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.
Upcoming events include the Educause Learning Technology Leadership Institute, T.D.W.I. Anaheim Conference, Distance Teaching and Learning Conference and SANS Network Security 2018.
A new resource from the California Community Colleges provides a step-by-step guide to building makerspaces on campus, from initial planning stages to facility design, pilot programs and community outreach. The free Makerspace Startup Guide comes out of the C.C.C. Maker initiative, a project funded by the California Community College Chancellor's Office, Workforce and Economic Division.
Next month Black Box will begin shipping its new Radian Flex Video Wall software. The company said the platform is "infinitely upgradeable" and provides "unlimited" resolution and screen outputs.
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.
A pilot program formed in 2014 in California's community colleges just came to fruition when 135 students around the state graduated with bachelor's degrees from their two-year schools. The program's intent: to meet workforce needs where they're not duplicated at the state's public universities.
In the future, according to a group of German researchers, users of virtual reality will be able to interact with each other more easily, more naturally and in real time between real and virtual worlds. A scene from the real world could, for example, be transferred into VR, after which feedback could be reflected back into the real situation.
A new study from the University of Maryland found that people recall information better when it is presented to them in a virtual environment, as opposed to a desktop computer.
A new playbook promises to help mayors build and expand College Promise programs within their communities. The "City and County Playbook: How To Build a Promise" was the brainchild of the College Promise Campaign and Chris Cabaldon, a board member and the current mayor of West Sacramento, California. The report is intended to serve as a blueprint to help cities and counties create programs that fund the first two years of college for "hard-working students."
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.