us to keep our "heads up" and urges the development of a next-generation learning platform.
North Carolina is going to be home to one of four of Infosys’ Innovation and Technology Hubs in the United States. The India-based IT services and consulting company plans to train and hire 2,000 tech works at the hub by 2021 with support from local academic institutions and government offices.
Starting this fall, UNC Charlotte drivers will no longer need to display paper permits in their windows, and UNCC parking staff will be able to monitor vehicles through license plates alone.
The top three market trends fueling the test preparation market in the United States through 2021, according to market research firm Technavio, are: increasing emphasis on private tutoring; rising popularity of benchmark testing; and growing mobile learning, or “m-learning.”
Giving students "voice, choice and connectivity" will help them gain a sense of belonging in a group even when they're states and countries apart.
EAB today introduced the Student Success Management System, a new enterprise platform for helping guide students toward graduation and employment goals.
If you are traveling to Chicago this month to convene with other higher education IT leaders at CT2017, here are 8 sessions worth attending.
Younger students are more interested in alternatives to traditional degree offerings, such as microcredentials, certificates and other short-term opportunities, according to a new report from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) and Blackboard.
The State University of New York is making a big move to the cloud in an effort to modernize its IT infrastructure and support next-generation learning.
Florida A&M University, Howard University, Morgan State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Prairie View A&M University and Tuskegee University were selected for Intel's new $4.5 million grant program that seeks to keep African American students in STEM pathways in college.
More than two-thirds of college and university deans in a recent survey believe that in 10 years, the United States higher education system will be much different than it is today. But many are also worried about their own institution's to respond to change.
Extreme Networks has updated its network management tool, Extreme Management Center (EMC), with new tools designed to improve onboarding and security.
University of San Diego Vice Provost and Chief Information Officer Christopher W. Wessells explores how a program that uses natural language processing, USD Voice, is enhancing his institution's communications with students.
Providers such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft are luring college and university researchers to bypass IT for cloud-based high-performance computing resources.
Online students crave interaction with classmates and instructors, according to a new report from Learning House and Aslanian Market Research.
Most colleges and universities cover digital learning in their strategic plan, and a large number have made it a core aspect of their plans. Yet, execution is uneven and digital learning hasn't come close to meeting administrator or faculty expectations, according to new data from Babson Survey Research Group and Tyton Partners.
A new report from Tyton Partners examines how students "get lost" in the financial aid process and how institutions can become more "student-centered" for better outcomes without "adding a single dollar" to the amount of financial aid they make available.
Student engagement and safety platform ClearScholar Friday launched a new feature set for institutions that leverages student data to deliver targeted content to individual students. ClearScholar Align, as the solution is called, works by combining data from disparate college systems to build individual student “personas" that enable administrators to broadly and narrowly deliver content to students.
Six years after the launch of the first Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) school in Brooklyn, yet another cohort of students is graduating — each walking away with a high school diploma, an associate's degree in a STEM field and related work experience. Graduates have already joined IBM, working as front-end web developers, organizational developers, coders and analysts. Many are also continuing college in pursuit of bachelor's degrees.
Fayetteville State University in North Carolina has received a million-dollar grant to draw more students to STEM subjects and improve the education they receive.
Ellen Wagner talks about how Hobsons' integration of predictive analytics, including the PAR Framework, has provided the education sector with tools to approach a myriad of issues more holistically — from college and career planning, to recruitment and student matching, to admissions, advising, and student success.
Facebook last week at its F8 developer conference unveiled a program that aims to connect developers around the world and foster collaboration in computer science.
An experiment to remap developmental math in four Texas community colleges resulted in a higher pass rate and a larger number of developmental math credits earned by the students who participated. The preliminary results suggested "potential benefits" of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) approach, which was formerly known as the New Mathways Project.
The total number of devices connected to IP networks is projected to be three times the global population by 2021. Internet of things (IoT) technologies specifically are expected to represent more than half of the total 27.1 billion devices and connections.
The online learning company is letting users preview its upcoming virtual reality content developer nanodegree program — available for free use June 8 through June 11.
Online proctoring and identity verification company Examity today launched examiDATA, a data platform designed to "aggregate and analyze information on test performance and academic integrity."
The Association of Public Land-grant Universities and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities have awarded 12 public universities $50,000 each in Collaborative Opportunity Grants to scale up existing partnerships with public and private community stakeholders.
Two nonprofit organizations dedicated to safeguarding students' personal information recently relaunched the FERPA|Sherpa website, an online hub of education privacy resources that initially launched in 2014.
According to the latest device tracker from International Data Corporation, United States-based Apple and China-based smartphone maker Xiaomi have edged out the wearables leader Fitbit.
A one-year college alternative promises to prepare students for the workplace, with no tuition due until they land a paying job.
Unizin's consortium of universities will gain access to customized versions of LoudSight, a predictive analytics solution from Barnes & Noble Education LoudCloud that focuses on helping identify at-risk students.
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Thursday issued a policy brief advocating for the use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) for campus police departments. The report outlines the benefits, considerations and best practices for BWCs for campus leaders.
Steve Hargadon wants a revolution in education. He is the founder and director of the Learning Revolution Project, a social networking website for educators, as well as a vehicle for online and in-person educational conferences. During the ISTE conference in San Antonio, TX, Hargadon will present at three sessions.
Approaches introduced by the X-Prize and Google's "grand challenges" have shown how "center-based" engineering research doesn't have to be the only way big problems get solved.
To expand its mission of delivering education worldwide, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has launched a research, policy, pedagogy and practice lab that intends to uncover new ways of delivering education to learners in developing countries. The new "J-WEL" lab will emphasize reaching underserved populations such as women and girls, and displaced persons.
An organization that provides security services to the research and education community at large has gone public with its adoption of an historic DNS database service.
Experts in higher education, technology, government and research expect the future of workplace training to include new kinds of educational offerings that can train large numbers of workers in the skills they'll need. That overall conclusion came out of a query on the topic posed by the Pew Research Center and Elon University, generating some 1,400 responses.
Amid news that coding bootcamp graduates are finding work, Udacity has tweaked the formula for its popular introductory course in programming by adding three new projects.
As Congress proposes a new postsecondary data reporting framework to help calculate the worth of higher education, security and privacy issues loom.
Following up on a Q&A article published two weeks ago, about how institutions can be informed by their "digital opportunities", Gardner Campbell considers why we should now explore our digital opportunities for self-directed learning.
While a recent research project examined enrollment patterns for online courses, a new survey is looking at broader questions related to online programs, this one based on responses from "chief online officers." Produced by Quality Matters and Eduventures, the "Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE)" offers a "baseline" examination of program development, quality measures and other structural issues.
The latest report on predictive analytics from New America proposes five guidelines for ensuring the ethical use of student data in recruiting and retention, such as the avoidance of bias in predictive models and algorithms.
Even as "big data" is helping researchers better understand why some students seem to thrive while others don't, a growing backlash by parents and policymakers could hamper research efforts. On one side are concerns about "privacy breaches, hacking, the use of data by commercial software developers for marketing purposes and the possibility that sensitive information ... might limit future opportunities for students," as a new report from the National Academy of Education explained.
A new bipartisan bill introduced this week in the United States Senate and House of Representatives aims to increase transparency on higher education outcomes.
A new report from education policy think tank New America finds that Americans still value college degrees, but believe that higher education institutions are not, for the most part, delivering on their promise to help students succeed in the life.
The University of Georgia and Arizona State have turned to Twitter feeds to monitor just how satisfied students are with campus wireless. Here's what they've learned.
Java, JavaScript/MEAN stack and Python are in high demand across the United States, according to new research from Coding Dojo.
Internet2 today named broadband industry executive Howard Pfeffer as the national research and education organization's president and chief executive officer.
The University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education Monday unveiled a new partnership with Project Tomorrow that will support the nonprofit education organization’s research and help drive future innovation in K–12 schools.
The learning ecosystem and technological landscape are changing fast for institutions of higher learning. But how are institutions doing at adjusting their missions to reflect that? Can "digital opportunity" inform the mission? Gardner Campbell comments.
Harvard University is issuing certificates for anybody who passes one or more of the same online courses that are also taken by incoming students prior to starting their Harvard Medical School curriculum and used by the institution's faculty to "flip" their classrooms.
Y Combinator's 10-week MOOC called Startup School is a resource for anyone considering starting their own company. In its fifth week, the course already has more than 80,000 video views.
Heather Shoenberger, an assistant professor who founded, directs and teaches at the Insights and Analytics Lab at University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, explains why is it important for media students in particular to do hands-on analytics research.
More than 6 million students took at least one online course in 2015, representing more than a quarter (29.7 percent) of all higher education enrollments that year, according to a new report from Digital Learning Compass.
The deal accelerates two of 2U’s strategic growth initiatives: expanding internationally and offering non-degree alternatives.
Should elite schools — even the private ones — be required to enroll a minimum number of Pell Grant recipients? That's the question posed in a new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
A new tool developed by two security companies that scans the internet for command and control (C2) servers has already uncovered thousands of malicious RATs, or remote access trojans, on computers and other internet-connected devices.
Purdue University's next grand experiment is an effort to extend its reach among non-traditional students, jumpstart its online profile and transform its role in higher education.
Adaptive learning company Smart Sparrow today launched new learner data analytics features for its learning design platform that provide real-time feedback on student progress and engagement.
The Center for Educational Measurement at Excelsior College and Cengage have come up with a new way for adult learners to earn college credit.
New edX programs, created in collaboration with industry professionals and universities, are designed to build or advance critical skills for in-demand careers like software development and data science.
The University of Rhode Island has started construction for a $125 million engineering complex conceived with collaboration, innovation and flexible learning models in mind.
Why will the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga ultimately move most of its traditional IT services to the cloud? Associate Vice Chancellor and CIO Tom Hoover explains why it's a win-win for his institution.
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities is launching a new online course to help higher education leaders redesign student advising on their campuses.
The global cloud-based English Language Learning (ELL) market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.07 percent from 2017 to 2021, according to a new report by market research firm Research and Markets.
The National Science Board, the National Science Foundation's policy arm, has released an interactive infographic that explores 25 years of science, engineering and health doctoral pathways.
Maplesoft today released Möbius, a hands-on learning tool focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
New location-aware “knowledge injections” on the cloud-based EON Reality Augmented Virtual Reality platform provide contextual knowledge in real time, helping users to facilitate a manufacturing, maintenance, repair or operation procedure, and more.
The United States Department of Education last week published a database of accreditation reporting statuses — a move that means more transparency for higher education.
California State University East Bay is harnessing the power of AI to offer online students a new learning and assessment experience.
Echo360 has rolled out several features to its video and engagement platform that are designed to enhance the user experience for nearly 3 million students worldwide using the platform.
The university teamed up with CampusLogic earlier this year to deploy an end-to-end student financial aid engagement platform.
Coursera is making a big push to have people pay $49 to attend the program to earn a certificate; however, learners can gain access to all course materials for free by choosing to "audit" the course.
A new, technology-infused learning center from Rasmussen College will offer broadband connectivity, computer workstations and academic coaching to high school students at Chicago Public Schools, college students and local community members.
Whether online instruction is lecture-based, totally flipped or something in between, providing high-quality instructional feedback can be a challenge. Here are the goals and considerations behind doing feedback right.
From web 2.0 to the flipped classroom, here's how education technology trends have evolved over the years.
The University of Massachusetts system has a new defense against network security threats: a centralized platform from LogRhythm.
Author, speaker and qualified educator Sarah Cordiner explains how to get started as a freelance educator and reach a global student base online.
Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.5 trillion in 2017, a 1.4 percent increase from 2016, according to market research firm Gartner, Inc. This growth rate is down from the previous quarter’s forecast of 2.7 percent, due in part to the rising United States dollar.
Dominican University's vice president for information technology talks about the changing role of IT at her institution and how forming partnerships at many levels, both internal and external, is the real key to success.
Flipped and active learning truly are a better way for students to learn, but they also may be a fast track to instructor burnout.
The University of Wyoming is revamping its 20-year-old systems in finance, human resources, budgeting and planning, grant management, and supply chain management with a move to the Oracle Cloud.
The United States is expected to spend the most of any country on these two systems in 2017 — $9.7 billion, according to a report from the International Data Corporation.
AcademicWorks, a scholarship management company for K–12, higher education, foundations and grant-making institutions, has been acquired by Blackbaud, a cloud software company powering social causes.
Various higher education and library organizations representing thousands of colleges, universities nationwide Thursday sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Michael O’Reily, urging them to uphold the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order.
A new report from Eduventures breaks downthe more than two dozen offerings it has identified in the current analytics marketplace.
The two institutions have teamed up with online learning company Coursera to launch online master’s degree programs in accounting and entrepreneurship.
The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to block online privacy regulations issued during the final months of the Obama administration, a first step toward allowing internet providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon to sell the browsing habits of their customers.
University of Maryland University College students and graduates can sharpen their coding skills at no cost thanks to a new partnership with technology talent development company Revature.
The days when e-discovery consisted of handing over copies of e-mails to address Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, compliance regulations or other legal obligations are over.
Indiana University recently implemented the Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Enterprise Security solutions to centralize and monitor its IT and security infrastructure across its network of eight connected campuses.
Thanks to a two-year, $300,000 grant from The Kresge Foundation, Excelsior College is expanding the reach of its Online Writing Lab, a publicly available interactive website designed to help students improve their writing skills.
A new "teach-out" series from the University of Michigan focuses on creating discourse in today's shifting political climate.
RIT is kicking off a new seminar series focused on connecting the campus’s growing artificial intelligence (AI) community. The series builds off the success of RIT's Move78 retreat last February, and will delve deeper into machine learning, neuromorphic computing, computer vision and other topics.
From its founding in 2012 with an "Invitation 2 Innovate" (i2i), to the premier this week of a new conference on open innovation, Lone Star College-University Park has innovation in its DNA. Here, CT speaks with the college’s chief strategist for innovation and research.
The Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World will facilitate collaboration between resident expert research faculty in the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research and industry professionals in the IoT space.
The artificial intelligence (AI) market in the United States education sector is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 47.5 percent during the period 2017-2021, according to a new report by market research firm Research and Markets.
Analytics software and services company SAS is partnering with Clemson University to provide research, software, services and funding to the school's Watt Family Innovation Center.
Thirty-five organizations, from ACT to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, have banded together to promote the idea of bringing college into high school.
Online proctoring company Examity is introducing a mobile authentication product that will allow test-takers to use their smartphones for identity verification.
For the first year ever, higher ed institutions have reported that they're feeling the squeeze on bandwidth consumption from wearable devices. And colleges and universities have placed TV and video consumption — and specifically Netflix — at the top of the list as the application contributing most to the growth of bandwidth demand on campus.
It's no wonder students expect comprehensive WiFi when they come to campus. After all, that has become the "ResNet" norm on most campuses. Seventy-seven percent of colleges report WiFi throughout 81 to 100 percent of their campuses. On top of that, 70.5 percent of campuses dedicate at least a gigabit or more per student for ResNet activities; 27 percent offer as much as 7Gb or more.
Northern Kentucky University recently launched an online portal, connecting NKU’s nearly 14,000 students and 2,000 faculty and staff members to student services, academic support, transportation services and more categories in an online marketplace format.
Users without Google’s G Suite for Education accounts can now access Google Classroom from a personal Google account. Classroom also offers more administrator controls that allow G Suite users with domains outside of their own to join.
Intellify Learning and The Learning House are collaborating to expand data analytics for online learning programs.
The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the Institute for Higher Education Policy are out with a new effort to push student-level data collection. The groups have released 14 case studies spotlighting how data collection can help boost student learning and graduation rates.
Schoology, a learning management system for K–12, higher education institutions and companies, is holding its fourth annual user conference to equip users with the skills and support needed to accelerate their school or institutional goals.
Starting this week the original course that thrust MIT into the annals of MOOC history will exist no longer — although an updated version will continue being available.
A new report explores how colleges and universities define alternative credentials and work with their incoming students to issue credit for their prior learning.
A new gigabit wireless network is delivering high-speed WiFi to students, faculty and administrators at the University at Buffalo, the largest institution in the State University of New York system.
hrough the partnership, the companies plan to launch a turnkey solution that will enable colleges and universities to have complete transparency and control over complex data systems that drive online educational programs.
Millennials are more likely to ditch broadband and just use their smartphones at home, while older generations prefer a broadband connection, according to a new survey from ReportLinker Insights.
To help students kick bad study habits, Quizlet has added a new feature to its app that enables them to study more efficiently and effectively using machine learning and cognitive science. The new Quizlet Learn feature was unveiled onstage at the SXSWedu conference taking place this week in Austin.
Does it matter to the world if more smartphones than people will be able to read and write within the next 10 years? A new push to promote human literacy believes it does.
An increased focus on data at Clemson University is impacting decision-making in finance, operations, facilities and more.
The latest report from New America, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank and civic enterprise based in Washington, D.C., has identified five guiding practices to ethically use predictive analytics in higher ed.
Colleges and universities now have an easier way to deploy Dropbox campuswide, thanks to a new agreement between the cloud storage and collaboration company and Internet2.
The new "Momentum" offerings allow students to master competencies and move through course materials at their own pace without being held back by limitations on how much they can accomplish in a term.
Two institutions share their experiences rolling out online tutoring services, from garnering faculty and student buy-in to analyzing usage data and measuring outcomes.
Google Cloud has acquired Kaggle, home to the world’s largest community of data scientists and machine learning enthusiasts. Google Cloud is also releasing new machine learning products, including a Video Intelligence API that automatically recognizes objects in videos and makes them searchable and discoverable.
Georgia State University partnered with AdmitHub, a Boston-based ed tech startup, to test out text-based intervention to help reduce "summer melt," or the dropout of students who accept admission but do not show up for fall enrollment. GSU launched "Pounce,” the first virtual assistant in the United States to use the company’s conversational AI technology.
A new collaboration between Unizin and Instructure will extend the quantity and quality of data in the Canvas learning management system.
A new research initiative from McGraw-Hill Education and Colorado State University is exploring the use of learning analytics to boost retention.
Consulting and research firm Adventures released its 2017 Higher Education Technology Landscape Report, which provides ongoing analysis of the technology market to support higher education decision-makers tasked with choosing products from hundreds of vendors.
Chalk & Wire has unveiled several new features to its assessment platform that make it easier to evaluate student learning outcomes.
The Flipped Learning Global Initiative, an international coalition of educators, researchers, technologists, professional development providers and education leaders, has declared a new era in flipped learning, designated "Flipped Learning 3.0."
Ready4, a company that offers free mobile apps that prepare students for college entrance exams, has partnered with MIT, Georgetown, UNC, Boston College, Monash University and more than 30 other universities worldwide to help them engage and recruit prospective students worldwide.
Massive open online course (MOOC) provider edX is introducing 16 new MicroMasters programs this spring that span business analytics, digital product management, cybersecurity and data science fields.
AV over IP promises to take full advantage of the convergence of AV and IT, with the ability to distribute video, audio and control signals over traditional network infrastructure. Here are the features and limitations to consider when designing AV over IP-based systems.
As online learning continues to evolve, technologies like gamification and simulation are poised to advance student engagement and success.
eXplorance, a company that assists organizations in developing a culture of improvement, has formed an alliance partnership with Canvas from Instructure to integrate two learning experience management (LEM) solutions into the latter’s LMS.
The IT management solutions provider launched IT Complete for Higher Education, a solution billed as a comprehensive toolkit for reducing costs and maximizing resources in higher education IT.
Open source services provider Unicon is launching a new offering designed to help higher education institutions get started with learning analytics.
To help combat internet trolls, Google’s technology incubator Jigsaw and Counter Abuse Technology Team have launched an early-stage technology that uses machine learning to help identify toxic comments online.
CT talks with Penn State University Director of Education Technology Kyle Bowen about the directions immersive media has been taking in higher education and the practices that are making 3D, VR, AR, and 360 video technologies accessible for faculty and students.
A recent study found that students who comment more on massive open online courses (MOOCs) are more likely to complete the course than those who do not comment.
The University of Central Florida and Educause have re-launched a no-cost massive open online course (MOOC) that offers facilitated assistance to faculty members and instructional designers who want to develop blended courses.
3DPrinterOS has a web-based interface that works with many 3D printers, allowing users to perform STL editing to prepare their design files for printing and download the instructions to the printer queue.
The annual Digital Learning Day, started in 2012, gives educators an opportunity to collaborate with peers, share ideas, try out new digital tools, celebrate education innovation and play a role in the transformation of their own schools and communities. Digital Learning Day 2017 is Thursday, Feb. 23.
2U said the one-year awards, totaling almost $200,000, are meant to support the work of full-time faculty members and other academic leaders at the firm's partner universities.
In the wake of inBloom, 400 pieces of state-level legislation around student data privacy have been introduced, and many have been adopted. More tellingly, the trend in data-fueled ed tech has since been toward piecemeal adoption of closed, proprietary systems instead of a multi-state, open source platform.
The online classes will be taught by the faculty from the university's school of engineering, which also offers a face-to-face version at the campus in Erie and is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.
FutureLearn, the largest MOOC provider in Europe, today announced its first United States university partners.
The Pew Research Center’s Lee Rainie discusses how research and development in algorithms will impact higher education and the next-generation labor force.
An unnamed university’s network was hacked through its own malware-laced vending machines, smart light bulbs and more than 5,000 other IoT devices.
The new Watson security technology is being integrated into IBM's new cognitive security operations center (SOC) platform, which combines the cognitive abilities of Watson with on-the-ground security operations to help cyber security teams detect and fight threats across endpoints, networks, users and the cloud.
New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering has launched a new online program that gives students lacking a background in CS the opportunity to switch fields and pursue a master’s in computer science.
CTL (Compute, Teach, Learn) is partnering with PortableCloud to offer the PortableCloud platform and Cube servers, which allow users to access curated files, web content and web apps over WiFi in any device with a browser, regardless of internet connectivity.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Segway Robotics, in partnership with Singapore’s SGInnovate and Smart Nation, will co-host the MIT Hacking Medicine Robotics.
According to a new Gartner forecast, 8.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide this year — an increase of 31 percent from 2016.
Here's how to put your massive open online course experience to best advantage when documenting your skills.
A parallel learning object distribution system can give programs at small regional institutions a competitive edge — and offer students anywhere, any time access to the course materials they need to succeed.
The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, Online Learning Consortium, Presidents' Forum and University Professional and Continuing Education Association have joined forces to create the National Adult Learner Coalition, an organization devoted to advancing the adult learner agenda and expanding post-secondary education and credentialing opportunities.
FCC regulators are telling nine companies that they won’t be allowed to participate in a federal program intended to help them provide affordable internet access to low-income consumers — weeks after those companies were approved to do so.
TakeLessons, an online marketplace for finding and vetting instructors, earlier this week introduced an affordable way for learners of all ages to receive live instruction from real teachers over the internet.
Elsevier, a provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, Thursday unveiled the acquisition Plum Analytic from EBSCO Information Services.
Dashboards that report on course progress are more motivating for underperforming students than for those who are doing well, according to a new study from the University of Michigan and Blackboard.
A new Internet of Things program at Northeastern University-Silicon Valley seeks to address the growing demand for IoT skills in the workforce.
Harvard University has begun experimenting with the use of adaptive functionality in one of its massive open online courses.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) have come up with a wearable AI system that can detect the tone of a conversation, which has the potential to help individuals with anxiety, Asperger's or other conditions navigate social situations.
To better prepare students for future careers in business and finance, the Stevens Institute of Technology's School of Business is helping undergraduate and graduate students become tech-savvy financial managers with its cutting-edge lab.
Dropbox today introduced several products and business packages designed for collaboration and teamwork.
The consortium Friday announced that the head of advancement for the AI chatbot Siri would be joining its leadership team, as well as six other individuals who are working to advance artificial intelligence research.
A project that began as a simple upgrade to the campus broadcast production center at Governors State University in Illinois has expanded to a campuswide audio-over-IP network supporting the campus meeting hall, classrooms and nursing labs, in addition to cable TV broadcasts, theater performances and sports broadcasting.
A community college system in southern California has implemented a set of application delivery controllers as part of a multi-year transition to a new student information system.
Pepperdine University is expanding its online education efforts with two new degree programs, to be launched this fall through a partnership with 2U.
Cisco has unveiled a touch-based, three-in-one collaboration device that combines wireless presentation, digital whiteboarding and videoconferencing.
Digication CEO Jeffrey Yan reflects on how his own experiences both as a student and teacher in higher education have influenced the design of his company's ePortfolio product.
We've scoured the headlines for the top trends for technology leaders to keep their eyes on as the year progresses.
A multi-year initiative at the University of Alaska System to streamline individual campus degree offerings to cut expenses shows signs of heading off the rails.
Coursera has analyzed data from 5 million students in the United States who have enrolled in the company’s massive open online courses (MOOCs), uncovering that computer science and business are the most popular topics overall in the majority of states and more MOOC learning trends,
Five higher ed leaders analyze the hottest trends in education technology this year.
Interfolio’s faculty-focused workflow platform will soon feature more comprehensive, user-friendly tools for faculty activity reporting, thanks to the recent acquisition.
International Networks at Indiana University and its partners have activated a new transatlantic subsea cable that provides 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) of network connectivity to support the flow of research data between the United States, Europe and Africa.
Network device maker NetGear has introduced two switches intended to help administrators support power over Ethernet (PoE+) devices in challenging locations.
Two of the brains behind the institutions' edX programs have released results of a joint research project that mined the data generated through four years of MOOC activity.
In an effort to expand the scope of its online graduate programs and offer "transformative educational opportunities for working adults and non-traditional students," George Mason University has signed a 10-year agreement with knowledge and learning services provider John Wiley and Sons.
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is working with ed2go to fulfill a Joining Forces commitment. Joining Forces is a White House initiative launched five years ago, calling on Americans to rally around service members and their families in the areas of wellness, education and employment.
At the College of Business at the University of Illinois, video operations don't come in one size. Here's how the institution is handling studio setup for MOOCs, online courses, guest speakers and more.
U.S. News & World Report yesterday released its annual list of top online programs for bachelor’s and graduate degrees in business, engineering, nursing, education and criminal justice.
The Flipped Learning Global Initiative today announced a new program geared toward helping educators, administrators and IT staff with the technology selection process for flipping the classroom.
The University of Dayton (UD), a private, faith-based research university in Ohio, has announced plans to establish a center on campus dedicated to cybersecurity and data intelligence.
CT talks with UTA LINK Lab Executive Director, PI/Researcher, and Professor George Siemens about connectedness and how it is changing the way we interact, work, and learn in a digital age.
A new forecast from International Data Corp. estimates that the total worldwide spending on the Internet of Things will reach $1.29 trillion by 2020.
Beginning today, various furniture, fixtures and equipment used at former ITT Technical Institute locations will be available for purchase.
MIT has introduced a new blended "micromasters" program that can help people earn their master's degree in data, economics and development policy.
The United States Department of Education has released its final rules to improve oversight and clarify the state authorization requirements for institutions to participate in federal student aid disbursement programs — which will impact more than 5.5 million students.
Three California community colleges that participated in a national project to help students get and stay on a path for their college studies will be leading other community colleges in the state to implement a similar model.
A new report out from the Southern Regional Education Board recommends five actions for states and schools to help more young people and underrepresented groups learn computer science skills and explore careers in computing fields.
The University of California, Irvine Division of Continuing Education is launching its first Coding Boot Camp, designed for working professionals and students.
iModules Software has integrated point-to-point encryption technology into its products to ensure data security for all transactions. The integration will have the biggest impact on educational institutions, which will be able to bolster security for their various financial transactions.
A new center at the University of Southern California aims to apply the real-time data generated by the Internet of Things to teaching and learning.
A team of Carnegie Mellon University researchers has put its own flu forecasting operations to work. Once again this year, they'll be monitoring the results of various approaches to figure out which one is more accurate: using artificial intelligence and machine learning, or crowdsourcing the predictions. What they learn from the process can be applied to predict other kinds of outbreaks.
A New York-based data science bootcamp has launched an online education program for long-distance learners.
Using the full SaaS source-to-settle suite from SciQuest, a provider of spend management and e-procurement solutions, all 64 SUNY colleges and universities will be able to manage systemwide spending under a more unified, established set of business processes.
Entangled Solutions is forming a Quality Assurance Task Force to drive accountability and transparency for emerging models of education.
The University of San Diego is moving its privileged account management to the cloud, as part of an overall effort to take a cloud-first approach to IT functions.
Ovum's latest report examines the key trends that are expected to impact higher education in the new year.
Ellucian today announced the availability of its Banner and Colleague ERP systems in the cloud.
California’s City College of San Francisco has been unable to prove to the state that instructors taught approximately 16,000 students in nearly 600 online courses from 2011 to 2014. No fraud is suspected, but the college will repay the state $39 million over the next 10 years.
Elsevier has come up with its own system for ranking journals that aims to provide “a more comprehensive, transparent and current view of a journal’s impact” to help assess the quality of more than 22,000 titles.
Small liberal arts colleges looking to innovate with technology in education are finding strength in numbers.
A new study from Civitas Learning, based on aggregated data collected using 4 million student records from 68 institutions, has identified attendance, LMS grades, course material engagement and discussion board engagement as the four most predictive types of LMS activities.
Australia's Deakin University is gearing up to offer six full postgraduate degrees through FutureLearn, a massive open online course platform launched in 2012 by The Open University.
MIT's Solve initiative, a community focused on creative problem-solving, is tackling major global issues with three new challenges. This year's Solve challenges seek innovative, affordable, far-reaching and implementable solutions to address refugee education, carbon contributions and chronic diseases.
The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) yesterday released three additional scorecards to help faculty and administrators evaluate digital course offerings. More than 400 higher ed institutions use OLC’s Quality Scorecard Suite to assess their online and blended learning programs and initiate planning efforts.
A startup accelerator from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and StartEd Companies is concluding a three-month mentorship program with nine Ed Tech startups in New York City. The startups each have a chance to receive up to $170,000 in funding to further develop their tech solutions “focused on improving education and learning."
The e-learning market is predicted to experience significant global growth over the next five years, largely driven by advances in technology, evolving business needs and a number of emerging learning and development trends, according to Docebo’s newly released research report, “E-Learning Market Trends and Forecast 2017-2021.”
Quality instructional videos require a balance of content, design, teaching style and more. Here are six factors to consider.
Rochester Institute of Technology has launched a series of graduate-level courses in cybersecurity with edX, an online learning platform founded in 2012 by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Columbia College Chicago has revamped its network to support e-learning at the liberal arts institution.
The partnership will add VitalSource’s complete suite of offerings to Ed Map’s OPENVUE platform and its services, to expand course material offerings beyond eTextbooks.
The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) is working with instructional design experts from the State University of New York to help people in higher education hone their skills in instructional design for online courses.
Softdocs today announced a cloud-based option for its Etrieve enterprise content management platform.
Just over half of today's university data analytics degree programs have been established in the last six years, according to a new report from Tableau.
Educators around the world have a new resource for connecting, problem-solving, innovating and sharing best practices in flipped learning. Launched today, the International Flipped Learning Innovation Center is an online platform designed to support collaboration and innovation among flipped learning practitioners worldwide.
The concerns relayed in this year's Campus Computing Project survey results reflect ongoing struggles with budget, user preparation and security.
Credo today announced that it is contributing reporting, learning outcomes tracking and analytics features to Open edX, the open source learning management system originally developed for edX's online courses and MOOCs.
Data generated by the University of Nevada Las Vegas' AV systems is helping reduce costs and improve service delivery in the classroom. Here's how.
The online education platform has introduced a $1 million scholarship program for nonprofits that work to increase opportunities for individuals who are underrepresented in the tech industry.
What happens when you mix a high-end technology sandbox loaded with ample, cutting-edge digital media tools and production facilities with some of the world's brightest students and most innovative faculty? Andy Phelps talks about MAGIC at RIT.
Researchers at Intel Security have identified 14 cyber threats to watch in 2017. The insights were released today in the organization's McAfee Labs 2017 Threats Predictions Report.
The University of South Florida has teamed with a private partner to offer students free access to an online coding program and the opportunity to attend an immersive coding bootcamp.
Western Governors University Washington is partnering with Capital Region Educational Service District 113 in an effort to improve access to continuing education to the district's employees.
The generic e-learning course market is projected to grow by 8 percent per year over the next four years, driven primarily by growth in general purpose learning applications, cost-effectiveness of generic e-learning courses and increased adoption of mobile learning.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has partnered with several other organizations in an effort to provide free outdoor WiFi for two local neighborhoods.
Students at Rasmussen College have a new, more flexible way to earn a business degree. The private, regionally accredited institution has launched Flex Choice Competency-Based Education, a program model that allows students to choose between traditional and self-paced competency-based education (CBE) courses.
Walden University has launched a new online bachelor of science degree program for students interested in becoming elementary school teachers.
The University of Memphis is teaming with a private partner to explore how students can best thrive in a blended learning environment with access to both teachers and automated instruction.
Amazon has announced 12 university teams that will participate in its Alexa Prize contest, which challenges university and college students worldwide to develop a “socialbot” capable of holding conversations with humans for 20 minutes.
The University of California, Berkeley's School of Information has tapped a private partner to help launch a new online program, Master of Information and Cybersecurity.
Various parent groups and privacy advocates published a letter opposing the creation of a database tracking academic and employment outcomes for college and university students.
Online education programs and courses are on the rise at private colleges and universities compared to three years ago, according to a new report from the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and Learning House.
Educause recently revealed its Top 10 IT Issues for 2017, prioritizing information security for the second year in a row and emphasizing data, infrastructure and IT leadership. What issues will most impact your institution?
Ohio's Shawnee State University has adopted a suite of cloud-based software to improve recruiting and optimize internal operations in response to a mandate from Governor Kasich to lower the cost of education in the state.
Educause's annual roundup of the most pressing issues in higher ed technology highlights data issues, digital transformation of learning and "next-generation" use of IT.
Under a new proof-of-concept program, schools, districts and community colleges will be able to try out Internet2's identity management service, InCommon Federated Identity Management.
Barnes & Noble Education has released a new platform designed to make it easy for faculty to find and use open educational resources.
Babson College has teamed with edX to launch a new series of six online courses, Business Principles and Entrepreneurial Thought.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab Security and Privacy Institute have developed a new tool for analyzing network traffic and identifying cyber attacks.
Parallels has released an update to Remote Application Server (RAS). The latest version of the remote desktop software, version 15.5, adds new iOS and Android clients and support for Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Windows Server 2016.
Indiana Wesleyan University has tapped a private partner to provide online courses in an effort to ease degree attainment for students.
A "boutique" search company has developed a free online resource that lets users search for university and college videos that have been posted to YouTube and then clip and share segments of those videos with students and colleagues.
The university has entered a 10-year contract, announced at the 2016 Educause conference, with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise to deploy a university-wide data and voice network.
In our 2016 Teaching with Technology survey, faculty members offered their predictions on what the future holds for technology in teaching — including what hardware and systems will bite the dust over the next 10 years.
From affordable textbooks to the flipped classroom, here's what was trending on our website last month.
In our second-annual survey, CT readers share their best-loved and most-used tools on campus.
Seventy-seven percent of college students think schools should do a better job of using their personal data to improve the college experience, according to a new survey from Ellucian.
The educational arm of Amazon Web Services has added new capabilities to its flagship product, helping students hone their technical skills and connect to careers in cloud computing.
The Digital Education Platform integrates with Cisco’s WebEx and Spark services into existing LMSs, allowing universities to create and manage online courses and cloud-based collaboration spaces more easily.
Texas A&M University system has signed with a third party to provide online proctoring services for the 143,000 students taking exams at its 11 campuses and associated online courses.
Ellucian has introduced its upcoming role-based analytics platform designed to provide insight to enterprise-wide data for more than 100 campus departments, including recruitment, student administration, financial aid, human resources and advancement.
The Board of Governors’ Innovation and Online Committee has set a goal to increase student enrollment in online classes over the next ten years, while making distance education programs more affordable for learners.
D2L is partnering with Amazon Web Services in an effort to better serve customers and to accelerate expansion and innovation.
Thanks to a new partnership announced at the Educause 2016 conference, Blackboard Learn users will now be able to collaborate on documents using the cloud sharing platform Dropbox. As part of the integration, users will be able to upload documents to Dropbox, share them with others and collaborate in a secure environment.
The California State University System has adopted a new video platform to support online teaching and learning throughout the state.
Is the distinction between online learning and campus-based instruction disappearing? Asking faculty to move their courses online may be deceptively simple. That's why co-authors Judith Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad have refined a list of 14 best practices based on core learning principles to help faculty succeed in creating effective online courses.
The University of Wisconsin's first cohort of students to complete a significant number of their undergraduate courses primarily through the flipped classroom model is preparing to graduate in the spring.
The Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University held its first ever remote piano master class on October 10.
Less than a month after the Flipped Learning Global Initiative announced a new certification track, the organization has its first group of 16 credential holders.
The University of Dayton's School of Business Administration will launch a new online master of business administration program beginning in October of next year.
At the University of Delaware, an ERP system upgrade led to the retirement of their legacy portal. The search was on for a portal replacement. Joy Lynam explains how the university replaced the portal with a search-based solution called OneCampus — ultimately modernizing the experience of finding campus resources for users.
For several years, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has used Splunk Enterprise to monitor the efficiency of its IT infrastructure and to help identify potential issues. Now, the institution is tapping into the analytics platform for academic research, mining data from the learning management system to better understand how students learn.
University Innovation Alliance's Bridget Burns explains how the organization's members are scaling up student success efforts that really work.
California Community Colleges will soon allow students to cross-register for online courses through a course exchange system.
The Office of Academic Innovation at U-M will spend the next year identifying more ways to encourage faculty and staff to embrace digital technology in the classroom.
Spurred by the success of an earlier anatomy class offered as a massive open online course, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is expanding its course offerings through its own institutional website and enhancing the course content with the help of a textbook publisher and 3D simulation company.
Our first-ever Teaching with Technology survey gauged educators' use of the flipped classroom model, blended/online teaching environments and more.
Davidson College has tapped a private partner to help launch a tuition-free online coding program for students and graduates.
The National Science Foundation has begun filling in the details of its national plan for big data research.
A professor at Texas A&M University is developing artificial intelligence (AI) technology for creating adaptive online courses.
A recent report from Technavio reveals that the visual analytics market in the United States education sector will increase over the next four years, with on-premises visual analytics and enterprise resource planning segments dominating the market.
Two sizable Utah universities are teaming to work together on student success initiatives.
CDW has announced a new offering for organizations looking to move to the cloud.
IT staffers at Edward Waters College in Florida are no longer burdened with managing the institution's wired and wireless networks.
Yale Law School the Connecticut institution has adopted, a cloud data security platform in an effort to maintain control of client communications.
Video calling, shopping and video streaming see the highest smartphone usage growth among millennial users, while all adult smartphone users have nearly tripled the amount of video data they consume each month.
Google Search results now feature data from the United States Department of Education’s College Scorecard — but leave out some of the Scorecard's more contentious data, such as student loan repayment rates and average income for students who attended.
Salesforce is introducing Salesforce Advisor Link, a new application for academic advisers that delivers a holistic view of each student’s academic experience.
From outsourcing to learning spaces, here's what was trending on our website last month.
Georgia State's chief innovation officer is tackling the flipped classroom, learning analytics, digital literacy and more.
The Ohio-based university has opened up a new institute dedicated to developing Internet of Things technology. The institute will leverage the university’s work in sensors and electronics, networks and communications, systems and controls, data science and analytics, and other technology fields related to IoT.
Splunk, a provider of real-time operational intelligence software, has launched the Splunk Pledge, a new philanthropic program of the Splunk4Good initiative.
A new organization dedicated to improving the practices of the flipped classroom has introduced a certification program intended to give teachers and administrators a foundational understanding.
While the conference and the community that developed the original software and pioneered the Kuali movement have been active for more than 12 years, it's been only two years since the advent of Kuali as a new company — now, the software is being developed and offered through a separate, for profit entity. The Kuali Foundation's executive director tells CT how a foundation, a company, and old and new customers thrive and complement each other.
A company that helps institutions and publishers monitor the reach of their scholarly output has begun tracking data from the Open Syllabus Project.
Civitas Learning has upgraded its Illume predictive analytics product with new capabilities designed to help institutions improve student outcomes.
Cloud investment is mostly expected to grow next year in higher education; 81 percent of IT leaders or professionals said their institutions would be increasing spending on cloud computing in 2017. Sixty percent said they're integrating cloud thinking into their IT strategies. But it will take a few more years before the majority of applications in colleges are running in the cloud. Today 39 percent of apps are cloud-based; by 2021 it could be closer to 62 percent. Those results came from a survey done among IT respondents who work in government or higher education by MeriTalk, a publishing company focused on government IT, on behalf of sponsors NetApp and Avnet, which are both technology providers.
Internet2, the technology community devoted to advancing research and education, celebrates its 20th anniversary next month.
If the outcome from online courses is uneven, it's little wonder. Most instructors aren't exactly up to speed on what to expect, according to a new report from the Online Learning Consortium
The University of California, San Diego's department of Extended Studies and Public Programs has partnered with the San Diego Supercomputer Center to launch the Modern Data Science Academy, an education center providing hands-on workshops about data mining and data analytics.
Excelencia in Education received $1.5 million from an educational philanthropy and a private foundation to serve a common interest – the advancement of effective and evidence-based practices for Latino college students.
From wearables, to smart objects and environments, to sensor networks, and more, our choices for connecting with the Internet of Things are increasing exponentially. We are now beginning to speak in terms of the Internet of Everything. CT asked Robbie K. Melton, associate vice chancellor for mobile and emerging technologies at the Tennessee Board of Regents, for some advice and insight for higher education institutions as they explore the unique applications of the IoE in education.
An experiment by MIT to test out a credential program delivered as a MOOC has blossomed into 19 different "micro-masters" offered by nearly as many members of the edX consortium.
A new initiative is intended to close the gap between the number of students in Chicago Public Schools who aspire to earn a college degree (75 percent) and those who are projected to do so within 10 years of starting high school (18 percent). The To&Through Project is a joint effort of the Urban Education Institute and Network for College Success, both organizations based at the University of Chicago.
A team of researchers at MIT believe they've created a way to recognize basic emotions with signals transmitted from the closest wireless router.
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville has added more outdoor wireless access points and security cameras without adding new power lines by using a powered fiber cable system.
The Credential Transparency Initiative today debuted its Credential Registry, a tool for documenting and comparing certifications, degrees, certificates, licenses, badges and other micro-credentials. The project includes the formation a new nonprofit organization, Credential Engine, tasked with taking the effort mainstream.
Eddie Maloney, executive director of Georgetown's Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship, makes the case for a new academic discipline built around the study of educational technology, learning analytics and instructional design.
Oakland University teamed up with Munetrix to provide data-driven solutions for schools and municipalities to map K–12 student migration.
The worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow 17.2 percent in 2016 to total $208.6 billion, up from $178 billion in 2015, according to recent reports by tech market research firm Gartner.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is increasing its investment in analytics to develop programs and policies to improve persistence, completion and graduation.
Four years after the launch of edX, the data generated by massive open online courses still mystifies many institutions. Could inter-university collaboration unlock the secrets to better course delivery?
A competition originally started to help Adobe recruit college students well suited to work in the company's analytics unit is just about to open for this year's challenge.
Quality Matters, a nonprofit organization providing quality standards, professional development, course/program review and more, has added a new Teaching Online Certificate to its lineup of certifications for quality assurance in online learning.
A Pennsylvania State University research project is exploring the possibility of using 3D printing and interactive technology to teach middle school students about the human brain.
A new initiative at Stanford University hopes to lay the groundwork for the responsible use of student data in higher education.
A University of California Irvine research project may be the first of its kind to attempt to measure the impact and feasibility of the use of robots to bring homebound students into the classroom when they can't be there physically.
The National Science foundation awarded Michigan State University a $1 million grant to develop iSee, mobile technology that measures human behavior.
Blackboard and Authentica Solutions, a company that provides tools for data authentication and management, have extended a partnership that aims to improve the bi-directional flow of data between Blackboard's learning management systems and other education applications.
Laws in more than 20 states restrict or prohibit local governments from building their own broadband networks, according to a report released today by the Education Commission of the States.
One of the major IT solution providers in the education space is renaming itself. Connection, formerly known as PC Connection, is moving all of its subsidiaries, including GovConnection, into the new brand.
The biggest predictor of student achievement (based on their use of a learning management system) isn't the amount of time they spend working with course content; nor is it how long they spend taking assessments or participating in discussion forums.
Carnegie Mellon University is adding a new six-unit course, "Cloud Computing for Business," to its School of Information Systems & Management academic offerings.
The worldwide self-paced e-learning market is declining at a precipitous rate, according to a recent report released by Ambient Insight Research, a Washington-based market research firm.
A non-profit organization with technology that brings digital content to "offline" populations around the world for the purposes of education will be paying more attention to a U.S. population that's also unable to access the Internet: those in prisons and jails.
The Data Science for Social Good summer program brought teams of students and data scientists together to work on projects that impact public policy.
A company that helps colleges and universities build and refine online courses has introduced a higher ed redesign service that includes a "continuous improvement" dashboard. iDesign has tested its new offering with Schreiner University, a private liberal arts school in Kerrville, TX.
From virtual classrooms to Pokémon Go, here's what was trending on our website last month.
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus is extending its online and hybrid education offerings with the addition of new degree programs and certificates targeted at people who need to complete their degrees.
While two-thirds (64 percent) of higher education IT decision makers agreed that the data generated from their IT operations is "extremely" or "very" important to their missions, most of them (59 percent) lack visibility across their IT systems, according to a recent survey.
This state university turned to software it already uses — its learning management system — to transform new-student orientation.
Just eight months ago, Hobsons announced its acquisition of the PAR (Predictive Analytics Reporting) Framework. Here, CT talks with Ellen Wagner, Chief Research Officer for the PAR Framework and VP for Research at Hobsons to get a brief update on the current work of PAR.
Alderson Broaddus University has teamed with a private partner to provide online courses in an attempt to help students complete their degree at a lower cost.
Just in time to honor the 400th anniversary of the death of the Bard, a new hybrid certificate at the University of Colorado Boulder tackles the topic of William Shakespeare in an immersive experience.
The University of Wisconsin-Extension has selected new members to join its industry expert advisory boards for its online bachelor's and master's degrees.
Primavera Online High School has won retroactive approval from the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), allowing student athletes who have taken Primavera courses to begin establishing eligibility to play college sports.
London School of Economics and Political Science embarked on a crowdsourced, gamified approach to education and citizenship, harnessing the massive open online space to engage a community of learners in writing a model UK constitution.
The marketplace for augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality technologies may be heating up. Daniel Christian, a senior instructional designer at Calvin College observes that significant R&D investments, product development, and more powerful enabling technologies are setting the stage for new AR/VR/MR initiatives in higher education.
Beginning on August 29, MIT will be kicking off its latest round of "Introduction to Philosophy: God, Knowledge and Consciousness." This time, however, some participants will have the chance to submit a paper and have it reviewed by the instructors — a first for MITx, the institution's edX portal.
The University of Nevada, Reno is expanding an existing partnership with a private party to launch an online master of public health degree in spring of 2017.
Worldwide revenues for the augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) markets are expected to grow from $5.2 billion in 2016 to more than $162 billion in 2020, according to research done by the International Data Corporation (IDC). The $156.8 billion increase represents a compound annual growth rate of 181.3 percent over the 2015-20 forecast period.
Does a study of the scene of Ricky Bobby flailing around in his BVDs trying to put out a non-existent fire in Talladega Nights have a place in higher education? That particular movie could surface alongside other Will Ferrell classics — as well as movies featuring Charlie Chaplin, Lucille Ball and others — in a massive open online course examining the history of slapstick comedy in film over the past century.
California Community Colleges will now have access to a new tool for offering online diagnostic assessments.
Higher ed technology community Internet2 has added a cloud service provider to its NET+ offerings.
Advanced research and education networks can be a tremendous resource for colleges and universities both large and small. So why doesn't every school take part?
The new "Virtually Inspired" website will bring together the latest deployments of cutting-edge online learning technologies.
Virtual labs have done a decent job of introducing students to scientific work and allowing them to simulate experiments in the absence of a physical lab. However, a faculty member at Stony Brook University said she believes virtual labs could do more, and she intends to apply gamification to find out whether its use could expand how science is practiced online.
Harvard and UC Berkeley share two different approaches to helping online business school students feel like they're attending class in person.
At the Campus Technology conference in Boston, Stephen Downes explained the difference between innovation and transformation.
A new brief from a public policy think tank suggests getting rid of the link between federal student aid and college accreditation and even allowing the market to choose which schools are worthy of staying open.
Bellevue College has tapped a private partner to help provide continuing education in programming and related technologies.
Technology has the potential to solve the affordability and access problem in higher education, according to the author of Revolution in Higher Education.
Worldwide tablet shipments, including detachables and slates, reached 38.7 million in the second quarter of 2016, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation’s Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. That’s 12.3 percent less when compared to Q2 2015, as vendors begin to refocus their product lines and consumers hold off on purchases.
From online learning to facial recognition, here's what was trending on our website last month.
Qlik, a company that primarily makes data analytics tools for business, has added a new component to the free digital course materials it offers to universities.
By creating a centralized Office of Analytics and developing a flexible analytics platform, the University of Maryland University College has leveraged data to reduce recruiting expenses, increase course completion and student persistence rates, and inform university policy.
Two universities share how the Quality Matters rubric informs their online course design and improves the learning experience for students.
The Education Department’s latest proposal sets forth several federal requirements for colleges and universities that offer distance education programs.
The work of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, while perhaps not as highly visible as that of some other organizations, is continuing as it has for the past 40-plus years, helping colleges and universities translate data into usable information for decision makers. Here, CT speaks with Sally Johnstone, who recently began her role as the nonprofit organization's new president.
Blackboard has partnered with Examity in an effort to improve the efficiency, security and convenience of online assessments.
The University of North Carolina system has joined the PAR Framework, an organization of higher education institutions that share their data in an effort to provide one another with predictive models and benchmarks.
Instructure and Intellify have partnered in an effort to provide more data-driven insights into student learning and achievement.
New research into the demographics of online college students found 50 percent of them would probably not choose to attend classes on a physical campus.
The companies have partnered to integrate an analytics tool within Instructure’s LMS to help support student outcomes and retention.
This past Friday, South Orange County Community College District held a kickoff meeting for its latest development project, SmartSchedule. CT asked technology leadership on campus why the class schedule is an important area for development and how it fits into their larger technology strategy for student services.
Stanford University's Graduate School of Education has launched a new online course, Effective Conversation in the Classroom, designed to help educators learn to create rich and meaningful conversations in their classrooms.
D2L has updated its learning management system, Brightspace, with integrated virtual classroom capabilities.
Unizin's co-founder describes the consortium's focus on content, learner interaction platforms and analytics, and what it hopes to achieve this year.
A United States Department of Agriculture grant program will fund 45 projects intended to connect rural communities in 32 states with educational experts via videoconferencing.
Wayne State University in Michigan has implemented a big data analytics system to improve its reporting system for student data and finances.
Michigan's Oakland University is in the throes of its third major wireless network rollout in 10 years. Here's how the institution is tackling user demand, the Internet of Things, signal management and more.
Central Penn College has teamed with a private partner to offer online courses in an effort to improve access to and affordability of degree completion.
Online students at the Oregon Institute of Technology can now earn digital badges to identify their skill sets and demonstrate their competencies to current or future employers.
Regis College has gone public with the addition of online programs to its healthcare-focused academics.
The university is working with Keypath Education to launch and scale online programs in business, computer science and healthcare.
WebAssign has launched PlaceU, a new tool designed to help institutions place students based on their own online assessments or those of other universities, such as Purdue or Texas A&M.
