U Texas, Austin Debuts Course App To Complement MOOC

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.

Designed for Energy 101, a massive open online course (MOOC) offered through edX, the app allows students to download all course content to their phone and provides instructors with tools to follow student progress, understand how students are using resources and easily distribute new material.

Built with the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite (DPS), the app allows "professors to utilize video, interactive content, embed quizzes and more, delivering an engaging interactive course," according to a news release. "Students can download the course and access it on the mobile device of their choice. They will always have the most up to date content due to the push notification feature within DPS. For a student audience that has grown up with digital technology, this is a welcome change for how course content is delivered and consumed."

Cheaper than a traditional textbook, the course app is available to anyone interested in learning more about energy or other professors who want to use it as a supplement to their own curriculum. Additionally, the app could be used as an adaptive tool by tailoring the content for individual students.

For more information, or to download the app, visit the iTunes store.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Abstract polygonal hacker with laptop on technology dark background

    Cybersecurity Researchers Identify First Fully Autonomous AI-Driven Ransomware Attack

    Threat researchers at cloud security firm Sysdig have disclosed what they describe as the first documented ransomware operation carried out end-to-end by an autonomous AI agent, with no human typing commands or directing individual steps once the attack was underway.

  • woman

    AI Giants Back Nonprofit Focused on Workforce Transition

    The AI industry's biggest names are investing in more than just models and infrastructure — they're focusing on workforce readiness. OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft and Amazon are backing Raise US, a new nonprofit that aims to raise $1 billion to help American workers prepare for an AI-driven economy.

  • Neon blue security locks with a single red highlight

    AI Shifts Cybersecurity Focus from Finding Flaws to Fixing Them

    For decades, one of cybersecurity's most difficult challenges has been finding vulnerabilities before attackers do. A growing number of security professionals now say artificial intelligence is changing that equation, shifting the focus from discovering flaws to fixing them quickly enough to prevent exploitation.

  • digital brain with network connections

    Microsoft Moving to Internally Developed AI Models in Office Apps

    Microsoft is reportedly using its own in-house artificial intelligence models to handle some workloads in Excel and Outlook, offering new evidence that the company is moving its AI strategy beyond model development and into large-scale cost reduction.