Parents are more comfortable than students with the virus response undertaken by colleges and universities. A recent survey from online bill payment company ACI found that while 57 percent of parents thought campus precautions were satisfactory, just 46 percent of students said the same.
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.
California's Saddleback College is up to 15 zero textbook cost (ZTC) pathways. These are full degree or certificate programs that have no textbook-related costs or fees for online materials, though some classes may require students to buy essentials, such as safety goggles or calculators.
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.
In an effort to build a pipeline of technology talent in the Jacksonville area, Florida's Jacksonville University is partnering with tech talent accelerator SkillStorm to provide customized IT training through a new Training Pathway Program.
A new text analysis project at Indiana University, which just won a $500,000 grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will focus initially on a collection of Black fiction compiled at the University of Kansas.
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.
Two Connecticut universities are working together to run a saliva-based COVID-19 testing program. Sacred Heart University has adopted SalivaDirect, a testing method developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health that produces quicker results with a less invasive procedure and no need for specialized equipment.
Amazon has added new cities for its full-time, 12-week technology upskilling program, AWS re/Start.