Blackboard introduces Moodlerooms 3.0, with enhancements designed to improve teaching and learning experiences for teachers, students and administrators.
Two new graduate-level STEM classes will use a mixed modality teaching model that combines onsite and online instruction.
Echo360 and Instructure are teaming up to provide faculty and advisers with real-time analytics that link student engagement to academic performance.
The ED’s new online portal enables federal student aid recipients to submit complaints and feedback, among other features.
Education consultancy NobleStream has added a new education technology partner to the roster of companies it works with in deploying solutions for its clients.
From gamification to makerspaces, here's what was trending on our website last month.
A research project at Pennsylvania State University looked at how to improve the completion rate for people who undertake massive open online courses — a rate that currently stands at a dismal 10 percent.
An application that helps colleges identify and catalog online resources has added analytics functionality designed to help instructors understand how much students are "engaging" with the digital materials.
Shindig today announced its integration with Canvas by Instructure, bringing the former's video chat platform to the learning management system.
Excelsior College has teamed with a private partner to create a low-cost alternative pathway to college credit.
CT talks with Ed Chapel, Senior Vice President at NJEDge.Net, about the role of New Jersey's Research and Education Network (REN) and how it serves the higher education and related K-12, government, and nonprofit sectors.
Union College has teamed with a private partner in an effort to make affordable online courses more easily available to students.
The University of Michigan is self-funding two new research projects that explore student success.
Trent Batson explores how a reframing of the notion of 'ePortfolio adoption' may help promote the technology.
The planned acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft could either sound the death knell for colleges and universities put out of business by the coming "competency marketplace," or it could help schools raise their retention and graduation rates, thereby ensuring their long-term success.
Instructors at USC's Keck School now have a new resource for flipping the classroom.
In a world where we can place people in empty seats in cars and empty beds in houses, why not place people in empty chairs in college classrooms?
Cornell University and the University of Queensland have partnered to offer, via edX, a new massive open online course about sharks.
WebSeries, the new subscription portal on eCornell, hosts one-hour online events for working professionals and lifelong learners.
A new guide from OnlineSchoolsCenter ranks the top 10 disability-friendly schools and offers guidance to students with disabilities.
McGraw-Hill Education has partnered with ZogoTech in an effort to improve student retention in higher education through predictive analytics.
At this year's Campus Technology Conference in Boston, learn about wearables, gamification, solutions-based IT and the future of technology in higher education.
Thirteen years after Nicholas Carr declared that IT had become a commodity rather than a strategic asset, information technology leaders are still debating the importance of IT in higher education.
Elmhurst College in Illinois has implemented a bandwidth optimization platform to help ensure an equitable distribution of network bandwidth during peak usage periods and to prevent individuals from dominating network resources.
EnGenius Technologies, a provider of networking and telecommunications equipment, has introduced a new 802.11ac Wave 2 dual band AC1300 outdoor wireless access point.
Yonsei University in South Korea is upgrading its wired and wireless network infrastructure to support plans for a cloud-enabled enterprise.
Terradata has selected the student winners of its third annual Terradata Aster and Northwestern University Hackathon.
Higher education needs to actively participate in discussions around learning analytics algorithms, transparency and data access, says UT Arlington's George Siemens.
This fall, Philadelphia's Peirce College will launch its first competency-based degree program: a bachelor's degree in information technology with a concentration in networking, administration and information security.
The bandwidth upgrade is expected to have a significant impact for colleges and universities using I-Light.
An information technology strategic plan provides tech workers with guidance and ensures that all personnel are working in alignment with the university mission. Here are three things to keep in mind when formulating an IT strategy.
Courseware developer Junction Education has partnered with course material fulfillment firm MBS Direct to bring its OER-based courses and authoring platform to a wider range of campuses.
The Harvard Graduate School of Education has introduced an online version of its Data Wise Leadership Institute.
The academic world just got a little tighter with the lighting up of a 100-gigabit research and education network link between the United States and Latin America.
Students in an online data science program offered by the University of Wisconsin may soon get an opportunity to use virtual reality headsets to interact with mountains of data.
BrainHub, a multi-disciplinary research organization at Carnegie Mellon University, is hosting its first Neurohackathon May 24-25. The event challenges computer science students to develop solutions for analyzing neuroscience data.
Strayer University has recently gone public with a partnership designed to help identify factors that contribute to success for student in online courses.
Blockchain technology could offer a more learner-centered alternative to traditional credentialing.
The City of Los Angeles has joined the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC), a 100 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) research and education network, providing California schools, colleges and universities with high-speed access to the city's data and services.
Online coding school Treehouse is introducing a new degree program designed to prepare students for entry-level developer jobs.
D-Link has introduced the DXS-1100-10TS, a 10-port, 10 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) managed switch suitable for educational facilities.
Companies like AT&T and Google are expanding their partnerships with online education providers, creating new educational pathways to real jobs.
Excelsior College and the United States Office of Personnel Management have partnered in an effort designed to make higher education more accessible and affordable to more than 1 million federal employees and their spouses or domestic partners.
Cornell University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering has teamed with a private partner to test and implement new technology for dynamic, optimal routing.
The University of Southern Indiana has launched an accelerated online master of business administration degree in an effort to make an MBA degree more accessible to residents of Indiana and neighboring areas.
The first students to complete a doctorate degree online have graduated from Pennsylvania State University.
Kettering University is launching three new fully online graduate certificate programs.
Northwestern University in Illinois has launched a new Digital Learning website to showcase the innovative online and blended learning practices of campus faculty and provide information for those who want to implement digital learning.
The partnership provides international students with simple, secure and always-on Wi-Fi for mobile devices.
The University of Michigan will launch three new online certificate programs that will be available on the edX MOOC platform.
From free digital textbooks to student piracy, here's what was trending on our website last month.
A small, private, non-profit college in Los Angeles has just added seven new all-online programs to its roster of studies, including bachelor and associate degrees and a certificate in entrepreneurship.
To improve the student experience in online courses, we need to focus on community-building, sharing and peer support.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have published a study that suggests students may be more likely to stick with massive open online courses if they use Facebook.
Several of the Ivy League libraries and the Library of Congress are upgrading current infrastructure to use linked open data to enhance information.
Online education pioneer Southern New Hampshire U is launching an innovation lab to look for the ideas that will catapult the institution into the future.
The University of Cambridge has implemented a high-performance computing (HPC)-as-a-service resource to support the scientific and technology research community.
Ranger College, a community college in rural Texas, has implemented an advanced digital learning environment using cloud-managed wired and wireless network services.
Pearson has partnered with General Assembly to offer online, skills-focused courses in the areas of digital marketing, web development, user experience design and data analytics.
Leaders at Clemson University's Center of Excellence in Digital Creativity have taken an all-or-nothing approach to digital literacy: Nearly 30,000 students and faculty all have access to all the software tools in the Adobe Creative Cloud, along with an impressive collaboratory filled with high-end hardware, collaboration tools, and expert guidance.
Schools have been collecting data on students through standardized tests and other means for years, but teachers, parents and other stakeholders in students' development often don't have the opportunity to use that data to help meet individual students' needs, according to a new report from the Data Quality Campaign.
Ten online courses from digital publisher Shmoop have recently earned a-g approval from the University of California, bringing the total number of a-g courses offered by the company to 20.
The business school at Southeastern Oklahoma State University is adding five new focus areas to its online MBA program for a total of 11 areas of specialization.
Federal funding for basic and applied research grew 6 percent in the most recent year’s data, with projections for more modest growth through 2016.
Syracuse University's College of Law has teamed with a private partner to develop a hybrid juris doctor degree program.
Tablets, mobile phones or traditional computers: Which are the biggest bandwidth hogs on campus?
Marietta College in Ohio has implemented a bandwidth optimization platform to help its network operations team address the problem of network saturation during peak usage periods.
Colleges and universities looking to grow their online programs can now tap into a new offering from Keypath Education.
Brandman University is expanding its MyPath competency-based education program with a new Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (B.S.IT).
Arizona State University's online Global Freshman Academy is rolling out adaptive software to help tens of thousands of students work through its College Algebra & Problem Solving course. The GFA program, delivered via massive open online course provider edX, will be the first to utilize McGraw-Hill Education's ALEKS adaptive learning product in a MOOC format.
A new research center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will explore how machine learning systems can advance cognitive computing.
The University of Nevada, Reno's School of Social Work is teaming with a private partner to expand access to its online Master of Social Work program, which is launching foundational and concentration tracks in the fall.
Just days after announcing it was working with the University of North Carolina to deliver four new certificate programs in its business school, 2U has also gone public with news that it is extending its contract with the University of Southern California (USC) school of education for an additional 12 years and teaming up with Syracuse University to help launch a new online master of public administration.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Connection Science, a research initiative that applies data and analytics with the goal of building better societies, has adopted a validator for the Ripple Consensus Ledger to advance research into the Internet of value — technology that enables money to move over the Internet as fast as information does today.
The University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School is expanding its graduate certificate program with the launch of four new online certificates, including one in data analytics and decision-making.
The University of Kansas has implemented streaming IPTV service for students, faculty and staff.
Researchers at the University of Michigan, in collaboration with IBM, have designed a high-performance computing cluster with the goal of advancing predictive modeling in computational science.
Teachers College, Columbia University's Graduate School of Education, Health and Psychology, is upgrading its network infrastructure with a range of wired and wireless products from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Aruba.
The multi-campus university has selected Widen Media Collective to provide it with a cloud-based digital asset management system for its branded digital assets.
Stanford University has enhanced its online certificate program in advanced computer security, adding a new course in network security and updating its course in emerging threats and defenses.
The University of California, Irvine put off updating its student housing wireless. Now it's ahead of the pack.
A new study by researchers at the University of Washington has found that the use of massive open online courses is much different in emerging countries than in the United States and, in some ways, more in line with what MOOC's original proponents had in mind.
The University of New South Wales Australia is launching an engineering MOOC that will use adaptive learning technology to personalize course materials for students and boost completion rates for those new to the field.
The University of California has granted a-g approval for an additional 30 online and blended learning courses offered by Edmentum.
The use of "cheat sheets" is the most common way students try to cheat on their online tests, according to online proctor Examity. The second most common tactic is to use Google Search and Translate, followed by copying test questions for distribution, hiding flashcards underneath the keyboard and hanging answers on walls.
Analytics and data intelligence software company Rapid Insight has introduced a streamlined predictive analytics tool for Ellucian's Colleague ERP system.
A new consultative service from Campus Management offers to help colleges and universities better prepare for and utilize technology.
The use of the "flipped" model of instruction for English-as-a-second-language (ESL) college students can improve their autonomous learning skills, according to the results of a small research project that took place in Tomsk, Russia.
New cloud-based software will allow administrators to make decisions on all 11 campuses more effectively.
From digital textbooks to napping pods, here's what was trending on our Web site last month.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is offering an online Master of Computer Science in Data Science degree through the Coursera massive open online course platform.
California's Central Region Agriculture Education Career Pathway Consortium has received $15 million in grant funds from the California Career Pathways Trust to expand and improve career and technical education programs in 36 high schools and three community colleges in the region.
Students at the University of Michigan now have access to an online tool intended to help them make better decisions about the courses they're considering.
Menlo College, a business school in Silicon Valley, has doubled its Internet performance by upgrading its Ethernet network and adding a new fiber optic connection to campus.
Two universities, California State University, Fullerton and Lehigh University, have earned certification from a nonprofit organization for their emphasis on the use of technology in learning in their teacher preparation programs.
Quality Matters (QM) today announced that Ball State University is the first higher education institution in the country to earn the standards organization's Learner Support Program Certification for an online program.
Forget about hunting down just the right educational game for your students. Let them use the games they already love — Minecraft, World of Warcraft and Call of Duty — and then untangle how those can be fit into the learning goals you have for them. Figuring out how to do that as a teacher is the focus of a new course at Penn State.
Bethel University in McKenzie, TN has added new online course options to help students in the College of Professional Studies complete their degree programs.
The University of Massachusetts' online consortium, UMassOnline, has launched its first non-credit badge program.
Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN is hosting a workshop on distance learning for rarely taught languages.
Colorado State University-Global Campus has introduced a new online certificate of completion and degree specialization program in computer programming.
The University of Southern California has announced a build-out of its law degree offerings with a new online degree.
After too many years watching students struggle with the transition to college, mobile application developers at the University of San Diego are excited to watch this year's freshmen get organized and get ahead with a highly customized USD personal assistant mobile application.
California's North Coast Region School Districts are adopting digital courses focused on agricultural science at 16 area high schools and two community colleges in an effort to help students explore career interests and aspirations.
Australia's University of Adelaide is redesigning its teaching and learning model, using technology from Echo360 to promote active learning in the classroom.
Among other initiatives, Penn State English faculty can use iPads available in the Digital English Studio in their classrooms.
Experts weigh in on the challenges of student success and the need for innovation in higher ed.
MIT has launched a new master's degree in business analytics, which will start its first cohort in fall 2016.
Cornell University has created Cornell Online, a new Web portal that brings together the university's various online course offerings.
The University of Michigan, a founding partner of MOOC company Coursera, has followed through on a fall 2015 commitment to deliver massive open, online courses on edX as well.
Providing more support for instructors may improve the student experience in massive open online courses, according to a study conducted by researchers from Penn State and the University of Central Florida.
An alliance made up of 11 major universities across the United States has knocked its goal of graduating more students -- including more low-income students -- out of the park.
Academic Partnerships is now accepting applications for its semiannual Faculty Research Grant program.
Researchers can now access de-identified learning data from more than 230 massive open online courses (MOOCs) hosted on Instructure's Canvas Network.
A team of computer scientists and electrical engineers at the University of Washington has developed a passive Wi-Fi system that can generate 802.11b Wi-Fi signals using 10,000 times less power than present-day Wi-Fi and 1,000 times less power than Bluetooth Low Energy and ZigBee, according to a news release on UW's site.
A new University of Phoenix research center will focus on "elevating educational offerings in the digital age through better understanding of teaching and learning through technology."
From MOOCs to digital textbooks, here's what was trending on our Web site last month.
Franklin University has teamed up with a private partner in an effort to make it easier for students to transfer credits and complete their degrees.
D2L has released a new edition of Degree Compass, the company's predictive analytics program.
Three higher ed chief data officers discuss the state of analytics at their institutions.
A joint project has uncovered how K-12 organizations as well as community colleges can tap into identity federations to take advantage of shared online services.
Digital curriculum provider Cengage Learning has struck an agreement with another education technology company to use the latter's coding labs inside a series of new programming courses.
California's Sierra College is partnering with community makerspace Hacker Lab to offer an immersive bootcamp for entrepreneurs.
Using technology developed by Acrobatiq, a Chicago university has created a blended learning alternative intended to help first-time, first-generation college students complete their degrees.
Shmoop, a provider of test prep and online courses, has launched two new computer science courses with more on the way.
UC Irvine Extension will offer a certificate with the completion of an online program to help teach English to non-English speakers.
Higher education recognizes a range of high-impact experiences proven to enhance student learning, but as Virginia Commonwealth University's Vice Provost for Learning Innovation Gardner Campbell points out, the curriculum has been sorely missing from that list. CT asked Campbell why, and how digital technologies might help as higher education sharpens its focus on curriculum and student learning.
A new grant initiative aims to document the impact of interactive video chat on student engagement in online education.
Refugees will have access to college courses — and college credit — as part of a new agreement between edX and Kiron, a crowd-funded university in Germany formed for the express purpose of helping refugees earn their degrees.
Responding to the growing demand for data skills in the workforce, the Center for Innovation at Rutgers University is rolling out a new online certificate program focused on data analytics and big data.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is expanding its offerings of massive open online courses.
Higher ed innovation guru Richard DeMillo talks about how and where to look for the massive transformation of education taking place right before our eyes.
Fox Valley Technical College, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139, the McFarland School District and K12 have partnered to launch Destinations Career Academy of Wisconsin, an online high school focused on career and technical education, the state's first such school.
ePortfolio technology has evolved over time — or maybe it's more accurate to say that the understanding of eportfolio and its application, or eportfolio practice, is still evolving. How will eportfolio define its place in education?
The new four-course program is intended to keep professionals up to date on what is required to design and develop products in a rapidly changing environment.
Experts identify the most substantial tech-related obstacles to education, ranging from the solvable to the downright wickedly difficult.
Two small Illinois school districts have joined a distance education consortium for dual credit college-level courses, bringing the total number of member districts to four, and a fifth district may soon join them.
Blogger and self-proclaimed "troublemaker" Audrey Watters discusses venture capital in education, learning analytics, artificial intelligence and more.
Pearson has selected the recipients of its annual Online Learning Excellence Awards at its 16th annual Cite Online Learning Conference.
A new 10-month master's degree at Wake Forest University will arm students to understand and apply business analytics.
A major statewide community college system has added a new option for proctoring of online tests.
As part of its strategic plan, La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia has moved its finance system to the cloud, while reducing its paper-based processes and providing faster, simpler reports and self-service functionality for staff and researchers.
These free courses will help update your skills with blended, OER, Universal Design and more.
A New York school has struck a deal with a company that specializes in online program development to build out its online graduate programs.
Even as online course registrations continue to rise, fewer academic leaders consider online learning critical to their "long-term" strategies or rate the learning outcomes in online education as equal or superior to face-to-face instruction, according to a new report from the Babson Survey Research Group.
Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun touted the company's new program announced in January called Nanodegree Plus, which guarantees that students enrolled in four of Udacity's online programs — Senior Web Developer, Android Developer, iOS Developer and Machine Learning — will find employment in the United States within six months of graduation or receive a full tuition refund.
A researcher at Pennsylvania State University has won a grant to use big data analysis to explore the "science of science."
You may never have heard of them, and they're based in little-known Google Map locations like McAllen, TX; Pahrump and Winnemucca, NV; and Albany, GA. But these three institutions have taken the top spots as the most affordable online colleges and degrees in the country.
A need for robust, scalable, reliable wireless infrastructure led Missouri's Evangel University to embark on a WiFi revamp on campus.
A degree program at Georgetown University has evolved from being completely online to bringing together students virtually and in-person.
The worldwide software-defined networking (SDN) market will reach $12.5 billon by 2020, according to a forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC).
A new Engineering@Syracuse program at Syracuse University's College of Engineering and Computer Science will offer three online degrees — Master of Science in Computer Engineering, Master of Science in Computer Science, and Master of Science in Cybersecurity — through the 2U platform.
John Carroll University's College of Arts and Sciences has adopted a data visualization suite to help students learn how to find insights in data and present their findings to an audience.
An assistant professor of engineering design and industrial engineering at Pennsylvania State University will use grant money to research the use of virtual reality in creating an immersive and interactive learning experience for engineering students in online courses.
In an effort to make it easier for people to work with their Microsoft Office documents stored in Box, the content management and collaboration platform has introduced three new integrations with Microsoft products.
StraighterLine has released two new online courses for higher ed, IT Fundamentals and Survey of World History.
The School of Information Studies (iSchool) at Syracuse University has tapped a private partner in an effort to strengthen its online graduate degree programs.
Hobsons announced its acquisition of the PAR (Predictive Analytics Reporting) Framework this month, and the PAR team is already in Arlington for the onboarding process. CT spoke with Ellen Wagner, who is now Chief Research Officer for the PAR Framework and VP for Research at Hobsons; and Stephen M. Smith, President of Advising and Admissions Solutions at Hobsons for their views on the acquisition.
As more classes go online, schools need a workable approach for giving students access to high-demand software. Virtual desktops provide the answer.
The year 2015 was a turning point for data analytics technology. Now is the time for higher education institutions to put data to use and give students the advising support they need to succeed.
A company that synchronizes video and audio course presentations has committed to a deeper partnership with Instructure, which produces the Canvas learning management system.
Although educational institutions and other organizations are making greater use of data to support business outcomes, in many cases the quality of that data is not high enough to support goals such as improved customer experience, decision making and governance, according to a new report from Experian Data Quality, a provider of data quality software and services.
Saint Leo University uses a game-based storyline to invigorate professional learning.
Utica College in New York has built a "super" smart classroom at its Clark City Center location to support its blended Master's of Business Administration program.
The application of competency-based education in U.S. higher education is uneven: Some programs are just starting up; others are firmly rooted and flourishing as they serve today's non-traditional students. Will we soon see the kind of innovation in CBE that will ultimately contribute to widespread, mainstream implementations?
The George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX, is holding its ninth annual Reading Discovery Program this week.
Netgear has enhanced its new ProSAFE WAC730 and WAC720 802.11ac wireless access points to support controller management through the ProSAFE WC7600 and WC9500 controllers.
Neyda M. Abreu, an associate professor of earth sciences at Penn State DuBois, is incorporating imaging technology and electron microscopy into her hybrid course, giving students an opportunity to interact virtually with geologic specimens and formations.
Academic researchers now have free access to a sizable new dataset for the purposes of expanding the scientific world's understanding of Web sciences.
NYU Wireless, New York University's multidisciplinary academic research center for wireless networking theories and techniques, is building an advanced programmable platform to support the development of millimeter wave wireless communication, also known as 5G.
Duke University, Clemson University, Auburn University at Montgomery, University of South Florida and Georgia Southern University have all partnered with Apogee to upgrade their video and residential networks.
Utica College in New York has upgraded its wired and wireless network to improve the teaching and learning experience and improve network access and management at its main campus and three satellite locations.
While the topic of mobility technology dominated the Educause list of the most strategic technologies in 2015, this year's compilation for higher ed is quite diverse, covering mobile again alongside analytics, security, application management and delivery, service desk management, business performance and teaching and learning.
CIOs and other IT leaders in higher education are more concerned about information security than any other issue that arises for them, according to Educause's latest review of top IT issues, issued earlier today.
Four technology and innovation experts discuss the hottest trends in higher ed tech this year.
How two colleges are preparing for this year's mobile demands.
The University of Central Florida and Educause will partner in the fourth version of a massive open online course on blended learning.
The annual tech-fest known as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is taking place Jan. 6- 9 in Las Vegas, and companies new and old have already unveiled their latest bells and whistles. Here are 10 newly introduced products with the most potential for education.
Next week a new massive open online course will begin for K-12 science teachers who want to learn how to help their students read and understand scientific texts.
The competency-based education marketplace eschews the bundled approach of traditional degrees, instead promising to produce workers adept in just the right skills employers want. Education expert Ryan Craig believes that unbundling could destroy all but a handful of colleges and universities.
Public Agenda's survey of competency-based education programs found gaps exist at most institutions between their goals and the achievement of those goals.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is partnering with edX to offer special scholarship consideration to qualified students in grade 7 who complete a course through the massive open online course provider.
The number of public-private partnerships between institutions of higher education and service providers that manage online degree programs and pathways for international students will increase by double digits in 2016, according to new predictions from advisory firm Eduventures. Likewise, the company is forecasting that online proctoring will go mainstream in the new year. And as many as one in 10 colleges will be acquiring a new constituent relationship management (CRM) system over the next 12 months.
A long-term study by faculty within five Canadian and American institutions has found that physics students have more confidence in their ability to understand course content when reflective study is combined with collaborative activities in a flipped classroom form.
We review the top stories on our Web site in the last year.
Penn State World Campus is partnering with the National Football League Players Association to offer union members the opportunity to finish their degrees online.
The online graduate education program will include video observation of classroom instruction by NYU faculty at a distance.
Penn State researchers are investigating ways to enhance teaching and learning through online innovation, thanks to funding from the institution's Research Initiation Grant Program.
Content mining of archival materials can make for amazing discoveries. Here's how to prepare for the coming influx of researchers who will want access to digital archives as a data source.
Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Ohio has added a number of online general education courses intended to make it easier for non-traditional students to complete their degrees.
Charter Oak State College, an online public institution in Connecticut, will award credit for completion of select massive open online courses offered through the edX platform.
The University of Hawaii's ALOHA Cabled Observatory supports real-time observations in the deep ocean.
Network security and visibility is getting a boost at the University of Texas at Austin. The institution recently selected technology from Ixia, a provider of network testing, visibility and security solutions, to manage its network traffic, security and monitoring needs.
Stanford University is moving to an online LMS as its campus-wide learning management system following a pilot launched last year.
Automated network threat detection tools that use data science, machine learning and behavioral analysis can work together with traditional perimeter security methods to help organizations meet the security goals defined in the CIS Critical Security Controls recommendations and protect themselves from attackers, according to a new report from the SANS Institute.
K12 gets students first — long before they reach higher education. What kinds of partnerships can better serve the overall trajectory of IT services, from K12 through higher education?
Pearson has selected 20 finalists for its 2016 Online Learning Excellence Awards.
The days of hefty lease payments from cellular operators is over. You're now in charge of making sure you deliver the cell service your school wants and needs. But where do you start your plan?
Technology upgrades will allow students at George Washington University’s satellite campus in Hampton Roads, VA, to participate in classes held at the school’s main Foggy Bottom campus.
Lambda Solutions, a provider of open source talent and learning management systems, today made its Lambda Analytika data reporting and analytics solution available for the Moodle LMS.
Faculty leadership may not be as strongly felt in competency-based education (CBE) programs as it ought to be. Only 15 percent of CBE faculty and staff members are tenured or on the tenure track and only about one in five (19 percent) participate in shared governance activities.
The K-20 Education Network, a publicly supported network supporting educational institutions throughout the state of Washington, is upgrading its wide area network infrastructure to provide high speed communications to 101 higher education institutions, K-12 school districts and libraries.
Higher ed IT leaders share 8 ways to make the best use of the data coming out of the campus learning management system.
Zoom Breakout Rooms will allow instructors in video classes as large as 200 students to break into as many as 50 smaller groups.
Blackboard today announced the acquisition of Blue Canary, a higher education predictive analytics company focused on retention.
CT examines the impact of makerspaces with Penn State’s Director for Teaching and Learning with Technology Kyle D. Bowen.
AspirEDU has updated its student retention tool, Dropout Detective, in an effort to better support academic advisors and instructors of in-person classes.
Colorado State University-Global Campus will launch new online teacher licensure programs in science and math this spring.
Our institutional missions can be extended into the future and supported by the same vision and community values that originated them. But technology change, often spurred on by external markets, may come in waves of extreme and dramatic change.
The American Council on Education has selected several non-accredited education providers to offer courses for its Alternative Credit Project, an initiative designed to help nontraditional students earn college degrees.
Academic Partnerships has selected 16 faculty members from five universities as the recipients of its latest round of Academic Research Grants.
For-profit online education provider Udacity and Google today unveiled a new micro-credential program, the Senior Web Developer Nanodegree.
Through a partnership with open courseware provider Lumen Learning, Northern Virginia Community College's Extended Learning Institute is publishing 24 online college courses designed with 100 percent open educational resources.
Colleges and universities are increasingly relying on adjuncts and part-time faculty members to teach their online courses. A quarter of schools have increased the use of online adjunct instructors by five percent or more; 31 percent have increased their use by up to five percent. Yet often, these instructors don't receive training on how to teach online; the schools lack formal policies for faculty expectations; and faculty are expected to create their own online courses with or without institutional help.
Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service is launching an online Executive Master of Public Service and Administration.
Researchers at the Edinburgh Research & Innovation, the commercialization arm of the University of Edinburgh, has developed new solar-based wireless networking technology that has the potential to deliver almost energy-neutral broadband Internet access anywhere.
In an effort to provide more flexible degree options for adult learners, Western Kentucky University is launching AMS On Demand, a competency-based bachelor of science degree program in advanced manufacturing.
Minnesota's Saint Mary's University is launching an accelerated online MBA program in an expansion of its fully online offerings.
An annual report published by the Georgia Institute of Technology examined the emerging cyber threats for the coming year, among them: ever-shrinking personal privacy, lackadaisical security considerations in the Internet of Things and a dearth of trained experts to stay on top of cybersecurity considerations for organizations.
Over the past few years, faculty at Florida International University's College of Business have created more than 2,500 videos, amounting to 5,000-plus hours of content, using lecture capture technology from Sonic Foundry.
Utica College has tapped a private partner in an effort to expand access for students as they complete prerequisite courses.
This week the NSF unveiled the establishment of four regional hubs for data science innovation, each led by a team of university experts and extending out to almost 300 other organizations, including non-profits, cities and businesses.
The Sun Corridor Network, a research and education network founded by Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona, has joined Internet2 as a Research and Education Network member, bringing faster connectivity to Arizona educators and researchers.
Unizin, a consortium of 11 public universities developing a shared set of services that further teaching and learning in the digital ecosystem, is partnering with IMS Global Learning Consortium in an effort to drive the adoption of the Caliper Analytics standard.
The National Science Foundation continues to take steps to stimulate the nation's big data infrastructure and capabilities in partnership with research universities.
eXplorance, a learning experience management system provider, has introduced a new tool called the Data Integrity Gateway (DIG), which is designed to help IT administrators in higher education improve data quality and take advantage of big data analytics.
A new study from McGraw-Hill Education sheds light on the importance of data analytics and adaptive learning tools.
Fullbridge, a company that provides online training programs, will offer a series of online career development courses on the edX platform.
IBM Competition Pushes Student Teams To Tackle Big Data Research Problems
Civitas Learning and Echo360 have partnered to support integration of the Civitas Learning predictive analytics platform with the Echo360 teaching and learning platform.
ShareStream, an online video and media management solution for education, has introduced a series of analytics dashboards and reporting application programming interfaces (APIs) designed to help higher education institutions monitor and analyze video and audio usage data.
Taskstream, a provider of assessment and e-portfolio technology for higher education, has introduced a new assessment tool called Aqua.
The plan was first begun a year ago when the board created a task force to examine how the state could better meet workforce needs through online education and increase effectiveness while reducing costs.
Dell has launched a free version of its Statistica advanced analytics software for college students and professors in the United States.
Many higher education institutions are working on initiatives to maintain a culture of creativity and innovation even in difficult economic times. CT spoke with Vice Provost for Research and Strategic Initiatives Lee Kats, to learn about Pepperdine University's Waves of Innovation model.
The University of Missouri System is partnering with Pearson on a digital delivery program aimed at giving students easier access to course content and better preparing them for the first day of class.
The University of Florida is rolling out technology from Sonic Foundry to record, store and manage distance learning courses, collaborative meetings and special events that occur via videoconference.
A five-year experiment among students taking an upper-level undergraduate science course found that the flipped and active model improved student outcomes, particularly among females and students with lower grade point averages.
Ellucian is working with 15 higher education institutions to develop a new model that will "translate" student data from as many as 20 databases.
Penn State researchers have been piloting a technology that allows faculty (and students) to build e-textbooks algorithmically using keywords to gather together materials from open resources.
The University of Kentucky is pioneering a new predictive analytics model to support both student advising and institutional decision-making.
IMS Global Learning Consortium today announced nine organizations whose ed tech products have achieved conformance certification to its newly released Caliper Analytics standard.
When it comes to technology in higher ed, change is inevitable. Here, IT leaders from across the country talk about how they manage change at their institutions.
Mississippi Virtual Community College has gone public with its use of an automated proctoring system.
Most people pursue advanced degrees primarily for the higher earnings they expect as a result, according to new research from LinkedIn.
A dramatic increase in the number of wireless devices on campus, coupled with heightened demand for new technologies in the classroom, led the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to upgrade its wireless infrastructure.
Arizona State University has signed a three-year agreement with ProQuest SIPX, which will supply a self-service, cloud-based interface that allows instructors to set up course readings using all available library and open source materials.
Judith Boettcher gives CT a heads-up about the upcoming revision of The Online Teaching Survival Guide.
High school students in rural Oklahoma schools can now earn college credits prior to graduation without commuting long distances or being limited to online-only courses.
Indiana University is leading a collaborative project with the Pacific Northwest Gigapop to establish a trans-Pacific 100 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) circuit dedicated to research and education.
The Online Learning Consortium is launching two new awards programs with the help of a $2.5-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Two long-time Internet2 institutional members will be taking advantage of a NET+ cloud offering introduced last year by Blackboard.
A new Competency-Based Education (CBE) solution from D2L combines the company's Brightspace Learning Environment, strategic consulting, domain expertise and a CBE community.
The Online Learning Consortium's work to spread adoption of next-generation digital courseware solutions in higher education just got a $2.5 million boost from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The University System of Maryland is taking a close look at its retention efforts and how interventions impact student success.
There's the master's degree. And then there's the "micro-master's." That's what MIT is calling its new "modular credential," which will have no admissions requirements.
Funded by $1.9 million from the U.S. Department of Education, Excelsior College is developing the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills (DAACS), an open source assessment tool for targeting resources and services to students based on their academic and non-academic skills.
NYU Wireless, a multi-disciplinary research center, and the New York University Stern School of Business, have been awarded a four-year, $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to research the millimeter wave) wireless networking spectrum and related economic and business models and policies.
The University of Michigan is expanding its MOOC presence. The institution, which was a founding partner in Coursera, will now be offering its massive, open, online courses on edX too, the first to begin in April 2016.
Lynchburg College in central Virginia has implemented a bandwidth management system to help ensure a fair distribution of network resources, so no single user can monopolize the available bandwidth.
Academic Partnerships, a company that helps colleges and universities convert courses to digital formats, is teaming up with AspirEDU in an effort to improve student retention.
In order to lead their institutions through IT change, CIOs must develop skills that may be more familiar to campus marketing professionals.
Through a new app called MyPath, students at Brandman University can earn a bachelor's degree at their own pace without purchasing a single textbook.
Purdue University, Jacksonville State University and the University of Central Florida have signed on with Libris by PhotoShelter, a cloud-based system for organizing, collaborating and sharing visual assets.
The University of Utah is partnering with online training provider Career Step to launch new programs that will prepare students for careers in healthcare, technology and administration.
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, has updated its cloud storage service, the SDSC Cloud, to support science-based researchers with large data requirements.
We polled education professionals on which products in 29 categories are truly the best.
For the first time, the university will offer students the opportunity to earn a master’s degree in justice, policy and leadership online.
Four more State University of New York schools have adopted a residential network service already in place at 17 other SUNY schools.
More than seven in 10 learners report career benefits and more than six in 10 report educational benefits from completing massive open online courses (MOOCs). Participants from developing countries and particularly those with lower socioeconomic status and less education appear to be more likely to report benefits from pursuing MOOCs. Those results and others come out of the first major research survey done among Coursera learners and reported in the Harvard Business Review.
The on-going challenge of figuring out how to store and share the data generated in research projects will receive $4.9 million worth of attention in a project undertaken at four institutions.
The Nevada System of Higher Education has tapped Internet2 for an upgrade to the network connecting its main data centers in Las Vegas and Reno.
Comcast has launched a pilot program to offer its low-cost, high-speed Internet adoption program, Internet Essentials, to more than 90,000 community college students who are recipients of Federal Pell Grants in Illinois.
Ed tech company Versal has added mobile functionality to its online course authoring tool, allowing users of Android and iOS devices to access courses and via a new mobile player.
The University of Michigan will be mixing supercomputer simulations with big data.
Kenneth Green draws on 25 years with The Campus Computing Project to reflect on higher ed's IT priorities.
Cengage Learning has bought out ed tech company Learning Objects, which provides a learning platform and instructional design services for colleges and education.
Colorado State University is adding awards of completion to its academic programs to keep people motivated as they work towards undergraduate and master's degrees.
England's University of Oxford now has a single cloud-based service desk supporting 30,000 users, 100 departments and 38 colleges.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching will use the cloud-based platform to allow more teachers to customize content and to distribute it to more students.
MOOCs that rely primarily on people watching lectures may be missing an opportunity to help their students learn even more by adding interactive activities. Recent research into massive open online courses suggests that students do six times better in the course by "extra doing."
NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering created an online pre-registration tutorial that uses gamification to motivate students to participate, keep them engaged and help them understand course requirements and curricula.
A Brown University-led team of researchers has developed a system for multiplexing and de-multiplexing terahertz waves, solving one of the technical challenges of terahertz wireless networking, which could potentially deliver data at rates that are up to 100 times faster than current wireless technology.
University of California, Irvine Extension has launched five new online specializations in partnership with the open online education platform, Coursera.
Students who receive the HBX Certificate of Readiness will earn eight undergraduate credits from the Harvard Extension School.
The University of Michigan will spend $100 million over the next five years to enhance the opportunities for students and faculty to take advantage of big data.
Aerohive Networks has introduced a version of its network management system that can be run from an on-premises appliance as an alternative to cloud network management.
A computer science researcher at an Illinois institution is working on algorithms to help computers apply artificial intelligence to figure out what important answers are buried in big data — even though the users may not know what questions to ask.
Arizona State University has agreed to use a cloud storage provider as its primary secure collaboration platform throughout all of the university's campuses and academic activities.
Edmentum has expanded its elective and career course offerings by extending its partnership with eDynamic Learning.
The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School is offering a set of courses through Coursera focused on using big data to make real business decisions.
The School of Engineering at the University of Kansas has introduced several new active learning classrooms this fall, the largest of which can accommodate up to 160 students.
A doctoral program at Michigan State University has begun experimenting with the use of robots to pull on-campus and off-campus students closer together in class.
A new partnership between the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) and the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School (PA Cyber) allows high school students to experience college-level courses and earn college credits.
McGill University is partnering with edX to launch what they institutions are calling a "GROOC," or a massive open online course (MOOC) for groups.
West Virginia State University has upgraded its network infrastructure to include a 10-gigabit core switch, an advanced router, power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switches and PoE access points in an effort to support researchers and to attract and retain top-notch students, faculty and administrators.
Over the next year, Oral Roberts University will undergo a massive wireless revamp aimed at "academic growth and expansion.”
Researchers from MIT and Harvard University have uncovered a new cheating scheme specific to MOOCs.
What if your university sent more than 50 million e-mails to its 20,000-plus registered students? How could your students keep up? At Ball State University, developers are piloting Campus Hub, a new service to help students identify and act on the most important messages from their institution.
Cutbacks, downsizing and realignment might just be a recipe for delivering better, more strategic information technology.
Harvard Business School's HBX digital learning initiative today launched a virtual classroom designed to reproduce the intimacy and synchronous interaction of the case method in a digital environment.
Capella University has introduced a new master of science degree focused on data analytics, developed with curriculum input from analytics software company SAS Institute.
The Stanford Center for Professional Development has launched a new online course dealing with genomics and genetics.
A Stanford University cryptography expert will be kicking off a new online graduate certificate program by examining the future of bitcoin and cyber security during a free webinar open to the public.
A $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will fund a data-intensive network that will connect University of Minnesota researchers with others around the world.
An Australian university with an international online student body expects to begin accepting digital badging in 2016 that could reduce the amount of time required for people to obtain their master's degrees in IT.
Pioneer-developer Ali Jafari's foundational work on LMS platforms has, for nearly two decades, found its place among the world's most successful learning management systems. But Jafari's more recent designs have taken a distinct turn towards more social, networked, and engaging learning environments.
With the sale of its interests in the Financial Times and The Economist, Pearson is doubling down in its primary business: education. In this interview, North America President Don Kilburn lays out just what the company is focused on right now.
Manhattan College has unveiled a new online master's degree focused on organizational leadership.
This fall, students at Arizona State University's Global Freshman Academy will experience a personalized learning environment designed to boost engagement and knowledge retention.
Arkansas State University has launched four new bachelor's degree programs that are entirely online.
At South Mountain Community College, a homegrown Learner Support System gathers data on students' usage of campus resources, streamlining the tutoring process and improving outcomes.
Information technology organizations need to develop a new wave of IT leaders, foster a culture of innovation and create a new approach to IT management.
Resourcefulness in funding, planning and multi-university collaboration are helping to prevent another wireless network breakdown for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The unit of New York University will begin its first-ever online degree programs in late 2016 and early 2017.
Ohio University's Residential Housing Department has migrated its student housing system from the campus to the cloud, making it easier for the department to control its own system updates while providing students with an improved user interface.
Pennsylvania State University is launching a new online graduate certificate program designed to help HR professionals understand the laws, policies and best practices related to companies with international employees.
New "micro" online certification programs are changing the educational pathways to success in certain industries.
InfoSystems will distribute the StREAM Student Success System, developed by the U.K.-based SolutionPath, in the United States.
Researchers in Pacific coast states are gaining access to a networking infrastructure that connects the science "DMZs" of multiple research institutions.
Few institutions of higher education perform academic advising online or have specially trained or equipped counselors ready to help distance learning students with their advising needs. Those are some of the findings in an extensive report from Primary Research Group, which recently published the "Survey of Best Practices in Academic Advising."
FutureLearn has attracted five new institutions to join its MOOC platform with massive, open, online courses.
Two new master's degree programs at Hofstra University Law School are intended to meet the need for more information about health law and policy.
WebAssign, a company that provides online instructional tools, has released My Class Insights, a new analytics tool for students.
At the American Public University System, a successful project to update a traditional, peer-reviewed scholarly journal with rich media and interactive elements has inspired a new initiative: APUS is building out state-of-the-art course applications to accompany its traditional LMS-based courses.
Southern New Hampshire University President Paul LeBlanc said he sees technology as central to the next evolutionary step in higher education, and he challenged colleges and universities to embrace and expand efforts around distance learning.
Pennsylvania State University has adapted its master's in electrical engineering program to offer an online version through Penn State World Campus.
A California university is experimenting with student engagement in a science class using a special writing surface, a studio audience and a streaming media site. Now, the institution is considering adding a second set-up just like it and others in the California State University system may follow.
Linfield College Online and Continuing Education in Oregon has introduced two new online certificate programs: Wine Marketing and Wine Management.
Instructure Canvas has a new lecture capture and video solution in its Open LTI App Collection.
IBM is promoting its Bluemix cloud platform in multiple ways among academics and trainers. That includes development of cloud curricula, skills training for women returning to work and summer camps for high school girls.
Hughes Network Systems, a provider of broadband satellite solutions and services, has launched a new suite of products for educational institutions, including high-speed satellite Internet access, digital signage, distance learning and managed wireless networking.
A new Web-based learning management system allows for teaching and interactive presentations to be delivered online with an emphasis on assessment.
Georgia State University created a technology-rich visualization space that supports research and instruction and explores the transformative potential of visual media across all disciplines.
Setting its sights on better retention, graduation rates and student outcomes, the North Dakota University System (NDUS) has established a statewide partnership with the Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework, an independent, nonprofit provider of learner analytics as a service.
Trent Batson: The AAEEBL and Campus Technology annual conferences in Boston are just around the corner, July 27-30. Find out what's in store…
A new application programming interface promises to enable education developers to introduce scoring analytics into simulations, games and other open-ended assessment items and digital learning objects.
Blackboard's cloud-based learning management system, Blackboard Learn, has been certified as compliant with IMS Caliper standards.
Public cloud investment is on a fast-track, private cloud spending is up, and non-cloud IT infrastructure spending is flat. That's the appraisal of International Data Corp. (IDC) in its "Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker."
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide will be delivering a massive open online course on aircraft accident investigation at the end of the summer. Students will have the chance to try out their data collection skills in a virtual crash laboratory hosted by the Daytona Beach, FL-based institution.
The university system in Wisconsin is officially taking applications for its new online master's degree program in data science.
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has implemented a lecture capture system in every classroom, so students can access recordings of lectures on demand.
A faculty development team at Pennsylvania State University has introduced a short training course specifically to help instructors learn how to support military students in their online courses.
Students at California State University, San Bernardino will soon be able to charge their mobile devices wirelessly all over campus.
The University of Delaware is teaming with a private partner to expand its online graduate programs.
The San Mateo County Community College District has launched an energy efficiency project designed to reduce energy waste and create a cohesive facility management system across its three colleges and 82 buildings.
Today's tech challenges increasingly require both traditional and experimental solutions. Here's how a bimodal approach can impact the IT organization.
Wright State University revamped its approach to data and built a self-service BI tool that puts powerful drill-down capabilities in the hands of users across the university.
The University of San Diego built a Web-based collaboration tool that connects classroom concepts with real-world locations and discoveries.
Moodle today announced MoodleCloud, a service that allows anyone to deploy the Moodle learning environment for free — with no installation or hosting charges.
A new survey of students enrolled in massive open online courses (MOOCs) suggests that the courses are supplementing traditional higher education forms and "democratizing learning."
Blackboard has acquired X-Ray Analytics, a predictive analytics tool for education, and plans to integrate it with its Moodlerooms and Moodle Enterprise learning management systems, among other products.
Oral Roberts University is exploring the potential of real-time, streaming, mobile telepresence tech.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a model that aims to predict when students will drop out of a MOOC.
Midland College has completed sustainability upgrades, including efforts to improve IT efficiency, projected to save $4.4 million in energy and operational expenses over the course of 15 years.
Prospective students at Columbia College Chicago can now view live-streamed, interactive virtual tours in HD.
Washington's Clark College has upgraded its network from 1-Gigabit to 10-Gigabit fiber.
The University of North Carolina and business analytics firm SAS hope to boost enrollment in UNC’s Colleges of Education through improved performance tracking of teachers who graduate from the UNC system.
Microsoft Research has released the Microsoft Academic Graph to help researchers quickly identify academic papers that are most relevant to their own work.
Pennsylvania State University's Center for Online Innovation in Learning will fund seven new projects designed to enhance teaching and learning through online innovation.
Four higher ed IT leaders discuss the "bring your own everything" phenomenon, its impact on teaching and learning, and its challenges and opportunities.
The University of California, Irvine Extension is launching a pair of online courses designed to help teachers develop their skills in cognitive and student-centered learning.
The MOOC provider founded by Harvard and MIT, EdX, announced that its open source platform, Open edX, is now available through Amazon Web Services Marketplace.
Purdue University found a way to create a flexible and inviting learning space for on-campus learners while also delivering high-quality audio and video recording for distance students.
With a little help from Google, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard is tackling the need for computing infrastructure to store and process the enormous datasets involved in biomedical research.
Joel Dehlin reflects on KualiCo's first 8 months operating as a for-profit company that offers Kuali as a cloud service.
The Pittsburgh-based university will look for "that sweet spot" between all-in-person and all-online instruction.
Instructure, the company behind the Canvas learning management system, has released Canvas Data, a hosted data service for K-12 and higher education that enables them to analyze online teaching and learning activity.
Criteo, a company that helps Web sites deliver personalized advertisements, has released a large machine learning dataset to the open source community for use in academic research and development of distributed machine learning algorithms.
Online courses should state the course objectives clearly and provide easy-to-use technology to maximize the chances of student success, according to a recent survey conducted by Eduventures.
Faculty and staff in the California Community Colleges will soon have access to online training on digital skills and tech tools.
Penn State has launched an online master's in education program aimed at working teachers.
Released today, the newest version of D2L's Brightspace Insights analytics suite captures streamed student data from across a broad array of sources.
The United States Army wants to transform the teaching capabilities of faculty who instruct noncommissioned officers at its U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. So it's sending 20 sergeants major back to school in an online program to obtain master's degrees in education from Penn State.
Open to learners anywhere in the world, Kadenze was created in partnership with creative arts departments at Princeton, Stanford, California Institute of the Arts, UCLA, Otis College of Art and Design, California College of the Arts, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Goldsmiths University of London, Cornish College of the Arts and more.
A software defined networking operating system has been deployed to a "virtual slice" of Internet2's national education network and turned on.
With 72 autonomous districts and 112 colleges, the California Community Colleges are looking to federated identity as an important element of their technology strategy. This week, they've announced that the system is joining InCommon
A multidisciplinary team from New York University has provided research that suggests regulators should reconsider how they evaluate the health risks of high-frequency radio waves.
EdX has partnered with the National Summer Learning Association to launch a collection of free courses designed to help combat summer slide.
CorpU, a social learning platform, and Jobs for the Future, a national nonprofit that focuses on addressing workforce demands, have assembled the College Employer Collaborative (CEC), a group of community colleges and employers that will work with CorpU to develop college curricula and credentials intended to meet the needs of high-growth industries.
Engineering students at Penn State have developed an immersive virtual reality system with the potential to provide distance education students with an immersive, tactile classroom experience.
Undergraduates living on campus this coming fall at the University of California, Irvine will finally be able to unplug their devices in the residence halls. The institution is in the process of installing 802.11ac in the residential housing as part of a longer-term campus-wide wireless upgrade.
The information technology services department at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse transformed its culture via a simple, step-by-step process.
Greater Lawrence Technical School in Andover, MA has implemented a Web-based tool to let students access Windows software from their Chromebooks.
Hosted by the Flipped Learning Network, the conference will take place online and in person at Michigan State University, and will includes sessions for those who are new to flipped learning, as well as those who are more experienced, doing research on the practice and seeking tools and skills.
Houston Community College, already among the fastest schools in Internet speed, still must work to keep up with ever-increasing student expectations.
An organization that works with community colleges and industry to make sure people learn the "middle skills" they need to get good jobs will be working with four states to implement new data tools to inform decision-making for workforce policymakers.
AspirEDU and Instructure have partnered to integrate the former's student retention analytics tools with the latter's Canvas learning management system for joint customers.
Growth of the wireless local area network (WLAN) enterprise market in the first quarter of 2015 slowed significantly compared to preceding quarters but still increased 3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2014, according to a new report.
The Linux Foundation and edX are partnering to offer an online course designed to help people become Linux systems administrators.
The worldwide market for business process management (BPM) software is expected to reach $2.7 billion in 2015, an increase of 4.4 percent over 2014, according to the information technology research and advisory company Gartner.
Disruption is easy to define but hard to recognize — which is why it's important to experiment and find ways to break free of traditional approaches to teaching and learning.
The Aruba 320 AP is the company's first to offer dynamic multi-user multiple input/multiple output grouping.
Network administrators running data centers where moving directly to 100 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) is too big a leap may have an easier time making the transition with 25 GbE, demonstrated by QLogic and Huawei.
The University of Montana has revved up its research network with a new 100 Gbps fiber connection to the Internet2 Network.
Today's students expect high-performance residential networks with plenty of bandwidth and anytime, anywhere wireless access. Here are the top ResNet challenges at institutions across the country.
Jenzabar is adding another tool to its Student Success suite of technology and services for higher education.
As part of a multi-year initiative to replace "aging technology systems and allow for easier reporting and data analysis, Illinois State University has gone public with its use of data movement software.
Massachusetts' Mount Holyoke College is introducing online and face-to-face educator programs intended to train teachers how to be more effective in their own schools.
Two networking companies have teamed up to improve wireless security coverage for their respective customers.
Communication and collaboration tool provider Jive Software has partnered with iTalent, a provider of IT consulting services, in an effort to make online learning more consistent with traditional classrooms for teachers and students.
Researchers from University of Michigan, Stanford and University of California, Davis have received a $1.6 million grant to conduct a three-year study of virtual schooling.
West Georgia Technical College has selected a private partner to provide online career training for student in its Community Education department.
Ruth Rumack's Learning Space has launched Essay Coach, an online resource designed to help students in middle school through college use critical thinking to write better essays.
A professor and former dean of performance excellence at San Antonio College uses Excel data to inform his instruction and achieve better learning outcomes for his students.
Freeman Hrabowski considers the need research universities have to become more inclusive in terms of working with agencies and other partners at multiple, different levels.
According to a recent survey, executives of online and professional higher education programs want to change the way they evaluate the career success of their graduates.
A New York college that runs a testing lab for cloud computing will be adding new technology from two private partners to expand what students can do.
EdX has tapped a private partner to provide remote proctoring services for its Global Freshman Academy.
MOOC provider edX is working with a division of wireless technology company Qualcomm to sort out the educator's "mobile first" strategy.
Amazon Web Services today debuted AWS Educate, a free service for educators and students that aims to prepare IT pros and developers for the cloud workforce.
Educational IT leaders should not be “trying to do the same thing you’ve always done for less money,” but instead “doing something you can’t do any other way,” according to Doug Meade, the director of information technology at York County School Division (VA).
In a session at the Citrix Synergy conference in Orlando, FL, IT leaders from the universities of Central Florida, South Florida and Florida shared their experiences rolling out and maintaining virtual application management technology.
