Volunteers Step in with NMC Horizon Report Alternative

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.

Personalized Text Messages Boost STEM Student Persistence in Community College Study

In a randomized trial this past summer, community college students in STEM fields who received personalized text message "nudges" to keep them on track stayed in school at a rate 10 percentage points higher than those who did not receive nudges. The study, a joint effort by Jobs for the Future and Persistence Plus, followed about 2,000 students at four U.S. community colleges to gauge the impact of text message communications on college completion and student success.

What to Know About ED's New Stance on Data Breach Reporting

It's no longer optional for colleges and universities to report data breaches to the U.S. Department of Education — yet the agency has not clearly defined its expectations. Here's what institutions should be aware of.

Report: MOOCs Attracting More Paying Customers

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.

Report: Feds and States Need to Improve Data Efforts

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.

Giving CC Students Home Computers Won't Set Them up for Greater Success

Handing out computers to incoming community college students won't influence their success in higher education, maintaining jobs or lifting earnings. That's the bottom line for a study that examined the impact of providing home computers to students who don't have them. The research project pulled confidential data from California's employment office, the state's community college system and the National Student Clearinghouse on all participants in the study for seven years after the "random provision of computers." Results were published in a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Hacking Real-World Problems with Virtual and Augmented Reality

Oklahoma State University's first inaugural "Virtual + Augmented Reality Hackathon" hosted January 26-27 by the Mixed Reality Lab in the university's College of Human Sciences gave students and the community a chance to tackle real-world problems using AR and VR tools, while offering researchers a glimpse into the ways teams work with digital media tools.

NSF Teams with Private Cloud Providers to Beef up BIGDATA Awards

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.

McGill U Researcher: Smartphone Addiction Is Normal Need to Connect on Overdrive

We stare at our phones all the time not because the devices themselves are addictive, but because we're driven to socialize, according to a recent literature review by researchers at McGill University.

New Project to Launch Global Standards for Flipped Training

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.

Northeastern University Launches Micro Credential Program in Computer Science

Northeastern University has created a new Micro Credential program for working professionals in California's Bay Area looking to hone their skills in computer science. The program was created in partnership with mobile security company Lookout and is an extension of Northeastern's Silicon Valley campus.

New OLC Program to Support Digital Learning Research

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.

Florida Atlantic U Centralizes Video Management

Florida Atlantic University has created a central repository for all academic video content on campus, including more than 10,000 existing videos that have been migrated to the new platform. The institution selected Sonic Foundry's Mediasite product to handle both lecture capture and video management across the university.

New Bentley U Arena to Double as Learning Lab for Students

Bentley University has just completed construction of a new multipurpose arena that boasts the latest in sustainable design and green technology. The 76,000-square-foot facility will host the institution's hockey team as well as university events such as career fairs, high-profile speakers and concerts, according to a news release. But it will also provide students with a number of hands-on learning opportunities.

Epson Debuts 7 Education Laser Projectors

Epson has debuted seven new models in its new PowerLite L-Series of laser projectors for education. The forthcoming Epson PowerLite L615U, L610U, L510U, L400U, L610W, L500W and L610 offer resolutions reaching WUXGA and brightness ratings of up to 6,000 lumens.

Macmillan Learning Intros Curated OER Course Materials

Macmillan Learning is launching a new course materials product that brings together open educational resources, instructor supplements and on-demand support. Dubbed Intellus Open Courses, the materials are curated by the company's subject-matter experts and editorial team and cost just $14.99 per student per course.

Turnitin Developing Tech to Detect Contract Cheating

Contract cheating, the use of custom writing services to produce coursework, may soon be harder for students to get away with. Turnitin, a provide of plagiarism detection, online grading and peer review tools, is developing new technology to help identify and investigate the practice. Slated to be available in the second half of 2018, Authorship Investigation will use "a combination of machine learning algorithms and forensic linguistic best practices to detect major differences in students' writing style between papers," according to a news announcement.

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