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.
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.
Upcoming events include WCET 32nd Annual Meeting, 2020 CCUMC Annual Conference, and OLC Accelerate 2020.
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.