First zombies, now vampires: After creating a popular MOOC in 2013 on the science, math and health concepts behind the TV series "The Walking Dead," the University of California, Irvine has partnered with Instructure and cable channel FX to launch "Fight or Die: The Science Behind FX's 'The Strain,'" a massive open online course inspired by themes from the TV vampire drama.
If your school has been producing course videos the same way for years, it may be time to update your technique to make sure students are still watching. Purdue shares lessons learned from an unconventional approach.
A new app allows users to chat, “like” and vote on documents, photos or videos in cloud storage accounts.
Northwestern University and Teradata held their second annual data mining hackathon on April 29.
The Caliper Analytics interoperability specification from the IMS Global Learning Consortium has achieved "candidate final release" status.
Stanford University is testing out the use of small group video discussions to see what impact it has on learning outcomes for people in massive open, online courses. So far it looks like scores on exams and assignments go up for participants.
From screencasting to interactive presentations, here are some resources to get a flipped class off the ground.
To streamline the process of connecting students with interdisciplinary hands-on projects, Purdue University's Krannert School of Management recently rolled out cloud-based software from EduSourced in its campuswide Purdue Student Consulting (PSC) organization.
A Poughkeepsie, NY college is teaming up with a security software company to test out security approaches for its cloud environment and develop professional curriculum for cybersecurity experts.
Hudson Valley Community College in New York state has implemented fiber-based Internet to its main campus and a dedicated point-to-point Ethernet connection between the main campus and satellite campuses.
Michael Lafreniere, associate professor of environmental engineering technology and mathematics at Ohio University-Chillicothe has been using an online instructional system in his developmental math classes, and he has made those classes more efficient and effective through online assessment, responsive teaching and collaborative learning.
The University of California, Riverside has received a grant of nearly $4.5 million as part of NASA's Minority University Research and Education Project.
The delivery of education in the vocational areas and continuing ed will predominately be done through online technologies, predicted the president of Stanford University.
Instructors at Drexel University, Ryerson University, Mohawk College and the Berklee College of Music have been selected as Pearson's 2015 online learning excellence awards recipients.
The Open Cloud Consortium (OCC), a nonprofit cloud infrastructure provider focused on scientific, medical, healthcare and environmental data and research, is beefing up its environmental data offerings through a new agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
College-bound high schoolers are showing more interest in the blended model of instruction and less interest in going for the all face-to-face approach. That finding surfaces in the latest edition of Eduventures' annual "College-Bound Market Update Report."
The University of Wisconsin will launch an online master's degree in data science. Classes for the 12-course, 36-credit program will begin in September, pending approval from the Higher Learning Commission.
A team of students from Duke University won a Best Visualization Award for its presentation on data it analyzed from Edmunds.com for the American Statistics Association’s annual DataFest.
Flipping the classroom isn't easy, but many instructors have found it to be well worth the effort. Here's some advice for making flipped learning work.
How can higher education institutions reduce their exposure to cyber risks? Speaking with CT from the Internet2 Global Summit in Washington, DC, Brad Wheeler, VP for IT and CIO at Indiana University and Paul Howell, Internet2's Chief Cyber Infrastructure Security Officer, examine IU's cyber risk mitigation policy.
Duke University has received a total of $9.75 million in gifts and matching grants to sustain the Information Initiative at Duke (iiD), an interdisciplinary program to help faculty and students work on projects that pull meaning out of big data.
In a recent webinar, Gartner research director Chris Silva discussed key strategies to take mobile into the future, including flexibility, general-purpose mobility and unified endpoint management.
Students at Amherst College can now go online to learn the fundamentals of business, through an arrangement with Harvard Business School's HBX online education initiative.
The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center has implemented secure private network connections to eight colleges and universities.
Universities are increasingly turning to outside companies to help them launch new online degree programs. In fact, higher ed research and advisory firm Eduventures has identified at least 26 companies — known as "online program management (OPM) providers" — currently operating in this space. The data comes out of a series of reports Eduventures recently published for its member institutions.
Arizona State University and edX have launched the Global Freshman Academy, a new program that allows students to complete their first year of college online for credit.
The University of Kansas’s newest residential communities will be tricked out with high-speed wired and WiFi services, cable television and 24/7 support .
The University of Chicago has implemented a Web-scale storage system to support data commons and data clouds at its Center for Data Intensive Science.
Higher education institutions have a new tool to verify online student identities in a variety of settings, from attendance tracking and online testing to managing financial aid disbursements.
Total IT cloud infrastructure spending will grow 21 percent over the course of 2015 to reach $32 billion in the United States, or about a third of all IT infrastructure spending, according to a new forecast from International Data Corp.
A recently presented study from the University of California Davis questions the effectiveness of allowing first-time students in community colleges to take online classes.
A project going on at Stanford University offers the promise of allowing online students and others with an interest to perform live biology experiments over the Internet.
Can an institution's new online offerings match the quality it has established over the years in its onsite programs? At CMU's Tepper School of Business, the Online Hybrid MBA is designed to be equivalent to its on-campus MBA programs.
An astronomy project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has made inroads on two questions: how to track neutral hydrogen in the "distant" universe and how to scale up the capacity to maintain and manage the data generated through such work.
The California Community College Online Education Initiative (OEI), the state-sponsored project that aims to dramatically increase the number of students who earn associate degrees and transfer to four-year colleges, has come a long way since it was announced in the fall of 2013, according to the OEI's executive director, Patricia James.
Data growth is forcing IT departments to adopt new forms of operation and reset their expectations of work.
The length of time an average university student could concentrate on a task without becoming distracted back in 1973, according to a survey published at the time, was between 10 and 20 minutes. A 2006 survey by Diana Oblinger, current president of Educause, determined that the average student attention span had shrunk to around seven minutes.
There are ways to allow your institution to experiment with online courses, even if they're not intended to be "massive." An online program manager shares advice.
Today's colleges and universities face an ever-increasing demand for bandwidth in residential networks. And as schools upgrade tech infrastructure, increase ResNet funding, bolster bandwidth and/or consider outsourcing, they are increasingly "on the lookout for ways to improve the value and performance of their ResNet to meet student demand," according to the 2015 State of ResNet Report.
"Disruption" is one of the most overused buzzwords in education today, according to education industry watcher Michelle R. Weise, and yet most people don't really know what it means.
2U wants to nail the coffin shut on certain beliefs that persist in the realm of online degrees in its latest impact report.
Now that the University of Arizona has launched an online campus, UA Online, the institution is ready to start up its first "General Education Academy" to help students prepare for their virtual education.
In response to the growing demand for big data expertise, New York University's Polytechnic School of Engineering is launching online certificate courses in data science, power engineering, and data center and cloud technologies.
The volume of data captured by the Internet of Things (IoT) will exceed 1.6 zettabytes by 2020, according to a recent forecast from ABI Research.
While most agree that the flipped classroom model benefits learning, researchers are delving into the details and exploring the many facets of a flip.
At the Internet2 Global Summit taking place in Washington, DC April 26-30, researchers in the life sciences will meet with engineers and technology leaders in the research and education community to discuss the advancement of IT infrastructure and applications for big data.
When cellular carriers cannot solve coverage problems on campus, universities turn to signal boosters to fill in the gaps.
Online education is good for the planet and good for the student, according to a new study by sustainability scientists at Arizona State University and Dell.
Knowledge Delivery Systems will relaunch 60 courses for MVU’s LearnPort, intended to help Michigan K-12 educators meet their continuing education requirements.
Arizona's high-speed research and education network, Sun Corridor Network , now offers two 100 gigabit per second connections to the nationwide R&E network, Internet2.
The Open Cloud Consortium is working to meet the collaboration and data-management needs of multi-institution big data projects.
Saisei, a company that develops network analysis and control software, has introduced Net-Neutrality-in-a-Virtual-Box, a simplified version of its FlowCommand network performance enforcement software.
The best flipped courses provide students with compelling, interactive learning content to hold their attention outside of class. Here are five ways to take lecture videos to the next level.
Digital Skills Academy, an Ireland-based school offering an online international Bachelor of Science honors degree in digital technology, design and innovation, plans to implement an online student information system and portal.
Arizona State University has partnered with Cengage Learning and Knewton to develop new active learning systems for introductory courses.
Aerohive Networks has released a new version of its cloud-enabled network management system, HiveManager Next Generation.
Technology is fundamentally changing the practice of teaching and learning in higher education.
Through a partnership with Pearson, the University of California at Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering is growing its online engineering degree programs, adding specializations in Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering (Power Systems), Environmental Engineering Systems (Water), Materials at the Nanoscale, and Mechanical Engineering.
NYU Wireless, New York University's multidisciplinary academic research center for wireless networking theories and techniques, has partnered with SiBEAM, a developer of intelligent millimeter-wave technologies for wireless communications, to advance research in 5G wireless technologies.
If massive open online courses are goldmines of data, surely, edX must be the mother lode. MIT and Harvard University have just published a 37-page draft report that summarizes a multitude of findings from two years of hosting 68 courses on the popular MOOC platform.
Innovative faculty are running MOOCs and flipped-format on-campus courses on the same schedule and having the two groups interact online — with interesting results.
To better engage its online learners, Arizona State University is piloting game-based simulations from Toolwire in its ASU Online environmental science courses.
Dassault Systèmes, a 3D design company with an extensive program for schools, has made 3DEXPERIENCE broadly available in the cloud for academic use.
Sonic Foundry today introduced Mediasite Join, a cloud service for recording videoconference sessions and turning them into searchable, on-demand video content.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of British Columbia have created a publicly available online index of physiological information about neurons in the brain.
Linn-Benton Community College is formally launching LB iLearn, an online campus that began teaching classes in January 2014.
MIT researchers have developed a new system to help instructors review computer science homework assignments in courses with hundreds or thousands of students.
Northwestern University will launch two new massive open online courses (MOOCs), one in healthcare and one in business, this spring, as well as its first MOOC specialization.
In an effort to transform core business processes and advance strategic goals, Boise State University is moving its ERP to the Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning Cloud.
Reinventing classes in a flipped format takes a lot of time and effort. Here's how three institutions have created a support structure for faculty making the switch.
Duke University held ASA DataFest 2015 March 22-24, 2015. It was the university's fourth-annual 48-hour statistics and data analysis competition.
An academic research center at New York University focused on next-generation wireless has welcomed its 12th industrial partner.
It takes a community to innovate — CT talked with Florence Hudson about her new role as Internet2's senior VP and chief innovation officer.
The University of Arizona has opened registration for 21 undergraduate programs in its new online campus, UA Online.
Penn State University has finalized plans for a new data center at its University Park campus to provide high-performance computing and data storage for research and education.
New England College is beefing up its online degree offerings with the addition of a half-dozen new associates and bachelors degrees.
A cloud-based platform that Oracle introduced this week aims to make it easier to aggregate, analyze and use big data to segment and communicate with students and prospective students.
Cybrary has launched an online platform designed to help higher ed and K-12 teachers plan manage and monitor IT and cybersecurity curricula.
The push for "student success" is all around us. But what about the notion of "faculty success"? CT talked recently with Michael Cottam, who believes that supporting his institution's online faculty is the most important element of creating student success at Webster University.
Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have teamed up to explore ways big data can improve health care.
Cloud solutions have matured enough to be a viable option for many IT projects, but few CIOs are giving them the consideration they may deserve, according to a new survey from Gartner.
While data has become an essential tool for decision-making on campus, analytics are a tricky business. Here are nine pitfalls to avoid.
It shouldn't take a lawsuit for universities to pay attention to accessibility for all students.
Recent efforts are tweaking the formula for massive open online courses and expanding their reach to new audiences.
Dell has released the latest version of its Web-access management system, Cloud Access Manager 8, which offers features designed to help organizations control Web-based and mobile application activities and provide secure access for visitors and personal devices.
Student success and the reinvention of academic credits top the list of business trends that are currently influencing education, according to a recent report from Gartner.
Yale University's School of Medicine is attempting to take its Physician Associate Program into the online realm with the help of a private partner
In a first for both companies, edX and Microsoft have partnered to launch IT development courses on the edX online learning platform.
Mersive today introduced the Solstice Pod, a wireless media streaming device for video collaboration.
The School of Medicine and Health Sciences at George Washington University has implemented an open source-driven software-defined storage system to ensure that researchers have high availability access to secure storage.
The Rutgers Business School Executive Education program will offer an online course, dubbed a "mini-MBA," in viral video marketing.
Can shorter courses lead to better outcomes? A for-profit online university will soon find out when it adds an option for eight-week terms to its program offerings.
Carnegie Mellon University expects to save about 10 percent on utilities costs -- nearly $2 million annually -- by installing a smart building system in 36 facilities on its Pittsburgh campus.
University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education has teamed with a private partner to launch an online course focused on strategies to differentiate instruction for English language learning students in an effort to prepare them for Common Core assessments. The course is one of four that, taken together, comprise the "Equity Educator Certificate Program."
Maplesoft has introduced a new version of its flagship product, Maple 2015, that it says will make it easier for educators to access and work with data.
Pennsylvania State University has expanded its online Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction to include five areas of emphasis for students to choose from.
Even as education spending is expected to inch up two percent this year to reach $67.8 billion worldwide, the way in which school districts, colleges and universities are spending that money is evolving to reflect the growing digital nature of teaching and learning.
An active learning approach produces the same student learning outcomes in both flipped and nonflipped classrooms, according to new research from Brigham Young University.
A university with 150 campuses around the world and online offerings has just opened up dual enrollment specifically for high schoolers.
Higher education institutions have moved more IT services either completely or partially to the cloud, at 39.2 percent of services, than enterprise organizations in general, at about 35 percent, according to a new report on cloud computing from CDW.
Edvance360 has partnered with MegaMeeting.com to add collaborative tools to its learning management system.
The Federal Communications Commission today chose to keep the Internet open. In a three-two vote split down party lines, the FCC officially reclassified broadband Internet as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act.
Ball State University has gone public with its use of a desktop video creation and publishing tool to support the growth of distance and flipped learning.
Institutions that use a team-based approach to creating and delivering education content and learning experiences will differentiate themselves and succeed, even as the pace of change — both in technology and in the disciplines — accelerates, says Daniel Christian, a senior instructional designer at Calvin College.
Revolve Robotics has announced KUBI Video 2.0, the latest version of its video collaboration app for its flagship KUBI robotic telepresence platform.
Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI, has been experimenting with telepresence robots that let online students participate in face-to-face classes.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol version 2 is, at long last, a done deal.
In an effort to manage rapid data growth, Saint Michael's College near Burlington, VT has replaced its existing storage infrastructure with a service that combines local storage controllers with cloud storage.
Northwestern University now offers a specialization certificate in Content Strategy for Professionals in Organizations through the Coursera platform.
With an average class size of 16 students and a student-to-faculty ratio of 13:1, Birmingham-Southern College offers a focused learning environment that lets each student get the most from his or her time on campus. But in line with the emerging trend of blended learning in education, we have also enhanced that environment with video conferencing — bringing a broader learning experience to our students.
Cuyahoga Community College, a CT 2008 Innovator award recipient in the field of Business Intelligence, has maintained its innovative edge with a major implementation of a dashboard that measures student success and completion for the institution and is available to departments campus wide.
Vista Higher Learning has launched Portales, an interactive online program for learning and teaching college-level Spanish.
A recent survey of students at Northern Arizona University has found that students in a new Personalized Learning program are largely happy with the new competency-based initiative.
On the same day that MIT issued an extensive strategic plan for fostering greater campus inclusiveness, the Massachusetts school has been sued for the non-inclusive nature of its massive open online courses and other publicly available online content. Along with Harvard University, MIT now faces a lawsuit from the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) as well as four deaf and hard of hearing individuals accusing the institutions of failing to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.
A new program beginning this fall at Mount Holyoke and Smith College aims to develop women professionals in the field of data science.
When SUNY Buffalo State's residential network infrastructure couldn't keep up with student demand, the institution looked to a ResNet provider for a much-needed overhaul.
Faced with the ever-growing wireless needs of students and faculty, savvy colleges and universities are future-proofing their networks with the new 802.11ac standard.
The burden is on universities to advance the culture of innovation, "to foster environments that accelerate learning and creativity" and "to create the conditions for innovation to happen," according to a new report released Wednesday by the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative.
The University of Connecticut has implemented a 100 gigabit per second Layer 2/Layer 3 fiber connection through the Internet2 network backbone to support data intensive research collaboration and exchange between UConn researchers and their peers around the world.
Systematic, creative data analysis is one of several key retention strategies among top-performing public universities, according to a new report from Eduventures.
While a lot of schools are teaming up with third-party companies to launch online versions of long-standing degree programs, USC's business school is doing the work in-house. Here's how.
Students and professors at the University of San Diego have a new way to share photographs, videos, interactive conversations and comments in real time.
The D.C. university has added more than 1,000 online students to graduate programs in the last five years.
A professor with a popular Udemy-hosted MOOC is trying out his astronomy course on Coursera next, with the hope of increasing completion rates. It'll be the first massive open online course offering on that platform from the University of Arizona.
A small private college and a major research university, both in Iowa, have received a four-year, $1.6 million grant to explore digital liberal arts.
The number of higher education students taking at least one online course in 2014 is up 3.7 percent over the previous year — the slowest rate of increase in over a decade, according to a new survey from the Babson Survey Research Group.
VideoCentric, a video communications integrator, has launched VideoCloud 365, a new cloud-based videoconferencing service based on the Pexip Infinity virtualized meeting platform.
Penn State World Campus is rolling out Tutor.com's personalized learning services for the institution's 12,000 students and faculty worldwide. Students will gain 24/7 access to more then 3,000 tutors in 40-plus subjects, from math and economics to science and nursing.
Looking for a more efficient way to provision user accounts for its 3,200-plus students, faculty and staff, Marywood University in Pennsylvania has rolled out the User Management Resource Administrator from identity and access management provider Tools4ever.
A business school based in France but with a campus in China as well is working with IBM to create a "smart business school" environment. Emlyon, with sites in Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Shanghai, hopes to deliver personalized education to its students through the cloud.
Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications has launched a new online master's degree focused on digital trends and communications industry innovations.
ownCloud has initiated a project that connects private research clouds to facilitate collaboration, communication and testing, while maintaining the security of those private clouds.
At a school where the average age of students is 38, delivering online education requires a unique combination of tactics.
The United States Department of Homeland Security is warning universities that their information-filled IT infrastructures might give hackers access to sensitive federal networks.
The University of Central Florida has teamed with two partners to reboot a massive open online course for educators focused on blended learning in higher ed and K-12.
The University of Michigan has launched its first residential MOOC with more than 800 undergraduate, graduate and professional students signing up in its first week.
In an era when faculty and students often consume and implement cloud services without IT involvement, higher ed institutions need a strategy for the public, hybrid and private cloud.
CT asked five IT leaders to identify the hottest trends in higher education technology today. From analytics to 3D printing, here's what should be on your radar this year.
Washington State University plans to upgrade its broadband infrastructure for on-campus housing with a passive optical LAN solution.
It's generally understood that the CIO role in higher education is extremely demanding. Can former CIOs help their on-field colleagues, coaching them from the sidelines? We asked Brian Voss.
American University's Kogod School of Business will launch its first online MBA programs this fall.
Walden University is launching a new initiative designed to allow students to earn degrees online at their own pace.
Cybrary.IT offers 20-plus certification courses in systems administration, network administration and cybersecurity, with more on the way.
A for-profit online university has completed a migration to a new learning system started earlier this year.
Determining the best online degree program to attend depends on what degree the student is going after, if the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report are any indication.
Thousands of students, faculty, staff and visitors at Lamar University in Texas now have access to super-high-speed wireless thanks to a campuswide WiFi infrastructure upgrade. The university rolled out an 802.11ac WiFi network from Ruckus Wireless as part of an effort to infuse technology into the teaching and learning experience.
The University of California's Rossier School of Education is launching an online Doctorate of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership this week.
Coursera's massive open online courses will now reach millions more learners in China, thanks to a new partnership with the country's Hujiang online education platform.
Taking a page from the corporate playbook, some universities are creating a new C-level title focused on moving the academy into the digital age. Will the CDO be a strategic advantage or an organizational name game that dilutes IT's role in institutional leadership?
Stanford writing instructors have partnered with undergraduates to create a non-credit course open to the public via Stanford Online.
The University of San Diego has virtualized nearly all of its IT infrastructure and has now dramatically reduced the backup times and storage requirements for its virtual environment, all while saving money.
Brandman University has teamed with a private partner to provide digital badges for students in its online competency-based degree programs.
Online learning will grow this year, but only modestly; more colleges and universities will test out competency-based assessment; and education technology will continue expanding as an industry, driven by investment capital. Those are three of the predictions for the coming year from higher education research and advisory firm Eduventures.
PAR Framework has partnered with Starfish Retention Solutions to integrate its Predictions of Academic Risk services with the Starfish Enterprise Success Platform.
Nearly 3,000 students at the Ithaca, NY, university participated in a new way of taking physics and biology courses this past semester.
New Hampshire has become the 18th state to sign on for a program intended to make it easier for students to take online courses from schools in other states.
Northcentral University, a fully online graduate school, has adopted a new business simulation tool for the capstone courses of all its MBA programs and specializations.
OneCommunity announced that it will offer, in 2015, the first 100 gigabit, commercially available network services. CT talked with OneCommunity CEO Lev Gonick and Case Western Reserve University CIO Sue Workman, to find out how the work might serve as a model as high speed networking technologies mature.
California State University, Los Angeles has upgraded its wireless infrastructure to 802.11ac.
Aerohive is rolling out a new 802.11ac access point designed to handle harsh outdoor environments.
Wisconsin's Nicolet College has adopted telepresence at three of its campuses in an effort to better support distance learning students.
The University of Texas at El Paso is launching UTEP Connect, an online education initiative designed to provide access to education for approximately 5,000 underserved students.
American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates has implemented wireless infrastructure across its 200-acre campus, including lecture halls, student dorms and outdoor green spaces.
Teradata University Network has selected the winners of its first data analytics contest for higher education students.
Students at Dawson School are using algorithms they developed themselves to look for patterns in cancer data provided by the Baylor College of Medicine.
Cornell University is rolling out Blackboard's Internet2 NET+ learning, analytics and content offering, a suite of tools the institution helped create as a member of the Internet2 community.
High school students in New York City Public Schools will begin learning data literacy this month through a new City Digits project, which aims to promote civic engagement among youth while teaching data collection and analysis skills.
Western Governors University has launched a new online master's degree program for students who want to become English teachers in middle schools or high schools.
Massachusetts' Amherst College is refreshing its help desk with a cloud solution from Samanage.
Berkeley has teamed with a private partner to launch two new MOOCs focused on big data analysis using Apache Spark, an open-source big data processing engine.
Digital technology is fundamentally changing the nature of higher education — and its strategic leadership.
A recent study suggested that taking online classes especially benefits students' "self-regulatory behaviors," which are important for success in higher education. Time management and the coordination of "distributed" or study groups surfaced as being particularly important.
Judson University has implemented fiber-based Ethernet services at its main campus in Elgin, IL, to increase the bandwidth available to students and faculty accessing online classes and educational resources, as well as for administrative and recreational network usage.
Indiana University's Pervasive Technology Institute is building a new cloud environment that will provide on-demand computing and data analysis resources for science and engineering research.
The University of Texas at Austin has launched its first course app in an attempt to meet the needs of students, who prefer to access digital content via apps instead of Web sites.
Advanced analytics software from IBM is providing researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada a real-time view of carbon's impact on the environment.
MOOC nonprofit edX has signed on for ConnectED, the White House's program to connect "99 percent" of America's students to broadband and high-speed wireless in schools and libraries and improve the skills of teachers through the use of technology.
A partnership with The Sourcing Institute will give employment recruiters tips on how to use social media to find quality employees.
Creating videos to supplement the grading process can personalize the instructor-student relationship, clarify expectations and help keep learners on track.
The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California has upgraded the core backbone of the California Research and Education Network to 100 gigabits per second.
Does your institution provide access to campus services using the modern functionality students have come to expect? CT talks with Raúl Rodríguez, chancellor of Rancho Santiago Community College District in Orange County, California — RSCCD is rSmart's first customer for OneCampus, a new cloud-based service framework.
The University of Oklahoma's Janux learning platform makes the university's online courses available to students all over the world for free.
A professor at MIT has used the videos for the massive open online course version of his Visualizing Japan course to flip the classroom-based version of the same course.
A new transatlantic network will allow research and education users to transfer data between North America and Europe at speeds previously only possible within the continents.
Last week North Carolina State University Libraries became the first organization to sign a license with Gale that allows its researchers to mine the data in the historical archive collections held by the publishing firm.
Oregon State University is collaborating with a private partenr on a graduate-level course designed to help the students teach their own online laboratory science classes.
In a Q&A with CT, Virginia Commonwealth University's Associate Director for Online Learning Innovation Tom Woodward examines the "blend of strategies, technologies, and networked communities that make the process and products of education more transparent, understandable, and available to all the people involved."
Pearson has updated its Smarthinking on-demand tutoring service in an effort to improve online learning outcomes for individuals and institutions.
Columbia University has asked faculty members for proposals to incorporate hybrid learning into their classrooms.
A University of Arizona research project hopes to figure out how to stop the eavesdropping that can take place in wireless transmissions.
Plans are moving ahead for Ontario Online to become available to almost all of the province's college students in fall 2015.
Stanford University, which has long been in the business of training industry leaders, is offering a new online model for its executive learning programs.
As massive open online courses move toward version 2.0, libraries are in a unique position to guide and support the future of blended learning.
The Online Learning Consortium will host a series of Google Hangouts next week, November 10-14, in honor of National Distance Learning Week.
Brocade, a networking provider for data centers, has introduced a new distributed chassis solution based on the Brocade ICX 7750; a new enterprise campus stackable switch, the Brocade ICX 7450; and support for OpenFlow 1.3 for software-defined networking (SDN) applications.
Oregon State University has launched a new online certificate program designed to help higher education professionals improve their teaching abilities.
Silex Technology, a provider of wired and wireless networking products, has unveiled the SX-ND-4350WAN, a wireless interactive display adapter and wireless access point.
Small-scale IT efforts can make a big difference on campus.
To keep pace with projected job growth in fields related to big data analysis and management, the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing is introducing a new master's degree program in data science.
Remote-Learner, a Moodle partner that provides Moodle services and support, has released a fully supported, Microsoft Azure-certified Moodle service through the Azure Marketplace.
IBM has added OpenStack services to its IBM Cloud marketplace to support interoperability between on-premise IT systems and off-premise cloud workloads.
As colleges and universities accumulate more and more information from campus systems, researchers are looking for ways to turn big data into learning insights.
Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge has moved to a new cloud-based system to manage its facilities.
Internet2 has added a new resource that enables its national education network to be divided into segments that can be allocated for use as multiple, discrete private networks by specific research or other user communities.
A team of researchers at universities in Florida and the Netherlands may have developed a new kind of optical fiber that can transmit data at more than 20 times current top speeds.
The State University of New York has expanded its enhanced online degree program, Open SUNY+, adding 56 degree and certificate programs from 17 campuses across the state.
Bradley University has teamed with a private partner to launch five new online graduate degree programs in an effort to meet growing student demand.
The firewalls and intrusion protection systems in use by educational organizations to protect their enterprise networks may not be keeping up with the new security demands of virtualized data centers.
A class of 11 graduate students, most of whom attend online, at the University of West Florida have spent the fall mining databases to create a quality of life index for all 3,108 counties in the contiguous United States.
The new WizIQ LMS enables teachers to create assignments and tests, track course activities and, in the case of for-profit instruction, publish courses on a WizIQ network.
Researchers from Cornell University, the University of Southern California and University of Massachusetts have proposed an application to help network operators find the best routes for their data and bypass Internet traffic jams.
Ithaca College in New York is upgrading to an 802.11ac wireless network to provide improved bandwidth, density and coverage campus-wide, including 29 academic and administrative buildings.
The exponential growth of the Internet of Things will challenge college and university wireless networks with large quantities of data, security concerns, bandwidth demands and more.
Radboud University has turned to identity management software to gain control over user access to network resources, including secure data.
Columbia University is experimenting with the flipped classroom model in large lecture courses.
How many times have you heard "Our students are used to Google and Amazon… How could we ever match that here on campus?" Maybe now you can. Through a partnership with Indiana University, rSmart is offering OneCampus, a cloud-based service that gives institutions an easy way to transform older, portal-based systems into updated, cloud-based campus services that rival any online shopping experience.
The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California now offers a suite of infrastructure-as-a-service cloud services for member institutions in California's research and education community, eliminating the need to conduct local procurement processes for these services.
Northern Arizona University has added bachelor of science options to its online, competency-based personalized learning degree offerings.
Illinois State University has upgraded its network to the latest 802.11ac wireless technology to support more than 30,000 mobile and wireless devices, including collaboration tools and classroom technology.
Determined to set his company's cloud platform apart from the competition, Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella called a press event in San Francisco to unveil several enhancements for Azure, including beefed up virtual machines and storage and a marketplace where cloud-based providers can promote their services. The company said it would also make its cloud resources available to Ebola researchers.
The Stanford Center for Professional Development will now offer its program on design thinking and team-building via a series of interactive online videos.
Watson University will use Lynn University's iPad-based Dialogues of Learning curriculum for its new degree program in social entrepreneurship.
Simpson College has partnered with a provider of online professional development for educators to offer 17 continuing education courses for preK-12 teachers across Iowa.
The University of California, Irvine Extension has launched 12 new career readiness courses to be offered as four Coursera Specializations.
Course development at the country's fastest growing nonprofit online educator is a major endeavor. Here's how SNHU manages the process.
The University of San Diego has implemented a cloud solution to migrate data to the United Kingdom, so it can provide students in its international studies abroad program in Madrid, Spain with reliable access to core academic and administrative information systems.
A stunning series of announcements — the formation of KualiCo, a for-profit entity, KualiCo's acquisition of rSmart's SaaS business, and Navigator Management Partners's acquisition of rSmart's Kuali consulting business — has ushered Kuali into its second decade with big expectations for Kuali 2.0.
Terry Austin, an instructor of anatomy and physiology at Temple College in Texas, has boosted student retention rates in his classes -- and he attributes part of that success to the real-time feedback system he's using in his flipped classroom.
Carnegie Mellon University has found that helping users change their behaviors regarding energy usage involves giving them information in an integrated form, monitoring building performance and making real-time data accessible and visible. The findings grew out of a predictive analytics project by the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics, a degree program and research center in the School of Architecture that studies advanced building technologies and designs as a way to improve "total-building" efficiency and performance.
The National Institutes of Health has just made a major investment in the use of "big data" in healthcare. Eleven institutions from California to Pennsylvania have received grants to pursue centers of excellence in multiple areas as part of BD2K, the Big Data to Knowledge initiative.
Gartner has looked at the digital future and found it in flux. During its annual symposium and ITxpo in Orlando, the IT consulting firm presented 10 technology trends expected to have "strategic impact" in most organizations, which may mean disruption to the business, users or IT; which may call for "major investment"; or which may pose unforeseen risks if ignored.
Multiple institutions that are part of the State University of New York System are choosing to outsource the build out of wireless connectivity in their residence dorms. SUNY Buffalo State, with nearly 11,000 students, will be working with Apogee, a company that specifically manages campus residential networks.
The search for data that impacts student success may lead to more questions than answers.
The University of Bedfordshire in the UK has implemented an end-user IT analytics platform to help improve the efficiency of its IT service desk.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County has joined up with Blackboard’s Internet2 related offering, Net+, although the school has had a partnership with Blackboard for years.
Campus Management has expanded its CampusNet Cloud service to include a new enterprise-level offering, so educational institutions can use the service for learning management systems, financial applications and other applications, as well as Campus Management applications.
The University of Southern California is teaming up with a publishing company to launch its next online master's degree program.
Blended learning and adaptive software are helping the state of Tennessee make sure its high school graduates are prepared for college-level mathematics.
Echo360 has launched the Active Learning Platform, a cloud-based system that incorporates lecture capture, learning analytics, content management and student engagement tools.
Education technology company Blackboard has launched a cloud version of its learning management system promised during BbWorld this past summer.
Software company Jenzabar has released a new enrollment Constituent Relationship Module (CRM) to its Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution (JICS), an online portal for connecting stakeholders and providing them access to information and data.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has gone public with its choice of switch technology to perform packet filtering and traffic aggregation on its research network.
Two online learning companies are joining in partnership to provide colleges and universities with a turnkey package for offering online courses.
Google is giving the 30 million students and teachers who already use Google Apps for Education unlimited storage — and it's offering the same deal to anyone whose school wants to sign up for it.
Portland Community College has teamed with a private partner to launch a massive open online course for educators that will address Web accessibility concerns associated with online learning.
The University of Florida has received a donation of a $500,000 "big data" machine from IBM.
A new technology should be able to identify red flags that indicate students may be having academic problems and come up with action plans almost immediately.
Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX), a 100-gigabit, multi-state optical transport network operated by the University of Maryland, is establishing an advanced cyberinfrastructure platform for the research and education community.
Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY has developed an open source predictive analytics model that uses big data to help identify students at risk of not completing their coursework.
Massive open online courses can be as effective to help students learn as face-to-face classes — and the learning outcomes will be equivalent whether or not they're academically prepared for the class or whether they perform well or poorly on a pretest.
The Online Learning Consortium, formerly the Sloan Consortium, has introduced a new version of its Quality Scorecard for Online Programs that examines nine broad areas, including institutional, faculty, student and technology support, teaching and learning, course development and structure, social and student engagement and evaluation and assessment.
We may think of analytics as a maturing area in higher education, but there's still plenty of room for innovation. The real challenge now is to move analytics to action, says Russ Little, PAR's new Chief Innovation Officer.
This week's tutorial covers a number functions in Google's Spreadsheet app, Google Sheets. Here we take a practical look at using weekdays in calculations, introduce "if" statements and learn how to refer dynamically to the contents of a current cell.
Adapt Courseware, provider of educational multimedia, video and assessment resources, has expanded its content repository in an effort to help faculty create a more engaging learning environment.
To help integrate its reporting and give employees easier access to institutional data, Simpson is rolling out Style Intelligence, a dashboard reporting solution from InetSoft Technology.
Syracuse University is working with a higher education service provider to update its existing online master's in accounting program.
The Center for Excellence in Distance Learning at Wiley College, leader of the alliance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, has selected a learning management system for its online courses.
Exams for two kinds of Microsoft certification can now be taken online from remote locations.
A University of California review board has said 95 online or blended courses provided by Fuel Education satisfy requirements necessary for entry to the university system.
Community colleges in Washington State are lowering the time to and cost of a degree with a new online program that combines a competency-based model with open educational resources.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has launched the Eduroam Wi-Fi network service, which allows members of the MIT community to connect to Eduroam networks at other institutions, and allows visitors from other participating Eduroam institutions to connect anywhere that MIT and MIT Secure Wi-Fi networks are available.
Brockenhurst College in the United Kingdom is hoping to achieve a 15 percent increase in growth and a 15 percent reduction in students who are at risk of dropping out over the next five years. To get there, the institution is rolling out IBM's Exceptional Student Experience (ESE), which uses a mixture of cloud, analytics, mobile and social technologies to help personalize the experience a student gets from enrollment all the way through to entering the workforce and lifelong learning.
MIT's Division of Student Life is planning to develop an online experiential learning curriculum to teach skills such as project management, team dynamics, civic engagement, diversity, collaboration and leadership.
CT talked with Argosy University System's vice chancellor for academic affairs to learn how that institution tackled competency-based education — creating the first WASC-accredited MBA in its region based on a direct assessment, competency model. Now, Argosy is developing hybrid approaches that combine direct assessment with traditional seat time-based courses.
After famously releasing its source code under a broad open source license, MIT and Harvard’s edX MOOC platform is backtracking a bit--reclassifying part of its code to an open but less restrictive license.
Educators in institutions that work with Academic Partnerships programs have about two weeks to apply for grants related to online learning research. The company expects to issue about $50,000 in grants up to $3,000 for individual proposals and up to $5,000 for collaborative research.
The association committed to excellence in online learning will present awards at its international conference in Orlando.
The University System of Georgia is embarking on a mission to "Invent the Beyond," and it is opening up the process to others in higher education in a MOOC-like collaboration starting this week.
The University of California Office of the President has granted A-G approval for 34 Edgenuity online courses.
Last week an international group of academic and industry people converged for a two-day community meeting at the campus of the University of California Los Angeles to lay out more details of NDN — Named Data Networking.
Technology issues that challenge large corporations will be the focus of a new online graduate-level course offered by NYU's engineering school.
The "Global Master's in Development Practice" is hosting a two-term online course on "Climate Change Science and Negotiations," starting in October 2014. That class will be part of the core requirements for the master's program and, simultaneously, offered as a massive open online course.
The University of Michigan has added an Office of Digital Education and Innovation in an effort to help faculty use technology and digital programs more creatively.
Proximity-based mobile interactions are moving out of the realm of science fiction and into the education, healthcare and retail markets.
Dropbox, the popular free and fee cloud storage service, has introduced a new Pro version that includes a remote wipe feature, enhancements to the sharing of files and a simplified price structure.
A start-up company with an online application designed to allow people to create and publish interactive courses recently held a "Code for Education" night in its home town of San Francisco.
Behind MIT's efforts to redefine the future of higher education is a willingness to experiment and take risks.
Southern Illinois University is tapping into a cross-institutional network for analytics to better retain students who don't know they may be on the wrong track.
Cornell University has formally wrapped up a three-year network connectivity upgrade project at its Ithaca, NY campus, which came in faster and considerably less expensive — $19 million vs. $34 million — than a prior plan.
What does a center to support teaching and learning excellence look like today? Gardner Campbell, Virginia Commonwealth University's vice provost for learning innovation and student success, tells CT about that university's newly opened ALT Lab.
People seeking a better understanding of enterprise computing strategies have the chance to attend a free, self-guided, self-paced open online course hosted by Syracuse University's School of Information Studies.
With more than 5,000 residential students clamoring for more WiFi access, Pennsylvania's West Chester University is rolling out an Aruba 802.11ac wireless network across every campus housing facility, with the goal of turning the majority of its dormitories and student apartments into all-wireless environments by the fall 2014 semester.
The National Science Foundation has awarded a $10 million grant to a national consortium for cloud computing research and development.
Software-defined networking is gaining momentum and is forecast to experience a massive increase in adoption by data centers and enterprise networks, according to a new report.
American Indian College, a Christian college that serves primarily Native American students, has adopted a new enterprise resource planning system for its comprehensive system, easy maintenance and fast deployment.
Campus Technology 2014 brought together technology thought leaders for a dialogue on data, change, MOOCs, innovation and more.
Take a smartphone, add $10 worth of plywood and Plexiglas, a bit of hardware, laser pointer lenses and LED click lights from a keychain flashlight and you have a DIY microscope worthy of use in college classes. At least, that's the idea of an instructor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology who is adding the do-it-yourself technology in her biology lab courses.
Sullivan University, based in Louisville, KY, has adopted management software with internal dashboards in an effort to help executives make better informed decisions.
Inspire more student engagement in a flipped class with these two pedagogy-driven methods.
NEC Display Solutions of America is making its NEC DisplayNote Software available in the cloud.
As new Wi-Fi standard 802.11ac begins to make inroads into schools, Fluke Networks is introducing updated editions of its tools for designing and troubleshooting wireless networks.
One-third of all educational time is spent online by Canadian post-secondary students, according to a new report from Intel Canada.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham has drastically increased the speed of its on-campus residential network, with an upgrade that has brought 250 Mbps connections to each resident in all five of its residence halls.
What's the best way to keep students on track in an online course?
The first semester of a completely online bachelor's degree program in music will kick off in September, when Berklee College of Music expands Berklee Online. The new program will offer two degrees, one in the music business and the other in music production.
The Massachusetts Instute of Technology, a school renowned for its intrepid experimental nature — MIT Media Lab, D-Lab, MITx and OpenCourseware, to name a few experiments — wants to accelerate education innovation and "reimagine" its own future.
The "Internet of Things" is taking tiny, unfettered leaps forward in a research project underway at the University of Washington.
Online instructional tool provider WebAssign has launched Course Packs, assignments designed for specific textbooks.
Faced with a substantial increase in mobile devices within varied academic, research, residential and clinical care environments, the University of Miami and its affiliated health organization, UHealth-University of Miami Health System, are rolling out a wireless infrastructure upgrade with technology from Aruba Networks.
Campus IT is a disjointed effort at most campuses. For example, in more than four out of five colleges and universities, IT professionals report that they do not regularly develop joint plans with academic departments for IT initiatives. These are some of the results that came out of a survey of 152 higher ed IT people in June by MeriTalk, a government-focused Web site.
Seven new higher ed leaders have joined the ranks of the Fellows of the Online Learning Consortium (formerly the Sloan Consortium).
To help meet a growing demand, Dallas’ Southern Methodist University will launch a new Master of Science degree in data science in 2015, with courses drawn across its schools of humanities and sciences, engineering, and the arts.
Anant Agarwal, CEO of the nonprofit MOOC platform provider edX, had some harsh words for traditional education, saying it's "pathetic" that classrooms today still look like the did decades ago. And, undaunted by MOOC critics, Agarwal highlighted the potential he sees for MOOCs in a keynote address at the Campus Technology conference yesterday.
A new online leadership certificate program at University of California Irvine's Extension will use direct assessment rather than classroom hours to measure student success.
At the CT 2014 conference this week in Boston, one former CIO told attendees that education is not "about gathering terabytes of data and asking it to tell me the patterns." Instead, he argued for the potential of "small data" to create a personalized learning experiences that cut down on student frustration and confusion.
These 10 strategies can help keep learners on track to successfully finish your online course.
California Southern University, a private institution that offers online degree programs, will be accepting transfer credits from a private company that provides online classes.
Telefonica and Banco Santander have partnered on the worldwide launch of what is being billed as the world's first Spanish-language massive open online course platform, MiriadaX.
New York’s Binghamton University is working with an online education site to make its more than 200 online certificate courses available to students and state residents.
Penn State researcher Howard Salis created a simple tool for a complex process — DNA sequencing — and turned it into a highly scalable, on-demand system that serves scientists all over the world.
Northwestern University's Family Institute in Illinois is taking its counseling master's program completely online.
Joined by more than 20 member institutions to date, PAR is a growing not-for-profit collaborative venture that pools normalized (and anonymized) data to support research on student success and create predictive models and strategies for intervention. With 1.8 million-plus records in its dataset, PAR is offering its members highly reliable data modeling for student success, as well as a new potential for comparative institutional research.
Southern Illinois University has adopted an Internet Protocol Address Management solution in an effort to improve network visibility, reduce the risk of error and to share administrative requirements between teams.
The University of Oklahoma's One University Digital Initiative is a technology strategy for a broad, sweeping campaign to ensure the university will take its place in the digital realm.
The formerly named Sloan Consortium (rebranded earlier this month) has named Kathleen Ives CEO and executive director, following an interim stint in those roles. OLC is a non-profit organization focused on helping colleges and universities "launch and sustain high-quality online learning initiatives."
According to a report from TechNavio, MOOCs ongoing expansion is owing in part to the rising costs of higher education and universities' turning to MOOCs for their big data tools.
Transcriptic, a cloud-based research services provider, has launched Transcriptic Platform, a programmable system for defining and executing experimental protocols for molecular and cell biology researchers.
While college presidents are skeptical about massive open online courses (MOOCs), they see plenty of potential "positive impact" with hybrid courses that blend face-to-face and online learning as well as adaptive learning that uses technology to modify lessons based on the progress shown by students.
EdX has partnered with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Labor to create an open-platform massive open online course portal powered by edX's open-source platform, with the goal of expanding educational opportunities for people in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Arab world.
A community-led group is helping NYU's highly distributed IT organizations collaborate better, build relationships, share information and impact IT strategy across the university.
Desire2Learn is using the stage of its annual user conference, Fusion 2014, to shorten its moniker and announce a new branding for its set of education applications.
Looking to better serve its 115,000-plus student population, the City Colleges of Chicago system built a "data democracy," empowering all faculty and staff with a flexible reporting and analytics system.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is returning to Coursera for seconds next year when it undertakes delivery of six new massive open online courses on the MOOC platform during 2015-2016.
With its Virtual Assessment Center, Kennesaw State University put the technology and processes in place to give MOOC students a clear pathway to credit and potential entry into degree programs.
The multi-institutional PAR Framework project provides a valuable resource supporting predictive analytics for student success and linking interventions to specific risk factors.
If there's any place where big data ought to rule, that's China, a country where everything is done on a large scale. To help educate students on how to work with the data generated by a population of 1.37 billion people, IBM has announced an ambitious big data program to integrate its software, research, curriculum and other education-related resources into scores of China's institutions by the end of this year.
Marist College's The FOLD is a student-designed and delivered learning initiative combining a Web site, MOOC and open online community.
To better reflect its mission of advancing the quality of online learning worldwide, the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) has changed its name to the Online Learning Consortium (OLC).
Tidemark has introduced Financial Planning for Higher Education, its first business planning and analytics app configured specifically for higher ed. Designed with input from the company's higher education clients, including Brown and the University of Miami, the cloud-based product provides a flexible, scalable platform for institutional planning, budgeting and reporting.
CIOs share how they link information technology to the core goals of the university — and communicate IT's value to institutional leadership.
Tools geared toward promoting student success, no matter how useful individually, may become siloed on your campus, scattering potentially valuable academic planning resources for students. At the University of Washington, however, developers are making sure that UW's "MyPlan" will be integrated with other relevant tools and data. Jill Yetman, MyPlan project manager at UW, talked with CT about the strategy.
McNeese State University, part of the University of Louisiana System, has added a new online degree pathway intended to make education more affordable and accessible to adult learners.
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay's CIO is pursuing a track that marries institutional data, predictions and business rules to create prescriptions for student and campus success. Here are his 12 best practices for prescriptive analytics.
Indiana University has implemented a software-based video conferencing solution to enable interactions between teachers and students in virtual classrooms using existing IT infrastructure.
Instructure has updated its Canvas learning management system in an effort to add "digital efficiency" and real-time analytics to in-person teaching.
Tennessee Tech University has extended its WLAN again since overhauling its network in 2011.
Online instruction needs to become as nuanced as the institutions and high schools delivering it if it is to grow as a force in education, according to a new survey by the Boston Consulting Group.
Predictive analytics and data intelligence software provider Rapid Insight has created QuickStart for Banner, an add-on for Ellucian's Banner student information system focused on reducing the time to build predictive models.
Oregon State University will offer its first massive open online course this fall in partnership with Stanford University and the Oregon Department of Education.
Harrison College has teamed up with a private partner to make its KnowU learning environment available to other career schools and higher education institutions.
Four major universities have banded together to create an infrastructure for digital learning. The work of the Unizin consortium, as it's called, will be managed under the auspices of Internet2 and will have three goals to start.
In an effort to meet student expectations for anytime, anywhere network access, Moravian College in Pennsylvania has deployed a Unified Access network from Alcatel-Lucent.
Videoconferencing technology is allowing three institutions to pool instructional resources and make specialized courses available to more students
A Massachusetts university has gone public with its deployment of an application for analyzing network activities.
Students expect universities to be more accessible, flexible and focused on jobs, according to a new survey commissioned by Laureate International Universities and compiled by Zogby Analytics.
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) will now train educators in designing and teaching courses for the Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN).
A little more than 12 percent of all post-secondary students are enrolled exclusively in online courses or online degree programs. According to the latest figures released by the National Center for Education Statistics, another 13 percent are taking at least some courses online.
Turkcell Academy, a free digital learning platform in Turkey launched last January by Turkish telecommunications and technology company Turkcell, has partnered with Coursera to expand its mobile education offerings.
A new report from Stanford University examining the use of online technologies and methods for delivering education says that 1.9 million people around the world have registered for one or more of the public courses taught by the California university's faculty.
The Western Interstate Commission of Higher Education (WICHE) and its Predictive Analytics Reporting Framework (PAR) program have announced plans for PAR to become a separate 501.c.3 nonprofit organization by the end of this year.
Instructure has launched a new service for schools, colleges and universities that lets them host their own branded distance courses and course catalogs online — Canvas Catalog.
Proclaimed the "sexiest job of the 21st Century," by Harvard Business Review, fledgling data scientists may soon need to show they know how to apply what they're learning before hordes of additional students flood the field. That's exactly what four students at the University of Albany College of Computing and Information did when they undertook a data visualization project for the state's Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Big data has arrived in higher education, but it certainly is not leveraged to the extent that it could be or may soon be. What should we expect in the future?
Syracuse University will be revamping how it delivers its online MBA program.
The experiment called Semester Online will shortly close operations. Naysayers and competitors may claim that the closure dents 2U's reputation. The company sees the outcome differently.
The University of California, Berkeley's AMPLab, a collaborative research effort that aims to develop analytics tools for big data, has picked up a new private sponsor.
Dalton State College in Georgia has replaced its manual Fact Book development process with an automated dashboard that draws data directly from the student information system and delivers information on demand through an online interface.
5 higher ed chief information officers discuss their changing role on campus.
Turning lawyers into programmers may not seem like the most obvious way to ensure that big data systems comply with an organization's privacy policies. But that's one of the outcomes figured out by a team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft Research in a recent project.
As the company behind the University of Phoenix and numerous other educational holdings around the globe, Apollo Education Group knows something about scale. CT asked CIO Mike Sajor about the institution's new learning platform, how it supports hundreds of thousands of students, and the choice to host it in a private cloud.
The Florida Virtual Campus has launched the Distance Learning Course and Degree Program Catalog in an effort to improve student access and success.
The University of Tulsa has upgraded to an enterprise-class wireless local area network, which will provide ubiquitous wireless coverage across two campuses and other distributed buildings.
At Chattanooga State Community College, campus leaders charged with a new e-portfolio program implementation demonstrated an exceptional gift: the ability to identify pockets of interest on campus and turn them into a driving force. After a modest, one-year pilot of 200 users, campus leaders watched a full, campus wide implementation grow to 2,300 student, faculty, and staff e-portfolios in its first year.
The Pharmacotherapy Outcomes Research Center (PORC) at the University of Utah plans to use its new data analytics system to perform advanced data mining, queries and analyses.
Georgetown University has gone public with its recent adoption of an online application system to replace its manual paper-based process.
College of Business students at Arkansas Tech University will have the chance to pursue paid internships in the field of data analytics and data visualization.
Netgear has added the new ProSafe WC7600 wireless controller and ProSafe WN370 wall mount access point with power over Ethernet (PoE) to its line of ProSafe products for higher ed and K-12 schools.
Carvechi Technology has released a cloud-based collaboration platform, Collaboratory, featuring content sharing, digital whiteboards and voice over Internet protocol.
A new adaptive learning engine -- dubbed "MOOCulus" -- developed at Ohio State University is giving students in a calculus MOOC coursework tuned to their individual skill levels
Are online education providers serving the masses or just amassing wealth for themselves? That's the question the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education wants answered. The group today challenged the leaders of edX, Udacity and Coursera to a public debate "about the claims and promises being made by the online education industry about the quality of its higher education programs."
Three multi-institutional projects are advancing their efforts to develop the architectures that may underlie the Internet of the future.
Plenty of tools have been developed to help diagnose application failures, but few of those work on really complex applications such as Firefox or Skype. A team of researchers from three institutions have developed a tool to address this gap.
Cengage Learning, a provider of educational content, technology and services for higher education and K-12, has partnered with big data software provider Celebrus Technologies to capture data about users' interactions with Cengage's products.
Seven universities in the United States have partnered with IBM to launch cognitive computing courses featuring cloud access to the company's Watson computer.
Bethel University, in St. Paul, MN, is adopting an online enrollment management system in an effort to streamline the "recruitment funnel" across departments and improve external communications to prospective students in its graduate, undergraduate and seminary programs.
The University of Southern California's education school has developed a set of online and blended training courses to help teachers develop their skills in working with diverse learners.
5 higher ed chief information officers discuss their changing role on campus.
eScience Labs has introduced the second edition of its introductory biology lab kit, an online platform featuring 28 labs designed for non-majors in first and second semester online or hybrid courses.
St. Thomas University has signed on with a private partner for hardware and academic resources to provide students with opportunities to learn about cloud computing.
A faculty member at the University of Illinois has found the use of a technology that immerses her physical presence into her course presentations so effective, it has become "essential" to how she teaches now.
London South Bank University is investing in a major way with IBM to help attract and retain students, and it will be adopting an IBM cloud platform to facilitate those efforts.
Google today revealed changes to its Apps for Education policies that include permanently disabling scanning in Gmail for its 30 million Apps for Education users and permanently disabling the ability to display ads.
Up until now ISS has built a name for itself among military customers. Can the same technology developed by this defense contractor to identify potential risk on the battlefield help you retain your students too?
Straight Path Spectrum has joined NYU Wireless as an affiliate sponsor and advisory board member, contributing its expertise in millimeter frequencies to the academic wireless communications research center at New York University.
Aruba Networks has introduced Aruba Mobility Academy, a mobility-specific higher education program designed to provide IT students with the fundamentals required to build, maintain and advance wireless LAN networks.
MOOC provider edX has selected the VitalSource Bookshelf e-textbook platform from Vital Source Technologies to distribute publisher content for its massive open online learning courses.
The University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education is launching its first online doctorate degree.
The University of Utah's Division of Continuing Education is turning to online training and e-learning company StormWind to provide courses specifically for Cisco, Microsoft and CompTIA training.
5 higher ed chief information officers discuss their changing role on campus.
Northwest Missouri State University has replaced its legacy wireless network with new technology to support online testing and the rapid increase of online devices on campus.
Virtual school provider K12 Inc. this month received notice that the NCAA will no longer accept coursework from 24 of its schools for initial eligibility review for prospective student athletes. The NCAA stipulates the coursework does not fulfill its course requirements for nontraditional high schools.
Two researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are exploring how touch devices, such as Apple's iPad, can be used in data analysis and visualization.
Cloud Server provider Infinitely Virtual has launched a virtual server offering targeted at higher education institutions and K-12 schools.
Interfolio has released an online platform for promotion and tenure committees designed to improve the efficiency, transparency and consistency of the promotion and tenure review process.
The course, Programming for Everybody, taught by Charles Severance (on the Coursera platform and at Dr. Chuck Online), introduces participants to Python programming and provides them with the tools to turn around and teach those concepts themselves — or simply to continue their own training in programming.
The University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, is leading a consortium with the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, McMaster University and Mohawk College in a research effort to link pedagogy with learning outcomes.
edX has teamed up with CourseTalk to provide a platform for course reviews that includes star ratings and in-depth comments.
As institutions put more stock in learning analytics, campus technology leaders explore how a culture of openness could make the difference between success or failure for the rising technology.
Not even a month after Wichita State University said it was teaming up with Blackboard to create a new approach for delivering student services, the University of Arkansas announced that it would be working with the education technology company to analyze the marketability of its online degree programs.
Open source software company Red Hat today announced several new Linux Container projects focused on streamlined application delivery and orchestration across bare metal systems, virtual machines and private and public clouds.
Nine universities in the Corn Belt region of the United States have teamed up to develop two online big data tools to make climate information available to the agriculture community.
5 higher ed chief information officers discuss their changing role on campus.
Forward-looking institutions are investing in broadband infrastructure both for themselves and for the regions they serve.
Internet2 members can now access NET+ D2L Integrated Learning Platform via Internet2's advanced network to provide their constituents with mobile tools, webcasts, data analytics, collaboration tools and more.
Aerohive Networks has launched an 802.11ac gigabit Wi-Fi access point (AP) that it's touting as an economical option for organizations that want to upgrade to to the standard but have been concerned about cost and power requirements.
Now that most of the institutions in the University System of Georgia are tapped into a centralized LMS, the state system is ready to put that data to work with predictive analytics.
American campuses are scrambling to keep up with continued explosive growth in the use of mobile devices but their toolsets and practices for managing that growth don't always sync with their needs.
Students taking high school or college-level Spanish language courses can now connect to tutors 24/7 via Tutor.com.
Educause is teaming up with the University of Central Florida to offer a free massive open online course on Instructure's Canvas Network.
In this debate, the question might not be so much about whether online education is effective, but whether it could be any worse than the existing model.
This fall, the University of Maryland will offer a new online master's degree program in technology entrepreneurship.
A new online foreign language program offered through Blended Schools Network will let high school students earn college credit from Seton Hall University.
Rapid Insight, a provider of predictive analytics and data intelligence software, today launched QuickStart, an analytics solution for community colleges.
Georgetown University is calling on its entire campus community to explore what the institution of 2030 will look like and to experiment with new ways of educating students. The impact of its discoveries may ultimately end up being felt throughout American higher ed.
Both Northwestern University and the University of Toronto will be doing research using data from a company that produces a workforce performance application.
Colorado State University-Global Campus, an online institution part of the Colorado State University System, has selected cloud infrastructure from Peak to power its student and faculty portals.
Higher ed chief information officers discuss their changing role on campus.
With more and more faculty being asked to teach blended or online courses, the need for faculty training has never been higher. CT looks at tried-and-tested strategies for molding better online instructors.
Two of the major MOOC providers in the U.S. announced new executives yesterday.
The University of North Carolina, Greensboro has entered the massive open online course arena with it's first offering, "The Soul and the Search for Meaning: From the Greeks to the Present."
Fort Hays State University in Kansas has built a new wireless network based entirely on all-802.11ac technology from Aruba Networks.
Facing a dramatic increase in the volume of data generated on campus, Rhode Island's Bryant University is rolling out NaviSite's NaviCloud Vault cloud platform for remote storage.
SAS, a provider of business analytics software and services, has launched SAS Analytics U, an initiative intended to help support analytics students, professors and working professionals.
When it comes to software-defined networking and network functions virtualization solutions, nearly all enterprise-level organizations prefer open source solutions, but three quarters of them want those open source solutions to come from commercial vendors, according to a new report from the OpenDaylight Project.
Harvard Business School is ready to dive into the waters of online learning. The institution will soon begin enrollment in the first set of courses to be offered on HBX, a new e-learning platform the school has been quietly developing over the past year and a half.
HP's new printer offers secure wireless printing from smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.
Is it possible to implement new learning approaches in old -- even antique -- classrooms and other college spaces? The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA has become expert at it.
Michael McRobbie, president of Indiana University, and David Lambert, president of Internet2, are leading a group of U.S. college presidents, chief information officers and researchers to New Delhi to establish a partnership with the leading national research and education network in India.
Ruckus Wireless has started shipping a new dual-band, three-stream 802.11ac access point. Unlike other 802.11ac APs, which are often software-upgraded 802.11n APs, the Ruckus ZoneFlex R700 was specifically designed for the new 802.11ac standard.
Google Sheets, the spreadsheet tool that's part of the Google Apps productivity suite, lets users format cells based on certain conditions, including the date contained in a cell and how far away that date is from the present. But the options available through the Conditional Formatting dialog are limited. Here's a way around those limitations.
The rapid growth of interconnected devices making up the Internet of Things will wreak havoc on data security, storage, servers, networks and end user privacy, according to a new report.
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is launching an online doctoral program in kinesiology.
Savvy institutions are using recruitment and other data to support students from first contact through to graduation.
Aruba Networks has framed a new architecture for its technology offerings that addresses increasingly mobile users.
Researchers at Brown University have developed a data shuffling technique that aims to improve security of data stored in the cloud by hiding usage patterns, which can be analyzed to reveal secret information.
Oracle has announced Oracle Student Cloud, a new cloud-based student information system designed to help higher education institutions support configurable standard business processes.
Xirrus today publicly took the wraps off what it described as the lowest cost 802.11ac access point designed for enterprise, the $775 dual-radio Xirrus XR-620 AP.
A company that creates products for managing devices in a bring-your-own-device environment has developed a network access control utility that allows an external login through Google Apps for Education to be used for authentication of each device and user.
In an effort to improve usability, manageability and security of its WiFi network, North Dakota State University has implemented XpressConnect Enrollment System, automated device enablement technology from Cloudpath Networks.
edX is opening up its membership beyond its initial 32 charter institutions. With its new membership structure, the online course provider will bring colleges, universities and other organizations into the fold as regular members, including 12 new institutions announced today.
Cloud server provider Infinitely Virtual today introduced Virtual Terminal Server — Standard, the first of what will eventually be four cloud hosting plans for the academic market.
Mid-Atlantic Crossroads and Fujitsu Network Communications have partnered on a field test that has transmitted data from Baltimore, MD to McLean, VA at 800 gigabits per second.
A new report from Cornell argued that, despite the promise of online learning, caution should be exercised in implementing policies that might overburden faculty. The report also recommended against awarding credit for MOOCs at Cornell.
Faced with an escalating number of mobile devices on campus, Washington State's Bellevue College has deployed a unified wired and wireless access network based on Aruba's Mobile Virtual Enterprise architecture.
MOOCs should be the Holy Grail of student data, but they aren't there yet.
Today at SXSWedu in Austin, McGraw-Hill Education introduced Connect Insight, a data analytics and visualization tool that provides at-a-glance views of student performance in real time via a tablet device.
Consumer adoption of 802.11ac access points is set to accelerate drastically this year. In 2013, about 8 percent of consumer APs supported 802.11ac. That figure is expected to swell to 45 percent this year.
An increase in mobility applications and the continued emergence of 802.11ac have made the enterprise WLAN market one of the fastest growing networking market segments worldwide, according to a new report from International Data Corp.
$43,477 is the average cost for an online bachelor's degree in the United States, according to data released by Hanover Research. An online master's degree cost about half as much.
Scientists at George Washington University's Colonial One High Performance Computing Center are piloting ultra-high-speed 40 Gigabit per second data transfers from the National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NLM), thanks to both organizations' links to the Internet2 network.
California's statewide Online Education Initiative hopes to dramatically improve student success rates online.
The Sloan Consortium is partnering with a group of higher education and inter-governmental organizations to launch a new research initiative focused on the global impact of online learning.
The University of Houston System is launching its first three massive open online courses, two of them targeted to high school seniors preparing for advanced placements tests and one for K-12 teachers.
The New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering is collaborating with a private partner to launch an online continuing education program in March.
Kaplan University's online program will be using digital content supplied by Ingram Content Group.
Progressive new approaches to medical education aim to give doctors-in-training more practical, hands-on experience.
Here's what's on the IT table for three different institutions during the coming year.
Launched last October, European MOOC platform iversity.org has now reached nearly 500,000 enrollments in its 28 massive open online courses.
Every year, more than 2 million adults are released from prisons and jails in the United States. Of those, some 40 percent find themselves incarcerated within three years of their release. But prison education programs can curb the three-year rate of recidivism by as much as 13 full percentage points. Unfortunately, according to a new report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice, those education programs saw some drastic cuts in the four years immediately following the start of the recession, especially in states with higher prison populations.
The National Science Foundation has granted seven awards of $300,000 each to university research projects that aim to develop next-generation network technologies.
Marist College has launched a student-driven online collaborative learning environment called The FOLD (Fashion Online Learning Domain).
Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma has upgraded its network infrastructure to support virtualization, mobility and a bring-your-own-device environment.
NovoEd, the online learning platform launched last April by Stanford professor Amin Saberi, today announced agreements with 16 institutions spanning the higher education, research and technology sectors.
Researchers at the University of Florida have received a four-year, $1.97 million grant from the National Science Foundation to establish a national network that brings together professional and amateur paleontologists.
Cloudpath Networks has introduced the XpressConnect Enrollment System 3.0, an automated device enablement (ADE) platform that combines secure device onboarding and certificate management.
Wireless infrastructure provider Ruckus Wireless today unveiled Ruckus Smart Positioning Technology, or SPoT, cloud-based location-aware tech that allows organizations to deliver location-based services over Ruckus Smart WiFi.
While IT was never invited to the policy table during Gainful Employment negotiations, administrative IT departments at most institutions — but particularly those at community colleges and for-profit colleges — will bear responsibility under new regulations proposed by the United States Department of Education.
A new online learning platform aims to put the student in the driver's seat of his or her own education.
A community college in central Pennsylvania has seen great success with a blended model boot camp for developmental math.
AT&T is the latest company to become an affiliate sponsor of NYU Wireless, an academic wireless communications research center at New York University.
California's Coastline Community College is giving its students the option of completing a bachelor's degree in psychology through Penn State's online campus, World Campus, thanks to a new partnership between the two institutions.
A Ball State University doctoral candidate in education studies is preparing to teach her second comic book-based MOOC.
Alma has launched a free cloud-based student information system and learning management system. Availability of Alma in 2014 is limited to the first 500 schools to sign up.
Highly customized enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems will be considered "legacy" by 2016, according to a new report from Gartner.
The University of Florida has launched UF Online to offer undergraduate degree programs online for new and transfer students.
The latest Horizon Report from the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative has identified the top six trends that will drive changes in higher education for the remainder of this decade.
Western Governors University has been selected as a partner in 100Kin10, a national network that aims to train 100,000 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers over 10 years.
Stanford PERTS is seeking research proposals for a new initiative, called the Mindset Challenge, which aims to find ways to boost student motivation and outcomes in online learning environments. Deadline for proposals is April 1.
Online course provider Udemy has reached the 2 million-student milestone, only five months after it reached the 1 million-student mark.
Virtual assistants, flipped classrooms and "the quantified self" are three of the six technological developments that will have a significant impact on higher education within the next five years, according to the NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Higher Education Edition, released by the New Media Consortium and Educause Monday.
Students at William Paterson University of New Jersey have a new way to watch their favorite television shows, online, without draining campus bandwidth.
Rollins College successfully combated a recent spear phishing attack, thanks to its new network access control system.
EFI has expanded its PrintMe cloud printing solution to include new apps and drivers, more locations to print and additional language support.
SNHU went from a small, relatively unremarkable New England institution to one of the biggest nonprofit online educators in the country.
Predixion Software is making its analytics software and training guides free for academic institutions.
Brandman University, a private nonprofit institution part of the Chapman University System, is working with Flat World Education to offer an online, competency-based bachelor's degree in business administration.
Internet2 is broadening its support to include smaller colleges and universities that are not necessarily research institutions but that nevertheless have "notable research projects and cyberinfrastructure needs."
Harvard researcher Andrew Ho on what we can learn from the first set of edX MOOC data.
Adtran, a provider of networking and communications equipment, has unveiled the NetVanta 1235P Ethernet Switch with ActivReach, designed specifically for voice applications.
5 IT thought leaders take the temperature of the biggest tech trends in higher education.
The Roman goddess of wisdom has lent her name to a new university in which students will meet much of the time online but live together in the same physical location.
The State University of New York has formally introduced a new online program that allows students to access courses, degrees, professors and academic resources from any of SUNY's 64 campuses.
A totally MOOC-based master's degree in computer science announced last spring has opened for business with about 375 students.
Although several technology companies presented their approaches to innovations in higher education at this week's White House Education Datapalooza, one company is using its participation in the event as motivation to introduce new initiatives to help students reach their educational goals.
Students get up to two hours of free tutoring through new program.
The ruling this week by a federal court on the Open Internet (Net Neutrality) Order may turn out to be, as one commenter called it, "a terrible idea," or, as another observer put it, a source of "a lot of overheated rhetoric." Education, for its part, could well see major changes to how it's able to deliver learning content to students online.
The Obama administration is asking colleges and universities for new ideas related to college affordability and technologies to advance student learning at all levels.
More than 7.1 million students took at least one online course at a higher education institution in fall of 2012, according to a new report, Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the United States, 2013.
New Android app enables students to access course materials and information, view on-demand video and more.
Blue Jeans Network's cloud-based video collaboration platform is now available through the Internet2 NET+ portfolio.
This spring, George Siemens will make the move stateside to the University of Texas-Arlington, where he will base his research on how technology and digital networks influence the knowledge development process within society, and related implications for the future of higher education institutions.
A technology startup with free software that allows people to do collaborative authoring has released a new version of its online program.
Clemson University's College of Health, Education and Human Development has recently gone public with its deployment of an enterprise video platform to flip classrooms in an effort to increase student access to required courses.
George Siemens, an expert in the field of digital learning known for creating one of the first massive open online courses, has joined The University of Texas at Arlington to lead a lab exploring the critical demands new learning technologies place on higher education.
We asked 5 higher ed IT experts to rate the "hotness" of MOOCs, e-textbooks and more.
What new tech trends will knock massive open online courses out of the spotlight this year?
During a recent symposium on the Federal Reserve System, George Washington University announced that it would offer its first massive open online course on the same subject.
Ryerson University in Toronto is installing 802.11ac wireless networking in its new Ted Rogers School of Management and is upgrading many of its existing access points to the new technology.
A team of researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a new data compression method that could help with the capture and analysis of massive amounts of data in real time.
Gartner predicts a future full of disruptions. Will your institutional IT organization be ready to exploit the opportunities?
A software-as-a-service application that allows teams of users to create online courses has gone into open beta.
University College London will establish the UCL Big Data Institute in collaboration with Elsevier, a provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services.
Indiana University is rolling out a new videoconferencing solution across its eight campuses this spring in a move to support its growing distance learning and digital collaboration initiatives.
A joint project of Stanford University and Carnegie Institution for Science will make forest monitoring tools and training freely available to allow people around the world to monitor the health of their forests through raw satellite images.
San Jose State University has gone back to the drawing board and tweaked delivery of a much-maligned program set up with MOOC provider Udacity.
BenQ's new EW series monitors allow users to stream media -- including cloud-based content -- from their smartphones, laptops or game consoles for large-screen viewing.
A law school located in St. Paul, MN that has produced at least three Minnesota governors, various members of Congress, and multiple state and federal court justices, expects to offer a hybrid variety of education starting in 2015, which it claims is the first of its kind. The William Mitchell College of Law will offer an online and on-campus juris doctor program that has been approved by the American Bar Association.
CT asks Southern New Hampshire University President Paul LeBlanc about the implications of competency-based assessment.
Adobe Connect users have a new way to build games into their online sessions and foster discussion and interaction among meeting attendees.
A Stanford professor has unveiled a prototype of a scalable virtual lab for use in massive open online courses, at schools with limited lab equipment or even by members of the public.
Completion rates for on-campus courses are only slightly higher than those for online courses, according to a new report from the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies.
Dell has unveiled new enterprise storage and networking solutions designed to help campuses meet increasing demands for IT performance and network access, including new W-Series gigabit wireless access points, which offer data rates up to 1.3 gigabits per second for end-to-end 802.11ac wireless networks.
Villanova University has launched a new Master Certificate in Business Process Management, a three-course program that can be completed entirely online.
Large concentrations of mobile devices can cause interference and connectivity issues. Early adopter Georgia Tech is solving the problem with focus-beamed antennas for its large-capacity classrooms.
Sebastian Thrun threw a wrench in the MOOC model by declaring that massive open online courses don't work for higher education. What's next for the online learning trend?
Booz Allen Hamilton is sending its employees to Polytechnic Institute of New York University to earn master's degrees and certificates in high tech fields.
In this interview with Campus Technology, Amazon Web Services General Manager Steve Halliwell reveals two new AWS services that will have an impact on education, explains why long-term data storage is becoming a challenge for researchers and shares his thoughts about the importance of "democratizing" infrastructure for students to transform education.
Convergent technologies have the ability to support streams of low-cost, personalized content, both at home and in college.
Ruhr University Bochum in Germany has implemented a lecture capture solution that records course visuals and video of the instructor, so students can attend lectures virtually on their own schedule.
MOOC content can be a valuable addition to course materials, but more experimentation is needed.
Wittenberg University in Ohio has upgraded its networking hardware and network management system to support its bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and flipped classroom initiatives.
While big data analysis is increasingly seen as an essential capability, 60 percent of surveyed organizations have only limited capability in business intelligence (BI) reporting, according to a new survey from the Association for Information and Image Management.
A sense of isolation is a leading cause of dropout among online students. CT looks at proven strategies for building an inclusive, collegial atmosphere in online classes.
Student reporters are using a new tool to provide news coverage of campus events for their campus television station.
Cengage will integrate Talend's Platform for Big Data into its cloud infrastructure. The integration is designed to help the company understand learning objectives and outcomes, as well as how students use its product.
A new solution enables campuses to notify students and community members about school closures, early dismissals, and event cancellations due to extreme weather conditions.
Researchers at MIT, UT San Antonio and Notre Dame are collaborating with Internet2 and Rackspace Hosting to build a new OpenStack-optimized hybrid cloud environment designed to help the research and education community use the cloud for big data research.
Sally M. Johnstone, a true pioneer in the use of technology in higher education, joined a 25-year retrospective session at the recent WCET annual conference in Colorado, with panelists particularly reflecting on changes online learning. Below, CT asked Johnstone to share some of her own perspectives.
For universities looking to start or accelerate their own next-generation network efforts in their communities, Gig.U is offering up lessons learned from its members broadband projects. In its latest report, "A Gigabit Garden Begins To Grow: Lessons from the First Planting," the group outlines efforts to build networks with gigabit speeds in 18 university communities around the United States.
Half of university faculty members have deployed the flipped classroom model or plan to within the next 12 months, according to a new survey from the Center for Digital Education and Sonic Foundry.
Cloudera, a provider of Hadoop-based software and services, and online course prvider Udacity have partnered to offer Hadoop and data science courses.
The AIR.U Consortium has introduced a Quick Start Network Program intended to help AIR.U member institutions improve broadband network coverage and capacity.
With the help of a smartphone or tablet, graduate engineering students at USC can access live streaming lectures, and interact with their lecturer and fellow students.
Smartphones will be smarter than their users by the year 2017, according to new analysis from market research firm Gartner.
San Juan College, a community college in New Mexico, is implementing business analytics software to share data across departments.
Midwestern State University, a public liberal arts college located in Wichita Falls, TX, has outsourced its campus residence network (ResNet) to support the rapid increase in wireless devices students are bringing on campus.
University of California, Berkeley has installed technology to improve WiFi and mobile broadband service across campus, including its residence halls, academic and administrative buildings, and football stadium.
The University of California Los Angeles Library Service has completed implementation of desktops-as-a-service (DaaS) across its 13 campus libraries.
Through a partnership with Khan Academy, the J. Paul Getty Museum is expanding its open educational content program.
Three education professors, Simon Hooper from Penn State, and Charles Miller and Susan Rose from the University of Minnesota, are developing a Web-based learning analytics system designed to help improve assessment, feedback, and progress-monitoring of literacy education for students in grades 1-8.
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning has released a new report examining collaborations between educator preparation programs and online schools, Partnering for Success: A 21st Century Model for Teacher Preparation.
Fujitsu unveiled a new set of technologies designed to enable IT organizations to implement a "bring your own cloud" strategy during its recent annual customer conference.
Red Hat has announced Red Hat CloudForms 3.0, the latest version of the company's cloud management platform, which now supports the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform and offers additional management capabilities for Amazon Web Services (AWS).
A company that works with colleges and universities to place their courses online and grant credit to students from other institutions has added its first international offerings.
Eschewing the talking-head approach of mainstream MOOCs, NovoEd stakes its claim on MOOCs that emphasize student-centered learning and collaboration.
UNC Charlotte captures footage of the first football game in school history with its new mobile electronic newsgathering system.
Bond University has found a new way to collect and efficiently analyze qualitative feedback received from student surveys and course evaluations.
Nearly half of all state colleges in the United States offer at least five undergraduate degrees online, but only 15 percent of private colleges do the same, according to two new surveys from Learning House.
Virginia Commonwealth University Health System will implement a high-speed fiber network to support its medical applications.
The University of Oklahoma has launched its own online interactive learning community called Janux.
Western Nevada College has implemented a video content management and webcasting system to serve its 4,800 students, approximately half of whom take courses entirely online.
Florida is leading the nation with its online education initiatives. A new online-only public university program now promises to shake up higher education beyond the state's borders.
While online instruction — including MOOCs — is frequently peddled as a way to expand access and deliver learning without barriers to students, the format is ill-suited to help those who could most benefit from a college education. Those are the parting thoughts from the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education, a coalition of faculty groups, in its last of three reports examining the potential fallout from higher ed's seemingly unstoppable rush to adopt online forms of education.
A new report, Open Access, Megajournals, and MOOCs: On the Political Economy of Academic Unbundling, in Sage Open compares the disruptive potential of open access for academic articles and massive open online courses and finds that MOOCs are more likely to change the course of higher education.
A university in West Virginia has gone public with its use of a cloud-based security gateway from OpenDNS.
The arena's newly expanded network supports up to 7,500 concurrent users.
Auburn University's Harrison School of Pharmacy has implemented a video collaboration solution to enable distance learning and lecture capture, as well as remote pharmacy services for underserved areas.
As thousands of students updated their Apple devices to iOS 7 last month, some wireless networks struggled to handle the traffic surge, while others were smooth sailing.
Bradford Networks unveiled the latest version of Network Sentry at the Educause 2013 conference in Anaheim Wednesday. Network Sentry 6.2 adds support for Microsoft Hyper-V Server and integration with MaaS360 mobile device management.
Cost savings promised by the expansion of online education are tough to pinpoint, including those programs that promise to be free for students.
At the Educause 2013 conference Wednesday, Blackboard revealed several new e-learning tools, including an integrated virtual classroom for Blackboard Learn, an updated mobile learning app, and a free student response system designed to work with phones, tablets, and traditional computers.
Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York, has upgraded its Javits Lecture Center to the latest WiFi standard, 802.11ac, and is preparing to install the technology in its new indoor sports complex.
A consortium of Chinese universities will launch the country's largest online learning portal, XuetangX (SchoolX), using the edX platform.
Cloud-based server and data center platform provider Net3 Technology has launched a cloud platform specifically designed for school districts and higher education institutions.
Moxa has released an 802.11n wireless access point for outside usage that works in both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio frequencies.
A coalition of faculty groups has declared war against online learning, particularly massive open online courses (MOOCs), because it said it believes that the fast expansion of this form of education is being promulgated by corporations — specifically for-profit colleges and universities and education technology companies — at the expense of student education and public interest.
Xirrus has announced its dual-802.11ac radio access point (AP), the XR-630, which features two 802.11ac radios.
Tintri, a producer of virtualization and cloud storage products, has launched its next generation of products, the Tintri VMstore T600 series, which supports twice as many virtual machines per system than its predecessors.
The Museum of Modern Art will begin offering digital badges for completion of "Catalysts: Artists Creating with Sound, Video, and Time," a six-week online course about the history of multimedia art at the museum.
Desire2Learn has introduced a new all-encompassing version of its flagship offering, Learning Suite, and has also launched a service for delivering MOOCs that integrates with the learning platform.
Meru Networks is launching six new wireless networking bundles designed to cut hardware and support costs for colleges and universities.
An online certificate program in food security, several programs of study that help educators learn how to deliver instruction online, and multi-degree program that includes online career fairs and webinars with experts were among the recipients of this year's innovation awards from Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C).
Semester Online, an online learning program that offers for-credit courses through a consortium of universities and colleges, has opened enrollment for its spring semester with a wider offering of courses.
A University of California, San Diego team is launching a massive open online course, "Bioinformatics Algorithms — Part 1," with a substantial research component.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's chief information officer shares seven ways to get your IT organization moving in the right direction.
The French Ministry of Higher Education and Research will launch a national portal for massive open online courses and blended learning using the open source platform from edX.
Cornell University will launch four massive open online courses next semester. The classes will be the first MOOCs offered by the university, which joined edX in May.
Cost savings is one of the main arguments made for desktop virtualization. Here, the CIO of Lone Star College System shares how to calculate the TCO and ROI of your virtualization project.
Mexico City's Universidad Anahuac will begin offering several degree programs online this month to meet higher demand for enrollment.
Aruba Networks has launched a new cloud-managed wireless network solution, which combines the Aruba Central cloud-based management service, the Aruba Instant 155 wireless and wired access point (AP), the Aruba Instant 220 series 802.11ac wireless AP, and a new version of the Aruba Instant operating system (OS), Aruba Instant OS version 3.3.
In a joint report, the Big Ten universities analyze the potential of MOOC platforms to improve instruction across members schools and extend the reach of a powerful brand.
"There's been a sea change in community colleges, from a sole emphasis on providing an access to education for all, to placing a much greater, additional emphasis on the students you have already admitted," according to South Orange County Community College District Vice Chancellor Bob Bramucci. In this interview, he tells Campus Technology's Mary Grush how SOCCCD is expanding its toolchest for student success, why that's more crucial now than ever, and what the institution is doing to help other colleges do the same.
Given the crisis in education, more universities should be willing to undertake innovative experiments--even if they ultimately fail.
Aerohive Networks has released two new wireless access points (APs) that support the leading edge 802.11ac gigabit wireless standard.
The University of Texas at Austin is trying scenarios to teach its students how to apply specific skills in the real world, but the practice will be online and supplied by an outside company.
Gardner-Webb University's School of Education this fall began using a new Web-based program to augment in-class instruction and help student educators fine tune their teaching practices.
Stanford has launched Financing Innovation: Valuing Projects and Firms, the eighth course in its Innovation and Entrepreneurship Online Certificate Program.
EdX, a nonprofit massive open online course provider launched by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, has expanded its course lineup for fall 2013.
Smart universities are turning to new data sources to identify those students who need a nudge toward success.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has partnered with NovoEd to offer a massive online open course designed to help students in developmental math courses.
A new open standards-based framework endeavors to help institutions better measure learning experiences.
A grant-funded network initiative at Rice University will be researching development of high-performance, low-power, optical networking devices and programmable packet switches at the same time it provides a new way for researchers on campus to manage the piles of data they're generating in their projects.
Ivy Tech Corporate College has launched a program designed to boost enrollment and provide students with access to an enhanced body of online not-for credit courses.
Issuing dire warnings about the threat facing higher ed, keynote speakers at Campus Technology 2013 also offered tough love and guidance for the future.
KU's three-year, multi-million dollar DAS rollout aims to improve wireless coverage and capacity across the 1,000-acre campus.
To accommodate the growing number of students who take advantage of online learning, educational assessment provider ETS is expanding its online, off-campus testing options.
Informatics Director Kyle Bowen explains how Purdue U is once again "hacking the classroom" by tying together the disparate apps and devices students bring with them, all in an effort to improve the ways in which technology can enhance teaching and learning.
Two schools share what tools they use to improve student engagement and commitment in their distance learning programs.
MITx, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's massive open online course program, will begin offering certificates for completing sequences of related modules through the edX platform.
A charter school for adults opens in Washington, D.C. this week to serve people who have faced chronic under-education and unemployment, and it intends to rely heavily on technology for delivering instruction.
Wake Forest University has become the eighth school to join 2U's Semester Online program, which offers hybrid, self-paced, credit-bearing courses.
Two Texas institutions are developing a degree program that will use competency-based credits. Texas A&M University-Commerce and South Texas College are creating a bachelor of applied sciences in organizational leadership.
Education programs in prison have a massive impact on recidivism. Based on a new study, the largest to date measuring the effectiveness of prison education programs, "inmates who participated in correctional education programs had 43 percent lower odds of returning to prison than inmates who did not." The study also set out to find whether technology-led instruction among inmates could cut down on recidivism as well as teacher-led instruction. The results were positive.
Online learning solutions provider Edmentum has launched eight career technical education courses for its Plato Courseware online learning curriculum, with 24 more CTE courses to be released in 2014.
EdX has partnered with Google to develop the nonprofit massive open online course provider's learning platform, Open edX, and expand availability to institutions and individuals.
Bradford Networks, a provider of secure network access control (NAC) solutions, has launched its new Network Sentry cloud service.
The University of Virginia has adopted a new storage service for use by faculty, staff, and degree-seeking students.
West Virginia University at Parkersburg is transitioning its online degree programs to a new platform and is restructuring and enhancing up to 220 of its courses with e-learning content and assessment.
Stanford has expanded its Three Books summer reading program to include online elements in an effort to engage incoming freshmen in the academic community before they ever step on campus.
The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET), Mozilla, Blackboard, and Sage Road Solutions have joined forces to offer a new MOOC that will delve into the subject of badges for academic and professional credentials.
The Alliance for Excellent Education and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University have announced a new version of their free Digital Learning Transition massive open online course (MOOC) for educators.
More than 120,000 people from around the world have signed up for an upcoming massive online open course (MOOC) designed to help students of all disciplines tap into their innate creative potential.
Cambridge University Press and Knewton have partnered with the stated goal of improving the publishing company's next generation of digital English language teaching products.
A 3D immersive environment to deliver business education and connect business students from around the world will launch during the month of October in a global business simulation competition for MBA students.
The University System of Georgia is launching a massive open online course program that will allow students to earn credit toward USG degrees.
As MOOCs are made available for credit, credible--scalable--assessment options are essential. CT looks at the options.
Determined not to be caught off-guard by changing technology needs on campus, the University of Houston is revamping its wireless infrastructure and piloting the upcoming 802.11ac WiFi standard.
Massive open online courses were never meant to be dull and lonely. But how can the courses encourage more student-to-student and student-to-faculty interaction?
What do massive open online courses mean for the future of higher education?
Oregon State University Ecampus has inked a deal that will provide incoming online students with personal coaching and feedback on the overall online experience as part of the school's continuous improvement efforts.
Community colleges have always served their communities beyond traditional academic programs and course offerings. Here, a CIO talks about his opportunities to influence the future of broadband access in his region.
The University of California, Irvine will launch a massive open online course based on AMC's popular zombie drama "The Walking Dead."
MOOCs will change higher education radically, but not in the way we expect right now.
MOOCs' massive class sizes can breed a sense of isolation, but they also offer unique opportunities for student interaction and collaboration.
San Jose State University has published the findings of a study of its recent experiment with for-credit Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Student performance improved between the spring 2013 pilot program and the following summer program in all three of the initial classes offered. However, the overall retention rate for the summer program dropped.
The sheer size and diversity of the student body in a MOOC force faculty to use strategies for planning, teaching, and assessment that differ radically from those used in traditional classes.
A virtual network of scholars, artists, and students who work on technology, science, and feminism will be running a "distributed open collaborative course," or DOCC, that looks at technology through a feminist lens. Planned activities include a "storming" of Wikipedia to write women "back" into the history of technology.
Gwynedd-Mercy College in Philadelphia has replaced its legacy wireless local area network with a new system to provide students, faculty, staff, and guests with reliable Wi-Fi access across all four of its campuses.
Rapid Insight, a provider of predictive analytics and data intelligence software, has updated its software to include new collaboration features and integration with big data tools.
Combining in-class instruction with high-quality MOOCs may resolve some of the hurdles facing stand-alone MOOCs, but questions about cost and the impact on faculty remain unanswered.
B&K Precision this month launched a new line of dual-channel arbitrary waveform generators capable of generating waveforms up to 50 MHz.
WizIQ is making its distance learning platform free for college and university instructors.
American InterContinental University has completed a pilot program that integrated adaptive learning technology into online math and English courses and, based on the program's success, it is now integrating the technology into other courses.
There's good reason to step back--even when things are ticking along smoothly--and examine where we really stand in the world of broadband technologies. As comfortable as we might be when things seem to be working, there are visionary leaders who are reminding us that we could do better.
Devon IT is shipping a new $99 thin client this month that plugs into a display's HDMI port and provides cloud-based desktop functionality for Citrix, RDP, and VMware environments.
North Carolina State University has announced plans to automate mobile device registration and provide secure onboarding of devices connecting to its wireless network.
The Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California has overhauled the technology supporting its online engineering master's program. The university will debut its multi-million dollar technology investment when students return to the program this fall.
IBM has built out its thousand-strong higher ed partnerships by adding five additional education entities in the United States to its Academic Initiative focused on big data and analytics. The company also announced more than $140,000 in awards to instructors for research and curricula development on big data.
While the term "MOOC" brings to mind thousands of students viewing recorded lectures without much interaction, alternative models are fostering creativity and collaboration with peers.
With the National Security Agency snooping through cloud data stores, mistrust in the public cloud has hit an all-time high. Ready-made private cloud solutions can provide the advantages of the cloud without the liabilities.
Capella University has received sign-off from the United States Department of Education to allow students in two of its degree programs to receive federal financial aid in order to pursue "competency-based" credits in lieu of Carnegie units.
This fall, students housed in a new freshman residence by the University of Texas at Austin will connect to the Internet at speeds about 115 times as fast as the average home connection in the United States. Each user in each room in the Callaway House will be provided with a gigabit Internet amenity service, covered as part of the students' rent.
Howard University has joined the growing ranks of universities offering expanded online and blended courses with its launch of Howard University Online.
With millions of students taking high-quality MOOCs for free, schools and course providers are now searching for a viable business model.
Given how quickly MOOCs are evolving--and how much hype surrounds them--we all need to pay more attention.
How can you minimize the time faculty are pulled away from teaching during an accreditation review period? Learn how Johnston Community College leveraged their existing classroom management technology to streamline the process.
Even as schools strive to keep their networks and school data secure, they also want students to have a carefree, Starbucks-style wireless experience. NAC can help.
California State University will allow students to take online courses from any of its 23 campuses beginning this fall in an effort to alleviate overcrowding of certain courses.
Course topic is the biggest motivating factor for participants in massive open online courses and quality of the learning experience is the main reason they complete the courses or quit early, according to a new survey performed by Qualtrics.
The CIO of Lone Star College System discusses how to evaluate desktop virtualization opportunities, set up pilots, and ultimately establish a reliable production environment.
Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure your school has sorted out the legal aspects of any cloud-service contract. Here are six areas to consider.
The University of Arizona has plans to implement a distributed antenna system to improve cellular voice and data coverage and capacity for its stadium and surrounding areas.
The University of Southern California has plans to implement a private cloud collaboration solution with a unified data storage appliance.
Emory University's law school has ramped up its use of dashboard reporting to share data-based indicators among its decision-makers.
Dublin City University is working to set up a new master's program that brings together the disciplines of "big data," business analytics, and "smart city" planning.
Steven Mintz, executive director of the Institute for Transformational Learning at the University of Texas System, writes that instead of arguing about whether MOOCs will stratify education or threaten tenure and job security for instructors, educators should see them as an opportunity to rethink pedagogy and instructional design for a new century and a new generation of students.
In 2011, Marist launched the Open Academic Analytics Initiative, supported initially by an Educause Next Generation Learning Challenges grant (funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and now maintained and furthered by the college. OAAI's main goal is to research the "portability" of predictive models, to create tools and resources that are applicable in diverse educational environments.
Building on the university's existing business intelligence and data analytics systems, CSU San Marcos forged a strategic class scheduling process that helps ensure degree-seeking students have access to the courses they need while producing new efficiencies to safeguard the university's shrinking budgets.
At a time when many universities are still trying to determine where they fit in the MOOC landscape, San Jose State University (CA) had the vision to become the first university to combine MOOC content with college credit.
Bandwidth availability and high performance computing is on the rise nationally on college campuses, according to data from the National Science Foundation's latest Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities.
San Jose State University (SJSU) is taking "a short breather" from its ground-breaking experiment with for-credit massive open online courses, better known as MOOCs, the school disclosed this week. But university representatives insisted that this break is part of the plan and not a reaction to preliminary findings indicating that some students didn't do as well in the unsupervised online courses as they might have done in traditional courses.
In an effort to deal with "exponential growth" of personal devices on its campus, San Diego State University is rolling out Aruba Networks' ClearPass Access Management System.
A distance learning network program is providing busy professionals the opportunity to earn dual executive MBAs from Cornell University's Johnson School of Business in Ithaca, NY and Queen's University's School of Business in Kingston, Ontario.
How two institutions are using big data and analytics to shape the student experience.
Bank Street College of Education will launch a fully online fieldwork and advisement pilot for its graduate math education program.
Temple University's Fox School of Business will launch the institution's first massive open online course this September.
Blackboard's CourseSites is wooing additional institutions to its free learning management offering to run their massive open online courses.
Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia has invested $14 million to build an intelligent network with advanced mobility and video technologies to support innovation, collaboration, and efficiency.
With students and faculty now accessing applications in the cloud, IT departments should consider the merits of federating, centralizing--and even outsourcing--identity management. The rewards? Greater security, convenience, and lower costs.
The CIO of Lone Star College System shares his experience in evaluating the potential of virtual desktops.
A San Francisco, CA-based startup has unveiled a beta version of its free Web-based course-creation publishing platform.
When it comes to mobile, can campus users be left to their own devices? Universities are increasingly turning to mobile device management solutions to create some order--and security--whether the devices are BYO or institutionally owned.
The launch of an accredited MOOC degree by a major university may be risky, but it almost certainly changes the landscape of higher education for good.
Two colleges tap into the power of big data and analytics to help improve student success.
At Union County College, an adaptive learning strategy helps college bound students prepare for success in college-credit bearing courses over the summer--potentially avoiding developmental ed courses when they enter college in the fall.
Tulane has reduced response time for acknowledging receipt of documents and applications from six weeks to 48 hours, thanks to its new cloud solution.
A public opinion survey conducted by Brodeur Partners of parents, students, alumni, donors, and employers in the United States regarding attitudes and understanding of massive open online courses has come back with mixed results, hinting that a full-fledged switch to MOOCs for the higher education experience may not be the wisest choice for colleges in the immediate future.
Fulton, MO's Westminster College has offered online courses to high school students in Turkey this summer.
Kaplan University's School of Information Technology is expanding its gamification and badging efforts following positive results from a recently conducted pilot program.
New updates to Chronus's mentor software enable Leeds School of Business to efficiently manage its three mentor programs.
The number of college students taking at least one online course nearly doubled, from 23 percent to 45, over the last five years according to the 2013 College Explorer, a new report from market research company re:fuel.
A school-vendor partnership intended to test a new twist on the MOOC went belly-up a day after it was announced.
The Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) in Ireland has implemented an Ethernet storage area network (SAN) featuring high performance arrays with serial-attached-SCSI (SAS) disks.
Online course provider Udemy has launched a summer grant program to encourage new teachers to join their ranks. The grant will award $5,000 plus 100 percent course revenues for life. The company is also providing an inside peek into its instructors' earnings, including top earners and average instructor earnings.
The University of Cincinnati has upgraded its wireless network and now provides secure wireless coverage across its main campus to support more than 38,000 simultaneously connected mobile devices on a daily basis.
The International Monetary Fund has partnered with edX in an effort to reach government leaders worldwide and open its training to the public.
Though all classrooms are different, there are four critical elements that successful flipped classrooms have in common, according to a new report developed by the Flipped Learning Network, George Mason University, and Pearson's Center for Educator Effectiveness.
The Ocean Cluster for Experimental Architectures in Networks (OCEAN) laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has implemented open switches to support its research in software-defined networks (SDN), security, cloud computing, and low-latency networks.
A school-vendor partnership will be testing out a new twist on the MOOC: offering a three-credit course in social sciences for $50, considerably less than the course costs through the university.
OU aims to improve video coverage of its sporting events with the addition of LiveU's external antenna.
Red Hat has launched two new products designed to help organizations build private or public cloud environments or implement infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solutions.
Bournemouth University has consolidated numerous IT systems to increase automation and provide a self-service option for faculty, staff, and students.
Regis College has completed the implementation of a campus-wide wireless local area network (LAN) to support its large-scale iPad initiative and "classroom without walls" philosophy.
The University of London International Programmes will launch four massive open online courses on Coursera, becoming the first English university to offer classes on the platform.
Students who enroll in Paul Smith's College will be able to take certain freshman-level courses through an online course provider at a lower rate.
A team of California universities has released a beta version of a system for managing big data along with more traditional forms of data.
With the growing success of asynchronous online classes, why are some schools adopting room-based telepresence systems for distance learning?
New applications, devices, and modes of learning are responsible for an ever-escalating bandwidth demand that colleges and universities can't afford to ignore.
California state senators voted unanimously last Thursday to pass Senate Bill 520, despite opposition from faculty at California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California.
Citing a need for improved telecommunications capabilities, reliability, and cost efficiency, Iowa State University has joined Internet2's NET+ SIP program and will migrate 8,000 phones to the cloud beginning next month.
Indiana University is upgrading the wireless local area network at all of its campuses.
Moving your data storage, backup, and disaster recovery to the cloud can cut costs and improve functionality for both end users and tech personnel.
In choosing between Microsoft's and Google's cloud offerings, schools must weigh a raft of issues ranging from regulatory compliance to interoperability--and no one solution may fit the bill.
From working and adult students to veterans and active duty military, a diversity of students at Upper Iowa University will have the opportunity to take advantage of flexible, online courses, independent study, and degree programs.
In what is becoming a MOOCs arms race, Coursera has just released the latest salvo with the news that 10 additional universities and university systems will be tapping its massive open online courses and its instruction platform. The news comes in the same month when edX announced the addition of 15 universities to its MOOC program.
In a partnership with higher education course provider StraighterLine, Upper Iowa University students will be able to access and complete online, self-paced or professor-led accredited courses at their own pace. The program is aimed at working adults, veterans, and active military personnel.
Saint Joseph's University (SJU) in Philadelphia, PA, is in the midst of a massive overhaul of its WiFi network. The university has already deployed more than 100 new wireless access points (APs) and plans to install 150 more in the next few months.
Northern Arizona University has launched a competency-based online degree program using a subscription model for tuition.
Internet2 and Microsoft have launched a new direct peering agreement to provide students, staff, and researchers at Internet2 member institutions with faster and more secure access to Windows Azure and Office 365 Education.
EnGenius Technologies, a provider of long-range wireless voice and data solutions, has launched a free product trial promotion for qualifying private and public K-12 schools, colleges, and universities in the United States.
Eighty-five percent of educational institutions allow instructors or students to use their own devices on institutional networks according to a new survey from Bradford Networks.
The University of Southern California is the newest member of the Northrop Grumman Cybersecurity Research Consortium, a partnership between academia and industry working together to increase Northrop Grumman Corporation's technological capabilities in the area of cybersecurity.
Massive open online course provider edX has added 15 universities, more than doubling the number of participating universities for a total of 27.
A new report is encouraging California's institutions of higher education to reconsider how they structure online courses for optimal impact.
More than 100 teachers from Catholic schools run by the Diocese of San Jose will participate in a year of professional development to earn a certificate in blended learning in an effort to improve educational outcomes for students.
A discussion of eText and how higher education institutions can prepare for a shift from print to digital course materials and textbooks.
Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Computing will offer a Master of Science degree that can be completed entirely online through the massive open online course (MOOC) format.
The Campus Technology MOOC Community is a place to share ideas about massive open online courses.
McMaster University in Ontario is planning to establish a university-wide cloud computing environment and infrastructure for use in integrated health biosystems and bioinformatics research.
Massive open online course provider Coursera has partnered with Chegg to launch a pilot program that will provide Coursera students free electronic versions of textbooks from Cengage Learning, Macmillan Higher Education, Oxford University Press, Sage, and Wiley.
Four universities, in partnership with Internet2, have developed an advanced data and communications network facility in Singapore. The Internet2-operated facility was designed to provide advanced network and computing services, as well as applications, for research and education.
Heed these top tips for setting up a new, or tweaking an existing, online synchronous learning initiative.
Maryville University in St. Louis County, MO has consolidated its storage from multiple data centers and multiple campuses to a cloud-based service. The move saved the university approximately $125,000 in infrastructure costs and 20 to 30 hours per month in IT staff time.
Ruckus Wireless and Sprint's Customer Network Solutions (CNS) group have partnered to offer Ruckus's carrier-class indoor and outdoor Smart Wi-Fi products as part of Sprint CNS's in-building wireless data solutions portfolio.
York University's Schulich School of Business In Toronto, Ontario will adopt a suite of statistical software programs designed to enhance business students' programming and analysis skills.
For hybrid courses, finding the right blend of online and face-to-face instruction can be achieved only through experimentation--and will differ from class to class.
Blended learning can improve student performance and help schools meet strategic goals, but success depends on laying a solid foundation first.
Lost in a class of thousands, a MOOC enrollee yearns for a sense of community and shared learning.
As changing student demographics make it harder for today's learners to earn a four-year degree, educators are experimenting with smaller credentialing steps, such as digital badges.
In the wake of the refusal of tiny liberal arts school Amherst College to join edX last week, it's time to ask who benefits from the massive nature of MOOCs. Campustechnology.com spoke with experts on both sides of the issue to find out.
Penn State World Campus will invest $20 million over the next five years in an effort to boost online enrollment to 45,000 -- about triple the current head count.
Impulse Point has launched a new identity-based device registration solution, IdentityConnect, a bundled hardware and software appliance that helps organizations identify, register, and track personal devices on the network.
Southeast Missouri State University aims to provide the same level of student services to online students as it does for its on-campus community.
Basbson Executive and Enterprise Education has launched an online simulation designed to test users' entrepreneurial skills.
In February, California Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg introduced a bill that would open the door for massive open online courses, such as Coursera and Udacity, to offer courses for credit to public college and university students in the state. Since its introduction, Senate Bill 520 (SB 520) has generated significant controversy, and a petition by the Berkeley Faculty Association opposing the bill has collected more than 1,500 signatures.
The University of New Hampshire plans to provide 100 percent wireless network access to the Whittemore Center Arena by this fall.
Seven schools of education have banded together to work with massive open online course provider Coursera to offer free online professional development courses for teachers and others.
With schools and students now able to secure high-quality online courses from beyond the ivy-covered walls, faculty--and institutions themselves--are weighing whether their stock is rising or falling.
Although data migration was a headache for Prince George's Community College, users are pleased with their new cloud-based e-mail system.
New research center to focus on advancements in cyberlearning.
Cloud computing and classroom management software developer Stoneware has launched a new version of its webRDP HTML5 Gateway that allows end users to access remote Windows computers without a client.
Five courses from Sophia Pathways for College Credit have received recommendations from the American Council on Education's College Credit Recommendation Service.
The New York-based institution has teamed up with IBM to offer a new graduate degree program that aims to prepare students for information technology jobs supporting big data.
San Jose State University's developing new courses on big data that aim to get "students hired and working creatively with data," thanks to a new partner program from data management software provider Cloudera.
The University of Texas at San Antonio has implemented an advanced academic research software platform based on OpenStack technologies.
Students and faculty may love them, but IT personnel get a major headache when they try to integrate Apple tablets--and the company's TV technology--in an enterprise setting.
Microsoft wants to stop giving Amazon headway in the cloud race. The Redmond company announced live production of Windows Azure Infrastructure Services, first previewed starting in June 2012.
Howard Community College in Columbia, MD has completed deployment of a passive optical LAN solution in its new Health Sciences building.
Red Hat has elevated its Red Hat OpenStack distribution from a preview version to an Early Adopter Program.
To protect sensitive data in the BYOD era, schools must take a more closed, corporate approach, blending network access control and mobile device management.
San Jose State University announced Wednesday its intentions to take a leadership role in the use of MOOCs in blended courses. The institution plans to open a center of excellence based specifically on the experiences it has garnered through a fall 2012 course on circuits and electronics involving MOOC provider edX.
Nipissing University, a public liberal arts university in Ontario, Canada, has implemented a wireless performance and security monitoring system to support the rapid increase in wireless devices on its campuses.
When it comes to secure testing online, even high-tech solutions rely on an old standby: a human proctor. But is such an approach sustainable in the long run?
Moving to the cloud can help schools boost collaboration among students, faculty, and staff--while still cutting costs. CT looks at 3 cloud-based tools that can make a difference.
Recognizing mobile technology's ubiquity and reach into students' lives, its rapid technical evolution, and its unique transformative potential for education, the Tennessee Board of Regents has included mobilization as an important part of its strategic plan. As Associate Vice Chancellor for Mobilization and Emerging Technology, Robbie Melton oversees mobilization strategies and initiatives for TBR. Here, Melton shares how she works to build and extend TBR's model for strategic mobilization.
Stanford University and edX have partnered to integrate parts of the former's Class2Go platform with the edX platform ahead of the public release of the edX source code June 1.
ASCI Connect has launched a new cloud-based network monitoring and reporting service, Network Monitoring Centre, which is designed to provide visibility into network traffic from a single dashboard interface.
St. Petersburg College in Florida plans to modernize its network infrastructure to support an increasing number of applications and users.
When Associate Professor and Chemical Education Researcher Danaè Quirk Dorr noticed a correlation between student learning styles and achievement in her large organic chemistry course, she decided to flip her classroom and crunch the numbers to see if there was a better way to reach all her students.
Telepresence and simulation technologies offer remote learners the real thing in training for patient care.
A South African university will play host to a new six-month trial of wireless broadband using unallocated broadcast TV spectrum.
Using floor-to-ceiling projection and a banks of 80-inch LED displays, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has created a new classroom collaboration system designed to connect students nearly 3,000 miles apart.
In an effort to better prepare the state's K-12 educators for online instruction, Indian River State College (IRSC) will create a series of courses designed to overview the various methods associated with teaching and learning in the virtual environment.
In a Q&A, the CIO of the University of Maryland discusses his school's involvement with Coursera, its institutional goals, and what it takes to create a MOOC.
Florida International University has implemented an online learning platform to offer its own massive open online courses.
The Alliance for Excellent Education and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University have launched a massive open online course for educators called Digital Learning Transition, which is designed to help school district leaders develop a set of digital learning goals and strategies to meet the needs of their students.
Georgia Tech Online, the university's distance learning operation, is using a new PESA Cheetah 288XE digital video router as part of an upgrade to HD production for its online professional education courses.
Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, of the California State Senate, has proposed legislation that would allow some college students in the state to take a massive open online course for credit.
EdX has released source code to the general public that supports interactive learning built specifically for the Internet.
An initiative from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) mixes a cross-disciplinary research project with a smattering of corporate need to help companies use analytics to make better decisions.
Echo360 has added an analytics tool designed to help higher-education instructors track real-time student activity before, during, and after class.
Coppin State University has upgraded its wireless network for greater bandwidth and to accomodate more devices, while expanding the network to include campus outdoor spaces and sports venues.
Are your students reading what you're displaying? Professor of Instructional Technology Scott Fredrickson and Associate Professor of Educational Administration Patricia Hoehner, both of the University of Nebraska at Kearney, provide eight factors to consider when presenting text for online courses.
Nearly half of all organizations have invested in big data technologies or will do so in the coming year, according to information technology research firm Gartner. The education sector, in particular, has the opportunity to capitalize on a growing trend in big data: broadening the range of data sources to include "dark data."
Parkland College will upgrade to a new wireless LAN network and management system in an effort to enhance online learning and connect its 18,000 students, 1,200 faculty and staff, and campus visitors.
Ready or not, schools are being forced to offer online or hybrid classes. AV Specialist Michael David Leiboff shares five tips to help colleges and universities prepare their classrooms for the lecture capture needs of today and tomorrow.
With higher ed budgets putting IT organizations under strain, 3 IT leaders explain their strategies for handling the heavy lifting demanded of them.
Visual analytics software company Tableau Software has launched a new academic program to provide free software licenses to students at accredited K-12 schools, colleges, and universities.
After migrating its entire campus to Google Mail, Santa Clara University shares its experience and offers advice to schools considering a similar move.
Known primarily for its success as a recommendation engine, Sherpa is actually South Orange County Community College District's "sandbox" of integrated software systems that provides many new tools for student success.
Faculty members at Brevard Community College fight plagiarism on the same battlefield that has spawned a proliferation of copying, borrowing, and improperly citing information sources.
For schools taking their first steps into the cloud, the admissions department may be the perfect place to start. Here's why.
Georgia State University has completed the installation of its new Northern Fiber Optic Ring, which connects to the university's existing Southern Fiber Optic Ring.
Universities and colleges are doing more to meet bandwidth demands for residential networking (ResNet), but are struggling with growing costs and shrinking budgets, according to the second annual State of the ResNet report released this week by the Association for Information Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education and the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
In an effort to address anticipated needs in big data analysis, Columbia University will launch online versions of its Master of Arts in Statistics and Master of Science in Actuarial Science programs.
ForeScout Technologies will integrate its ForeScout CounterACT network access control solution with Citrix XenMobile MDM Edition.
Faced with a shortage of professionals capable of taming Big Data, schools are launching data science programs to train a new generation of data specialists.
Ottawa University, a 7,000-student institution, has just signed a first-of-its-kind agreement to help it deliver on a major program expansion.
Educational technology startup Coursera has signed agreements with an additional 29 American and international academic institutions to provide free online courses.
In an era of consumer IT, faculty and staff are increasingly deploying their own technology solutions, which is fine--except when it comes to data management.
University of Scranton CIO shares research on the changing role of the chief information officer in higher education
A small private college in Schenectady, NY has hired a company that specializes in residential network services to upgrade and manage its student housing network.
At the American Public University System, creating an online library course guide for every course the university offers (now numbering over 1,800) is just a first step. It's the application of metrics and data analysis for a higher level of quality assurance that will sustain the program into the future.
Citing concerns over phishing attacks, University of Oxford's network security team recently took the unusual measure of blocking Google Docs campuswide. The team has since restored access to the service and apologized to end users for the disruption.
WizIQ has released an update to its virtual classroom plugin for the open source learning management system Moodle 2.4.
Quinnipiac University is upgrading its network, both wired and wireless, in an effort to accommodate more users and devices.
Cloud computing in colleges and universities is growing and is expected to consume up to a third of the IT budget within the next four years.
Mississippi Virtual Community College will this summer begin offering its e-learning classes through a new cloud-based learning management system.
The benefits of Big Data are prompting changes in everything from degree programs to how universities are structured and governed.
Eastern New Mexico University students—in particular non-traditional students and those living in rural areas—have a better way to take online courses, thanks to the school's new lecture capture tool.
iPad programs are gathering steam in higher education, but there's a growing recognition that the key to success lies in building faculty support and adequate infrastructure first.
Brandman University and the Capistrano Unified School District have partnered to improve the online and virtual learning of California Preparatory Academy and Capistrano Virtual School students.
ForeScout Technologies and MobileIron have launched a partnership to deliver a security system for enterprise bring-your-own-device environments.
By combining innovation management with crowdsourcing, Davenport University has found a potent formula for achieving continual improvement and encouraging organizational change.
Available at no charge, these new tutorials, developed by a Mayo Clinic surgeon and professor, walk students through the surgical process.
Facing a significant increase in users, mobile devices, and applications accessing its network, Quinnipiac University is implementing an upgrade based on Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture from Aruba Networks.
University of California, Irvine, has had its free online algebra and pre-calculus courses approved for credit by the by the American Council on Education.
The University of Virginia's Darden School of Business has launched a massive open online course that will offer real-world experience by providing students with the opportunity to analyze actual entrepreneurial and nonprofit ventures.
Stanford is the cradle of the MOOC movement, but the appointment of four high-level administrators to focus on online learning shows that the school now really means business.
The University of Arkansas System has partnered with a global online learning company to expand the degree offerings of its institutions.
Small schools with limited IT resources are discovering that cloud-based services can give them a competitive edge.
For any institution looking to shift ERP systems to the cloud, big savings can be achieved--but only if the school has properly prepped before negotiations begin. These 3 steps can help.
Two network management companies have teamed up to create an approach that lets customers combine network access with mobile device management.
The Predictive Analytics Reporting Framework project has publicly released the full definitions for the data included in the PAR database to encourage distribution of the definitions in the higher education research community.
Wearable gadgets, gamification, and learning analytics are three of six technologies that will have a major impact on strategic technology planning in higher education in the next five years, according to the latest NMC Horizon Report released by the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative.
Education technology company Desire2Learn has acquired a program developed at a Tennessee university to help students select the optimal courses for academic success.
For students seeking to tentatively test the college waters before signing up, nine public universities will offer a free initial course as a massive open online course.
As we embark on a new year, CT asks five IT experts to pick the winners and losers among the trends swirling in higher education.
Three leaders in flipped classroom instruction share their best practices for creating a classroom experience guaranteed to inspire lifelong learning.
StraighterLine has has added five new science courses and four new science professors to its science department, bringing the online college course provider's total number of available science courses to 15.
A private university in Minnesota is about to launch a version of its decades-old public safety master's program fully online.
Brewster Academy, an independent college preparatory school in Wolfeboro, NH, has completed implementation of phase one of its new enterprise-grade 802.11n wireless local area network (WLAN), which delivers secure WiFi access to all of the school's academic areas.
Santa Barbara Business College has moved its learning management system to a private-cloud-as-a-service to gain more control over feature implementation and customization.
How ePortfolios can help "tame" the flood of openness and educational opportunity arising with MOOCs and other new modalities.
San Jose State University will develop a pilot program, dubbed San Jose State University Plus, to offer online credit-bearing courses to students and non-students.
A Los Angeles couple's $1 million gift will be used to grow and support online learning programs at Santa Monica College.
Digital textbook publisher CourseSmart is expanding a pilot for an analytics program that communicates how and how much students are using their course materials.
According to research firm Gartner, several converging forces will influence IT in the coming year.
Spurred by the BYOD trend, campuses are dealing with the need for enhanced mobile coverage--from basement classrooms to new construction. Three schools share their experiences establishing DAS networks.
Three best practices for analyzing the factors that influence student performance.
Many schools don't have the resources or the expertise to identify the right cloud provider or to negotiate an ironclad contract. For schools in the MHEC and WICHE consortia, though, all that's about to change.
Scorant has launched online course management software and mobile analytics apps designed to help colleges and universities track student progress and attendance, and make recommendations about future career and internship choices.
According to Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States, a new report from the Babson Survey Research Group, more than 6.7 million students are now taking at least one course online.
Six universities have received grants under an expanded program aimed at researching teaching practices involving the use of technology, including flipped classrooms and blended learning.
The University of Wisconsin System is experimenting with a new "flex" program that allows non-traditional students to obtain course credits through massive open online courses , online classes, and assessment.
Not-for-profit online learning initiative edX has opened registration for spring classes, adding several courses in the humanities and social sciences for the first time.
Fluke Networks has introduced new capability in its AirMagnet line that allows an organization to track wireless smart devices without having to deploy client software, such as an agent, on the device.
The University of Washington is lending support to an initiative in its home city of Seattle to deliver an ultra high-speed last-mile fiber network to 50,000 homes and businesses in 12 fairly central neighborhoods.
Five key challenges institutions run into with blended learning programs and sage advice on how to work around these issues.
Utah State University is launching a new distance learning program for students pursuing a Master of Science in Human Resources.
Georgetown University has joined edX, bringing the number of institutions participating in the not-for-profit online learning initiative to six.
New Jersey's Rutgers University will expand its online offerings to include undergraduate and graduate degrees available completely online.
One member of the Texas state university system is partnering with an educational publisher to provide access to online courses and materials to its 15,000 undergraduate students in an effort to improve student performance.
Beginning next May, American University’s School of International Service will offer an online version of its master's degree in international relations that it expects will draw students from around the world.
The Milwaukee School of Engineering has upgraded its wireless network to provide improved Wi-Fi coverage and security for students and faculty.
A Pennsylvania university has revamped its master's in business administration program to allow students to complete portions of the program both online and on-site.
While predictive analytics can help students succeed, we must not lose sight of the fact that college is also a time of exploration and self-discovery.
The University of South Carolina will be moving undergraduate and graduate programs online in an attempt to improve access for students.
Aruba Networks has announced the Aruba 7200 Series, a new wireless LAN platform with application intelligence and controls to optimize mobile application delivery.
Most classroom models for world language instruction inherently limit the amount of exposure and immersion available to students. The result is frustration coupled with a fundamentally limited world language experience. Armed with a new model for online language courses, BYU Independent Study (BYU-IS) has set out to change that.
For cloud implementations, consortia can do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to due diligence and contract negotiations--and they can save schools a lot of money.
The Open Academic Analytics Initiative, an NGLC grant recipient, is seeking to engender an ecosystem for learning analytics based on open source technologies. Its research includes scaling factors for learner analytics, the portability of predictive models among different types of academic institutions, and intervention strategies that leverage Open Educational Resources. Marist College, the lead institution on the grant, has partnered with two community colleges and two HBCUs to accomplish OAAI goals.
Wellesley College will begin offering a series of massive open online courses, starting fall 2013.
Two community colleges in Massachusetts will be trying out a blended model of instruction that integrates online content from edX.
Research by a small team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may turn out to help streamline the processing of big data--those terabytes of streaming data that are generated from GPSs in smartphones and a multitude of other sensors.
The University of Delaware¹s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics will be offering an online master's degree in business administration that's expected to launch in spring 2013.
Colleges and universities in 12 midwestern states now have the option as consortium partners of using cloud storage, virtual machine hosting, and Web hosting.
In an effort to grow its online learning program, a New York university will deploy a new learning management system across its 24 colleges and institutions, including its growing continuing education program.
South Carolina's Coker College has selected a new learning management system as part of an effort to improve enrollment and retention.
Ten universities from Brandeis and Duke to Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, and Washington University in St. Louis are pulling together to launch a new program that delivers credit-bearing online courses to students that may or may not be enrolled in their own institutions.
Although states are doing a masterful job of accumulating data and integrating data sources to support education improvement, according to a new report, the next part of the job may be their toughest yet: teaching people how to use the data.
MOOCs may seem to be at the tip of every IT leader's tongue these days, but the No. 1 concern for IT in higher education is staff and skills development.
The University of Notre Dame's Wireless Institute will partner with Agilent Technologies to research and develop multiple-input, multiple-output wireless technologies.
In the second installment of a two-part series, CT examines how pioneering schools--either alone or in consortia--are mining Big Data in hopes of uncovering the ultimate riches: improved student learning and performance.
Udemy, a company that has more than 4,900 courses online, many of them for free, has launched an iPad app that allows students to view videos and related resources on their mobile devices.
Macon State College in Georgia has implemented an analytics system to evaluate academic initiatives and measure progress.
Sinclair Community College, a long-time customer of Enterasys Networks, has implemented an identity and access management application from the company to support its bring-your-own-device program.
Higher One has revealed a new data analytics tool designed to provide higher education administrators insight into instructional effectiveness and student progress.
CourseSmart has kicked off a beta pilot of its new product that measures students' engagement with digital course material, CourseSmart Analytics.
Altius Education has debuted its first course for the Helix platform, a learning environment that takes a narrative, storytelling approach to online education, matching students' interests with the information being taught.
Echo360 this week completed its acquisition of education technology developer LectureTools.
Ohio University is deploying a new 802.11n wireless local area network (LAN) with 135 wireless access points to accommodate the explosion of mobile devices accessing the network.
By migrating to a cloud-based platform, Bucknell's library services have improved the school's research capabilities while drastically cutting costs.
Azusa Pacific Online University in California and Naropa University in Colorado have implemented a managed service to provide daily support services, software updates, and hosted and cloud services.
The University of Akron in Ohio is implementing cloud-hosted business intelligence and performance management solutions as part of a campuswide effort to maximize resources.
Researchers who need to process vast amounts of data can buy an HPC cluster or rent a cloud-based solution. Increasingly, though, scholars are opting for a third, hybrid option.
Three universities that are preparing to launch open, online courses have selected a cloud-based system as a platform for those courses--including Arizona State University, which is launching a "global classroom" in conjunction with a German institution.
Fischer International Identity is offering free access to its cloud-based Shibboleth Identity Provider system for qualified higher education institutions.
The University of Connecticut is among the most recent institutions to go live with the Kuali Financial System. During the Kuali Days conference in Austin this fall, Campus Technology interviewed Charles Eaton, UConn's controller, to get his comments on "the buzz" at this year's show and what it means to be a member of the Kuali community.
Instructure has launched a new platform to let users of the learning management system Canvas create online courses--both open and private. The service, Canvas Network, is being made available free to Canvas users.
In the wake of a dramatic power struggle at the University of Virginia, the potential for online learning to rescue higher education is receiving even greater scrutiny.
In the first installment of a two-part series, CT explains what Big Data is and its potential for improving student learning and success.
The University of Douala, located in Cameroon, will soon be offering full wireless access to all students, faculty, and staff across its eleven campuses. The deployment makes U Douala the first institution in the West African nation to provide full wireless internet access to its entire campus community.
As part of a three-and-a-half-year overhaul of its IT systems, Tulane University in Louisiana has created a high-speed network for researchers working across town and is gearing up to upgrade the campus network to dual 100 gigabit--up from a single 100 megabit connection in 2009. All the while, the university cut data center power use roughly in half.
Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) is centralizing its critical student services and implementing predictive analytics software with the goal of improving student performance and achievement.
VMware has partnered with not-for-profit massive, open, online course provider edX to deliver free virtualization software to students enrolled in a computer science course offered through the platform.
A public university in Germany is joining the MOOC movement with a course that will come with "university credit points" that it said could be accepted by degree programs.
Thirty-one private higher education institutions in Indiana are moving their backups to the cloud.
The realities and benefits of harnessing the power of big data and making it relevant in today's college classroom.
California State University is upgrading to a new, energy-efficient, high-speed network with the option to add cloud computing technology in the future.
The University of Phoenix will close 115 locations before the end of 2013, including 25 main campuses and 90 smaller satellite learning and student resource centers.
Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) has awarded $5.4 million in new grants to assist 13 secondary and postsecondary educational organizations in the development of new models of personalized, blended learning, where traditional classroom teaching methods are combined with computer-mediated activities.
Microsoft has debuted a forthcoming release of Office 365 for students, faculty, and staff of higher education institutions.
What's driving big data initiatives? According to a new report out of the University of Oxford, key factors include risk and financial management and the need to understand and predict customer behaviors to find new ways to engage with them. However, despite these imperatives, few organizations are actually in the "execute" phase of their big data strategies, as most are still educating themselves, exploring options, or, at best, testing out ideas and technologies.
The University of Texas System has joined edX, an online learning initiative launched in May by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Florida inmates are participating in a novel blended learning program to earn their secondary degrees and professional certificates. The program, operated under the Florida Department of Corrections, was undertaken in an effort to lower recidivism rates and reduce costs.
Bryan University has announced plans to implement a new cloud-based learning management system (LMS) with the intent of enhancing the student experience.
Bloxx, a company that produces Internet, email, and media filtering tools, has released an updated version of its Bloxx Web Filter for North America.
Barry University implements a new phone system designed to simplify phone communications for its faculty and staff.
Colleges nationwide attempt to harness larger and larger data sets while leveraging the valuable information that they hold.
McGraw-Hill Education's Tegrity division has launched a stand-alone version of a service for secure online exam administration.
Schreiner University, a private four-year school, has selected an analytics and reporting provider in an effort to begin gathering and mining more data.
Computer scientists at Brown University have been granted $1.5 million from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health to develop new computer algorithms and statistical methods to analyze large, complex datasets.
Oracle has released a new version of its, Solaris. Oracle Solaris 11.1 features more than 300 new features and upgrades, including improved performance, availability, and throughput for Oracle databases; new cloud infrastructure features; and improved availability for enterprise applications.
Online higher education institution Nixon University is adopting an open source course management system to help its instructors customize course delivery and assessment to the needs of individual students.
Internet2, an advanced technology community of research and educational institutions in the United States, has announced plans to include the eduroam (education roaming) wireless Internet service as a membership benefit for the 221 universities and research labs that belong to the organization.
The Inter-Organizational Task Force on Online Learning, consisting of representatives from six different national organizations for online and e-learning in higher education, has released a report outlining the steps it plans to take to advance online learning in higher education.
Despite the hoopla surrounding the launch of MOOCs and edX, smaller institutions and for-profits have been steadily improving online learning for years. Post University shares its strategy for online success.
The spread of cheap and powerful videoconferencing tools had led to widespread adoption of the technology in an effort to lower costs and put resources to better use. But Education Consultant and Executive Director of Academic Programs and Faculty at Daymar Colleges Group Ruth Reynard argues that it can improve teaching and learning as well.
As South Arkansas Community College CIO Tim Kirk considers strategies that will serve his institution well into the future, he naturally scans the horizon for trends in IT. Here, Kirk shares some thoughts about IT trends that will be particularly important for community colleges and explores opportunities for positive change.
For schools considering cloud-based services, vendors' boilerplate contracts are seldom sufficient. CT seeks legal advice on how to negotiate a contract that works for your school.
Cloud computing hype is beginning to perpetuate some misconceptions that need debunking.
Lone Star College System has become a virtualization success story. One secret to its success: not allowing common virtualization fears to hold back progress.
Online learning can--and should--elevate the state of teaching in higher education.
Security firm ForeScout Technologies has expanded its functionality to work with security products from McAfee.
Are the security risks in the cloud any greater than those in an on-premises environment? One report analyzing 12 months of operational data found that the risks are about equal.
Aruba Networks has released a new controllerless WiFi solution, Aruba Instant Enterprise, a software solution for distributed enterprises that requires no physical or virtual controllers.
Microsoft has added a new Recycle Bin feature to its cloud-based file hosting service, SkyDrive.
Organizations will spend nearly $109 billion worldwide this year on public cloud services, an increase of 19.6 percent over last year, according to a report from information technology research and advisory company Gartner.
Elsevier, a publisher of scientific and health information, is providing free content to edX, a nonprofit online learning program formed by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
After adopting new exam management software, a New York City medical school sees a reduction in dropouts, from eight percent to two percent.
The College of Nursing at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) has partnered with HCA Methodist Healthcare in San Antonio to boost the number of students in its Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program.
A company that develops an open source database will be offering courses about its product on a free online academic class delivery platform.
Here are CT's 5 top picks for how IT shops can help athletic departments increase their visibility, improve efficiency, and develop more winners.
At Campus Technology 2012 in Boston, the keynote speakers painted a picture of higher education undergoing a seismic shift--and offered a vision for the future.
Storage and communications provider Marvell has launched the SMILE Plug, a cloud computer developed in partnership with the Stanford Mobile Inquiry-Based Learning Environment (SMILE) program that creates an ad hoc network to stimulate higher-order student learning.
Bisk's new shoulder-mount cameras capture HD and SD footage in ready-to-edit file formats on SDHC memory cards.
Coursera's on a growing streak. The number of new institutions of higher education to sign onto the free online course site has more than doubled, bringing the total count of colleges and universities participating to 33 from 16. Among the new schools participating: Berklee College of Music, Columbia University, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, and Wesleyan.
Virtual classroom provider WizIQ has released a new Android app for students, which includes a subset of features available in desktop application.
Community colleges in states hit hard by the recession have felt the sting of state budget cuts for several years running. Yet expectations of IT service delivery haven’t abated. How do they cope?
Nimbix, a provider of cloud-based high-performance computing infrastructure and applications, and big data analytics company HUGEdata have partnered to deliver converged big data and HPC cloud services.
A new guide shows beginner and veteran developers how to create e-learning materials for the iPad.
A company that specializes in network troubleshooting solutions has updated a sensor product line for Wi-Fi network monitoring to eliminate the need for Ethernet cabling.
An IT firm that caters to K-12 and institutions of higher education has adopted products from ForeScout Technologies in its security-oriented services.
The University of Alabama's new distributed antenna system (DAS) has increased wireless coverage and data speeds to mobile device users at the institution's Bryant-Denny Stadium.
CT examines the 6 biggest challenges to improving wireless service on campus--and learns how three schools are forging solutions.
With the use of smartphones soaring, distributed antenna systems (DAS) offer schools a way to improve cellular service, even in the most problematic corners of campus.
The smart use of business intelligence has turned around graduate admissions at Wayne State University.
With today's emphasis on student success and retention, along with more restrictive funding that's increasingly performance-based, community colleges are sharpening their strategic decision making and gearing up their toolboxes with predictive analytics.
Embarking on an enterprise-wide move to the cloud can prepare an institution for the demands of tomorrow's campus, but take the time to lay the groundwork.
The Predictive Analytics Reporting Framework (PAR) project, which is designed to explore the use of big data and predictive analytics to improve learning outcomes, has added 10 new participating educational institutions.
An infrastructure upgrade at Arcadia University in Philadelphia has replaced gigabit Ethernet with 10 gigabit fiber optic cabling and a predominantly Cisco-based wireless network with a new one built on Aruba Networks gear.
Daytona State College will shortly go institution-wide with an initiative it's been testing to measure learning outcomes.
WCET, the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, has been awarded $2.56 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to validate and extend the PAR Framework Project, ongoing research into the use of predictive analytics on a large-scale federated database to support decision making that removes barriers to student success.
Western Illinois University is finalizing its shift to Desire2Learn from Blackboard WebCT software to run Western Online, its distance learning system.
The second-largest university system in the United States, California State University, is launching a new, fully online program called Cal State Online, which will offer a selection of undergraduate degree completion and professional master's degree programs.
The online teaching and learning platform WizIQ is offering a free one-year membership for K-12 and higher education teachers and their students at qualifying institutions.
CCBC enhances the network services at its Fab Lab to meet the growing bandwidth demands of the students, faculty, and community members using the high-tech digital fabrication workshop.
A former digital media czar and small town mayor are working together to launch a new fully online university that will be free for students. The two founders, CEO Curtis Pickering and President Scott Hines, said they expect to open World Education University at the end of October or beginning of November 2012.
If you were to gather together a thousand academics, researchers, university IT and instructional technology leaders, institutional librarians, technology and media company executives, authors, journalists, futurists, association presidents, and other interested people and ask them to consider the possible impact of the Internet on higher education, the outlook you'd get would closely resemble the rich patchwork of perspective offered in a recent report from Elon University's School of Communications, as part of its "Imagining the Internet" project. Most of them would say there's a lot of change coming.
Academic researchers can now see who is accessing their research and how it is being referenced.
Students living on campus demand ever-increasing levels of network bandwidth, coverage, and services. When tackling a residential networking overhaul, consider these best practices.
The University of St. Thomas is developing a new portfolio of online programs, the first of which is scheduled to launch spring 2013.
Working at a university that gets 45,000 applications for 3,800 spaces, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo Associate Vice Provost for Marketing and Enrollment Development James Maraviglia is grateful every day for the efficiency and effectiveness of the institution's CRM system.
Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS) are deploying an Aruba wireless LAN that will allow students, faculty, staff, and guests to use their personal mobile devices to access the HWS network and internet campuswide.
Twenty-five engineering, computer science, and medical professors, as well as more than 100 graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers from three New York University schools--Polytechnic Institute of NYU, NYU School of Medicine, and NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences--are part of a new academic research center for the exploration of advanced wireless technologies, computing, and medical applications.
Holy Apostles College and Seminary will begin to offer massive online open course programming through a partnership with Edvance360 and the Catholic Distance Learning Network involving two certification programs for the fall 2012 semester.
With the BYOD trend on campus growing ever stronger, an IT network analyst shares his checklist to help ensure that your campus network is ready to manage the onslaught.
For schools looking to minimize risk, cloud solutions offer a cost-effective way to achieve a range of disaster-readiness goals.
Los Angeles Community College District is making plans for ConnectLACCD: a broadband fiber ring that will link each campus and create a district-wide high-speed network; provide district-wide broadband wireless coverage; facilitate resilient administrative systems and establish regional backup capabilities that can save hundreds of thousands of dollars on backup alone; and establish scalability that will truly meet LACCD's future networking needs.
U Georgia expects to bolster student services and tighten institutional processes with deployment of its new administrative system.
The University of California, Berkeley, the latest university to join the not-for-profit online learning consortium, will offer classes through the edX platform, starting this fall.
Internet2, an advanced networking consortium of higher education and research organizations, has named its first "Presidential Fellow," whose job it will be to bring community members together to solve the challenges of moving to innovative technologies.
Aerohive Networks has updated HiveOS and HiveManager and released two new wireless access points.
Hybrid teaching methods that combine interactive online learning with limited classroom teaching produce equivalent learning outcomes to traditional classroom teaching methods, according to new research released recently.
Is improving the effectiveness of education a more difficult task than discovering the Higgs boson particle? Joel Smith thinks perhaps it is.
Interactive learning online produces essentially the same outcomes as traditional face-to-face education at the university level, according to a recent report from Ithaka S+R. The report suggested that educational institutions looking to reduce costs in the face of shrinking budgets can confidently turn to online education as a means of saving money without diminishing educational outcomes.
An organization that partners with historically black colleges and universities is shifting its attention to K-12 in an initiative that will push its member institutions to help in the creation of new secondary "feeder" schools that will in turn offer both online and in-person courses.
Students at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) now have access to improved course video captioning, a service that is particularly important for the students of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), one of RIT's colleges.
Keeping your data resources safe and network secure in a bring-your-own-device environment on campus requires applying pressure where it will have the biggest impact.
Duke, Caltech, and John Hopkins are among 12 top-tier universities to sign agreements with Coursera to offer massive open online courses, or MOOCs, at no charge.
The new college sports network, launching next month and slated to deliver 850 live sporting events, will be powered by Cisco.
As institutions are increasingly pressed to graduate more students and to do so more efficiently, says AAC&U Fellow Gary Brown, understanding how quality is defined will be critical--and building consensus around competency is an emerging strategy for ensuring quality.
The current generation of college-age students could be the first to receive less education than the one that came before it. According to recent data, only half of those who start college complete their degrees--worse, only 12 percent among lower income students. But technology can help change that, according to Mark Milliron, chancellor of Western Governors University Texas.
Exinda, provider of WAN optimization solutions, debuts its new application pack designed for education at the Campus Technology 2012 Conference in Boston.
Echo360 has released an update to its flagship lecture capture platform, EchoSystem. The new release, EchoSystem version 5.1, adds support for live webcasting and incorporates new student study tools.
At the Campus Technology 2012 conference taking place this week in Boston, Laurie Burruss, professor at Pasadena City College and education consultant for lynda.com, will offer up tips for faculty members looking to move their teaching "beyond the classroom walls."
New online learning program scheduled to launch January 2013 will allow students to receive credit for prior learning or experience.
The University of Hawaii has upgraded its videoconferencing setup for high-definition production across all of its campuses.
Greenville College in Illinois has implemented a new learning management system, completing a migration process that began with a pilot program back in January.
Blackboard has updated its Web conferencing application to add mobile support, user-oriented improvements, and tighter integration with learning management systems, including Moodle.
Network security provider OpenDNS has launched OpenDNS Enterprise Insights, a new service that expands on the existing OpenDNS Enterprise service to include visibility and control through Microsoft Active Directory.
UniversityNow is acquiring Oakland-based Patten University, a private, four-year liberal arts institution with enrollment of 900 students, and will begin offering a full distance education program this fall.
As automakers continue working on the best approach for adding communications technology to their cars, a project involving researchers from MIT, Georgetown University, and the National University of Singapore will help ensure that WiFi has a fighting chance against other pricier offerings.
The arrival of the "post-PC" era is leading users to turn to the cloud for their storage needs. In fact, by 2016, about a third of consumer digital content will be stored on cloud-based services.
Researchers can apply for a free license of a Hadoop-based solution that enables them to analyze large, complex data sets and communicate their findings.
A consortium of higher education groups, technology companies, and non-profits is aiming to upgrade wireless broadband infrastructure in underserved colleges and their surrounding communities.
Education technologists should leverage the learning sciences.
The six-campus Lone Star College System (TX), in the suburbs of Houston, has developed a sophisticated private cloud that offers greater flexibility, lower hardware costs, and improved performance.
For the hundreds of IT staff across Indiana University's departments and campuses, virtualized on-demand software delivery is the model of the future.
The recent ability of universities to process large amounts of data at superfast speed opens the door to automated, mobile, and deeply personalized education.
Mobile devices and data-driven decision-making tip the scales in Gartner's midyear re-evaluation of top IT trends.
A cloud storage company has released a version of its product specifically designed for colleges and universities.
Campus Technology 2012 keynote George Siemens says, "The changing way we create and share knowledge is at the core of what's driving education. It's not the fact that we have mobiles and the Web that requires education to change, but rather that we are using these technologies to begin circumventing existing knowledge processes. And what we do with knowledge determines the types of institutions we need." Here, Campus Technology asked Siemens for his perspectives on the groundswell of change apparent in higher education.
Teachers, administrators, and students who are part of the Cisco Networking Academy will soon have access to a cloud-based LMS.
MIT Professor of Physics David Pritchard is running a free online physics course this summer to help teachers and students brush up on their knowledge.
A device-management tool is helping Seton Hill University administer its mobile network via social media--using plain English.
This week, unified communications vendor Polycom announced that the University of the West of England (UWE) is providing Polycom RealPresence video collaboration solutions to staff and students across its network of campuses.
The Internet Society held its World IPv6 Launch event last week, with participating companies making the switch to IPv6 permanent.
Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, MO, will make its Master of Laws in U.S. Law for Foreign Lawyers (LLM) available online through a new program called @WashULaw.
A Greenpeace report on the environmental impact of the biggest cloud service providers is prompting some campuses to rethink their clean-energy options.
Today, instructional designers at community colleges have exciting opportunities to improve instruction and service to students, as their toolkit has grown to include an amazing array of Web 2.0 tools and new media. CT asked Michael Medlock, the director of Instructional Design and Technology at Rio Salado College how instructional designers and a team of faculty, subject matter experts, and media developers follow instructional design principles and strategies that leverage technology and new media to create robust learning designs that advance instruction at Rio Salado College.
As demand rises--and technology and course design improve--distance-learning programs are taking off at traditional brick-and-mortar schools.
Data mining is driving increasingly sophisticated fundraising machines, helping schools identify high-wealth alumni and predict when and how much they might give.
Institutions need to take a dual approach to their mobile strategy.
Two institutions of higher education--one in Maryland and the other in Alabama--have chosen to deploy Aruba Networks wireless equipment to keep pace with student demand.
Coppin State University, pushing to increase its graduation rate above 20 percent, has entered into a partnership with Pearson Education to launch an online bachelor's degree--a first for the Baltimore university.
Civitas Learning has launched a new learning community designed to improve "key academic outcomes in higher education," according to information released by the company.
The 34 institutions that make up the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges are dropping their legacy LMS and moving to a cloud-based system.
Virginia's Community College System connects its 23 institutions with a new, single sign-on Enterprise Active Directory.
Regent University has implemented a new Internet security application intended to block user access to Web sites known to carry malware and to stop infected machines from being able to access the network.
HP and F5 have teamed up to deliver technology intended to speed up the deployment of cloud applications by delivering automated, policy-based application, network, and user configuration.
HP has released three cloud services, HP Cloud Compute, HP Cloud Object Storage, and HP Cloud Content Delivery Network, for public beta testing.
Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) is providing all of its students, faculty, and staff with accounts for cloud communication and collaboration tools using Microsoft's Live@edu.
Texas A&M University is deep into an upgrade of its legacy wireless network with a shift off of 802.11b/g provided by Cisco and onto 802.11n and Aruba Networks hardware.
Purdue University has implemented a software wizard to help students, faculty, and staff quickly and easily connect their computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets to the campus network.
IBM and Desire2Learn are teaming up to deliver a solution intended to help K-12 and higher education schools make use of the mass of data collected on students to improve the outcome of educational efforts
The College of Dental Medicine at Georgia Health Sciences University is home to a new virtual private network (VPN) created specifically to help universities and private researchers share data related to patent-pending antimicrobial technology.
Universities must foster both discovery and commercialization.
Greenville Technical College had traditionally funded its central IT infrastructure projects through the school's internal budget. Databases, servers, firewalls, and wireless technologies were all taken care of out of pocket. That changed in 2010 when the need arose for a more robust wireless setup to replace an existing WiFi hotspot system that was reserved only for common areas.
The University of Maine and its surrounding communities will soon have access to an ultra-high-speed gigabit Internet network. The project, called Gigabit Main Street, is being built by GWI and will provide business and residential customers in the Old Town and Orono communities with 125 times faster download speeds and 1,000 times faster upload speeds than current offerings.
Texas A&M and Tulane University will be among the first universities to adopt the "Voice in the Cloud" managed service being offered by the educational communications networking consortium Internet2 in collaboration with telecommunications vendors Aastra and Level 3 Communications.
Harvard University and MIT have partnered to launch edX, an initiative to offer free online courses worldwide and develop an open source platform to deliver them.
Thrust into online learning at scale in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina--a disaster that put 45 percent of its physical campus out of commission--New Orleans-based Delgado Community College experienced the aftershock of realizing that many of its students were not "online ready." Success rates--and therefore retention and completion rates--suffered just because of a student skills gap in online education. A self-guided online learning module, DORM, has made a big difference even as a doubling of enrollment since 2006 has put further pressure on available classroom space.
In response to rapid technology shifts, IT's role on campus is changing. How CIOs adapt to the new reality will determine whether their organizations remain viable and valuable, or see their relevance slowly diminish.
To assist preservation and archiving efforts, a new cloud offering allows academics to store data with multiple cloud providers via a single interface.
6 ideas to help vendors and IT leaders forge a more productive relationship.
Schools see valuable opportunities in moving course evaluations online, but only if they can raise student-participation levels.
Microsoft and Internet2 have struck an agreement to open up the Windows Azure cloud computing platform to Internet2 member universities.
Altius Education has launched a developer preview of Helix, an online learning environment designed to personalize higher education.
Aerohive Networks has introduced the next stage of its cloud-enabled enterprise networking infrastructure Branch on Demand product line with a new two-platform router that helps public and commercial enterprises design, build, and support multiple and highly dispersed regional facilities with minimal or no IT support.
Cloud and managed services provider Netelligent has partnered with desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) provider Desktone to offer cloud-hosted virtual desktops as a service.
Mobile implementations bring relevance to the institution for students and other campus constituents. But many colleges and universities over think their mobile strategies, causing needless delays in deriving value from their mobile projects. Tim Flood, a seasoned leader of mobile initiatives including Stanford University's iStanford project, points out some of the unique requirements of mobile implementations, and urges institutions to move more quickly on mobile.
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has deployed Microsoft Live@edu to more than 7.5 million students and faculty throughout India.
The IT team at Western Kentucky University manages 40,000 ports on 700 switches across five campuses. Network Services Manager Jeppie Sumpter said it was a "fairly manual process" until a couple years ago. Dian Schaffhauser explains how the team automated most of that process.
Brandeis University is upgrading its entire wireless infrastructure, with plans for a comprehensive overhaul by fall 2012.
The Iowa Community College Online Consortium (ICCOC) has renewed the contract with its online learning platform provider, extending a relationship that dates back 12 years.
Texas A&M at Galveston has adopted a new wide area network (WAN) optimization solution in an effort to prioritize academic and social traffic over other uses.
Security systems are moving front and center as campuses tackle the vulnerability of student- and school-owned mobile devices.
Kentucky's University of the Cumberlands has extended its network by creating a residence hall network separate from its core campus infrastructure. The results have been improved service for students and more available bandwidth for faculty using data-intensive applications in their classrooms.
Bookshare just celebrated its 10th anniversary as a provider of digital accessible materials to students with print disabilities. More than 190,000 people--mostly students--have access to the cloud-based library and its 135,000 titles.
When funding levels are reduced, IT leadership struggles to find ways to continue delivering expected levels of service and support. Joe Traino, CTO at Coconino Community College in Arizona, says that while the current economic environment seems daunting, creative strategies and partnerships will help IT departments run the institution's technology infrastructure more efficiently without reducing services--and may even present opportunities for new resources and services.
Organizations are putting more of their IT budgets into software as a service (SaaS). According to a report from market research firm Gartner, spending on SaaS will reach nearly $15 billion this year and will grow to more than $22 billion in 2015.
Boilerplate equipment warranties are giving way to negotiated agreements that give institutions the ability to manage their IT operations more efficiently and strategically.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will be launching a new master's degree in public administration in its School of Government that's fully online.
Pennsylvania State University has implemented a lifelong learning platform to help manage its online education program.
Aerohive Networks has begun showing off a new bit of technology that's expected to help organizations--including those in higher education--enable users with Apple devices to exploit other resources on their networks.
Aruba Networks is demonstrating a new technology that enables people to go across IP subnets with their Apple devices to find and use services as easily as they can on their personal networks.
Tri-County Technical College, a 6,800-student school, has placed its Internet security trust in the cloud.
Universities are facing increasing demands for Internet service in student housing (ResNet) while coping with reduced budgets and support staff, according to the first annual State of the ResNet report.
Marquette University's security analyst found that the network access control tool already in place could deliver much more value with just a bit more effort.
For a decade the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project has, through its research, obtained consensus from experts about the technologies that most impact teaching, learning, and creative inquiry. NMC Horizon Project research, shared in its annual NMC Horizon Report > Higher Education Edition and other NMC Horizon Project publications, also identifies metatrends and global challenges for education--providing some important perspectives and context for campus technology planners. CT talked with NMC CEO Larry Johnson about the latest list of metatrends from the NMC Horizon Project.
Georgia Southern University is tapping a traffic shaping appliance to help optimize bandwidth use on its wired network. The result so far, according to the university, has been a 22 percent decrease in bandwidth consumption on its campus and residential networks.
A new report from Gartner suggests that by 2014 users will store more of their data in the cloud than on their personal computers.
Laird Technologies has come out with a new 4G antenna for in-building installation as part of an amplifier/repeater system.
Bristol Community College, an urban college in southeastern Massachusetts, has redesigned many of its courses around common learning outcomes. With the help of a Title III grant from the Department of Education, BCC has supported faculty by developing Course Design Toolkits and identifying an array of digital instructional artifacts relevant to course content and supportive of learning outcomes.
Cloud vendors tout the benefits of paying for cloud services as operating expenses, rather than raising capital funds for infrastructure projects on campus. But the calculus is not as simple as that.
Harrison College has debuted KnowU, an interactive virtual campus designed to build community and offer support to the school's growing base of online learners.
A college attorney explains seven legal issues that institutions need to consider before signing a cloud computing contract.
Open education has the power to reinvigorate higher ed campuses.
End user license agreements can allow professors teaching online to go beyond the syllabus by requiring students to agree to terms set forth before they even begin the class. Anderson University Associate Professor Emmett Dulaney explains how.
Five colleges in San Antonio will be migrating to a new learning management system over the next 10 months.
A large community college system is using business analytics to support better decision-making at all levels.
IT organizations have reached a point where they must become innovators instead of builders. Here's how to foster an environment of innovation.
Cisco has introduced a new "reimagined" firewall that adds a level of security smarts that could eventually show up in the company's line of switches and routers, as well as other hardware.
CT asks three leading advocates of open education to evaluate the impact of the DIY U movement on traditional brick-and-mortar institutions.
Kingston University is providing its students and staff with access to the university's entire online student learning environment from any device running an HTML5-enabled browser.
The College of the Holy Cross has completely overhauled its wireless network. The move was a significant undertaking for the college, which has 38 buildings spread out over 174 acres, including a number of older structures constructed of thick stone and iron.
Aruba Networks has entered the rapidly expanding mobile device network access control market with its own set of products, catering especially to environments such as campuses, where bring-your-own-device (BYOD) is common.
Blackboard has launched Blackboard Developmental Education, a new program designed to help students "move from developmental courses to credit-granting courses sooner," according to information released by the company.
Desire2Learn, a provider of enterprise teaching and learning platforms for K-12 and higher education institutions, has signed a four-year Windows Azure global alliance agreement with Microsoft.
ForeScout Technologies, a security products company, will shortly release a set of plug-ins that help security administrators manage Android and Apple mobile devices and coordinate with mobile device management systems through its network access control appliance.
Will Google's new privacy policy affect the agreements the company has with universities and colleges? According to Google, the short answer is no, but with a nuance.
Microsoft is attracting higher education to the cloud as schools begin deploying Office 365, Microsoft's paid follow-on act to Live@edu.
North Carolina State University's (NCSU) Centennial Campus has implemented one of the country's first large-scale, outdoor, experimental wireless networks using open source software.
The University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education (MAT@USC) and School of Social Work (MSW@USC) have released an Android app designed to give students access to multimedia materials and intra-school social networks.
Game-based learning, learning analytics, and the "Internet of Things" are three of six technologies that will have a profound impact on higher education in the next one to five years, according to the latest NMC Horizon Report released by the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative.
To get some insights into what's on the horizon for e-learning, Campus Technology spoke with a group of academics and instructional technologists.
A private college in Pennsylvania has switched to a LMS based on open source software. The school in La Plume, which is in the process of expanding its online and blended course programs, was looking for a platform that would provide an intuitive user interface and additional communication features, easily integrate with current systems, and cut costs.
Cisco has launched its new Aironet 3600 Series Access Point, which provides 802.11n connectivity over four antennas and three spatial streams.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has created a live, cloud-based interactive classroom to provide distance learning courses to more than 27,000 students worldwide.
Arizona State University shut down all of its Web services for about two days during January to address a security breach. That included shutting down online classes for the duration of the outage.
To reduce the illegal downloading of copyrighted material via their networks, colleges are relying on a mix of technology, education, and punishment.
The Virginia Community College System--one of the largest in the country, with 23 colleges on 40 campuses--has leveraged business analytics to help streamline information processes, achieve cost efficiencies, encourage data and information sharing and transparency, and identify ways to offer improved service to the community. Here, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Institutional Effectiveness Catherine Finnegan talks with Campus Technology about VCCS's use of business analytics.
Internet2's new cloud partnership hopes to kick-start collaboration and shared research across higher ed institutions nationwide--and globally.
In a mobile world, cloud-based personal-storage services make it easier to manage documents across devices, and to collaborate with peers and students.
IT managers and engineers can now use their Android devices to survey and troubleshoot their WiFi network.
BMC Software has released Remedy OnDemand for Public Sector, a cloud-based IT service management solution.
Toronto, Ontario-based York University's Schulich School of Business is bringing in a new cloud-based collaboration tool in an effort to expose students to new trends in business communication and to lower IT expenses and improve efficiencies in the process.
In May 2011, WCET announced the receipt of funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to begin work on the Predictive Analytics Reporting Framework. Now, a federated dataset has been created and PAR researchers have already begun to analyze the data, looking for variables affecting student performance and success. Here, WCET Executive Director Ellen Wagner comments on this milestone for the PAR Framework and on plans to expand the database to increase opportunities for sharing predictive analytics more widely.
Aruba Networks has introduced a new indoor 802.11n access point intended for wall mounting in college dorm rooms and smaller classrooms, as well as other multi-tenant environments.
UK's Oxford Brookes University has introduced a controller-less wireless network to its five campuses. The institution has put an Aerohive Networks network in place to deliver connectivity to 18,000 students and 2,500 staff.
Pearson has released versions of its digital library of online courses for use on the Apple iPad.
The Internet Society has launched an online resource to assist organizations with the switch from IPv4 to IPv6 and implementation of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC).
Several schools are piloting Blackboard's new learning analytics solution, Blackboard Analytics for Blackboard Learn, in an effort to provide feedback and help shape the final product.
As the new year begins, education technology experts look at what's ahead for learners and educators.
A company with a program for monitoring network traffic has just upgraded its application to add reporting of Cisco Medianet performance.
Washington State's K-20 Education Network recently completed an upgrade of its network infrastructure to encompass annual bandwidth growth that had reached 40 to 50 percent.
The institution that led the call for freely available lectures, videos, and exams created by its instructors and shared with the world will now do the same with online learning.
At Rio Salado College, where all 41,000-plus students attend classes online, identifying at-risk students is a key component of the institution's efforts to help non-traditional students meet their goals. Rio Salado is in the process of rolling out a new homegrown learning analytics system to do just that. The college is also collaborating with outside institutions to help develop better data models to help fine-tune that effort.
The University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando has gone public about its adoption of a budgeting application implemented at the beginning of 2010.
Northwestern University has added a new degree program focused on the study of data analytics.
Hands tied by budget cuts, Westmont College's first CIO has introduced the institution to cloud computing in an effort to enhance IT services without additional financial resources. Here Westmont CIO Reed A. Sheard shares details on four cloud-based projects he implemented to do just that.
Storage company EMC is adding cloud computing and "big data" analytics as topics to its training and certification program, which will also be made available to the 700 institutions that are part of its Academic Alliance program.
The State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College is expanding its student engagement offerings in order to help faculty and staff connect and collaborate more effectively.
Cisco has introduced CloudVerse, a new framework for building, managing, and connecting public, private, and hybrid clouds.
InterDigital will launch a new wireless technology engineering contest in collaboration with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology at the University of California at San Diego.
A new report from education data coalition Data Quality Campaign is calling on policymakers to strengthen links between K-12, workforce, and post-secondary institutions.
While the idea of saving money and streamlining IT operations on campus is very attractive, institutions need to be aware that cloud computing is still an emergent technology, with some very real concerns and weaknesses that need to be addressed.
In spite of vendor promises to get you up and running in mere hours, early adopters have learned that undertaking a cloud initiative is like tackling any other transformational IT project.
A new industry forecast is predicting that cloud computing will account for 33 percent of all data center traffic by 2015--triple the current percentage and about 12 times the total current volume.
Do you have lingering questions about the instructional validity of incorporating free educational materials in your online courses? Michael Cottam, Rio Salado College's associate dean over instructional design and new program development, helps shed some light on how open education resources may be better evaluated in the future so that course developers can leverage open resources more effectively.
The terms cloud computing and virtualization are often--and mistakenly--used interchangeably. They are not the same.
In the second of a two-part series, CT looks at how IT professionals can make the business case for cloud computing while addressing ongoing concerns about taking their institutions into the cloud.
Cloud initiatives appeal to many campus technology leaders because they off-load services that are seen as commodities and free IT staff to work on higher-priority projects. As with any other application or infrastructure outsourcing, though, CIOs have to weigh potential risks and trade-offs.
eIQnetworks has released a beta version of a new security utility for maintaining "situational awareness." SecureVue Express is a free download with a five-node perpetual license that allows a security administrator to stay informed about security and compliance through multiple channels.
Xirrus will release a pair of new wireless arrays appropriate for dormitories and classrooms, which allows for increased deployment flexibility.
Juniper Networks has released a new access point designed specifically for high density WiFi environments, such as in a lecture hall filled with users on mobile devices.
Microsoft has revealed that Live@edu, the company's free, hosted collaboration and communications service for education, now has more than 22 million users, a 100 percent increase in the past year.
A company that develops business intelligence software is making its software suite available free to colleges and universities to use in the classroom.
A $2 million Department of Education Title III grant designed to help institutions of higher education better serve Native American students is going to help Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (NEO) upgrade its distance learning offerings.
Oracle has released its Solaris 11 operating system (OS), which the company previewed last month at the Oracle OpenWorld 2011 event in San Francisco. Solaris 11 provides built-in virtualization capabilities for OS, network, and storage resources and is designed to run enterprise applications in private, hybrid, or public clouds. Oracle described it as the first fully virtualized, cloud OS.
DAM: Academics can now curate and maintain image collections that will complement their institution’s digital assets.
University of Alabama Deputy CIO Scott Montgomery reveals how the institution is responding to the growing need for wireless connectivity on campus.
Faced with a surge in mobile devices, Utah State University and Morrisville State College have deployed cutting-edge wireless networks that act like air traffic-control systems, managing flow and optimizing performance.
Cisco has created a new TelePresence solution for small to medium-sized organizations with limited budgets and IT staff.
Cornell University has launched an on-demand research computing service available to scientists inside and outside of the institution.
Just as there are all kinds of real clouds--stratus, cirrus, cumulus--there are different types of computing clouds. The three primary cloud types are public, private, and hybrid.
The easiest way to understand the cloud is to think of it as a utility, like electricity.
How the cloud enables collaboration and efficient transmission of information at two universities.
A shift to cloud-based operations can help ensure high service availability and solid data recovery.
Every major cloud-based service builds reporting into its product, allowing colleges and universities to base decisions on solid data--and hopefully improve both their products and the customer experience.
Whether a school uses a public or private cloud, one of the big upsides is the ability to implement solutions quickly in response to customer requests.
In a two-part series, CT provides IT administrators with an easy-to-understand primer to help them educate campus constituents about the cloud and what it can do for their institutions.
Microsoft has opened its Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.5 Beta review program.
The University of New Brunswick is establishing a new Cisco Chair in Advanced Learning Technologies to promote, support, and lead innovation at the university through industry-linked projects.
LoudCloud Systems has added a pair of modules, virtual classroom and e-file cabinet, to its learning management system (LMS) for higher education.
Columbia College Chicago, a private arts and media college with 12,000 students, has upgraded its network to tap into dark fiber maintained by Sidera Networks.
Utah State University has gradually upgraded its wireless infrastructure and stuck with the same vendor it chose back in 2007 for a campus-wide wireless deployment.
Oracle has entered into an agreement to buy RightNow Technologies, a provider of cloud-based customer service to call centers, the Web, and social networks.
As the new Campus Computing Survey showed, cloud computing in higher ed isn't spreading quite as fast as the hype. But where necessity dictates a shift in IT practices, cloud computing is making some significant headway, as four campus CIOs explained at a recent Educause event.
Against his better instincts, an educator at West Texas A&M University shares his school's recipe for developing a successful online learning program.
Fordham University has launched a new research center to explore the digital transformation of business and society and proposed two new master's degree programs focused on working with data analytics.
The results of a nationwide survey about technology in higher education suggest that the growth of mobile computing on campus has been dramatic in the last year, but that despite the attention paid to cloud computing, most universities are taking a wait-and-see approach for most applications beyond e-mail.
Datatel has revised its services offerings to provide as little or as much support for its IT applications as its institutional customers want. The company, whose flagship offering, Colleague, powers enterprise operations for hundreds of universities and colleges in the country, said it now also offers that suite of applications in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.
Today's IT leaders need to re-imagine the role played by information technology, and that requires being able to think beyond simply modernizing what's already in place. Achieving "creative destruction" will help the organization move beyond its current practices--which currently consume the bulk of IT resources--and into a world of cloud computing, mobile usage, media tablets, and social media. That's the message being delivered by Gartner at its annual Symposium ITxpo 2011 conference.
A special program being delivered out of Wright State University to help deaf and hard of hearing people meet online for virtual drug and alcohol abuse treatment has begun expanding its platform to serve other special needs groups as well.
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is nearing completion of a campus-wide move to 802.11n wireless network.
Following two years of effort, the University of Massachusetts Amherst has fully replaced its Ethernet network in residence halls with an 802.11n wireless network.
Colleges and universities are growing their wireless networks and scaling back on wired LANs, according to findings from a survey released Tuesday.
The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) has federated databases from six institutions participating in the organization's Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework project.
Berkeley College has selected Courseload, Inc. to provide digital material for the college’s online academic program.
Michigan Technological University has implemented 80 GHz millimeter wave systems from BridgeWave Communications to connect remote buildings across the Portage shipping canal.
La Salle University has expanded its networking capacity by replacing edge devices and cutting over to a new Internet service provider.
Publishing and education tech behemoth Pearson has introduced a new, free, cloud-based LMS for higher education--OpenClass.
Polytechnic University in Bucharest (UBP) has developed a high-performance grid platform to increase research capacity and enable students and teachers to collaborate more closely in national and international research projects.
Google has unveiled several enhancements to its cloud services, including premiere support for its app engine and database, storage, and machine learning offerings.
The promise of 100 Gbps data transfer in the United States just got more real with completion of a transcontinental network that delivers 8.8 terabits of capacity.
Trent Batson's recent survey of ePortfolio technology providers shows that there's a move in the ePortfolio marketplace now, from its earlier concentration on institutional assessment portfolios to the inclusion of a wider range of products that support student-centered as well as institution-centered portfolios--opening up the potential for new learning designs.
Wireless network vendor Xirrus has launched what it's promoting as the "first modular chassis-based wireless switch." The new XR series of wireless arrays allows IT staff to perform both radio and software upgrades, giving the devices a potentially longer life in the enterprise.
Oracle is launching an enterprise collaboration and social networking tool, Oracle Social Network, which will be offered as part of the new Oracle Public Cloud services.
Oracle has announced Oracle Public Cloud, a set of integrated services that provide access to Oracle Fusion Applications, Oracle Fusion Middleware, and Oracle Database, all of which are managed, hosted, and supported by Oracle, with a unified self-service interface for provisioning, monitoring, and managing all services.
Even as many institutions grapple with their cloud strategies, faculty are taking advantage of cloud-based services to rev up their classes and engage students.
Western Governors University has gone public with its use of a service that delivers textbooks in digital form to its students through its online learning environment.
Internet2, an advanced networking consortium led by the research and education community, has announced partnerships with HP, Shi International, and Box to deliver new Internet2 NET+ cloud computing and other services to faculty, staff, and students of Internet2 member universities across the county.
Adobe has announced details of its forthcoming cloud service for content creators and tablet users, Creative Cloud, at its Max 2011 conference in Los Angeles. Creative Cloud is described as a hub for viewing, sharing, and syncing files created by the Adobe Creative Suite and a group of newly announced touch-based apps for tablets.
The University of Cincinnati has deployed content management system Blackboard 9.0 for its new lineup of online certificate programs.
Martin University in Indianapolis, IN, will use a $1.25 million grant from the United States Department of Education to launch online certificate programs.
The proliferation of consumer technology on campuses has created new challenges for IT departments. Will the pendulum swing back toward centralized IT, or is consumerization knocking down the old ways forever?
Consumer IT and student expectations are bearing down on higher ed, whether it’s ready or not.
Gartner is pulling back on its projections for how quickly organizations will adopt cloud-based email and collaboration services. The IT analyst firm said most enterprises won't begin their move to the cloud for these operations until 2014.
Educators and students in the United States will now have access to a cloud-based education interaction management product previously available exclusively in Europe. CampusIT, the service provider, announced earlier this week that it is bringing its online student interaction and transaction management system--one of Europe’s largest, according to the company--to U.S. colleges and universities.
Florida State University (FSU) is in the midst of upgrading its Wi-Fi network to 802.11n. The 40,000-student university is upgrading its wireless infrastructure to optimize the user experience and gain control over network security.
Tennessee Wesleyan College has rolled out a new, high-performance converged mobile network that will give students, faculty, and staff access to secure, reliable wired and wireless Internet access.
Streaming video allows the College of Medicine at Penn State to broadcast complex surgeries outside of the operating room.
Extreme Networks has released the Altitude 4511 Wallplace Access Point.
Babson College in Massachusetts has overhauled its back-end computing operations with a $1.7 million "datacenter in a box." The move is part of what CIO Sam Dunn characterized as a long-term vision to shift his college out of the hardware business and bring greater agility to his IT team to address the college's growth and corresponding resource management challenges.
Panda Security has updated its cloud-based antivirus program Panda Cloud Antivirus, which now includes a firewall that relies on "collective intelligence" for risk rating.
At the 2011 Build conference taking place this week in Anaheim, CA, Microsoft provided the deepest view yet of what looks like a radical departure from past desktop OS designs.
HP has extended an invitation to the private beta program of its new HP Cloud Services for developing, testing, and running applications.
The Virginia Community College System is saving $20 million in IT costs annually by adopting a community cloud approach, according to Enterprise Services Director Matt Lawson. The scale and distribution of enterprise services at the 40-campus system offers a unique opportunity for the institution to leverage a community cloud strategy, both for cost efficiencies and for improved services. In this interview with Campus Technology, Lawson offered insight into VCCS' community cloud strategy and shared some of his plans for the future.
A major wireless vendor with a presence in the education market has purchased a small technology firm for its expertise in network guest management. Silicon Valley-based Meru Networks has acquired UK-based Identity Networks, which sells guest and device access management applications. Neither company disclosed the terms of the deal.
A couple of computer scientists--one from Johns Hopkins University and the other at the University of Alabama at Birmingham--have looked to the science of waste management for guidance on what to do with unwanted or unused data from the digital world.
Clemson University is using an innovative matching program--and comprehensive IT support--to create a powerful computing cluster to serve institutions across South Carolina.
VMware and Cisco are rolling out enhancements to their combined virtualization solutions, along with improvements to several desktop virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions. The companies have also debuted the new Virtual Extensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) architecture, which forms the basis of a scalable LAN for the cloud.
Columbus State Community College has formed an alliance with Kaltura and TechSmith to create a turnkey lecture capture solution that can be deployed via the cloud.
At CT 2011, IT leaders took a long, hard look in the mirror and recognized that they must evolve or face irrelevance. Then they rolled up their sleeves to map the road forward.
With a new IT governance model that puts faculty front and center, the University of Michigan hopes to reclaim its reputation as a next-generation institution.
Traditional colleges may think they have nothing to learn from for-profits, but when it comes to advanced use of technology, look no further.
Cloud-enabled mobile computing is at the intersection of two of today's hottest areas in IT, coupling resource-starved mobile phones with the resource-rich cloud.
The University of Maryland, a public research school in College Park, has signed up for a service that allows members of the campus community to use wireless networking at other participating campuses by logging on with their home institution credentials.
Each state has its own regulations pertaining to education services offered in their state by out-of-state institutions. Some distance education providers will not be able to comply with every state's regulations, choosing instead not to serve students from those states where they find it too difficult or impossible to obtain the state's authorization. WCET and the University Professional and Continuing Education Association recently surveyed institutions regarding their approaches to state regulations--concluding it's the students who may suffer.
Nimbula recently introduced Nimbula Director 1.5, its cloud operating system that can be used to build private, public, and hybrid cloud infrastructure.
Apogee, the Austin, Texas-based provider of on-campus residential networks for higher education institutions, has implemented new billing and operations support system (OSS) software.
Red Hat has announced support for Java Enterprise Edition (EE) 6 on its OpenShift platform-as-a-service (PaaS).
Wireless access points that utilize the 802.11n standard offer superfast speeds and can simultaneously support a multitude of bandwidth-hogging devices.
Barracuda Networks is expanding cloud storage for organizations that subscribe to its local and cloud-based disaster recovery solution, known as Barracuda Backup Service.
With cloud computing looming as the next big thing in higher education, Citrix Systems' recent acquisition of Cloud.com, an open source cloud computing platform, has caught the attention of university CIOs.
IT leaders must meet today's unique challenges with a new focus on technology engagement.
Purdue's Signals is a real-time, early intervention system that provides students with timely, concrete steps to improve their coursework, targeting specific areas where their academic success may be at risk.
To meet the challenge posed by soaring enrollment and widely separated campuses, Texas' Lone Star College System looked to the cloud for a solution. In an interview with CT, Link Alander, LSCS's vice chancellor of technology services, discusses the benefits of cloud-based IT services.
Social media and mobile devices are forcing major changes in how institutions protect their networks and their users. And the battle is only getting started.
A bold reorganization at Pepperdine merged the university-wide functions of planning, IT management, and institutional effectiveness and research under the CIO--creating a one-stop shop for information resource management and advocacy.
Three-year-old Colorado State University-Global Campus, funded by a $12 million loan from the state university system, recently repaid a third of that loan.
As lecture capture and distance learning take hold in higher ed, colleges pursue different approaches to the issue of closed captioning and transcription.
As students' digital entertainment takes up more and more bandwidth on campus, colleges and universities look for cost-effective, scalable solutions.
Radiant Logic has launched a new suite that will allow its customers to provide users with access to programs hosted both internally on the network and in the cloud.
Those who track such things tell us that we're now in the fourth decade of the IT revolution in higher education. And yet a lot of institutions are still grappling with core managerial issues, according to one of the leading trend trackers.
A marching bandful of research universities has signed on to launch a new high speed network project expected to improve computing not only on their campuses but also in the communities that surround them. The hope is that these "world leading" networks will help grow the local economies and stimulate new innovations in areas such as healthcare, job training, and education.
Purdue University is receiving two Campus Technology Innovator awards today at the CT 2011 conference in Boston. The university is widely recognized for its innovative IT initiatives and leadership in technology outreach and community building. Here, Purdue CIO Gerry McCartney explains why he feels higher education campuses must once again become leaders in IT innovation.
To accommodate growing demand for bandwidth, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago has upgraded its campus network that uses gigabit wireless technology.
Noel-Levitz and Starfish Retention Solutions will integrate Noel-Levitz's Retention Management System Plus with Starfish Connect and Starfish Early Alert.
Barracuda Networks has launched a completely redesigned new version of its real-time 3D visualization application for Barracuda NG Firewalls, Barracuda NG Earth 2.0.
All educators today, but especially those in post-secondary roles, need to learn how to make the most of cloud-based resources in their teaching practices, according to education consultant John Kuglin.
A college system in Houston, TX has begun seeing big returns on its three-year long construction of a private cloud infrastructure to expedite delivery of IT services to its 62,000 students and 4,800 employees.
EScholar has released a new version of Complete Data Warehouse, its information management and analysis tool, with enhanced tracking of the relationships between assessments, academic standards, and courses.
Indiana University and Citrix Systems have partnered to create a “personal cloud” for students, faculty, and staff. Users will be able to access applications and data from any computer, tablet, or smartphone.
The University of Utah has gone public with implementation of a new Linux cluster in its Center for High Performance Computing that was made available to the campus research community earlier this year.
Wilkes University is consolidating its learning management systems onto a single platform. As a result of the move the school's faculty and approximately 5,900 undergraduates and graduate students will be on the same system beginning in August.
Oxford University's Somerville College reported it's on track to become the first college in the Oxford system to blanket its campus with wireless networking.
Aerohive Networks, which makes wireless networking hardware for K-12 and higher education, has debuted three new 802.11n access points for indoor and outdoor use in extreme temperature ranges.
Red Hat has launched JBoss Application Server 7, a free and open source Java Enterprise Edition-based application server developed by the JBoss Community.
Citrix Systems has acquired the open source cloud computing platform Cloud.com. The acquisition adds Cloud.com's CloudStack product line to the Citrix cloud infrastructure portfolio, which also includes Citrix's cloud-optimized virtualization platform, XenServer.
A panel of leading technologists, educators, and vendors discusses the future of the LMS and the innovations needed to make it integral to 21st century learning.
After leading his team to some rapid successes, our CIO questions the role of the IT group on campus--and develops a road map to the future.
Two universities apply the principles of business intelligence to procurement and purchasing, with significant results.
Google is increasing the amount of storage it provides to institutions that use its free Apps for Education platform.
Johns Hopkins University is testing out a new virtualized desktop environment in two of its schools. The move is allowing the university to make its computing spaces more collaborative for students and extend software to students' personal computers. In the process, it's also helping to ease some of IT's workload.
A partnership of institutions and national laboratories is launching a high-speed fiber optic network service as part of a sizable project to connect educators and researchers in the United States with Europe.
A community college in Arizona is teaming up with the New York Times to produce online teacher preparation courses.
A university in Japan has implemented a supercomputer system that powers a new research cloud.
College America Services Inc. has chosen Pearson LearningStudio to provide online learning at the organization's four higher education institutions.
The University of Akron (UA) recently acquired 1,000 IPSec VPN clients to provide its faculty, staff, and students with secure remote access to the university's network from 64-bit computers.
Kaplan University has released a native iPad app that allows students to attend class through the mobile device.
GSX has announced general availability of GSX Monitor & Analyzer v10, a tool for monitoring cloud-based messaging and collaboration services, including services hosted outside the organization's firewall.
Google has launched a free suite of tools designed to help individuals protect their online reputations by identifying and dealing with disparaging or confidential information posted about them.
Questionmark has released an update to its SaaS-based assessment tool, Questionmark OnDemand. The incremental update includes new forms of analytics reporting tools to help measure performance and pinpoint areas that might be in need of additional investigation.
A Canadian university recently performed a simulation to see how well its network would hold up under the collective congestion of 100 Apple iPads running a multitude of common, bandwidth-hungry institutional applications.
A company with its own learning management system (LMS) for academic and corporate use has taken the social networking aspects of its LMS and turned them into an add-on product that will work with competing LMSes.
Ericom has released AccessNow, a pure HTML5 remote desktop (RDP) client that runs within a Web browser without the need to install anything on the client device.
Indiana University is launching an initiative called "IUAnyWare," which will provide cloud-based services to faculty and students across mobile and desktop platforms.
InFocus has launched a new videoconferencing and collaboration system called "Mondopad"--a 55-inch touchscreen display with built-in whiteboarding, presentation, and communications tools.
A company with a security appliance for network access control has just released a version that runs in virtual environments. ForeScout Technologies, which sells CounterACT in appliance form, is now making the same functionality available as a virtual appliance for VMware.
A university in Fredericksburg, VA has begun its move to a new open source, SaaS-based learning management system.
A university hospital in Southern California has begun using cloud computing to receive imaging work from a remote hospital to expedite the treatment of trauma patients.
IBM is expanding its presence in education cloud computing with the release of a new SaaS-based service named Decision Management for Education.
American higher education--the jewel in the global crown of universal education, with nearly a quarter of the total number of higher education institutions in the world, and including graduate programs that are the envy of the world--is facing the prospect of being the next bubble to burst. Technology is both a culprit and a promising ally.
Higher education may have a long way to go before it's fully ready to exploit cloud computing because it doesn't fully understand it. Despite this, colleges and universities are still fairly optimistic about cloud prospects on campus.
Jenzabar has released a new version of its student retention system and renamed it FinishLine.
The University of Rhode Island has begun working with IBM on a project that will test out the company's ability to automate some of the work involved in connecting researchers to funding sources and collaborators.
American colleges and universities are expanding their adoption of cloud technologies. According to new research released Thursday, higher education institutions will spend about a quarter of their IT budgets on the cloud within five years.
Wyse has introduced its new entry-level thin client, the Wyse T50. Geared toward organizations on a budget, the T50 includes Wyse-enhanced Linux firmware, a simplified user interface, "plug and display" startup of less than 20 seconds, and the ability to display multimedia and Flash in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and the local browser.
National-Louis University and a number of other institutions have begun transitioning to the cloud for constituent relationship management.
The Oregon Community Colleges Healthcare Education Alliance is looking to expand availability of its healthcare-related degrees and certificates through distance education.
In the popular imagination, the Web distances learners and teachers (and "face-to-face" in the classroom is then assumed more desirable). But in reality "face-to-face" can be the most distancing experience for the student, and Web-based learning the most connected of all. It is odd to realize that in many higher education classrooms, we find the real "distance learning."
D-Link has let loose a flurry of new network products, including a wireless access point, surveillance cameras, switches, and software--some of which are available now and others to appear over the next several months.
Ocean County College in New Jersey is advancing its institutional goal to exploit the potential for distance learning.
An informal online survey conducted by Ipswitch Inc.'s Network Management Division revealed that 88 percent of enterprise networks are not fully ready for the change to IPv6, and 66.1 percent are less than 20 percent ready.
A research university in London's East End has adopted a new virtual lab system for delivering "hands-on" learning to graduate and undergraduate students studying Internet protocol- and infrastructure-related topics.
Cymphonix has released a new application specifically to help users manage the security of mobile devices accessing the network as well.
Meru Networks said it will be shipping a new line of gigabit access points (APs) later in the second half of 2011 that can be configured through the software for different operating modes and that will support up to 380 simultaneous mobile clients.
Infoblox has rolled out an enhanced version of its DNS, DHCP, and IP address management (IPAM) solution, which automates and manages the transition from IPv4 to IPv6.
A small law school in Vermont is looking to create a model for other non-profit schools with the introduction of two new online master's degrees in environmental law.
MIT's most energy efficient building, E62, isn't skimping on technological capacity. This new home for the Sloan School of Management has implemented a media infrastructure to support multiple forms of smart classroom operations.
Teleplace has launched a new open source project, OpenQwaq, an enterprise-class virtual collaboration platform based on the Teleplace platform.
When Mark Jones learned that South College's burgeoning medical programs were going to be moving into a new home, he saw the expansion as a chance to introduce a host of new classroom technologies on campus.
Advanced networking consortium Internet2 will be working with Level 3 Communications, which develops fiber-based communications services, to deliver 8.8 terabit capacity to support institutions nationwide, including community colleges.
Amazon has broken its silence and released a postmortem detailing the cause of the massive outage of its cloud services that left numerous customers incapacitated.
State budget cuts are hammering higher education. CT looks at three public schools that are using proven IT tools to help weather the storm.
A new partnership will help universities simplify the management of devices in use by people who want to get onto the campus network wirelessly with more than guest access.
University of Phoenix owner Apollo Group has released PhoenixMobile, an app that will allow students with iPhone and iPod touch devices to participate in class activities on the go.
The Houston Community College System is operationally decentralized, with six colleges and 26 campuses spread out across 660 square miles. With faculty and staff running their own reports in different formats using data from various sources and time periods, it was not uncommon last year to find six different versions of the same report. HCC’s Vice Chancellor of Information Technology explains how a BI solution implemented in the past year has provided centralized online reporting, a dashboard, and consistent information for better decision making.
SunGard Higher Education has launched a new business intelligence product in its Banner line specifically to help institutional customers analyze and report on the results of their retention programs.
Washington's statewide public college system is supporting its ballooning online and blended education programs with lecture capture. The adoption hasn't been painless, but it's helped to further the college system's goals for growth and to support innovation in teaching and learning.
Higher education seems stuck in a tricky dilemma: how to move, en masse, to new learning models that seem, on the surface, to require a lower teacher-student ratio. But the dilemma is tricky only if the basic assumption about how students learn remains in the box of behaviorism. And it is tricky only if technology is seen as peripheral--handy but not transformative.
Oracle has released the latest version of its distributed in-memory data grid product, Oracle Coherence 3.7.
Microsoft has opened up its Office 365 public beta to a bigger crowd worldwide. The company also warned that its latest beta accounts for the online productivity suite will not be transferable to Office 365 for education when the beta program ends.
College IT professionals offer hard-won advice on how to create a campus WiFi network for the 21st century.
The University of Southern California Rossier School of Education is providing a native application for Apple's iOS platform that allows online students to do their work on an iPhone or iPad.
WCET Executive Director Ellen D. Wagner will give a keynote at Campus Technology 2011, just prior to the CT 2011 Innovator Awards recognition ceremony. In a brief interview, CT asked Wagner for her views on IT innovation and adoption in higher education.
News University, the Poynter Institute's e-learning project, has launched a partnership with Florida Atlantic University and Missouri State University as part of its Journalism 101 pilot program.
Four education institutions are showing up on the roster of participants in a new council to promote open cloud standards.
Twenty-nine proposals from colleges, universities, and education groups received grants this week totaling $10.9 million under a new initiative aimed at fostering academic success through technology.
At a Cloud Forum event in San Francisco, IBM formally introduced an enterprise cloud platform named SmartCloud that allows a customer to buy access to computing requirements such as servers and storage, delegate access and permissions for those resources, configure security, and get help from IBM and other users.
The California Community College system is turning to business process management software to streamline the work behind issuing grants to schools to help students in healthcare fields.
What do you get when you cross students' expectations for ubiquitous, high-performance wireless network access with stone and iron buildings constructed in the early-1900s? You wind up with a "harsh" WiFi environment where thick walls and ancient construction methods thwart attempts to create an all-access environment.
SAS will begin allowing academic researchers to use SAS OnDemand for Academics at no cost this fall.
An instructional design team from Columbia University's School of Continuing Education will be using the Pearson LearningStudio engine as the basis for developing a new, more social platform for delivering online programs.
CIOs must spearhead the move to sustainable campuses, for the sake of their institutions and their own jobs.
A top-ranked business school launches an online program in partnership with a for-profit business. Are we finally on the road to success?
Rochester Institute of Technology has joined a group of other institutions working to create and commercialize wireless grid network technologies.
The University of Kansas is looking to grow its distance learning offerings, but not before Barbara Romzek, interim senior vice provost for academic affairs, answers the questions: How we can organize online better? And how can we facilitate more courses through online media?
Arista Networks has rolled out its new 10/40 gigabit Ethernet data center switch, the Arista 7050 series. Delivering 1.28 terabits of switching performance at less than 2 watts per 10 GbE interface, the 7050 series is, according to the company, the most power-efficient 10/40 GbE switch on the market. It is optimized for Hadoop Clusters, VMware virtual machine farms, and other broad-ranging enterprise deployments.
With a small IT staff of five, Centenary College of Louisiana nevertheless managed to set up a wireless network in its residence halls from scratch, a network that allows for multiple devices for each student and provides 24-hour support, among other end user benefits. Scott Merritt, director of information technology for Centenary, shared his eight keys for such a successful wireless implementation.
Discussions of educational change and debates over traditional values versus new movements in education have seemed to ebb and flow over the history of education, particularly during the 20th century. But is the environment now right for a true revolution, with the push toward "21st Century skills" and new media? Michael Wesch examines trends over several decades to offer some perspective.
This week Microsoft is showing off its next version of System Center, a set of products for managing a Windows network. System Center 2012 will include a Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) when it's released later this year that will enable administrators to manage private and public cloud services.
Northern Arizona University has shifted its network access control (NAC) software in an effort to tackle network security issues more rapidly and to cut maintenance time and costs.
Universities are working together and sharing resources to create virtual labs with more powerful computing capabilities--and to save much-needed cash.
In a push to address the "bring your own iPad" movement, Aruba Networks has introduced a new networking architecture that the company said better reflects the changing nature of computing in the campus setting. Named Mobile Virtual Enterprise, or MOVE, this new model addresses the dramatic increase in the use of personal mobile devices and a shift to predominantly multimedia-rich applications.
SUNY Oswego has taken the gradual approach to building its recently launched MBA program. But behind its seemingly modest efforts, the university's ambitions lie in wait to see just how scalable the model is.
Application building is moving to the cloud and will come into its own as a major category this year, according to one IT industry consultancy.
Purdue University is launching an online-only version of its master's degree program focused on learning design and technology.
Cisco is extending its umi line of video communication and collaboration tools so that home users will be able to connect with businesses using TelePresence.
Neotys has released the newest version of its load testing software tool for Web applications, NeoLoad 3.2. The new version includes on-demand load testing from the cloud and supports the latest Web application technologies.
A recent trend in AV has been migrating smart classroom technologies onto the network--from document cameras and projectors to student laptops to classroom audio systems. One of the most commonly cited benefits has been simplifying device management for the IT staff. But, as Harrisburg University AV specialist Keith Thomas explains, there are major educational benefits as well.
A small, four-year college in Georgia will be moving off of a home-grown learning management system and onto an LMS from Edvance360. Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs made the move in an effort to address a growing demand for online courses for its 800 students.
Mobile software company Pocket Watch has released its cloud storage management application, ActiveCloud 1.0, for iOS.
In the push to improve student performance, two universities institute comprehensive, data-driven systems to assess their departments.
An Ontario university will be migrating its internally hosted e-mail system to a public cloud. The University of Guelph will be moving Gryph Mail, its Zimbra-based collaboration software, to a cloud-based service.
Managing myriad institutional goals and objectives is complicated. Dashboard software can provide top-level metrics at a glance, with easy access to more detailed data below the surface.
Discussions of technology strategy and planning for new media at colleges and universities are informed by many factors of higher education culture and the way its core constituents--faculty and students--work and learn. One rapidly evolving area is online assessment, whether for fully online programs or for blended learning environments. Here, learning designer Judith Boettcher examines online assessment strategies beyond the traditional end-of-term paper.
Oracle has introduced enhanced Sun Fire x86 clustered systems to bolster its line of enterprise-class blade and rackmount servers for highly virtualized and private cloud deployments.
CA Technologies last week updated its ERwin modeling tool with an eye toward broadening its use beyond database developers.
The most affordable online bachelor's in healthcare is available from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, according to a survey of online programs.
Oracle released new software Monday aimed at letting organizations build private clouds by adding elasticity to their applications via a clustered file system.
In a move key to bridging public and private clouds based on its virtual machines, VMware this week said it will release software that ties internal vSphere VMs to service providers' cloud platforms.
Microsoft Wednesday released Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to its equipment manufacturing partners.
Leviton Network Solutions this week released its new Opt-X Unity 40/100G preterminated MTP fiber system, the first 24-fiber MTP cabling system on the market.
The decade we have just closed out seemed to be a decade of continuous definition and redefinition of the distance between where we are and where we need to be in our education system... Throughout this exhaustive (and exhausting) period, our ability to accept the change we have clearly identified as critical for our future has not transitioned to adequate action...
Extron has rolled out two control processors that can remotely access, troubleshoot, and monitor entire AV systems and their individual components through an Ethernet connection.
Blackboard has expanded its forays outside of its traditional academic realm by entering into the territory of administrative operations with the announcement of a new set of data analytics applications. The news comes just weeks after Blackboard quietly acquired iStrategy, a private company focused on data warehousing and business intelligence for higher education.
Johns Hopkins University will be using a program to help bring Linux and Mac computer users into its Microsoft Active Directory fold.
At its Lotusphere 2011 event this week, IBM debuted a new cloud-based productivity suite called "LotusLive Symphony." The company also revealed some planned improvements to its lineup of social networking tools.
A Los Angeles area college will outfit a new data center with a pre-packaged computing infrastructure. The 1,200-student Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, part of the Claremont University Consortium, will be implementing the VCE Vblock Infrastructure Platform from the Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) Coalition as part of a data center currently under construction and scheduled to come online in July 2011.
Texas Wesleyan University's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has shifted to a SaaS constituent relationship management (CRM) application to stay on top of faculty development work.
A Utah-based company has fired a warning shot across the bow of learning management system (LMS) companies, including market leader Blackboard, with the announcement that it's turning its new LMS into open source. Instructure has publicly released the source code to its Canvas learning management system, which was launched in 2010.
For tech-savvy facilities managers, new data streams can lead to real savings. But can all these data points be too much of a good thing? CT looks at how one college is coping with a flood of mismatched operations info.
Google has introduced a new education-focused area in its Google Apps Marketplace, which provides Web applications that integrate with and extend Google Apps.
By 2015, 25 million post-secondary students in the United States will be taking classes online. And as that happens, the number of students who take classes exclusively on physical campuses will plummet, from 14.4 million in 2010 to just 4.1 million five years later, according to a new forecast released by market research firm Ambient Insight.
Version 5.5 of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit was released early this week.
One year after announcing a $250 million, three-year pact to deliver next-generation data center technology, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Microsoft this week unveiled five appliances that offer Exchange and SQL Server in turnkey configurations.
Purdue University is drastically expanding its fixed and mobile wireless infrastructure to support mobile learning, including an upgrade to WiFi and a rollout of 4G services.
Two competitors in the wireless networking market are joining forces. Aerohive Networks has acquired Pareto Networks and will begin integrating Pareto's network-as-a-service technology into its own products and services.
In an effort to support electronic learning initiatives on and off its campus, a small college in rural South Carolina will be overhauling its IT infrastructure with a new wired and wireless network.
Meraki is taking Cisco head-on and entering the wired networking gear space with the release of two new routers intended for branch deployment. However, the company, which up until now has specialized in catering to the wireless space, continues its practice of pushing device management into the cloud.
The game has changed in higher education network security--the proliferation of embedded devices from gaming consoles to kiosks, the skyrocketing adoption of social media, as well as a slew of other evolving technologies are forcing higher education institutions to 'step it up' when it comes to safeguarding the network. In 2011 we'll see even more threats, and in new environments.
Microsoft's Live@edu software has gained 4 million new student users over the last three months around the world.
Microsoft has shared additional details for its next generation of Live@edu. Named Office 365, the set of cloud-based applications adds additional collaboration and communication components and is scheduled to appear in the second half of 2011.
Dominican University's IT security woes started about seven years ago, when a virus outbreak compromised its computer network. In the throes of student move-in that year, several viruses breached the River Forest, IL university's firewall via infected equipment that was brought on campus by students.
The State University of New York (SUNY) will be offering Microsoft's Live@edu to its 64 campuses.
Siemon, a company that produces network cabling and related hardware, has released a line of locks specifically to prevent unauthorized access to unused fiber optic network ports.
Should states form an interstate compact to provide reciprocity for education that crosses state borders? That's the question at the heart of a new research initiative being undertaken by the Presidents' Forum, a consortium of 150 institutions that exchange knowledge regarding operation in an online environment.
Microsoft is providing cloud computing grants for three of Australia's research organizations. National ICT Australia, the Australian National University, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation will receive three years of free access to Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud computing platform, as well as technical support and client tools under development.
William Jessup University, a small, private residential college in Rockville, CA, outside Sacramento, has adopted a new Web-based administrative system for managing its student lifecycle processes.
Pearson has introduced a new service targeted at K-12 schools and colleges and universities that want to help their instructors develop skills for teaching online.
Three higher ed tech experts discuss technology trends for the year ahead, citing increased mobile and wireless access and cloud computing among them. But are campuses also in for a little bit of a return to the "basics" in the coming year?
Amazon Web Services this week launched the beta of a programmable and purportedly scalable hosted Domain Name System service aimed at letting users of its cloud services create, modify and delete DNS zone files.
Indiana University’s enterprise licensing agreement with Adobe has made possible free, ubiquitous access to industry-standard digital tools for its 100,000-plus students, faculty, and staff. This strategy of “abundance” allows students to develop relevant professional skills, creates a standardized technology environment faculty can depend on for innovative course design, and ramps up workplace technology for campus staff.
Eastern Illinois University has reported a 70 percent reduction in help desk calls a year after switching network access control applications.
Red Hat this week said it has acquired Makara, a provider of software that will help the open source software provider accelerate the build-out its cloud services.
Google last week announced Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, a service that will let individuals synchronize and share their documents with Google Docs.
Exinda has updated ExOS, the operating system that runs on its application acceleration appliances. Exinda's technology helps IT administrators monitor and prioritize network traffic and control network access in order to improve application performance.
Introducing a completely wireless laptop campus brought a new set of challenges for this Michigan university's IT team.
Nearly a million more students were taking at least one online course in the United States during the fall 2009 term than the previous year. That dramatic growth rate is about 10 times higher than the growth rate of the overall higher education student population. But, according to researchers, "... the time of unbridled growth may be ending."
The Executive Director of The Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL.org), the professional association for the world portfolio community, presents a preliminary report on the current status of global portfolios, the development of a new portfolio-inspired field of inquiry, and the surprising variety of uses academics are discovering for portfolio technology.
Saybrook University, an online graduate school in San Francisco and Kirkland, WA, is adopting an online student information system (SIS) to replace a legacy program that the institution had outgrown.
HP has launched a set of applications for high definition (HD) videoconferencing using technology from Vidyo, fulfilling a product plan originally publicized in June 2010.
Lexington Theological Seminary has introduced technology into its online classes that allows students and faculty to interact via video and audio.
A new working group dominated by IT representatives from higher education is tackling the problems and solutions of running WiFi networks that need to support a dramatic proliferation of wireless devices on campus and in business.
Trent Batson asks why, while higher education institutions have made many changes to offer an updated campus environment and bring themselves “in tune” with the times, they still maintain what he calls a “voodoo education” model in teaching and learning that harkens back to 19th century classoom practices.
Meraki has released a couple of new access points (APs) in its 802.11n family, boosting performance and lowering cost.
Forty-four percent of colleges and universities in the United States have restructured their online education programs in the last two years. And, according to new research, 59 percent will restructure them in the coming two years.
Campus Technology talks with Susan Metros about some of the topics she’ll present in her live keynote at the upcoming CT virtual event (November 18, 2010). Metros offers her views on both why and how IT leaders should strive to understand teaching and learning principles at their institutions more fully, and to support them--and today’s students as “mobile, global, and digital citizens”--more directly in IT strategic plans.
Desire2Learn is integrating Microsoft's Live@edu service into its Learning Suite, an educational software package that includes a learning management system, electronic portfolio, learning repository, and analytics tool.
According to new research, energy efficiency is more important to college and university IT managers than ever. About three-quarters of all campuses have a program in place or in development to reduce energy consumption in IT, and most of those have already begun seeing cost savings from their efforts. But barriers to more widespread energy efficiency initiatives remain.
What do you do with an aging IT infrastructure that's preventing your school from accomplishing its technology goals? If you're American International College's CIO, you tear down the whole thing and start from scratch.
Dell this week said it will acquire Boomi, which operates a service designed to simplify the integration of cloud services with premises-based infrastructure.
A major share of creativity and innovation in our country, both from our universities and elsewhere, occurs “on” the Web. But what is built on the Web has no rebars in its foundation, indeed, often no physical foundation--such as offices--at all.
Adobe this week launched Connect 8, an update to the company's Web conferencing tool designed for online teaching, group collaboration, and remote meetings and presentations.
Microsoft is working with three organizations in Europe to broaden researcher access to cloud resources. The company has announced that it's working with Europe's VENUS- consortium, France's INRIA, and the University of Nottingham Horizon Institute.
Extreme Networks has launched a set of gigabit Ethernet switches to address the rising mobility and virtualization requirements of campus and data center networks.
Arizona State University is making a giant leap with its online program, with ambitions to grow enrollment tenfold.
Handling the many wireless devices that must access a campus WiFi network at once is a common challenge in higher education, where the increasing proliferation of wireless devices can raise capacity issues.
Microsoft recently announced a partnership with Cloud.com to help integrate its commercial hypervisor into the open source OpenStack project.
What will a "post-PC world" look like? Ray Ozzie, renowned for jumpstarting Microsoft's move to the cloud, described a new vision for such an environment in a memo posted this week.
Two institutions--Northern Arizona and The Master's College--have both added network access control (NAC) technology from Impulse Point, replacing their legacy systems.
Colorado State University's engineering department has taken its labs online to augment classroom activities and help students get their assignments done while away from campus.
As part of a classroom renovation project, Ball State University has upgraded its video production systems. The teleplex initiative includes a transition to digital production in its three classroom studios that handle production services for distance learning courses.
Purdue University will be one of the early recipients of Verizon Wireless' rollout of a 4G network starting this year.
Purdue University is in the beta testing phase of an application that taps into data from course management, student information, and gradebook systems to predict how well a student is performing in a course.
The LMS is an enterprise-wide and critical platform, but it has mostly remained unconnected to the cloud and to the social Web. But now a new management platform, plugjam from CommonNeed, turns the LMS into a truly seamless member of the Web.
Arizona State has entered its fourth academic year of having students use Google Apps for Education to do e-mail, documents, presentation, and collaboration work. Those who have been part of the journey said they believe the change has had an impact greater just the technology in use.
Siemon, a company that produces network cabling, has confirmed adherence of its twisted-pair and optical fiber products to the new IEEE standard 802.3ba-2010, which lays out two new Ethernet speeds, 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps.
An Iowa community college is taking a four-pronged approach to using technology as a retention-boosting tool for its expanding distance learning program.
As part of their virtualized infrastructure strategy, network security and IT virtualization teams at Bryant University have implemented a Network Access Control (NAC) virtualization deployment with VMware.
Avenda Systems will shortly be rolling out enhancements to eTIPS, its network access control appliance. Expected in early November 2010, the updates include OnGuard, a set of network access agents, and enhanced features in the company's guest management application.
Aruba Networks has released a new operating system for its 802.11n wireless controllers and access points. ArubaOS 6.0 is designed to improve over-the-air reliability and security for campus customers that need to manage high-density wireless usage environments. The company has also developed user guides for deploying WiFi in high-density settings and managing Apple iPads.
Academic institutions in the United States are spending more than $5 billion annually on wireless hardware, software, and services. And, according to new research, that figure will climb to $6.8 billion by 2014.
The 2010-2011 school year brought with it brand new WiFi access to residence halls and other buildings at Springfield College. CIO Dann Davis described the overhaul as quick and painless and said his school is now focusing on using the network to layer in new technologies while keeping an eye on potential security threats.
Three of the more populous campuses in the massive California State University system are shifting their mail and document collaboration to a cloud-based solution for students, faculty, and alumni.
Human capital management has been slow to catch on at academic universities. But the economic downturn and the need to keep high-performing employees may be changing all that.
San Jacinto College in Texas has begun work on a five-year, $5 million project to upgrade its network infrastructure and introduce voice over IP to its three campuses.
Scientists in Japan will be gaining free access to cloud computing resources in a joint grant program set up between Microsoft and Japan's National Institute of Informatics. The initiative is part of a project being promoted by the institute to encourage researchers to explore the use of the cloud for supporting data retrieval from new kinds of information systems that require high performance computing.
Single-source vendor relationships can hamper an institution's ability to collect the kind of business intelligence it needs to track student retention. But it's not always possible to go the third-party route.
Moving a university's mission-critical ID management solution to the cloud requires something of a leap of faith. For Coppin State University, the leap also required a hands-on, several-months-long proof of concept with a trusted vendor to convince the small university that the solution would work.
A public university with nearly 315,000 students has implemented a new wireless infrastructure in its law school.
The University of Massachusetts Systems Office has implemented an application to monitor uptime and security of its network.
Microsoft announced some new milestones for its browser-based Office Web Applications.
Coppin State University has moved its identity management function off of its own servers and onto a hosted version of software from the same vendor.
Cloud computing services accounted for 12.5 percent of overall IT budgets, according to a research report released by Gartner.
The right combination of wireless network hardware and network access control software has freed the IT crew at this small college to focus on user demands other than access problems.
Windows HPC Server 2008 R2, launched Monday, has been optimized for 1,000 node, up from a previous limit of 256 nodes.
A cloud computing strategy helps Westmont College do more with less. CIO Reed Sheard says that by integrating cloud-based applications with internal systems, the college has been able to succeed with several new initiatives while keeping existing staffing levels.
Georgia State University in Atlanta, which expected 31,000 students on campus this fall, will be upgrading its switches to 10 gigabit Ethernet.
Web-based middleware maker MuleSoft yesterday unveiled a new version of its enterprise service bus (ESB), Mule ESB 3.0 Community.
Nearly a third of college students reported that their parents or guardians would be "very upset" to know how little they actually attend classes in person. The reason: They're watching the courses through streaming video instead.
We’ve been predicting a technology revolution for decades, and actually, it happened 5 years ago. We are now past the tipping point. As the revolution gathers momentum, many higher education institutions are clean-sheet redesigning teaching, learning, assessment, and career development. The 10 rules in this article suggest the depth of change that’s occurring on campus.
A company affiliated with National University and other institutions within the National University System has extended a contract to continue its use of Pearson's Web-based learning management system for an additional five years.
Bryan College, a career college in Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas, will be implementing a student lifecycle management application at its three campuses, one that's being delivered as an online service.
Datatel will soon be offering integrated functionality for its higher ed human resources application to provide applicant tracking management.
As more institutions of higher education turn to software-as-a-service (Saas) or cloud computing options as alternatives to traditional purchase-and-install software, a growing number of challenges are cropping up.
Spurred by students’ voracious appetites for smartphones and broadband mobile devices, demand for wireless service and bandwidth-intensive mobile applications has grown dramatically at Texas A&M University. Faced with this challenge, the university had two alternatives: deploy new microcell sites for each operator, or deploy a shared network of Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS). Texas A&M’s solution provides a glimpse into the communications challenges that many universities face today.
Polycom, a company that sells collaboration tools for video and voice, has approved remote worker technology from Aruba Networks to work on its systems.
Microsoft received a "strong positive" rating in a study of e-mail system vendors by Gartner, which was released in mid-August.
Teaching and learning in higher ed have advanced incrementally alongside rapid changes in technology. Is it time for some radical shifts?
As more higher ed institutions turn to different outsourcing models--traditional, cloud-based, or consortial--IT leaders must manage, monitor, and integrate technology solutions from all directions.
Students are moving away from their institutions in terms of their online “center.” They engage independently in learning conversations using applications of their own choosing, and they create their own digital identity--all without using campus-based technology.
In a move aimed at extending its Open Cloud infrastructure, Citrix Systems Inc. has agreed to acquire VMLogix Inc.
In order to give a much-needed boost to campus tech support, Central Michigan University's IT department mobilized an interdepartmental team of experts to evaluate and implement a system that has delivered greater efficiency and expanded IT's reach well beyond its previous capabilities.
OutSystems has released version 5.1 of its Agile Platform, featuring "1 Click" provisioning designed to help developers quickly get projects up and running on Amazon's EC2 cloud computing service.
As information technology brings us a mind-numbing array of options for mobile learning experiences and communications, an age-old tension between two different visions of learning--content delivery versus discovery learning--intensifies. Along with this, our modern discussions of “student-centered learning” are moving into a more strategic realm.
Most Internet users have long been aware that the actual download speeds they get from their Internet connections are somewhat slower than advertised.
As part of an effort to expand its distance learning offerings, the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff will be converting class materials to online curriculum with the use of CM Group's Luminosity e-learning authoring system.
In an effort to boost its online services, Contractors State License Services (CSLS), a California firm specializing in adult education for prospective contractors as well as construction professionals, has launched a new portal and information tracking system for improving student management.
Iowa Valley Community College District is working on its first year retention efforts through a new program that includes the use of services from EducationDynamics.
Sistema University Ana G. Mendez in Puerto Rico will be implementing a new WiFi infrastructure on its three campuses and 15 satellite centers.
Brigham Young University-Hawaii is shifting to an appliance-based system for controlling access to its wireless network bandwidth.
North Carolina State University has begun using data analytics software from IBM to identify potential investors for its technologies and scientific advancements.
While the rest of the world will experience increases in education IT spending this year, in the United States, information technology will be flat through the end of 2010. But, according to research firm Gartner, growth will resume in 2011 and continue at least through 2014.
Google and Verizon this week issued a statement on United States broadband policy, describing an approach that would permit differentiated services.
Walters State Community College leverages its distance learning capabilities to reach out to high schools across Tennessee.
Oracle has released an update of its Enterprise Pack for Eclipse 11g, extending its support to more Fusion Middleware components, for the latest Eclipse 3.6 "Helios" release and for Java Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE) tools.
Microsoft used the occasion of a recent open source conference to advance its vision of an open cloud by breaking it down into four basic principles.
At the CT2010 Executive Summit on July 19 in Boston, the morning session was dedicated to a scan of the IT environment in higher education; the afternoon would focus participants’ attention on leadership issues. Discussions suggested that the trend to exclude top IT leaders from the president’s inner strategic circle was premature and perhaps ill advised. And that CIOs who represent their jobs as primarily or exclusively maintaining IT operations may be missing significant national trends and changes.
The California State University system recently deployed Oracle's Business Intelligence (BI) Enterprise Edition on three of its 23 campuses as part of an ambitious cross-institutional project called the "Common Financial System Reporting and Data Warehouse."
Remington College, a confederation of private career colleges, has deployed campus wireless networks that are managed centrally through a cloud-based service.
Ohio's Board of Regents will be working with Blackboard in developing a program to host distance learning courses in the state. Chancellor Eric Fingerhut chose Blackboard's consulting team to build a new, statewide digital learning clearinghouse that will provide a common platform for online courses.
Not many mannequins have their own Twitter accounts. But for a week in February 2010, more than 90 nurse educators followed Stanley Sim, a mannequin in the Duke University (NC)School of Nursing’s simulation lab, as he tweeted about love, Duke basketball, pulled pork sandwiches, and the cardiac care he was receiving for chest pains.
Three university programs have acquired an application from Hyland Software to manage documents and streamline workflow.
An online university that offers tuition-free education is teaming up with an organization that works to make computer labs available to young people in developing countries.
The Wroclaw University of Technology will be working with IBM Poland to develop a cloud computing center in that country.
Exinda, maker of computer networking optimization devices and associated software, has released a new network appliance designed to address bandwidth problems in large-volume educational networks, as well as ExOS 5.5, the latest software platform version for use with the appliance and other devices in the company's "x60" series.
Videoconferencing has been promoted as a way for classes to meet during storms and pandemics. It has provided a way for students to get instruction from experts around the world. But at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis the technology has also helped sustain an academic degree that might otherwise not have survived.
Faculty members and campus IT staff aren't exactly in agreement on the necessity of some technologies in education. According to a new survey, some of the key differences in perception are in the areas of virtual education and online collaboration, though those aren't the only differences. On the whole, IT places a much higher importance on technology than educators themselves.
Addressing one of the key objectives of cloud computing, Microsoft this week said its Windows Azure platform will be available as an appliance that can run on customer and partner premises.
Beginning this fall Washington State University will accept freshmen into its four-year fully online degree programs. Previously, the Pullman institution has offered its online-only classes to adult students who wanted to finish their degrees.
The University of Missouri has received an equipment grant from IBM to bolster its computational and storage capabilities for bioinformatics research. The grant will add an additional 64 processors and 24 terabytes of storage to the cluster resources run by the Columbia-based university's Bioinformatics Consortium.
Two universities--one in India and the other in Thailand--have replaced legacy networks with wireless networks running Aruba Networks components.
Columbia Southern University has gone public with an implementation of a program it put into place at the end of 2009 to monitor availability and bandwidth of its network.
The national broadband plan promoted in March by the Federal Communications Commission just received a federal boost. A group of national research and education networking organizations will be the recipients of $62.5 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
IT support at Brown University is spending the summer migrating its campus community to Google Apps for Education. The university projected that the move could save a million dollars a year.
Perhaps, like Northern Michigan University, you have a lot of commuter students who need affordable internet service. You could, like NMU, turn that unused spectrum into a broadband network that benefits not only your students, but the surrounding community.
Mississippi University for Women, a public university in Columbus, has launched a new independent online college catering to working professionals seeking to complete degrees, adult learners needing to acquire or update skills, and community college students who want to finish their four-year degrees.
Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville has implemented a major campus network upgrade that will support community networking as well.
The challenges of managing information technology are weighing ever more heavily on in-house IT departments across all sectors. Coupled with the economic difficulties of the last couple years, these challenges are pushing IT in some profoundly new directions, according to research firm Gartner, which said the result is a notable swing toward cloud-based services that's expected to fuel unprecedented growth in cloud computing over the next several years.
A flashy new videoconferencing technology is making distance learners at a Wisconsin college forget they're not face-to-face with their distant classmates and instructor.
Organizations should start experimenting with Web apps from Google, Microsoft and other software companies.
Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, MD has introduced a Web program to allow students to check their readiness for taking online classes.
Ohio's Miami University is using software it already had on hand as part of a successful business intelligence program, one that's designed to help boost enrollment and contain costs.
Our Lady of the Lake University has launched a new 30-credit hour program that allows students to earn an online master's degree in computer information systems and security that has been certified by the National Security Agency.
Chicago State University, a public university in Illinois with a campus community of 7,200, will be implementing a new infrastructure monitoring platform for its IT operations.
A community college in Illinois has added an academic partnership with one of the world's largest online universities to its transfer options. Students at Joliet Junior College will be able to transfer credits and receive reduced tuition from Capella University, a for-profit institution that specializes in online degree programs for working adults.
A small junior college in West Virginia has launched a pilot program that combines the open source learning management system Moodle with the immersive virtual world Second Life. The combination has allowed distance learners to create an avatar in Second Life and attend classes through the virtual world. It's proved highly popular, and, though in the early stages yet, the indication is that it's helping to build a connection between Huntington Junior College and its non-traditional student base.
Collaborative technologies like video and telepresence aren't just changing they way people work, learn, and communicate. They're also having an enormous impact on networks and will, in the near future, force radical changes in architecture, according to Cisco's Marthin de Beer, who delivered the opening keynote address at the InfoComm 2010 conference Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Open-source middleware maker WSO2 has launched an open source cloud platform that should be of interest to enterprise Java developers. Called Stratos, it's a fully hosted application platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for building and deploying apps and services "with instant provisioning of enterprise servers, including the portal, enterprise service bus (ESB) and application server."
Arizona State University will begin a fully online bachelor of science degree in criminology and criminal justice next fall.
The real innovation in higher education IT is not the technology itself. This may seem obvious now, but it wasn't in the past. It's a recent revelation that comes with changes in the roles of IT staff and faculty in innovation with technology for teaching and learning and in IT organizations and departments on campus.
In an era when Google ranks almost daily as the most-visited website in the world, the question has to arise for any higher education institution: Why create digital repositories?
For many years now, college campuses have been providing public-access printers, a practice that has unquestionably been a boon to students. But there’s a financial and environmental cost to this campus convenience: Anytime/anywhere printing can lead to major paper waste.
The university that distributes iPhones to students--Abilene Christian University--is adapting its network access and security strategy to deal with an ever-increasing volume of mobile devices on campus.
Spoon River College in Illinois has gone public with deployment of a wireless network that includes a network loop connecting four campuses dozens of miles apart.
Marist College’s Director of Academic Technology and eLearning, a Campus Technology 2010 keynoter, talked with CT about potential disruptive changes ahead that may not only alter how we use technology for teaching and learning, but might turn higher education infrastructure on its ear.
Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma replaced the core aspects of its legacy networking infrastructure over the course of a weekend as part of an effort to simplify network management.
Ed tech company it's learning is adding Microsoft Office Web Apps and Outlook Live to its electronic learning platform.
Brescia University has deployed a new network access control appliance to allow IT staff to manage access to network resources without configuring permissions manually.
Network breaches represent the foremost nightmare scenario for IT pros, according to a new cross-sector industry report.
Abilene Christian University in Texas is receiving an infusion of nearly $2 million to expand its mobile learning programs, including a mobile technology research program, an experimental lab, and a K-12 teacher professional development initiative.
American Public University System has begun implementing the open source Sakai learning management system (LMS) to replace a platform built on Ucompass' Educator.
On May 14, 2010 a team of students from the University of Michigan will get into a 2011 Ford Fiesta, loaded with an application they've developed, and drive out of Ann Arbor to hit Maker Faire, a do-it-yourself festival in San Mateo, CA. The students are the winners of a competition set up in a three-month computer science class titled "Cloud Computing in the Commute."
Although more than 95 percent of organizations expect to maintain or grow their use of software as a service (SaaS), 30 percent of enterprises using SaaS have renegotiated their terms before the end of the initial contract period.
There seem to be two camps when it comes to supporting Apple's iPad on campus: those rushing to adopt the device on a massive scale and those who want nothing to do with it. Timothy M. Chester, CIO and vice provost for academic administration at Pepperdine University, suggests a third possible approach, one that may benefit to students without cutting into limited resources.
The center of technology activity in academia has moved from the computer center to the faculty. and, now, after more than 30 years since the microcomputer took technology outside the computer center, it is moving to the students themselves. No, not texting and Twittering but students using learning management tools whose primary clients are students. What impact will this market shift have?
SciQuest has announced the availability of HigherMarkets Express for Banner.
Stony Brook University in New York has deployed a passive optical network (PON) in its Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology.
The increased availability and use of open educational resources (OER) may complicate assessment, but assessment methods such as student commentary may help.
For a short period during April, Princeton University set a policy recommending that Apple iPad users not connect to the campus wireless network on threat of having their devices banned. The policy was put in place shortly after iPads began turning up on campus at the beginning of April and experienced problems accessing the network.
A broader kind of campus IT leadership is needed in the digital age, one that not only encompasses "technology" innovation but also rethinks higher education's entire learning ecology.
Google has updated its codebase, adding features to its Google Docs online suite of applications that make them richer and more collaborative.
Fluke Networks has released a handheld device for troubleshooting wireless networks. The AirCheck WiFi Tester lets users verify and troubleshoot 802.11a/b/g/n network availability, connectivity, channel usage, and security settings.
Students who live at this residential university in New York seem to think they have the right to treat the campus network as if it were no different from the connection they have at home. And that's the way it should be, according to Rick Coloccia, SUNY Geneseo network manager.
ePortfolios have been used widely in recent years for institutional assessment, but now academic ePortfolios have finally "arrived."
Citrix has released versions of its GoToMeeting and Receiver applications for iPad. Both are available now at no charge.
Despite budgetary barriers, Campus IT leaders aren't lowing their sights; rather, they're targeting projects that are ambitious, forward-looking, and broad in scope. Campus Technology talked with some of them to get a sense of the kinds of projects they'll be implementing this year.
In and effort to reduce server expense and lab set-up time, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York has moved its virtual operations to the cloud in a number of IT courses.
Houston Community College is giving their students more flexibility while taking some of the enrollment pressures off Texas universities. Campus Technology speaks with Houston Community College's Vice Chancellor for Information Technology, William E. Carter, about flexible, online programs--in particular, HCC's Ready When You Are.
After almost a year of development that included holding 36 public workshops in person and online and reading through 23,000 public comments, the Federal Communications Commission has released its national broadband plan with a formal report to Congress. Calling high-speed Internet access "indispensable for the 21st century, the foundation for our economy, the foundation for our democracy in the digital age," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski declared the plan "ambitious but achievable."
Extending upon the private cloud offerings launched last year, IBM is the latest major player to launch a commercial hosted service.
The University of Tennessee System will be linking to and using a new 10-gigabit IP network core built by AT&T for the state of Tennessee. The system will be expanding its use of NetTN, a custom-built virtual private network begun in 2008, to connect its five campuses statewide.
With the Internet antics of 54,000 students and 3,000 faculty and staff members, security analyst Brandon Johnson at Salt Lake Community College can easily chew up a day to figure out whose computer on campus is doing the dirty work of a botnet or what user was logged into a particular computer at a given time when law enforcement or HR comes calling.
CA Inc. has agreed to acquire Nimsoft, a closely held provider of system, network, and cloud network monitoring tools targeted at small and mid-sized enterprises, for $350 million in cash.
One of the largest public universities in Brazil is beefing up its wireless infrastructure. The network at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil hosts 41,000 computers and thousands of other devices in use by 80,000 students and 6,000 faculty members on seven campuses.
The University of Illinois is being forced to take a hard look at its IT expenditures in the wake of state budget cuts.
The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA has deployed an 802.11n wireless network that doesn't require a controller in a newly constructed building on campus.
Traditionally, undergraduate education has prepared students with background knowledge for entry into a field or for graduate school, rather than focusing on current and specific job-related skills. In an economy that has turned sour, that emphasis may have to change.
The Keystone Initiative for Network-Based Education and Research (KINBER) is embarking on a statewide initiative to increase delivery of broadband throughout Pennsylvania. Known as the Pennsylvania Research and Education Network (PennREN), the project has attracted about $130 million in combined federal and private funding. KINBER is a coalition of Pennsylvania colleges and universities, research and healthcare organizations, and economic development entities.
The University of Washington will be giving feedback to Microsoft on two identity federation options the company is planning to introduce as part of its cloud services. The initiative is intended to help institutions collaborate securely with external partners. The university will also be one of the first to roll out a federated identify solution with Microsoft on Live@edu.
A Chinese university has upgraded its wireless networking to 802.11n across multiple campuses, moving to a system that will better support its Mac OS X systems and provide greater wireless coverage. For the deployment, the university used WiFi gear from Aruba Networks.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is moving to Meraki wireless gear in its Stata Center. The Cambridge, MA institution will deploy 80 Meraki MR14 access points in "Building 32," a simultaneously angular and curving 720,000-square foot structure that houses the university's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), along with the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, and the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy.
Carnegie Mellon University has opened up one of its computing clusters to others involved in a research project on cloud computing. The university's School of Computer Science is the latest research institution to host a site as part of Open Cirrus, a global, open-source test bed for the advancement of cloud computing research and education.
To help IT pros automate the provisioning and management of services deployed to the recently released Windows Azure cloud offering, Microsoft has released a new version of its Windows Azure Service Management (WASM) Cmdlets for PowerShell.
IBM will be opening up its software portfolio online to academia to enable faculty to incorporate technology into their curricula. The company said it's working with 20 United States colleges and universities to help them use a new "academic skills cloud" that includes both software and courseware. IBM said it expects to add additional schools over time.
Java clustering infrastructure provider Terracotta recently joined forces with Eucalyptus Systems, a provider of cloud computing management software, to allow large enterprises to provision clouds on the Amazon-compatible Eucalyptus cloud platform.
The California State University is launching a major campaign to drive down the cost of learning resources for students while offering greater access to no- or low-cost academic content for faculty. The campaign, Affordable Learning Solutions, builds on the rapid emergence of high-quality, digitally delivered content, and on the CSU’s long history as a national leader and innovator in this area.
Provo, UT-based Brigham Young University has received a donation of $110,000 worth of Brocade FastIron WS Series and Edge X Series network switches from Red Sky IT Solutions. The network switches will replace outdated equipment in the classroom labs of Fulton College of Engineering and Technology as well as within the university's network infrastructure.
Vancouver Community College has completed a deployment of Enterasys network solutions in a 60,000 square-foot health sciences educational facility on the college's main campus.
Academic researchers can now apply for free access to Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud services. The company's Research division announced the program Thursday in a joint press conference with the National Science Foundation (NSF), which will act as gatekeeper between researchers and the service.
Information technology has taken us well beyond the collection-and-search of information archives. Educators should consider how they will respond to an era in which the teaching and learning conversations must center not around pre-existing, "finished" and past-tense information, but around information that is currently being created in the "continuous tense."
Microsoft's Windows Azure and SQL Azure cloud services are now generally available, ending the free test period for those who signed up for commercial accounts last month.
Rochester Institute of Technology in New York has installed a new wireless network in an effort to beef up access to collaborative technologies and to distribute educational materials and replays of major campus events. For the deployment, RIT used Cisco 802.11n wireless gear and Cisco VideoStream.
With its acquisition of Sun Microsystems complete, Oracle intends to go after Microsoft's lucrative Office franchise, the company revealed yesterday. While Oracle had been quiet about its intentions for supporting Sun OpenOffice, the company disclosed plans for a forthcoming upgrade called Oracle Cloud Office during a five-hour briefing at its Redwood Shores, CA headquarters.
With its acquisition of Sun Microsystems completed, Oracle Wednesday laid out its plans for integrating Sun's software and hardware systems into its own product lineup.
As anticipated, Apple formally unveiled its new mobile device, the $499 iPad, Wednesday, heralding the company's entry into the space currently dominated by netbooks and its first serious move into the category of electronic book readers.
Northern Virginia Community College's VP for Instructional and Information Technology Steve Sachs offers some advice for institutions as he comments on how technology can help achieve the goals of the American Graduation Initiative.
Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia has begun using new IP gear from Brocade to expand its digital bandwidth to serve a global student population.
Worldwide IT spending and IT department budgets across public and private sectors are set to make something of a comeback following 2009's drastic declines. Further, all major segments in IT are expected to see positive growth in 2010, according to two separate reports released this week by market research firm Gartner Inc.
In an experiment that stretches nearly six years, a psychology professor has found that student response systems ramp up engagement.
Lawrence Technological University upgraded its wireless network with 802.11n WiFi arrays.
Microsoft plans to continue to operate its search service in China, despite Google's recent suggestions that it might exit that market owing to Chinese government censorship practices.
VMware said Tuesday that it's acquiring Zimbra from Yahoo, extending VMware's reach beyond system virtualization.
Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard this week disclosed a $250 million, three-year partnership to develop and market next-generation datacenter technology and application infrastructure that combines virtualization, system management, and cloud computing.
Aruba Networks has gone public with details about the next version of its AirWave wireless management platform, including increased functionality to manage mobile devices on a wireless network. The next release is expected in March 2010.
Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA has replaced its wireless networking gear with wireless access points (APs) from Meraki in a 150,000 square foot computer science building.
IT staff at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA are blaming a hacker who wanted to store and share video files on a computer network for creating a security breach that could potentially have affected up to 130,000 people.
If you're hesitant to get an outside assessment of your security setup because of what it might uncover, the case of Meredith College proves that all it takes is finding the right partner for the job.
Following a multi-year effort, Northwestern University in Illinois has deployed wireless gear throughout its residential housing and at other spots on two campuses.
Louisiana State University (LSU) has joined the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Harvard University as the first institutions in the United States to enable eduroam, or education roaming.
Black Box, which sells communications and networking products, has released a new set of network access control (NAC) appliances.
The University of South Florida, with 47,000 students on four campuses, said it expects to collect $3.2 million in technology fees for the first semester in which the new annual assessment has been in place. For the year, the university said, it expects to bring in $6 million, which will be used to enhance institutional technology system-wide for students and faculty.
Michigan State University in East Lansing has deployed an antenna system from ADC to support current mobile voice and data traffic and enable an easy transition to long-term evolution (LTE) or "3.9G" services support. The university's 5,200-acre campus, which has 553 buildings, is surrounded by macro cell towers; but those don't provide adequate service for the dense user population; nor do they fully penetrate campus facilities.
Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH recently completed a project to bring free WiFi to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), which has 12 million visitors annually. The university worked on the initiative with OneCommunity, a non-profit organization that serves Northern Ohio by connecting public and nonprofit institutions to the region's fiber-optic network.
The American Graduation Initiative sets out a goal for the United States to have the greatest proportion of college graduates of any country in the world by 2020. CT explored related issues for community college leaders and asked Maui Community College Chancellor Clyde Sakamoto how technology-related workforce development might factor into achieving the goals of the new initiative.
Caltron has introduced the MP-1080AW and MP-1080HW digital signage media players. The newest models add the option to send high definition content wirelessly to the digital signage.
One of the biggest expenses with a new wireless network can be the controllers. After all, for every 50, 100, or 200 access points--the number of APs a controller can handle varies widely, depending on the network type and the vendor, among other things--you need another wireless controller. That single item might run $25,000 or more, punching a significant hole in a wireless budget.
Where should innovation in learning technology take place? In the case of early, pioneering efforts in the use of technology for instruction, many teaching faculty stepped forward and took the lead. But now, given the proliferation of technology, should innovation be charged to the central IT organizations? Or, perhaps we should ask instead, should the pendulum swing even more toward faculty innovation?
Adobe has expanded the features of its online collaboration tool, Acrobat.com. The new features, rolled out Nov. 21, include mobile support, organizational improvements, and Flickr and Google Image integration, among other enhancements.
Wayne State University (WSU) will provide the technical, strategic, and systems support to provide high-speed WiMax and WiFi Internet access for residents in two low-income Detroit neighborhoods.
The Los Rios Community College District, with four colleges in the Sacramento, CA area, has deployed wireless gear from Motorola. With 80,000 students the district wanted to provide a network that could accommodate the increasing use of notebook computers and wireless devices across the campuses, including all buildings, outdoor areas, and sport venues.
If you could have a choice between a 'teacherless classroom,' where chunks of knowledge are packaged and pushed out to potential learners by technology, or a 'classroom full of teachers,' where students are included in the teaching/learning conversation via technology, which would you pick?
According to recent research, more than three-quarters of all bandwidth consumed on campus is actually taken up with applications that fall into the categories of gaming, social networking, media, file sharing, and Web browsing.
Can cloud computing live up to its hype, or is it just another empty promise designed to create demand and liberate more funds from already strapped IT budgets?
Higher education institutions are realizing the benefits of “buying local”—colleges and universities can use eProcurement applications in support of local vendors and economic inclusion, and to spur development in their region.
Purdue University is building out an 802.11n wireless network begun earlier this year. The final network will encompass more than 6,000 access points in 256 buildings across its West Lafayette campus.
Liberty University has launched a program to encode and wirelessly distribute multi-channel IP-based video (IPTV) over its high-speed 802.11n wireless LAN.
IBM has launched Cloud Academy, an online resource and collaborative forum for campus IT professionals, educators, and researchers in K-12 and higher ed. Cloud Academy is designed to help academic institutions with their cloud computing initiatives and related professional development and to provide a forum for sharing best practices.
Black Box has debuted its new Wireless Video Presentation System II, which is designed to transform wired projectors into wireless using a small 1.1-pound box.
Microsoft is using the Educause conference this week to crow about wins in the cloud computing arena--including new higher ed customers for both its Live@edu offering and its Business Productivity Online Suite.
While students and faculty seem to agree on the importance of technology in education, the two groups do not agree on how well it's being implemented. According to new research released Monday, only 38 percent of students indicated that their instructors "understand technology and fully integrate it into their classes." Students also rated that lack of understanding as "the biggest obstacle to classroom technology integration."
Wayne State University (WSU) in Wayne, MI, has announced the campus-wide implementation of MeritMail, a hosted collaboration tool that includes e-mail, calendaring, address book, document sharing, and integrated instant messaging.
New communications technologies and the Internet are fostering a move toward more distributed systems of education. Here, John Ittelson suggests that key stakeholders--faculty, legislators, administrators, students, employers, and the public--come together to help plan higher education's evolving role in a complex and changing knowledge economy.
Philips has debuted its new Wireless HDTV Link SWW1800/27, which sends 1080p signals wirelessly from source boxes and/or devices to the TV.
Moodlerooms, a Moodle service provider, has released a data exchange tool and announced two new programs: a partnership with the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute and a new partner program for the development of plugins.
Motorola has added two wireless products to its 802.11n wireless LAN SMART Branch portfolio: the sub-$500 dual-radio AP650 802.11n access point (AP) and the RFS4000 802.11n integrated services controller with an optional integrated dual-radio 802.11n access point.
In an effort to improve efficiencies, boost services, and cut costs, the University System of Ohio is moving to a cloud-based model for communications technologies. Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut shares his insights about the benefits he expects to realize from this approach.
The Arts et Metiers ParisTech, a French engineering university founded in 1780, has deployed wireless gear at 11 campus locations, linking the campus community to network resources and also providing guest Internet access to visitors.
Boise State University in Idaho, with nearly 20,000 students and 2,500 faculty and staff, has installed BlueCat Networks appliances to manage the DNS and DHCP infrastructure on the campus network.
Texas A&M University at Galveston, an island campus with about 1,650 students, has deployed a new firewall appliance from Palo Alto Networks to improve network security and control.
Aruba Networks has released a compact dual-radio AP-105 802.11n access point (AP) priced at $695, the lowest cost dual-radio 802.11n access point the company sells.
Intent on expanding its campus wireless Internet offerings to more users while also upgrading those offerings, Pennsylvania State University has launched a WiFi initiative that will expand access to visitors, simplify authentication, and remove the burden of upgrading infrastructure whenever additional bandwidth is needed.
CollegeNET has released IT Impact, a Web-based change and configuration management tool for higher education that adheres to Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standards.
The October 2009 Campus Technology podcast spotlights the impact of the economic crisis on IT professionals in higher education and explores what leaders are doing about it.
Advances in 4G cellular and roaming standards arepromising better performance and seamless interoperability.
Cloud computing is more secure than you think. Three SaaS providers explain why.
Five CIOs share their best practices for leading IT through the turbulent waters of economic crisis.
Take a walk through Iowa State University's residence halls right now and you'll be hard pressed to find a landline telephone. Next year, the phones will be even more elusive. That's because the Ames, Iowa-based university is in the process of pulling all such phones out of the dorms in favor of the cell phones that students have been carrying around with them for several years now.
Hertford Regional College in the United Kingdom has deployed Agito Networks' RoamAnywhere Mobility Router to improve phone service for staff.
The University of Rhode Island, with 19,000 students, is deploying an adaptive 802.11n WiFi network from Aruba Networks at its 1,200-acre Kingston campus.
Microsoft has commenced an invitation-only public technical preview of Microsoft Office Web Apps.
The German-Jordanian University (GJU) in Amman, Jordan will be offering a career development program to teach students how to work with Aruba Networks wireless and mobility technology.
Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2009 will get an R2 upgrade next month, according to an announcement by Microsoft earlier this week.
London Business School is revamping its wireless network to address 802.11n. Built by Aruba Networks partner Pervasive Networks, the expansion will extend the current deployment of about 140 dual radio AP65 access points, which deliver 802.11a/b/g to include Aruba AP 125 dual radio access points that deliver 801.11a/b/g/n.
Northern Michigan University (NMU) in Marquette has launched a mobile WiMAX network built with Motorola wireless broadband infrastructure.
IBM has begun taking desktop computing directly to the cloud. The company this week released a virtualized client computing offering it touts as a cloud-based desktop.
"You shouldn't have to be a rocket scientist to use BI," according to John Rome of Arizona State University's office of technology. So he works to make data accessible to users of all skill levels, largely through the use of dashboards--succinct graphical summaries of information that are commonly used in business to present data to executives and managers.
The phrase "course content delivery" is familiar to us all, but its usage could stand some updating. In fact, we may be due for a millenial change in our perceptions of learning design as current technology tools offer opportunities to change teaching and learning models.
Red Hat has released a significant upgrade of its Java middleware platform consisting of an extended services-based architecture with support for numerous new programming platforms and integration with Amazon's EC2 cloud-based service.
The London-based University of Westminster has chosen a utility from Lieberman Software to manage privileged user accounts. The university will use Lieberman's Enterprise Random Password Manager (ERPM) to control access to accounts with special access to network resources on servers, workstations, and network devices.
The fifth-annual VMworld user conference gets under way this week in San Francisco with a flurry of product announcements; a schedule packed with keynotes, sessions, labs, and product demos; and a bit of controversy.
Tri-County Technical College in South Carolina has gone public with its installation of Paessler's PRTG Network Monitor, an application that has been in place since mid-2008.
ViewSonic this week launched a new pico projector, one that produces 400 lumens of brightness. The company also launched a new "wireless presentation gateway," which is designed to provide wireless connectivity to any projector or display.
The Campus Technology 2009 Executive Summit on "IT Leadership and the 21st Century Campus: Insight and Innovation," brought together campus IT leaders to discuss both technology directions and their own leadership roles. In the last C-Level View, we ran Part I of Trent Batson's reflections on the summit. Here, read Part II of the two-part commentary.
The University of South Carolina has tapped AT&T to provide WiFi access at its Columbia campus.
LeTourneau University in Longview, TX has gone public with its planned use of PacketLogic gear from Procera Networks.
InFocus recently unveiled new technology that aims to sever the cord between computer and projector.
Bank Street College of Education in New York City has selected the TippingPoint Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) to monitor for network attacks.
The Campus Technology 2009 Executive Summit on "IT Leadership and the 21st Century Campus: Insight and Innovation," brought together campus IT leaders to discuss both technology directions and their own leadership roles. Here, read Part I of Trent Batson's two-part commentary, and watch for Part II in two weeks.
Babson College has deployed Aruba Networks' AirWave Wireless Management System (AWMS) to manage the multi-vendor wireless network at its Wellesley, MA campus.
In a Web 2.0 world, language and writing skills are essential to success. But our emphasis on STEM skills means we're missing an opportunity for education. Should STEM really be STEM-L?
Ottawa University, based in Kansas, has selected XO Communications to provide a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) IP virtual private network solution for its six campuses in four states.
Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA has selected equipment from Meraki to outfit its campus-wide, indoor/outdoor 802.11n network.
The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago will be a partner on Darkstrand's 12,000-mile, 40 gigabit national fiber optic network, National LambdaRail. The lab is developing next-generation networked visualization and collaboration hardware and software technologies.
The University of San Diego has deployed eTIPS from Avenda Systems to accommodate guest activity as a component in its campus-wide network access security initiative.
Q1 Labs has enhanced its log management and auditing tool, QRadar Log Manager (formerly branded as QRadar SLIM). The product allows users to collect, analyze, and store log data from all devices, systems, and applications on a network.
The concept of an "air gap" in computing refers to the idea of isolating a computer installation to make it extraordinarily secure--so much so that it could almost be considered a closed system. While Lewis University isn't taking the design to that extreme, CTO John Dalby still uses the term to describe how he has set up the Romeoville, IL campus' wireless network to be separated from its wired counterpart.
Gavilan College has deployed Xirrus 802.11n WiFi arrays across the 150-acre campus in Gilroy, CA. The college currently consists of 200 teachers serving 7,000 students.
Chris Dede, Harvard's Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at the university's Graduate School of Education, will give the opening keynote at the Campus Technology 2009 conference in Boston this coming Tuesday, July 28 on emerging interactive media and implications for teaching and research. We asked Dede for preliminary comments based on a sampling of ideas he'll present.
West Chester University of Pennsylvania is deploying Aruba Networks' 802.11n WiFi networks at two of its newest residence halls.
There was a time when anyone could tap into the University of San Diego's campus-wide WLAN. The setup was nice for guests, passersby, and just about anyone else who could pick up the signal and start surfing the 'Net without so much as a password. It wasn't so nice for the school itself, which was essentially "giving away" a service that its own students were paying for through their tuition while also opening up its network to potential threats.
Wireless Computing has introduced a new wireless keyboard designed for classroom use, the RF-240 AES Secure Wireless Keyboard, which provides AES encryption and a 100-foot range through an RF link to its USB-based receiver.
Cymphonix has announced the release of the next version of its Cymphonix Network Composer device, a secure Web gateway appliance that sits between an organization's firewall and network switches to protect users from the growing myriad of threats posed by viruses, worms, and other insidious Web content that often "sneaks in" to networks with inadequate Internet security.
Northern Illinois University is deploying a unified communications security appliance from Sipera Systems. UC-Sec provides privacy and encryption, access control and authentication, threat mitigation, and security policy enforcement for real-time communications traffic, including voice over IP (VoIP), IP-based video, and instant messaging.
Duke University is deploying ADC's FlexWave and InterReach Fusion distributed antenna systems to improve wireless coverage and capacity across its campus in Durham, NC.
Tough economic times are not when you should retreat from IT training for your staff, according to Laurus Technologies CEO John Udelhofen. He gives five reasons why.
Delta State's president details his university's implementation of an institution-wide cost containment strategy in a challenging economy.
Virginia Union University has deployed an 802.11n solution and AirWave Wireless Management Suite at its 84-acre campus in Richmond. The university's previous network of wireless access points lacked centralized management and robust wireless performance.
Two weeks ago we began a conversation with Notre Dame's Gordon Wishon about sustainability in the data center, opening with a description of Notre Dame's virtualization strategy. Here, Wishon talks about further sustainability initiatives, with particular focus on environmental issues.
Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT will deploy 3Com's H3C core-to-edge enterprise data networking solutions throughout its three-campus network that serves about 8,000 people.
SUNY Upstate Medical University, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, has implemented AeroScout's WiFi-based asset management and temperature monitoring software.
Northern California's Sierra Community College District is deploying 802.11n high-speed WiFi and remote access point technology in the district's four campuses. Once completed, the new network will include about 230 802.11n access points, redundant master controllers, and multiple remote controllers.
Web 2.0 technologies and social software, particularly Facebook, are reversing the trends set by technologies such as the automobile. Instead of creating the dispersion of people via transportation and other recent technologies, Facebook brings people together via digital technology.
Benedict College in Columbia, SC is deploying a campus-wide, indoor/outdoor 802.11n network. Currently being rolled out across the entire 100-acre campus, the network will blanket the school to support voice, video, and data applications, according to college representatives.
The first of two conversations with Notre Dame CIO Gordon Wishon about sustainability in the data center. Here, Wishon focuses on virtualization. In two weeks, we'll complete the circle with a discussion of environmental initiatives.
Karunya University, a private university in Chennai in India, is deploying Aruba Networks' WiFi networks across its campus. The new system supports digital ink and electronic slide initiatives for classrooms and lecture halls, online exams, and campus-wide intranet and Internet access for campus users.
From our resident network pro: A network ‘health' checklist that just might save the day.
Fort Hays State University in Hays, KS recently hosted a Tiger Net Challenge in partnership with Cisco Systems. The virtual competition allowed 100 students in eight states who are taking classes in the Cisco Networking Academy to test their problem-solving abilities in real-world security and networking challenges. Participants came from both high schools and institutions of higher education.
The University of California, Berkeley recently notified students, alumni, and others that their personal information may have been stolen after hackers attacked restricted computer databases in the campus' health services center.
Sanyo this week introduced a new model in its line of LCD projectors, one that brings, for the first time, high-speed 802.11n wireless connectivity to a portable system.
With six campuses spread across California, Alliant International University was an early adopter of WiFi technology, having set up a system for students and faculty several years back. But as those users' mobile Internet usage increased, so did the school's need for a more robust, reliable system.
North Carolina's Gardner-Webb University has gone public with its deployment of a Meru Networks wireless LAN to serve as the school's platform for unified data, voice, and video communications for the next seven to 10 years.
Carnegie Mellon University has completed the upgrade of its core campus WiFi network using 802.11n equipment from Aruba Networks. As part of the university's "Wireless Andrew 2.0" upgrade, the campus has deployed 1,540 Aruba 802.11n access points and dual Aruba 6000 Mobility Controllers
The role of the CIO has existed in higher education for some 25 years, but its career path is not well defined. Wayne Brown's ongoing research, now under the guise of the Center for Higher Education Chief Information Officers Studies, attempts to uncover key trends in the CIO role in an effort to help IT leaders going forward.
The University of Cincinnati has implemented Cenzic Hailstorm to safeguard data of students, faculty, and staff. Using Hailstorm the university will be able to proactively scan all IT managed Web sites campus wide, identifying vulnerabilities and performing remediation. In addition, the university is also implementing regular testing into its software development lifecycle.
Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) recently upgraded its multi-campus network and distance-learning program with data networking technology designed by Qwest Communications International.
Being on television doubles visits to the school's Web site, Seton Hall University recently learned. That nugget of knowledge came via a Web analytics tool that Seton Hall is using to better tease out the complex patterns hidden in visits to its public-facing Web site. That information, in turn, is helping the university to better target its marketing dollars.
Genetec has updated its IP-based access control product, Synergis, as well as its IP video surveillance application, Omnicast.
Meru Networks has introduced a wireless local area network product optimized for delivering high-quality video over 802.11n networks running its System Director software.
Dan Cooke remembers the day well. It was about four years ago when a core group of IT staff members at Loyola Marymount University had decided to clean up DNS tables on the campus network. As Cooke, director of infrastructure technology and services, recalled, "Even though all the great technical minds were in the room and agreed to [the decision], it didn't get vetted by anybody else outside the group." What they hadn't remembered, he said, was that it's probably not a good idea to make a network change during finals week.
North Carolina's James Sprunt Community College and Nash Community College have implemented new wireless deployments that use Meraki gear. In both cases, the colleges had small budgets and needed to outfit campuses where buildings were widely spread.
The Bluetooth SIG has formally adopted the Bluetooth Core Specification Version 3.0 High Speed, also known as Bluetooth 3.0.
Silicon Valley's San Jose City College and Evergreen Valley College have implemented a new high-performance wireless network from Meru Networks, turning every indoor space on campus into a "wireless hot zone" for Internet access.
Liberty University has upgraded the WiFi network at its 5,000-acre campus in Lynchburg, VA with Aruba Networks equipment. The university has 123 buildings totaling 2.9 million square feet of facilities, 42,000 local and distance-learning students, and about 2,600 full-time employees.
Langston University has overhauled its network infrastructure in an effort to support students across multiple locations, as well as distance learning students.
IBM announced today that it is collaborating with 250-plus universities in 50 countries to promote Service Science Management and Engineering (SSME) curriculum, with the ultimate goal of creating solutions for a "Smarter Planet." SSME is designed to produce students with the divergent combination of skills required--in business, technology, and social sciences--to work with complex systems and networks like the energy grid or water management. CT asked Jim Spohrer, IBM's director of Global University Programs, for more details.
Lewis University, a private school in Romeoville, IL, has deployed an extensive Motorola wireless network to provide coverage in classrooms, outdoor sporting arenas, and an airport adjacent to the campus.
China's Southwest Jiaotong University will develop and deploy its wireless campus network using 3Com's H3C enterprise wireless equipment. H3C is a China-based subsidiary of 3Com. Once completed, the campus wireless network may be the largest in the country.
Students at New York's Farmingdale State College now have access to high-speed wireless Internet access in their dormitories, library, and classrooms using a campus-wide IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0 wireless LAN from Meru Networks.
Colorado State University has deployed a Xirrus 802.11n WiFi array in several buildings on its Fort Collins campus. The gear is being deployed at the newly constructed Computer Science Building, Morgan Library, Andrew G. Clark Building, and Academic Learning Center.
Seven colleges and universities have gone public with their adoption of Rapid7 NeXpose security software. The University of Pennsylvania, Virginia Tech, Weill Cornell Medical College, University of Miami, Norwich University, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Mary Washington are now leveraging NeXpose to locate, assess, and eliminate vulnerabilities across networks, Web applications, servers, and databases.
With 12 controllers and nearly 1,500 access points dotted across its 180-acre campus, the University of San Diego's 802.11n and a/b/g wireless network just might be one of the densest in the country. Coverage certainly isn't lacking anywhere on the sunny urban campus, where distinctive Spanish-style buildings with red clay roof tiles dot the hilltop university just outside downtown San Diego.
Selecting audiovisual systems is seldom easy for higher education institutions. Determining who needs to do what, where they need to do it, how to make it happen, and how not to spend a fortune doing it require a lot of know-how and planning. Designing a brand new building complicates matters further. Yet a new build also brings opportunities to get the most out of the audiovisual systems.
Kaltman Creations has introduced AirSleuth Pro Bundle V2 to its line of radio frequency (RF) spectrum analyzers. Priced at $465, the software includes AirSleuth, a 2.4 GHz RF spectrum analyzer, and AirHorn, a 2.4 GHz, 11-channel signal generator.
Prism Microsystems, which sells security information and event log management technology, has released EventTracker Pulse, a free search engine for log data that provides system administrators with network-wide information.
Colorado State University is deploying 802.11n WiFi throughout several buildings at its Fort Collins, CO campus, with plans for expansion in 2010.
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland is replacing stand-alone wireless access points(APs) on its campus with a centrally controlled wireless network. Theuniversity, known in Polish as Uniwersytet Miko_aja Kopernika (UMK), is usingequipment Meru Networks to provide secure wireless Internet access.
Centralized presentation control systems enable IT support staff to monitor equipment and assist end users more efficiently.
Q1 Labs has updated QRadar, its network security management application. QRadar version 6.2 ramps up on automated capabilities, expanded reports, and additional functionality to speed implementation.
Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, AL has deployed a firewall from SonicWall to protect its campus network. The network consists of about 1,000 college-owned Windows-based systems and 200 network laser printers, serving faculty, administration, and multiple academic labs.
LeftHand Networks, an HP company, has released an entry-level storage area network (SAN) solution aimed at organizations implementing virtualized server environments.
Security vendor Finjan has announced an upgrade to its unified Web security appliance. Secure Web Gateway 9.2 combines multi-layered Web security, data leakage prevention (DLP), content caching, application control, URL filtering, and Web 2.0 security.
Saint Louis University in Missouri has boosted its network capacity in its medical center with deployment of gigabit Ethernet Internet access services delivered by XO Communications over fiber.
Managing projects offers plenty of challenges for any business or institution, but higher education faces its own unique set of difficulties.
The classroom wall is falling: Employers are now assessing student work in progress at Washington State University... Imagine inviting colleagues in your field to help assess your students during the semester, and rating what kind of job in the field the students are ready for based on their work while still in school. And imagine how your students would see the ultimate hiring decision that used to seem so distant and vague.
Valencia, CA-based College of the Canyons has selected Enterasys equipment to provide secure connectivity for 3,000 wired and wireless devices serving 24,000 students, faculty, and staff. The college decided to implement 10 gigabit Ethernet network connectivity throughout all campus buildings to support increased bandwidth and security needs brought on by recent expansion.
Norwich University has gone public with its deployment of Rapid7's NeXpose to expand network visibility. In the process, the private military college said in a statement, it eliminated 1,500 vulnerabilities in its IT infrastructure. The school uses the software to scan for and prioritize network threats, validate policy levels, and discover software vulnerabilities on its servers and operating systems.
Tambov State University (TSU), in the Central Chernozyom Region of Russia, has deployed a new Xirrus 802.11 abg+n WiFi Array. TSU installed the arrays on campus to deliver wireless connectivity to students and professors for accessing the Internet and internal file servers for electronic learning.
Despite the largely weak economy, adoption of unified communications among higher education, government, and other organizations is continuing on track.
Schiller International University, which has schools in seven international locations as well as online, has deployed Xirrus' 802.11abg WiFi Arrays at its Madrid, Spain campus. Schiller chose Xirrus equipment, the university said in a statement, because it proved to be the only solution capable of delivering the coverage, user density, and bandwidth needed for student e-learning applications.
Universidad del Valle de México, S. C. (UVM) is halfway through a deployment of Aruba Networks' adaptive wireless LANs across its 35 campuses throughout Mexico. UVM is the second largest private university in Mexico with 85,000 students and 7,000 faculty members.
William Woods University in Fulton, MO said it has selected Mirage Networks' network access control (NAC) product to secure the residential network. The university is deploying full-cycle NAC in its resnet with plans to expand to the faculty and staff networks next year. The campus is moving away from a Cisco solution, which has been in use for a couple of years.
As so-called "millennials" reach an age to enter business school in force, graduate schools must move quickly to create digital recruiting efforts that match the students they hope to attract.
Loyola University New Orleans has gone public with its deployment of high-speed wireless Internet access using equipment from Meru Networks.
Duke University has launched the Zipcar program at its campus. Four cars, including two hybrids, will be available at Duke through the program, providing campus members who are age 18 and older with a transportation alternative to keeping a car on campus. Zipcar rates start at $8 an hour or $66 per day. Fuel, maintenance, and insurance are included.
Two universities in Montana have received the go-ahead from their state board of regents to take out a $2 million loan to pay the cost of equipment to tap into fiber optic that runs from Seattle to Chicago and could serve as a network pipeline for the state.
A team of physicists, computer scientists, and network engineers led by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)--with partners from a number of other universities and science organizations--set new records for sustained data transfer among storage systems during the SuperComputing 2008 conference held in Austin, TX.
Researchers at the Energy Department's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have shown that InfiniBand can be used to transport large data sets over a dedicated network thousands of miles in length, with a throughput unmatched by high-speed TCP/IP connections.
North Lindsey College in North Lincolnshire, United Kingdom has selected Mirage Networks' MAX-500 network access control appliance to secure the wired and wireless networks across campus.
An effort in South Dakota by the Board of Regents to implement pervasive wireless in all six public campuses has fallen victim to the failing economy and employee lobbying. The Regents sent an e-mail memo to university administrators and regents, announcing the suspension of what was called the Mobile Computing Initiative owing to a lack of funding, while encouraging individual schools to implement wireless networks on their own.
One campus found that one in six USB devices was loaded with malware that could infect computers. What should your campus be doing?
Community colleges are in a good spot in some ways during the economic downturn, as tight family budgets drive up the appeal of the community college option. But along with the rest of higher education, most community colleges also face shrinking IT budgets and tighter resources. That makes it that much harder to handle the growing enrollment numbers that some community colleges are seeing.
This fall, Datatel announced its concentration on the Strategic Academic Enterprise. CT asked Vice President, Strategic Planning and Marketing Jayne Edge and Director of Product Marketing Eileen Smith to comment on the SAE focus.
ClearSight Networks has launched ClearSight Network Time Machine (NTM) Express, a network monitoring system for smaller organizations. The NTM Express gives administrators the ability to monitor and analyze their networks to maintain network uptime. Atlas Express, a navigation system that indexes, classifies, and makes use of network information, is integrated with NTM Express to enhance network visibility.
Utica College's Center for Identity Management and Information Protection (CIMIP) will be collaborating on research with ID Analytics, a company that provides identity risk management services.
Washburn University in Topeka, KS has deployed a Xirrus 802.11n WiFi array in multiple buildings, including all of its dorms.
Automating portions of IT management tasks can tighten security, reduce risk, and make the flow of files and data more transparent, manageable, and compliant with regulations. Users can also benefit through fresher data and more timely updates.
The University of Cambridge is deploying Aruba Networks' wireless LAN equipment to replace a legacy network that had become unmanageable and a drain on resources. Since early 2008, about 100 Aruba AP-65 access points have been deployed, along with dual MMC-6000 Multi-Service Mobility Controllers.
Two universities, the 29,000-student Texas State University-San Marcos and the 26,000-student University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, have recently deployed network access control appliances from Mirage Networks to secure portions of their networks.
Carnegie Mellon University has moved from beta to production status with its Xirrus WiFi network array. The beta project was initially announced in November 2007. At that time Xirrus said it would open up its Linux-based wi-fi array operating system (ArrayOS) to the university and participate in co-development of features and applications that include services such as device and network management, roaming pattern analysis, and usage pattern analysis.
Ave Maria University in southwestern Florida has deployed ADC's InterReach Fusion in-building wireless system to provide multi-carrier cellular service on its campus. The system currently delivers cellular services from inside a 90,000 square foot library and campus center as well as three, 40,000 square-foot dormitories.
The Mesa-based Polytechnic Campus of Arizona State University (ASU) has deployed BridgeWave's gigabit wireless radios to extend campus network connectivity to a nearby academic partner.
Blue Coat Systems has released a new software plugin that will integrate two of its network appliances--ProxySG and PacketShaper--to allow them to share information to improve efficiency and security.
Small colleges can often be just an innovative and leading-edge in their technology rollouts as large ones, or even more so, with the right approach and know-how.
Cedarville University in southwestern Ohio has embarked on a program to upgrade its campus-wide wireless network to 802.11n. Approximately 90 of the university's 500 wireless access points have been upgraded so far; the remaining 30 buildings on Cedarville's 400-acre campus will be upgraded over the next several years.
Cornell University has deployed several gigabit wireless radio links from BridgeWave Communications as part of its network hardening strategy.
With final approval of the emerging 802.11n standard tantalizingly close, forward-looking colleges and universities are deploying wireless "n" networks. Here's what you'll need to know for your own "n" initiative.
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore has begun deploying a voice over IP-based unified communications platform from NEC Unified Solutions.
In a move that will certainly be echoed by other institutions if it hasn't been already, Texas A&M University just launched a new microsite specifically to let students post YouTube-style videos showing what life as an Aggie is all about. The site, along with a new Facebook profile, is part of a university marketing campaign called "Do You Wonder?"
"Disaster breeds opportunity," so the old slogan goes. But when it comes to uncertain economic times, organizations should double-check their internal policies and procedures, security experts say.
MiCTA has expanded its partnership with Sprint. MiCTA, an association of organizations in higher education, healthcare, libraries, K-12, government, and other non-profits, helps identify and resolve common voice, data, and video issues and problems for its membership.
We're about to be soaked in promotions for the new BlackBerry Storm device, but buried in the hype is something interesting for Java developers: a new set of dev tools for creating and testing mobile-savvy applications for Research In Motion's (RIM's) newest handhelds, including the Storm, Bold and Pearl Flip smart phones.
Portsmouth University has deployed Aruba Networks' AirWave Management Platform (AMP) version 6.0 at its UK campus. The AMP platform provides a visual representation of the 220 access points in the campus' wireless network.
Bradford Networks has announced three new software security appliances focused on identity management. The new products--User Visibility and Control (UVC), Device Profile and Control (DPC), and Behavior Monitoring and Control (BMC)--are subsets of Bradford's NAC Director and Campus Manager.
The Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC), a national leader in information security research and education, recently released its Emerging Cyber Threats Report for 2009, outlining the top five areas of security concern and risk for consumer and enterprise Internet users for the coming year. In it, the GTISC forecasted five key cyber security areas where threats were expected to increase and evolve.
Group Logic has released an update to ExtremeZ-IP, a connectivity solution for Mac systems running in Windows environments. The new 5.3 release adds support for Windows Server 2008 and includes a number of general fixes and enhancements.
Alcatel-Lucent has expanded the capabilities of its OmniAccess 3500 Nonstop Laptop Guardian (OA3500 NLG) product to run on high-speed GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) high-speed packet access network-enabled devices.
This week at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2008, Motorola unveiled the One Point Wireless Suite, a set of software offerings designed to make wireless network deployment, provisioning, and management more intuitive and user-friendly. The company also announced the upcoming release of its Wireless Manager 2.0, providing a unified management solution for Motorola wireless networks.
Students see campus technology is a key factor in selecting a college or university and consider it critical for their professional development. Yet higher education institutions on the whole aren't keeping up with student needs in this area, according to a new report released Monday by CDW Government (CDW-G).
Cedarville University in southwestern Ohio has implemented SonicWALL firewalls to provide high-speed gateway firewall protection for its 3,000 students.
TW Telecom is helping connect 12 research universities in Louisiana through a 600 megabit Ethernet connection, recently deployed as a part of the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI).
Merrimack College has received a donation of $60,000 in radio frequency ID equipment from Tagsys to establish an RFID and automatic identification technology laboratory as part of its Mendel Center for Science, Engineering, and Technology. The college includes coursework on RFID as a core requirement for its electrical engineering undergraduate degree.
Electronic procurement can impact much more than simple transactions and individual business functions. John Mayes examines how institutions can gain competitive edge with an effective procurement strategy.
Ninety percent of college students in the United States say WiFi access is as essential to education as classrooms and computers, and nearly three in five say they wouldn't go to a college that doesn't have free WiFi, according to a survey by the WiFi Alliance and Wakefield Research. What's more, 79 percent said that without WiFi access, college would be a lot harder.
AVerMedia Technologies has launched a new model in its Digital Presenter line of high-resolution document cameras for classroom presentations. The latest model, the AVerVision SPB370 Platform Visual Presenter, offers a 5 megapixel document/object camera and 1080p HD output coupled with networking capabilities.
Implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) solution can require "difficult or even painful behavioral challenges" for administrators in higher education, according to Nicole Engelbert, a lead analyst with research and analysis firm Datamonitor. "It means re-orienting yourself to your students. That can be tough, so you need to be ready for that."
Southeast University in Nanjing, China has deployed Aruba Networks WiFi networks across its six campuses. The university, with 26,000 students and 5,600 faculty members, wanted to upgrade wireless service for its many libraries and teaching facilities, but its legacy network was unable to cope with the traffic presented by the fast-growing number of users.
Aruba Networks has released new software designed to increase the speed and reliability of its 802.11 wireless networks.
Hothand Wireless, which delivers "recreation" information to mobile devices, said it has added 10 university partners to its service, among them Georgia Institute of Technology, Ohio State University, and Stanford.
Cisco, a company synonymous with telecommunications networks, is flexing its muscles in yet another arena--unified communications. Last Wednesday, the company set the stage for head butts with incumbents IBM and Microsoft by unveiling a UC portfolio for the enterprise.
The six-person information security office at Wayne State University faces the same challenge common to most institutions of higher education: limited resources and unlimited problems--especially when it comes to identifying problematic network traffic.
The University of Arizona in Tucson said it has begun using wireless LAN tools from AirMagnet, including Survey and Planner, to help optimize and plan wireless networks throughout the campus. The campus includes approximately 115 core buildings and more than 35,000 students. Of those 115 buildings, 70 are currently wireless enabled, encompassing more than 7.5 million square feet. It has 5,000 wireless access points.
Our annual summer conference seeks presenters
Microsoft is crossing the aisles to see the security process through from start to finish--not just internally, but for outside software developers too. The company plans to export its Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) process to a greater extent by releasing tools and support to IT pros later this fall, Redmond said this week.
In an announcement at VMworld last week, VMware unveiled plans to deliver a portfolio of solutions intended to turn virtualized desktops into "universal clients." The initiative, dubbed vClient, begins with a series of products called VMware View.
In the United States, IT spending in education will reach $47.7 billion by the end of this year and is expected to top $56 billion by 2012, according to a new report from Compass Intelligence, an IT consultancy and market research firm. This growth in education--both K-12 and higher ed--is being fueled in particular by expenditures in telecommunications, collaborative technologies, and outsourced IT services.
The annual VMworld user conference gets underway today in Las Vegas, with the event's host betting big on a new strategy that redefines its market-leading virtualization management products. VMware is set to unveil plans to expand its flagship virtualization platform into something resembling an operating system, a new cloud computing initiative and the company's path toward a "universal client vision."
VIP Tone has announced a partnership with rPath that uses the company's rBuilder and rPath Appliance Platform to distribute and maintain VIP Tone's EduTone Gateway virtual appliance.
The University of Virginia School of Medicine and San Jacinto College have gone public with their adoption in the last year of Information Builders' business intelligence tool, WebFocus.
Iona College in New Rochelle, NY has selected InfoExpress CyberGatekeeper to protect the college wireless network. The InfoExpress appliance controls access to the network by auditing all devices before granting access. The solution can be deployed in monitor mode, giving organizations the option to remediate endpoints "on the fly" without having to restrict access to users.
Genetec has released version 2.0 of its IP access control security application, Synergis. The program provides a unified security console through two modules. SecurityDesk allows the user to control and monitor the security system by consolidating video, audio, and access control data into one interface. ConfigTool is an interface for managing users, cardholders, access credentials, schedules, and hardware devices. It also provides reporting capabilities.
Microsoft, following its earlier announcement about new virtualization products and imminent releases, has filled in some details that give more shape to its vision.
Vanderbilt University and Medical Center (VUMC) will be upgrading its wireless connectivity on campus with the help of Sprint, a long-time provider of wireless services to the school. Sprint will expand the existing system, including additional network coverage on both the Nationwide Sprint Network and the Nextel National Network covering eight buildings.
Cost is an issue with any wireless network project, and, for the smallest schools, it can be an overriding factor. But 700-student Emmanuel College, located deep in Georgia, brought the cost of a new 802.11n network under control by initially focusing on strategic areas such as its residence halls. It's also saving money by eliminating the high cost of continual IT staff repairs to the previous wireless system.
Liberty University has installed a storage area network (SAN) from Network Appliance (NetApp) to accommodate an increase in enrollment and a greater reliance on digital information. The school has 11,300 resident students and 39,000 distance learners.
Coppin State University in Baltimore, MD, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and California State University in Fullerton, have adopted BridgeWave Communications' gigabit wireless links to provide network connectivity on their campuses.
Open source server distributor Red Hat Inc., which is carving out a virtualization path unique in the industry, added another arrow to its quiver Thursday with the acquisition of Qumranet Inc.
Sun Microsystems this week rolled out version 2.0 of its xVM VirtualBox. The product is a cross-platform, open source hypervisor that supports hosts ranging from Mac OS X and Windows to Solaris and 18 varieties of Linux.
Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications in China has deployed a campus-wide wireless LAN (WLAN) from Motorola. The WLAN will enable multimedia Internet-based teaching, automatic academic office management, Internet access, long-distance teaching, and other services. Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications is one of the few universities in China to provide complete wireless LAN coverage to every building in addition to the campus' outdoor spaces.
Problems with cell phone coverage aren't uncommon on college campuses. There are two main reasons: The beefy structure of historic buildings can block cellular reception within walls, and, on more remote campuses outside cities, signal coverage can be light.
NEC this week debuted four new projectors targeted toward education applications, along with a new MultiSync LCD display. The new NP-series projectors are entry-level models started at $899 but are designed to provide high light output, support for closed captioning, and built-in networking capabilities.
Utility storage provider 3PAR has announced the release of the 3PAR InServ T400 and T800 Storage Servers. The new hardware is built on the company's third-generation InSpire architecture, featuring the 3PAR Gen3 ASIC with integrated fat-to-thin processing.
TurningPoint, which sells classroom response systems, has launched a Web-based service that works on AT&T-powered wireless smartphones, including the iPhone, BlackBerry, and laptops.
The University of Memphis will be tapping into XO Communications' 500-route mile metro fiber network across the Memphis area for high-capacity Internet services. The XO data network provides data transfer rates up to a gigabit per second.
Saint Joseph's University has begun deploying a Meru Networks wireless local area network across its Philadelphia campus as part of a multi-year effort to bring wireless coverage to every building on campus.
Ferrum College in southwestern Virginia has chosen to replace its campus-wide legacy Cisco network infrastructure with Juniper Network switching, network access control (NAC), and firewall/virtual private network (VPN) solutions. The college chose the new equipment after deciding to extend 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) throughput across the network in support of advanced voice over IP (VoIP) by fall 2009.
Pursuing a strategy as a consumer of services and choice, Drexel University has partnered with both Google and Microsoft to provide students with massive e-mail mailboxes, gigabytes of file storage with collaboration tools, Web-based calendars, personal blogs, and more.
Polytechnic Institute of New York University has selected an Array Networks SPX3000, a universal access controller that combines virtual private network (VPN) and network access control (NAC) functionality. The device will provide identity-based customized portals for 5,000 users to access their individual information.
Our culture is redefining itself and we are redefining how we see learning. It is time for educators to get out of the box of seat time, finally, and consider evidence-based learning.
Butler University said it has deployed the Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway-Virtual Edition as a hybrid solution with the Messaging Security Gateway appliance to address anti-spam and anti-virus protection. The school has actually used the Messaging Security Gateway hardware appliance since 2004 to defend against inbound messaging threats such as spam, viruses, and denial-of-service attacks.
Wayne State University (WSU) has chosen Q1 Labs' QRadar to analyze, visualize, and assess their networks, all while adhering to specific compliance regulations. WSU is a research university with 33,000 graduate and undergraduate students.
As the summer heats up, and icebergs melt, maybe it's time for system admins using Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 to consider adding a little eco-friendliness to their networks.
ABI Research has forecast that WiFi will be available in 99 percent of North American universities in 2013. Much of that penetration will be in the form of 802.11n equipment: Higher education is clearly the No. 1 market for early adopters of 802.11n.
As any IT administrator knows, wireless deployments can be costly. On the other hand, with students demanding on-the-go access, pervasive WiFi networks are a must on campus.
Chapman University in California has announced plans to deploy Xirrus WiFi Arrays across its campus. The implementation started in Chapman's film school and then will move to student housing, which consists of five three-story buildings. Following that, wireless will be added to classroom, student and administration buildings campus-wide.
The Utah Education Network has signed a three-year agreement with XO Communications to provide high-speed dedicated Internet access and metro private line services to the not-for-profit consortium of higher and public education, libraries, state government and business with headquarters on the campus of the University of Utah.
A number of colleges have gone public with their deployments of the NComputing multiuser system, among them Fresno Pacific University in Central California, Florida Atlantic University in southeast Florida; and Palm Beach Community College in Florida. The NComputing access device allows a single PC to serve multiple users, each with his or her own monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
Pepperdine University has deployed 161 Xirrus XS8 WiFi Arrays (1,288 radios) at its 830-acre Malibu, CA campus. The XS8 WiFi Array integrates eight radios and high-gain directional antennas in one device, along with an onboard gigabit switch, WiFi controller, firewall, and dedicated WiFi threat sensor, which, the vendor said, dramatically reduces the number of devices, cables, and switch ports required to achieve a comparable range of WiFi service.
For colleges and universities considering a wireless network upgrade anytime soon, whether or not to go with the new, not-yet-final 802.11n standard is a tough call.
Roanoke College has selected Talisma's Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) solution to personalize constituent communications in an effort to increase enrollment and forge stronger relations with current students.
Consulting firm BearingPoint said it has completed the first phase of an implementation of the Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM for Higher Education for the Admissions Office at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.
3PAR has announced a new virtual desktop provisioning and management solution for VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has gone public with its deployment of an Aruba Networks wireless LANs across its Pasadena campus. According to the school's Web site, the wireless network was paid for by an anonymous donor and consists of four Aruba 6000 Modular Mobility Controllers and over 700 access points. The campus encompasses 124 acres and has 2,000 students and 5,700 faculty and staff.
A first-quarter 2008 survey conducted by Computer Economics suggests a possible slowdown in IT spending and staffing lies ahead.
VMware has launched its first counter-attack to Microsoft's pricing structure for its virtualization products, announcing that ESXi, its lightweight hypervisor, is going to be given away for free.
A recently retired CIO reflects on a new "socially conscious" way to do business.
Applied Voice & Speech Technologies (AVST) and Mirapoint announced they've formed a strategic partnership to deliver a unified messaging solution that addresses the needs of both the enterprise and education sectors.
Drexel University has begun deploying an Aruba Networks 802.11n wireless network at its Philadelphia campus. Drexel is replacing its second-generation wireless LAN to gain the improvements in speed and range brought by 802.11n.
Unisys announced Monday that it is offering companies a free 30-day unified communications trial using Microsoft solutions. The offer is currently available through Microsoft's sales personnel.
At a time when the most startling and exciting learning environments are being created in Web 2.0, the computing establishment on campus has enough to do just to keep the big pipes and big iron running. Innovation in learning around technology, therefore, needs a separate administrative support structure and a top-level advocate who reports in parallel to central computing.
Three schools received top honors for technological innovation from ACUTA at the organization's 37th-annual conference in Las Vegas this week: Bryant University, Lee College, and Wayne State University. The University of Utah also received honorable mention for its wireless networking spanning 1,400 acres.
Peirce College in Philadelphia has upgraded its firewall infrastructure to the Palo Alto Networks PA-4000 Series firewall to gain visibility and control of Internet applications and threats on its campus networks.
The University of Exeter has chosen UK-based IT services firm Data Integration to undertake a major network upgrade. The new 10,000-port network will incorporate wireless and mobile access, security, Juniper Networks' EX Series switches, integrated Nortel and Microsoft unified communications, and a campus-wide wireless network based on Aruba's 802.11n access points.
The University of Liverpool Department of Computer Science is moving away from direct-attached RAIDs to a virtualized SAN environment using StorMagic's SM Series iSCSI Storage Area Network.
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
The University of Tennessee is deploying Aruba Networks' wireless LAN equipment at its Chattanooga campus. The 9,000-student campus is replacing a single channel network that wouldn't work reliably owing to interference and security issues to move to Aruba's Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) and identity-based security technology.
Trapeze Networks has introduced SmartPass 7.0, a new version of access management software for its wireless networking products. The new release supports plugins that enable IT administrators to control wireless network access, perform location-based authentication, do RADIUS-based monitoring and reporting, and grant guest access. The company has also published application programming interfaces for SmartPass so an organization can write its own plugins.
Radiant Logic has rolled out RadiantOne Virtual Directory Server (VDS) 5.0, a set of tools for managing identity integration for Web site single signon and federation.
When Richard Nelson's IT team at the University of Southern California's Information Science's Institute (ISI) decided to make an internally developed research administration application available to other groups on campus, it faced a unique security challenge: how to provide access to the program itself without also handing over broader access to other resources on its network.
Temple University, with 34,000 students, has begun deploying a new wireless network with equipment from Meru Networks that by the end of 2008 will cover all eight of its campuses in the greater Philadelphia area. About 900 Meru wireless access points (APs) will be installed over the course of the project, offering a combination of IEEE 802.11a/b/g access and newer high-speed 802.11n technology--and in some locations replacing wired networking altogether.
This fall Lyon College, a four-year liberal arts school in Arkansas, will join the elite ranks of post-secondary institutions offering laptops to all incoming freshmen. The program is part of a larger initiative, called "The Lyon Experience," which aims to bring "additional value to the education" the school provides. How can a small college roll out such an ambitious technology program? It's all a question of priorities, according to Lyon College President Walter Roettger.
Scheduling when various software applications on your campus should exchange data among themselves might not seem like the most glamorous of needs, but it's essential--and can waste large amounts of IT time and resources when it has to be done by hand.
Buildings on the Allegheny College campus will be audited by Siemens Building Technologies to identify potential energy savings as part of the school's participation in the Clinton Climate Initiative's (CCI) Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program.
An Nvidia representative Wednesday confirmed the view that Intel is delaying release of the Universal Serial Bus 3.0 specification to chipmakers. That allegation against Intel first surfaced in a CNET News.com report by Brooke Crothers, citing an unnamed source.
How green are your feet? That's the question IBM wants to answer as it launches a new consulting service to determine the carbon footprint of IT organizations and help those organizations plan for greener operations throughout and beyond the enterprise.
Networking giant Cisco announced plans last week to purchase Denmark-based DiviTech A/S. The company, specializing in digital-service management (DSM) solutions, helps a variety of service providers create, modify, and manage video networks.
Novell announced Wednesday that it has joined Microsoft's Server Virtualization Validation Program. Novell's participation will allow customers to run Windows Server 2008 as a virtualized guest on top of Xen hypervisor in SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, with the ability to receive cooperative support from either company.
Rumors that Intel is not releasing the Universal Serial Bus 3.0 specification to its technology partners in a timely manner have prompted a rebuttal. The allegation really concerns the Intel host controller specification used by chip manufacturers, explained Nick Knupffer, an Intel employee.
Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) will be optimizing its application delivery infrastructure by implementing the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) with Application Security Manager from F5 Networks. The installation will focus on upgrading availability and delivery of SAP applications, Web mail and the school's Web pages.
A team of Dartmouth researchers is preparing to launch a project that examines the campus wireless computer traffic in an effort to learn how the network is used and how to best maintain its security. The project is called the Dartmouth Internet Security Testbed, or DIST.
Sun Microsystems released the latest version of its business integration and service-oriented architecture package Tuesday. Version 6 of the Java Composite Application Platform Suite (JCAPS) bundles several technologies designed to provide "an open and extensible platform" for developing software infrastructures using an SOA approach.
The University of Missouri will be moving a campus data center into 1102 Grand, a Kansas City co-location provider, as part of a project to build a high performance carrier-neutral network to support the university's intercampus network and replace the existing backbone.
What do you do when the mainstream media's portrayal of your city is relentlessly negative? When news services persist in showing flooded streets and stranded people and cars? When enrollments drop drastically and your technology staff is slashed because students and staff have left the city?
Calling it a "perfect living laboratory for research to advance the healthcare industry," the Quantum Group, which provides consulting and applications for the healthcare industry, is joining 12 universities as part of IBM's Latin American Grid (LA Grid) initiative. LA Grid (pronounced "lah grid") is comprised of a collection of human and computing resources in North America, Latin America, and Spain, working in collaboration to perform as one massive supercomputer for advanced research.
The use of a firewall to protect a local or campus network from external threats has become enshrined as "best practice." But how well does it really work, how much protection does it really provide, and what are the negative impacts on advanced applications?
In our day-to-day encounters with new media, online education, and vendor software products, we may sometimes be tempted to believe that encroaching technology is controlling the way people teach and learn. Is there a monster in our midst, determining our actions?
This weekend Microsoft announced the release of High Performance Computing Server 2008 (HPC Server 2008) Beta 2, the next-generation version of Compute Cluster Server 2003.
Tongji University in Shanghai has deployed Radware AppDirector 3020, a load balancing utility, as part of the overhaul of its campus network. With 78,660 students and staff, the campus network covers 17 network systems, including portals, authentication, and student management. The goal of the overhaul was to address network overload, uneven traffic distribution, and server instability, the school said in a statement.
San Jose State University has selected a firewall from Palo Alto Networks to stop threats and provide application visibility and control on its campus networks. The school, part of the California State University system, has installed the PA-4000 Series firewall.
Toronto-based George Brown College has gone public about its deployment of six BridgeWave GE60 wireless links to upgrade its campus-wide network.
Dartmouth College's recently completed McLaughlin Cluster residence halls have been recognized by the United States Green Building Council for its environmental sustainability, winning Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ( LEED ) gold certifications. The recognition makes the fifth LEED certification for Dartmouth buildings in four months. LEED certifications were recently awarded to two other residence halls as well as two academic facilities.
College and university administrators consider personal attention to be the most critical factor in retaining at risk students. But what role should technology play in the effort?
Risk assessment doesn't cut much weight in the world of public opinion. In the aftermath of highly publicized violent incidents like those at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, higher education has come under increased scrutiny. In particular, students, their parents, and the general public want to know about the emergency notification procedures that campuses have deployed.
Microsoft released Community Technology Preview 2 (CTP2) for Windows PowerShell Version 2, according to an announcement issued last Friday.
Although the wireless standard 802.11n is found in less than 3 percent of North American universities currently, it will be available in 99 percent by 2013, according to a new study by ABI Research. According to the research firm, the increases are driven by a variety of needs and demands in both K-12 and higher education.
Indiana University announced that it will shortly begin deploying a new, improved and greatly expanded wireless network on its campuses in Bloomington and Indianapolis. The school will be deploying the HP ProCurve ZL wireless system, which was chosen through a competitive bid process.
The University of Nottingham has deployed a Web security appliance from Finjan to protect its two primary networks, one with 12,000 university-owned computers used for teaching, research, and administration and the other supporting 8,000 student-owned PCs.
When Bill Destler was named president of Rochester Institute of Technology in March 2007, he summarized his vision for the Rochester, NY school this way: "Take advantage of your unfair advantages."
Carnegie Mellon University's West Coast Campus and UC Berkeley's Fisher IT Center at the Haas School of Business partnered to hold a conference Tuesday of this week in Santa Clara, CA, on "The Mobile Future: Technology Revolutionizing Our Lives." CT talked with James H. Morris, dean of CMU West and a professor of computer science, about the unique conference that brings together both academics and industry leaders.
The George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University has gone public with plans to use Talisma constituent relationship management software. The school said it hopes to apply the software to the job of multi-department data and interaction management for student recruitment and retention.
Carnegie Mellon University's West Coast Campus and UC Berkeley's Fisher IT Center at the Haas School of Business partnered to hold a conference Tuesday of this week in Santa Clara, CA, on "The Mobile Future: Technology Revolutionizing Our Lives." CT talked with James H. Morris, dean of CMU West and a professor of computer science, about the unique conference that brings together both academics and industry leaders.
The Pennsylvania State University recently said its DHCP server, in operation for four years, has maintained 100 percent network service uptime. Most desktops, laptops, VoIP phones, and mobile systems rely on dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) servers to provide IP addresses that enable those devices to connect to the network.
Although IT budgets are expected to grow in 2008 overall, about a fourth of CIOs in the United States reported decreases in their budgets in the first quarter of 2008, according to a survey released by Gartner this month and highlighted at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo: Emerging Trends event this week in Las Vegas.
The University of Wyoming is replacing the wireless network currently at its Laramie campus with Aruba's wireless LAN and AirWave Wireless Management Suite. The 13,000-student school selected Aruba technology based on cost, design and centralized management capabilities.
Two companies have partnered to help institutions reduce their carbon footprint. CT interviewed PeopleCube President and CEO John Anderson about the integration of his company's Resource Scheduler with BSL's Footprint Tracker energy consumption and carbon emissions tracking solution.
HP has introduced several products to address data protection and compliance in storage environments, including add-ons that do automated data encryption on tape drives and libraries. Among the offerings: a secure fabric switch; an encryption kit for tape autoloaders and libraries; integration of compliance and management appliances; and, a free online security assessment tool.
This summer Barnard College will deploy about 150 Meru 802.11n-enabled wireless access points in five campus dormitories to provide students with high-performance wireless coverage when they return for the fall term. The deployment will continue in 2009 to additional dorms as well as in The Nexus, a 70,000-square-foot building under construction that will serve as the college's social center.
Loyola College in Maryland has upgraded to a new version of PacketShaper in preparation for a network upgrade that could quadruple bandwidth to as much as 500 Mbps. The college will use the enhanced software from Packeteer to manage and monitor performance for the school's network traffic, which includes streaming media-based academic content, administrative functions and recreational use.
Rapid enrollment growth is great, but can bring its own set of challenges. Ask administrators at the University of Central Florida, one of the fastest-growing universities in the country. With 46,000-plus students, the university has seen enrollment jump 35 percent in 10 years.
With the launch of a $1.3 million technology initiative, Wayne State University is joining the first wave of universities adopting new 802.11n high-performance wi-fi technology. The project doubles the capacity of Wayne State's current wireless network within its Midtown Detroit campus. The 33,000-student school is upgrading to 802.11n products from Meru Networks.
Solano Community College in Northern California has selected products from Trapeze Networks for its wireless LAN infrastructure. The network serves 12,000 students and 700 faculty and staff in 20 buildings across three locations.
Eduventures, which specializes in research and consulting for higher education, has launched a research concentration titled the Academic Leadership Learning Collaborative. The new initiative is designed to help college and university presidents and other executives understand and address campus-wide transformational issues.
Utah State University has blanketed its 400-acre campus with wireless coverage for 25,000 students, faculty and staff using wireless LAN equipment from Meru Networks. The Logan, UT school has installed 700 Meru wireless access points in 150 of 200 buildings on campus, including all academic facilities and residences. It has also installed the access points at a number of remote sites across the state.
In 2006, the University of New Mexico began implementing its IP communications network, which will eventually support 22,000 voice terminals (IP, TDM and analog), connecting administration, faculty and students, as well as the UNM Hospital campus and Health Science Center.
An associate professor and a team of researchers at the Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering at Kyushu University in Japan have developed a prototype of a "micromini" wireless mesh station, under the MIMO-Mesh project. The technology, which is small enough to fit on a person's palm, acts as an access point to increase the reach of wireless networks without the need for additional infrastructure.
The University of Minnesota announced it plans to deploy the Trapeze Networks Smart Mobile 802.11n wireless network product suite campus-wide. Beginning in May and continuing over the next five years, about 9,500 access points will be deployed to serve more than 80,000 people across the university's two campuses, in an effort to deliver secure wireless access to users wherever they are on campus.
The University of Calabria in Arcavacata, Italy has chosen Alcatel-Lucent products for a WiFi network that will provide network access on the 494-acre campus.
Social networking sites aren't just for fun. In what may be the future for college recruiting efforts, some 300,000 students now use a social networking site called Zinch specifically to network with colleges. On Zinch, prospective students can enter a personal profile that gives colleges in-depth information well beyond grades and test scores. From the other side, Zinch says that more than 450 colleges and universities are using Zinch as a high-powered recruiting tool.
During the Gutenberg period, just ending, humanity valued printed works as the foundation of knowledge, and tended to believe knowledge is "owned" by an individual. We are just beginning to understand once again, with the Internet, that knowledge is communal.
Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA said it has begun a transition to voice over IP to accommodate new construction. The university, which has 2,000 students on a 600-acre campus, made the decision when it was faced with a project to move telephone poles and lay new cables to provide telecommunications for new buildings.
Security technology firm SafetyCare debuted a new emergency response system targeted toward education: SchoolTrak. The new system is designed to provide turnkey campus safety features for classrooms and other campus facilities through wireless technologies.
Web 2.0 is changing the landscape of higher education IT and the application of learning technologies. Washington State University's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology Director Gary Brown explains why he thinks we're moving from collaborative learning environments (CLEs) and ePortfolios, to personal learning environments (PLEs) and worldware.
Apple Tuesday rolled out updated versions of its MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook systems. The new models sport faster processors and expanded memory. The MacBook Pro models also add Apple's multi-touch trackpad technology.
This week in San Francisco, Sun Microsystems is bringing together thought leaders in education from more than 30 countries for its annual Worldwide Education and Research Conference, this year themed, "The Power of Communities." Conference organizers are maximizing the reach of the conference through live broadcasts and blogs...
Pasadena City College in Los Angeles County has signed a contract with Verizon Business to implement a voice over IP (VoIP) communications and wireless Internet access under a two-year, $6.7 million agreement.
The University of Arizona (UA) has completed two major phases of its wireless LAN deployments for voice and data, according to the company managing the project. Today, UA's wireless network--dubbed UAWiFi--spans more than 7 million square feet, 4,500 wireless access points, and 22 buildings. Upon completion, the initiative, which is being managed by systems integrator NEC Unified Solutions and using Cisco equipment, will comprise more than 6,000 access points and 12 million square feet on two campuses.
Education consulting firm ASR Analytics has debuted a new suite of services focused on the reporting and analysis of accountability data in colleges and universities. The new Accountability Framework for Higher Education (AFHE) is designed to provide a "sustainable reporting foundation for decision making" using BI methodologies.
Both the University of Iowa Foundation and the University of Nebraska Foundation have selected software from Blackbaud to manage their respective fundraising efforts.
Recently Sun Microsystems announced that it would open source both the hardware and operating system for Sun SPOTs, its sensor networking product based on Java technology. CT talked with Arshan Poursohi, a staff researcher in the Sun SPOTs lab on Sun's Menlo Park, CA campus to find out how higher education institutions can incorporate Sun SPOTs in research and instruction.
The battle between the recording industry and higher education over student piracy has been raging for years. Are long-term trends emerging, and what do they mean for colleges and universities?
Lockdown Networks has upgraded its network access control (NAC) solution, Lockdown Enforcer, implementing new features that simplify initial setup and user and device registration. A NAC ensures that only authorized users and policy-compliant devices can be added to an enterprise networks and provides a centralized mechanism for responding to malware outbreaks and other security events.
Although the research environment in which he works is highly complex, systems administrator Justin King has an uncomplicated goal for his infrastructure: "To simplify it as much as possible from an end user standpoint." King works as the sole IT person for the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at Baylor College of Medicine in the Department of Neuroscience in Houston, TX. This private medical school is one of the few places on earth where scientists can have access to more than a single functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanner simultaneously for their research.
IBM announced Wednesday the release of PowerVM Express and a new Power6 microprocessor which, when combined, will bring new efficiencies to virtualization for small- and medium-size businesses, it said.
WiFi has become a primary (if imperfect) networking
option for many academic institutions. But get ready:
Recent advances are positioning WiFi to become your
academic communications hub.
Client by client, iSCSI is claiming ground against fibre channel in the external storage wars. For Queensborough Community College in Bayside, NY, that day of reckoning came a week or so before Thanksgiving 2006 when the school's fibre channel storage system went down.
Yesterday VMware announced it has released a live version of Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM) 2 and integrated it with its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure management product.
Perhaps more than anything else, the sight of a group of students clustered around a single computer screen, jostling for space and a better view, made Karalee Woody aware of the need for better collaborative computing tools at the University of Washington.
Virtualization pioneer VMware has released the public beta of its new deployment management product, VMware Stage Manager. The application is based on the company's flagship virtualization platform, VMware Infrastructure 3.
When a prospective student phones a college for information, answering questions quickly might mean the difference between enrolling that student and having that student decide to go elsewhere.
DataSynapse has upgraded its FabricServer application virtualization product, which is part of the company's suite of solutions that help businesses attain high availability for their applications.
At the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage Tuesday to introduce the company's latest technologies. As rumored, Apple launched a new, super-slim version of the MacBook laptop computer, known as the MacBook Air. Jobs also introduced a new version of the AirPort Extreme Base Station known as Time Capsule, which combines an 802.11n router with a wireless backup storage solution.
A Syracuse University associate professor introduced a new program that gives people a simple way to do file sharing among digital devices. Syracuse University School of Information Studies Associate Professor Lee McKnight debuted Innovaticus during the International Consumer Electronics Show last week. The software lets users set up a grid of devices--computers, cell phones, printers, and even MP3 players--to collaborate and share files and hardware using devices across multiple networks, wired and wireless. Users with access to that grid could drag and drop files from one device to another, whether it was local or around the world.
Oklahoma's Campus Life and Safety and Security (CLASS) Task Force next week will present Gov. Brad Henry with the results of its seven-month study on the state of campus security in Oklahoma. Among the recommendations, released in draft form this week, are calls for increased spending on security in post-secondary institutions and greater collaboration between higher education, law enforcement, and mental health professionals.
Sandy Schaeffer makes a call for higher education technology decision-makers to put pressure on the LMS vendor community to begin to un-bundle their products... with particular emphasis on greater flexibility in terms of content management.
The rise of virtual machines may prove to be somewhat of a nightmare for entrenched purveyors of closed operating systems, but it may become a boon for independent software vendors (ISVs) and end users--so a recent Yankee Group report suggests.
Managing the network on a university campus may not be the most glamorous of jobs, but it's certainly a critical one. Just listen to the howls should the network go down. At Ball State University, 18,000 students and 3,000 faculty rely on some 50 routers, upwards of 400 switches, and 800 access points to use the wired and wireless network.
In the mixed computing environments common on university campuses, supporting multiple operating systems and myriad hardware configurations can be a nightmare for IT. In the past, one solution has been to go with a single platform. Great for IT. Not so great for users. But at Bemidji State University in Minnesota, they've come up with another solution....
Microsoft Wednesday continued its hand in hand development of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista's first service pack, publishing release candidates (RC) for each product. The big updates in Windows 2008 RC1 revolve around enhancements to Group Policy, a management framework first introduced in Windows 2000 Server. Group Policy Preferences, as it has been renamed, was formerly known as PolicyMaker Standard Edition and Policy Share Manager.
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, is deploying new data visualization and analysis tools for its Key Performance Indicators (KPI) initiative, a project that will be used to "assess the present state of business, measure performance and progress toward goals, and inform decisions on future courses of action," according to the university.
Sun Microsystems this week announced the availability of the first component of its new virtualization platform, and laid out a roadmap for opening the platform's source code. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based systems company bills its xVM Ops Center virtualization management tool as a "highly scalable datacenter automation tool for complete management of heterogeneous global IT environments."
Telelogic has improved components of its overall "enterprise lifecycle management" software product suite, which combines model-driven development with application lifecycle management.
Higher education mobile services provider Rave Wireless has joined the SunGard Higher Education Collaborative and said it will provide mobile services, including alerts and collaborative technologies, for SunGard customers. The SunGard HE Collaborative is a network of companies whose stated aim is to help "colleges and universities build and manage reliable, integrated solutions that extend and enhance a unified digital campus."
With a sprawling campus of more than 10,000 acres and century-old buildings, the University of the South in Tennessee, also known as Sewanee, needed an expansive and flexible wireless solution to connect students, faculty, and members of the community. The school had been using a combination of wired and wireless systems to serve select portions of the campus; but in order to improve service and make wireless access available everywhere, Sewanee has initiated an overhaul using gear from Colubris Networks that will eventually bring 100 percent wireless access to the buildings on the campus.
The National Science Foundation recently awarded grants to five high performance computing centers for their participation in the TeraGrid.
Bryant University in Smithfield, RI is expanding its emergency notification system for students, staff, and faculty. The university has adapted its Campus Manager NAC solution to provide alerts to its campus population through the system's messaging capability. The NAC-based solution is a supplement to the university's existing notification system, which includes voice and e-mail alerts.
Continuing and professional education (CPE) sites are somewhat effective at helping students with their enrollment decisions, but they're lacking in some key functionality areas: content, search capabilities, and multimedia. In the second of its three-part series of research reports, "Optimizing School Web Sites as a Marketing and Recruitment Tool," education consultancy Eduventures found that prospective continuing education students in large part think these sites come up short in areas they consider crucial and made specific recommendations for the types of content that should be added to these sites to boost their effectiveness.
This year's Oracle OpenWorld user conference, which wrapped up Nov. 15 in San Francisco, drew an estimated 43,000 attendees for five days of keynotes, technical sessions, vendor exhibits and rock 'n' roll.
Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz gave attendees at the annual Oracle OpenWorld conference a look at his company's new virtualization management platform. First announced last September, the Sun xVM is built on the Xen open source hypervisor (the Sun xVM Server) and includes the xVM Ops Center virtualization management tool. The xVM supports Windows, Red Hat Linux, and Solaris as guest operating systems.
As the costs of traditional textbooks fly into the stratosphere, a wide range of digital text options comes to the rescue. Where do you stand on the digital textbook debate? E-mail us at editors@campus-technology.com; selected responses will be published in our March 2008 issue.
IBM said today it's entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cognos, a firm that provides business intelligence technologies to K-12 and higher education and other sectors. The deal is still dependent on shareholder and regulatory approval and other conditions but is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008 and is valued at about $5 billion.
Appistry recently announced a new version of its service-enabling platform for high-volume data and transaction processing. Appistry Enterprise Application Fabric (EAF) version 3.7 includes a new performance-enhancement feature called "Affinity" that allows applications to better scale in a service-oriented architecture (SOA).
How do you get students (and others) to opt in to text-messaging campus alert systems, such as the one used to good effect earlier this semester at the University of Colorado? Once they've opted in, how do you capture their attention and get them to keep your system loaded with their current information?
If you could design a massive technology project from the earliest stages all the way through deployment and complete and total user adoption, what would the plan look like? Perhaps it would resemble the Villanova University rollout of unified communications.
Nine universities have joined the Ethernet Alliance, a group advocating the adoption of and research into Ethernet technologies, through the Ethernet Alliance University Program (EAUP). The Ethernet Alliance has also launched its first-annual White Paper Challenge Program through the EAUP.
Some organizations may not be happy with their service oriented architectures (SOAs). They may have "unhealthy" SOAs as a consequence of partnering with inexperienced system integrators. They may have proprietary SOA technology in the mix, and it may be difficult to scale operations.
With the administrative computing market reaching $2.0 billion by 2010, growth drivers include increased use of data by administrators in institutional decision-making, use of CRM-type tools for enrollment management development, and into 2008-2010, introduction of new SOA architectures.
Colleges and universities have done little over the last three years to improve information security. Hindered by lack of staff resources and funding, security efforts remain largely unchanged, while incidents of breaches--including the theft of personal information from within and without--continue to plague campuses. And, what's more, the integration of physical and IT security is still a reality in only a small minority of schools.
The use of data-grid technology in service-oriented architectures (SOAs) was the subject of a keynote address at the first annual IT Architect Regional Conference in San Diego, which took place last week. Dave Chappell, Oracle's VP and chief technologist for SOA, spoke on the topic of "Next Generation Grid Enabled SOA" at the IASA event.
Last week, IT architects put their profession squarely on the map at the first annual IT Architect Regional Conference for Southern California. This local San Diego-based event, part of the International Association of Software Architects (IASA), wasn't just a typical forum for punditry on the sometimes obscure topic of service-oriented architecture (SOA). It was more a meeting of colleagues. The keynotes and sessions were frequently paused to answer spontaneous questions and remarks from attendees.
Small and medium-size institutions looking for ways to beef up technology programs without adding staff might consider outsourcing some or all of IT. At Ocean County College on the coast of New Jersey, an outsourcing partnership has resulted in a popular and growing selection of online courses.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is beefing up its data security with a new identity management system designed to centralize and automate security processes across multiple systems. The university worked with security service provider Mycroft to develop and deploy its security strategy based around Oracle tools, including the Identity and Access Management Suite.
Five factors will change the way that IT organizations operate, according to Gartner Inc. The points of change cited by the research firm include Web 2.0-style applications, software as a service (SaaS), global-class computing, the "consumerization" of IT and open source software.
City University of New York (CUNY) is revamping its administrative systems, consolidating a wide array of student information, human resources, and financial systems as part of its Fully Integrated Resources and Services Tool (FIRST) project. The university system, which comprises 23 institutions serving more than 430,000 students, will integrate its data using Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Campus Solutions 9.0, for which Oracle will also provide hosting and consulting.
DataDirect has upgraded its Shadow mainframe data integration solution. The new Shadow version 7 offers performance improvements and data connectivity options for enterprises. The product supports service-oriented architectures (SOAs) on mainframes and lowers total cost of ownership when combined with IBM's latest mainframe "System z" specialty engines.
IBM last week formed a new superinitiative called the Center for CIO Leadership, a global community of executives and academics focused on developing CIOs and advancing the profession as a whole. The Center will be headed by Executive Director Harvey Koeppel, with a governing council comprising CIOs and professors from MIT, INSEAD, Harvard, and other institutions.
Open source software (OSS) is not so much the underdog in the IT world, according survey findings announced by Barracuda Networks, a provider of e-mail and Web security appliances. Barracuda polled 288 IT security professionals and found their preferences to be roughly split on the likelihood of deploying OSS versus proprietary software, particularly for applications with similar functionality.
It was more than two years ago that Blackboard Inc. approached Seton Hall University to join its product development partner program to work on the Blackboard Outcomes System. Now, technology leaders at the university expect that in the coming year the system will be in use across the campus for reporting and learning outcomes.
Stanford University librarian Michael Keller will join other leading digital archiving experts November 14-16 in Paris for the inaugural meeting of the Sun Preservation and Archiving Special Interest Group, a group dedicated to working on the unique problems of storage and data management, workflow, and architecture for very large digital repositories. The Sun PASIG brings together a large group of organizations for an ongoing global discussion of their research and sharing of best practices for preservation and archiving. Here, CT asks Keller for his perspectives on the effort and the goals of the Sun PASIG.
Indiana University is launching a new multi-campus communication system based around Connect-ED from the NTI Group. The system, part of the wider IU-Notify system, will be used to provide emergency communications to students, faculty, and staff.
Panasonic's Professional Display unit has launched two new plasma display bundles designed for classroom presentation. The bundles include one of two 10-series plasma displays and a cart with an optional 802.11 b/g wireless presentation module.
The University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA, is adding a broadcast messaging module to its Impulse Point Safe•Connect network access control solution. The university adopted the Safe•Connect NAC earlier this year.
Ball State University has deployed Netcordia's NetMRI network management system to monitor its entire campus network and enforce network policy for more than 18,000 students and 3,000 employees.
The new DSpace Foundation is fostering open access to scholarly works with the open source DSpace platform for storing, managing, and distributing digital collections. Here, Campus Technology interviews Michele Kimpton, executive director of the nascent nonprofit created this past July by MIT and HP as a successor to their joint DSpace project begun in 2002.
Abilene Christian University in Texas is launching a research project this fall to explore the potential uses of Apple's iPhone mobile device in higher education. The pilot study will involve faculty and educational technology developers to research "innovative applications for smart phones and media players in deepening learning in the 21st century."
Virtual infrastructure software company VMware says that more than 300 schools are now participating in its free Academic Program, which provides products, resources, and source code at no cost to schools for research and publication.
Florida State University has recently unveiled its new Dell high-performance computing cluster, housed at FSU's main data center in Tallahassee. Onsite installation was provided by the company and completed in four weeks, according to Dell.
Novell next month will begin shipping two new workspace and collaboration tools for its Open Workgroup Suite: Novell Teaming and Novell Teaming + Conferencing. The tools are designed to boost team productivity and streamline processes involved in creating, managing, and sharing information.
The AT&T Foundation has launched a $1.5 million competitive grant program aimed at integrating wireless communications technologies into educational outreach programs. The 2007 AT&T Foundation Wireless Competitive Grant Program is open to public charities and "government instrumentalities" in the United States, excluding Alaska.
The number of students who own a laptop at the University of Wisconsin at Madison jumped to 77 percent this year, up from 64 percent in 2006, according to an online survey conducted by the school's Division of Information Technology (DoIT). The increase corresponds with a jump in the number of students who rely on wireless services, which went from 30 percent usage in 2006 to 50 percent this year.
Motorola has expanded its MOTOwi4 lineup with a new fixed point to point wireless Ethernet bridge: the PTP 25600, a modified version of the PTP 600. The new 2.5 GHz, 300 Mbps solution is targeted toward Educational Broadband Service license holders and is designed to provide secure broadband access for online courses and other instructional programs. It's available now in the United States.
A growing trend in the corporate sector is to more closely integrate or even merge the oversight of information security, physical security, and fiscal security. Is this trend relevant to higher education? What can we learn from corporate experiences?
With an eye on reliability, scalability and security, the Indiana Institute of Technology has deployed a new campus network using a TeraScale E-300 switches/router and S50 access switches from Force10 Networks. The combination of the TeraScale E300 at the network core and S50s providing access gives Indiana Tech a network that can scale to 10 gigabit Ethernet for its campus, which serves more than 3,000 students.
Several institutions report that new senior-level IT officers are appointed or top IT positions are becoming available. The University of Ottawa named Sylvain Chalut as the new CIO; the University of Arizona has appointed Michele Norin as interim CIO; UC San Bernardino named Spencer Freund as its new vice president for information services; and top-level IT posts are coming open at North Georgia College and State University and North Carolina State University.
Northwestern University is using a service assurance application to verify and measure the quality and performance of its next-generation IP network and services.
A shortage of physicians in rural areas isn't a problem unique to Canada, but the highly sophisticated technology solution that the University of British Columbia has set up to solve it may well be.
Since his retirement in 2005, UC Berkeley's Associate Vice Chancellor and CIO Emeritus John W. (Jack) McCredie has devoted much of his professional energy to studying, writing about, and speaking about IT governance and leadership in higher education. Currently an ECAR senior fellow, he is leading Educause's study of IT governance to be released in early 2008. CT asked McCredie for his perspectives on IT governance issues.
A team of UC San Diego computer science professors has developed an automated, enterprise-wide system for troubleshooting WiFi transmissions.
The University of Ottawa has named Sylvain Chalut as its new chief information officer. Chalut, who was most recently director of Business Relations Management with Bombardier Aéronautique's information systems services, will provide "strategic leadership for IT across the university by ensuring business alignment, performance management and investment management."
Colleges and universities across the nation have realized that technology is an absolute when considering how courses on their campuses will be delivered--either face to face sessions, through distance learning sessions, or in mixed formats.
One of the more challenging parts of working within a higher education institution, especially (but not only) in the information technology arena, is coping with what the students "bring with them" to campus.
Florida's Saint Leo University will deploy a campus-wide WiFi network powered by technology from Xirrus, which will serve more than 14,000 students, educators, and staff.
Instructors in colleges of education cannot teach prospective teachers to use technology unless the faculty, themselves, use technology in the college of education classrooms as a part of their instruction. There is something about "modeling" that goes a long way in education, regardless of the level of education under consideration.
An internal review of Virginia Tech's information and communications infrastructure in the wake of the April shootings found that the campus telecommunication systems were "dramatically stressed during the initial response period but performed adequately," according to a report in The Roanoke Times.
The Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education (ACUTA) picked the University of Notre Dame as the winner of its Institutional Excellence in Communications Technology Award. The honor was bestowed for ND's approach to upgrading its wireless infrastructure.
What is the CIO's job, anyway? Is it to know the nuts and bolts about every piece of software and hardware on campus? Is it to know "the seven layers" and be ready to get in there to fix an e-mail server? Apparently, there are those on campus who still look at the head "IT guy" that way.
The Higher Education Wireless Access Consortium has recently thrown its support behind the M2Z Network's license application to the FCC. M2Z networks have been working on using radio airwaves to provide a national wireless Internet free to consumers. The proposal is for M2Z to forgo the normal auction for radio waves and instead to pay the national treasury 5 percent of revenues every year for 15 years. The estimated total of the 5 percent would equal more than $1 billion over the allocated time span.
The University of Portland has rolled out South River technologies' GroupDrive to let its 3,200 students and faculty securely share and collaborate on files across the 'Net.
Clemson University has established a direct fiber link between Clemson, Greenville, Atlanta, and Charlotte, giving researchers direct access to the National LambdaRail, Internet2, and other national and international research networks, according to a report in the HPCWire newsletter.
The head of Harvard University's network operations told state legislators last week that electronic eavesdroppers currently have the upper hand in the battle to secure wireless Internet networks, the Associated Press reported.
China Educational Research Network (CERNET), China's IPV6 fiber optic network for education and research, will deploy VoiceEngine from Global IP Solutions (San Francisco, CA)) to improve voice quality for tis Digital Media Service, which connects more than 20 million chinese students and 3 million faculty and staff at more than 1,500 universities.
Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) has selected Business intelligence firm SAS to develop a system using its Enterprise Intelligence Suite for Education to help the school manage its finances and enhance its student recruiting and retention.
Half of a group of prospective college students who said they would be interested in taking an online course in the next 12 months also said they would like to enroll in a completely online degree program, according to a recent survey conducted by the American InterContinental University Online.
Recognizing IT's increasing stature as a key element to any business strategy, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) has partnered with technology consulting and market research firm Gartner (Stamford, CT) to launch a Chief Information Officer (CIO) as Full Business Partner program from Oct. 28 to Nov. 2.
Coppin State University (Baltimore, MD) has deployed Annapolis, MD-based eTelemetry's Locate appliance in order to passively match users with their IP address and PC and switch ports in real time.
Coppin State University (MD) now has an automated, centralized view of their network that facilitates both long-term planning and real-time problem solving.
Bruce Bible, Ohio University's recently appointed chief information officer, has completed an initial 75-day review of OU's information technology needs. The result is a new IT-management strategy to restructure the central office, designate advisory groups, and identify opportunities to collaborate with IT workers across the university's Athens and regional campuses.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst inked a five-year research and deployment agreement for advanced technology with switching vendor Cedar Point Communications, the result of a successful test of voice over IP technology at the UMass Amherst campus.
The media's search for iPhone flaws maintained its pace last week when Duke University's wireless local area network (WLAN) jammed for 10 to 15 minutes, apparently the result of newly commissioned iPhones inundating the university's Cisco wireless network servers.
It's been widely reported over the last week that Duke University had suffered network outages caused by Apple's iPhone. Duke University CIO Tracy Futhey released a statement Friday refuting this, saying not only that the problem had been minor and temporary, but that it was not caused by the iPhone at all.
The University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVA-Wise) will implement network security technology from Mirage Networks (Austin, TX) to protect network communications at its residence halls.
Answering the prayers of those who like to look at mouse brains, Duke University's Center for In Vivo Microscopy last week posted the results of new advances in magnetic resonance imaging, showing off high-resolution 3D images of mouse brains, including a genetically modified mouse brain.
While CLEs are tools they are also much more than tools; they are tools that are developed, maintained, and financed by an evolving community of investors, educators, and software developers.
Aurora, CO-based University of Colorado Hospital tapped voice over IP (VoIP) and data communications provider NEC Unified Solutions to create a scalable IP/TDM voice network to help deliver enhanced patient care at its new and growing Anschutz Medical Campus.
At Coppin State University in Baltimore, MD, colorful screen displays can tell a dean or provost at a glance and a click of the mouse what a faculty member's course load is, how heavily a classroom is being utilized, and even how many students from a specific high school have applied and been accepted to date.
The University of Utah named Stephen Hess its top information technology executive. Hess, who was the school's associate academic vice president for information technology, will become chief information officer and preside over a new, unified IT department.
The University of Buffalo is seeking direct input from a sometimes undertapped cohort in deciding where to put its future information technology investments: students, faculty, and staff.
The University of Tennessee's (Knoxville, TN) physics department has installed a C300 resilient switch from Force 10 Networks (San Jose, CA) to help analyze data from CERN's large hadron collider (LHC), a particle accelerator.
The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that three people have been arrested for using Wi-Fi microphones to cheat on national college entrance exams. The exams, which are "make or break" rites of academic passage, are considered state secrets before the tests, Xinhua reported.
University of Missouri recently revamped its Microsoft Exchange messaging environment with the help of EMC Corporation's products and services. According to EMC, the IT department at the university has reworked its infrastructure, allowing for a 500 percent increase in employees' mailbox quotas and 100 percent increase in students' mailbox quotas.
San Jose State University AVP Mary Jo Gorney-Moreno comments on the process of creating a high-tech student success center on campus.
Ohio University Chief Information Officer Brice Bible presented the Ohio U board of trustees a proposal for strengthening the university's central information technology systems at a cost of $8 million over five years.
To simplify management of a campus network consisting of more than 33,000 ports, Duke University (Durham, NC) has deployed Annapolis, MD-based Netcordia's NetMRI Enterprise, a network management and monitoring solution.
Computer scientists at UCLA are working on a project to use moving cars as nodes in a network to create literally a mobile mobile network.
Technologists and librarians are discovering that intelligent organizational overlap is the route to the digital library of the future.
Drexel University and Internet service provider EarthLink Inc. struck a deal to extend the boundaries of its wireless network so that students, faculty, and staff can access university resources or browse the Internet via EarthLink's Wi-Fi networks.
Peirce College is accelerating its Web applications with Crescendo Networks. The Philadelphia, PA college is using Crescendo's Maestro Application Front End to accelerate Java and ASP services on a student portal that's expected to launch by the end of this quarter.
An interview with the Software Freedom Law Center's (SFLC) Eben Moglen about the future of collaboration and technology.
Ohio University boasted that, following crackdown, illegal file sharing via its campus networks has been eradicated. University CIO Brice Bible said that illegal file-sharing on the university's network had "virtually stopped," according to a report in the Athens (OH) Times.
North Carolina State University said a partnership it formed seven months ago with IBM Corp. to offer unused computer cycles via the Internet to higher ed and K-12 institutions for learning and research projects is starting to bear fruit.
Carnegie Mellon University purchased the NeXpose security software suite to help it enhance scanning and monitoring of its campus networks.
Carnegie Mellon announced plans to deploy vulnerability management software from software developer Rapid7 for systems and networks at the university. The NeXpose software is designed to examine and analyze the cause of any problem.
I look forward each year to the EDUCAUSE annual Current Issues Survey Report. There is always something new and interesting, be it the ways in which the survey instrument itself has been shaped to reflect the association’s view of the field or in the results of the survey.
The Software Freedom Law Center's (SFLC) Eben Moglen is one of the high-powered attorneys representing the challenge to Blackboard Inc.'s patent of certain learning technologies.
The University of New Hampshire successfully demonstrated multi-vendor interoperability between iWARP devices, which it claimed was an industry first.
A survey by the Association for Communications Professionals in Higher Education concluded that fewer than half of colleges and universities in North America have migrated to voice over IP networks, but many are readying conversions in the next six months to two years.
Managing resource usage and data delivery with virtualization devices is a staple of many of today’s data infrastructures. By breaking the traditional direct physical access and inserting an abstraction layer, what you see is what you get, but the mechanics of delivery may be quite different.
Campus Technology is seeking nominations through May 15 for its 2007 Innovators Awards for exemplary use of technology by colleges and universities and their vendor partners.
Ken Klingenstein has led national networking initiatives for the last 25 years. He's participated in the development of the Internet from its inception and says he's had one of the best seats to watch the evolution of network infrastructure and applications.
The University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have banded together to create the Broadband Optical Research, Education, and Sciences Network (BOREAS-Net), a high-speed optical network to share data and collaborate with other institutions.
Saudi Arabia is preparing a 25-year strategy to map out its higher education system so that it can be "in tune with the country's development and job market requirements," the kingdom announced. Information technology will a central element of the plan.
Dublin, Ireland-based research firm Research and Markets has released a new report that tracks how various institutions of higher learning in the United States are trying to improve the computer literacy of their faculty and students.
Italy's University of Milan Bicocca will work with Santa Clara, CA-based Extreme Networks Inc. to upgrade its campus-wide network with a scalable, secure infrastructure that will deliver multimedia communications to staff, faculty, and visitors across multiple campuses.
KanREN, a consortium of Kansas colleges, universities, school districts, and other non-profit organizations that operates a statewide backbone network, will use New York/London-headquartered Entuity Inc.'s Eye of the Storm to manage its network.
Harvard University is collaborating with the city of Cambridge, MA and networking firm BBN Technologies to install 100 wireless sensors on streetlights in Cambridge to help research environmental changes, ranging from air pollution to potential terrorist activity.
A Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist has proposed a way to speed transferring large data files, such as movies and music, with a technology that would generalize the types of files that could be moved over peer to peer networks.
Microsoft and the Research and Education Networking Information Sharing and Analysis Center (REN-ISAC) have entered into an alliance to expand Microsoft's Security Cooperation Program into higher education. The announcement came yesterday at the Educause/Internet2 Security Professionals Conference 2007 being held in Denver, CO.
802.1X is gaining momentum in higher education. Driven by ever-growing user demand for ubiquitous network access, many of today's colleges and universities are adopting 802.1X as the authentication and access control framework to secure wired and wireless networks.
Fewer than 100 higher education institutions in the United States have recognized data warehousing programs. This represents an adoption rate of less than 3 percent for a discipline well into its second decade of mainstream practice.
Flagler College in Florida will deploy a wireless network throughout its campus in an effort to preserve the integrity of the historic buildings on the school's site and to provide centralized security for its wireless users. Alcatel-Lucent will handle the implementation.
What are the most popular online programs in higher education? According to a report from education consulting firm Eduventures, most students enrolled in programs online are participating in bachelor's degree programs, followed by associate degrees.
This month Charleston Southern University in South Carolina will deploy what is described as the "first-ever all-wireless network" for delivering live video and audio streaming of NCAA soccer and softball events.
Pradeep Khosla, dean of Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering, was given the "Cyber Education Champion Award" from the Business Software Alliance, an association of software companies.
University of Southern California president Steven Sample outlined a strategic plan for USC's new Stevens Institute for Innovation designed to consolidate all is innovation transfer and development operations under a single hub, as well as to extend those operations across as many disciplines as possible--arts as well as sciences.
The United States is falling behind European countries and Singapore in exploiting information technology, according to a report last week by the World Economic Forum. The U.S. dropped from first to seventh place in the WEF's annual "Networked Readiness Index," the Reuters news agency reported.
Sakai, Kuali, uPortal, Moodle, and others are taking advantage of a better way to build software through open source communities....
Baylor University named Pattie Orr vice president for information technology and dean of its libraries. Orr, who is pursuing a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Massachusetts, is currently director of user services at Wellesley College.
Until today, the promise of converged campuswide communications has been just that--a promise. But now, at institutions such as Dartmouth College, converged communications over secure, high-performance mobility networks has arrived.
It was only in the last couple of years that the number of laptops shipped annually exceeded the number of desktops. I can still remember....
Enterprise solutions provider Novell has joined the OpenCourseWare Consortium (OCWC), the company announced this week. OCWC is an initiative among the higher education community to promote the development and implementation of open-source education materials.
The Stevens Institute of Technology will open the School of Systems and Enterprises to study and educate students in the advanced information technology systems it said are increasingly driving the global economy.
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, has expanded use of Mirage Networks' Endpoint Control system across its campus and deployed the company's Mirage Management Server for security.
"Deploy and forget." That's the phrase that comes to mind to describe the Google Mini, the 1U rackmount appliance from Google....
Blue Lane Technologies has released a new security utility for VMware called VirtualShield. The tool, developed in cooperation with VMware, is designed to provide protection for the VMware Infrastructure 3 platform.
A report released this week by Eduventures, Sloan Consortium, and Babson College, shows a slow but steady decline in the percentage of blended courses offered by colleges and universities, while purely online courses continue to grow. At the same time, the report found that colleges and universities have not been meeting consumer demand for online course offerings.
Florida Atlantic University (FAU) has implemented a data management system from Information Builders to track and analyze data across multiple departments.
Oklahoma State University's Center for Health Sciences has selected Spacenet as the provider of satellite network services for its new mobile telemedicine unit, the Telemedicine Center.
Colgate University recently implemented NetMRI E-400, a network analysis and reporting tool from Netcordia.
Pennsylvania's Villanova University has upgraded and expanded its WLAN infrastructure, replacing its legacy network with Meru Networks' Wireless LAN System.
Leading colleges and universities are looking for new ways to demonstrate their value to stakeholders, with learning outcomes emerging as a debated and desired endpoint.
Retired this last January, John Camp was deputy CIO or CIO at Wayne State University (MI) for the last 10 years and in IT leadership positions there since 1985.
Extricom, a manufacturer of WLAN technologies, announced the start of its 2007 Education Grant program for higher education and K-12 schools. The grant will award a total of $1 million worth of wireless local area network (WLAN) equipment and discounts to schools.
Right now, "quality control" for higher education is basically left up to (a) the marketplace (sounds kind of right-wing) and (b) to nonprofit-based, "voluntary" procedures for accreditation (sounds kinda left-wing).
One of the challenges of multimedia classrooms can be supporting them in an efficient, cost-effective manner. After all, each element you add to a classroom means another piece of equipment that can fail.
Today, campus connectivity is all about advanced eLearning, ubiquitous
computing, high-performance computing grid resources for researchers,
next-gen student services, and much, much more.
Today’s Auxiliary Services department has morphed
into a solution source for mobile transactions,
mountains of junk mail, and a whole lot more.
Basically, if your IT doesn’t work, you don’t have any business or learning continuity except for in the smallest and most specialized of situations.
It’s time to drop the ad hoc approach, take a stand,
and strengthen those network defenses with
products and approaches that deliver. Campus
technologists talk about what’s working now.
From improving service to the campus community,
to enhancing server capacity for critical operations,
schools learn that the best way to tackle mission-critical
objectives is to do it via intelligent tech
implementations.
Two leading academic instutions facing critical
data warehousing and business intelligence
challenges find powerful and dynamic solutions
that could be your solutions, too.
When the British Columbia Institute of Technology decided to implement a wireless network, it was building on a sophisticated wired network already in place on and between BCIT’s five major campuses in Vancouver.
Determined to put an up-to-date computing device
in the hands of every student and educator on
campus, CIOs devise smart tech refresh programs.
