Author: IBL News

  • Stanford University Sets Its Video Wall for 250 Students on Zoom

    Stanford University Sets Its Video Wall for 250 Students on Zoom

    IBL News | New York

    Stanford University set a 32-foot by 8-foot video wall with 250 students at once on Zoom, as shown in the picture below.

    Once a week, Stanford’s students in Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change participate this way in conversations with instructors.

    The panel group is the result of three simultaneous Zoom sessions of up to 100 students.
    Students can see multiple presenters.

    Teacher Assistants post real-time questions from students to the video wall, and facilitate breakout rooms and polls.

    They also toggle video feeds from five different angles, so that instructors can move around.

    Director of Classroom Innovation at Stanford University, Bob Smith, set the system in Wallenberg Hall, according to Stanford Magazine.

    edSurge explained that “no matter how big your screen, Zoom can only display up to 49 people in each session. So the class was divided into three different Zoom sessions of up to 100 students each. Then a teaching assistant helped feed all three of those sessions into a fourth room, making it possible to control which speaker is featured on everyone’s feed but that can draw on users in any of the Zoom sessions.”

     

    Before Stanford University, the pandemic inspired institutions such as Harvard University to use a similar Zoom approach, as IBL News reported last December.

    David J. Malan, professor of Computer Science at Harvard University and leading instructor at the Cs50 MOOC, shared a multiple gallery view setup by using Zoom Rooms for enhanced remote and blended learning sessions.

    Mr. Malan also showed how Harvard recreated the look, feel, and interactivity for 150 students at a time in a theater on campus. The institution used a setup with a series of TVs and cameras running two interconnected Zoom Rooms [picture below].

  • ASU-GSV Releases the List of the World’s 300 Most Dynamic EdTech Companies

    ASU-GSV Releases the List of the World’s 300 Most Dynamic EdTech Companies

    IBL News | New York

    ASU+GSV published this month a list of the world’s 300 most dynamic EdTech companies.

    Those innovators will be recognized during the ASU+GSV Summit conference, which will take place this August 9-11 in San Diego.

    The event will be the most important gathering of entrepreneurs and investors after the Coronavirus pandemic. In addition, it will be the first in-person event. In the last edition, the summit attracted over 5,500 attendees.

    The Covid’s impact ushered a new era in education, from B.C. to A.D. — Before Coronavirus to After Disease, as ASU-GSV described it.

    Global venture capital investments in education technology grew more than 170%, to $13.3 billion. Year-to-date in 2021, the number is around $5 billion. Globally, education is a $7 Trillion sector.

    The 300 mentioned companies — IBL Education, parent of this news service, among them — are the most transformative growth organizations in digital learning, according to ASU-GSV.

    Many of the platforms of those companies have been able to aid in transitioning classrooms online, maintaining access to educational resources and opportunities, and up-skilling and re-skilling workers.

    Deborah Quazzo, Managing Partner of GSV Ventures and Co-founder of the ASU+GSV Summit — now in its 12th year — said in a recent podcast interview that the education industry had entered a renaissance.

     

    • Resource:
    GSV Edtech 150 — the Most Transformational Growth Companies in Digital Learning

  • Hollywood Celebrities Set a Film School in Partnership with Los Angeles’ Public System

    Hollywood Celebrities Set a Film School in Partnership with Los Angeles’ Public System

    IBL News | New York

    Hollywood elites have begun to put their philanthropy effort into Los Angeles’ public education system.

    According to The New York Times, a group including George Clooney, Eva Longoria, Don Cheadle, Eva Longoria, and Mindy Kaling, is set to start a film and television school in the city’s public school district. “Everyone is recognizing that the industry needs to do better,” Clooney told the newspaper.

    The project, called the Roybal School of Film and Television Production, is one of at least three partnerships started between Hollywood’s benefactors and Los Angeles Unified School District.

    It aims to diversify the pipeline of cinematographers, visual effects artists, and other workers.

    Recently, the music giants Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine announced they were starting their own specialized high school in South Los Angeles.

    In this century alone, Bill Gates; Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife, Priscilla Chan; LeBron James; and MacKenzie Scott have made donations to reshape American education.

  • IBM Launches a Global Program to Improve the Skills and Employability of Thousands

    IBM Launches a Global Program to Improve the Skills and Employability of Thousands

    IBL News | New York

    IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced this month a global project, in collaboration with 30 governments, community colleges, non-profits, and employment agencies, to improve the skills and employability of underserved populations — such as veterans, women, minorities, refugees, and unemployed young adults.

    This initiative is part of the IBM SkillsBuild program to skill 500,000 people by the end of 2021.

    The program is designed to empower job seekers within 3-6 months with professional workplace readiness and technical skills, earn badges and credentials and provide personal mentoring.

    “Closing the global skills gap is one of the most pressing issues of our time,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM, Chairman and CEO. This accomplishment would add $11.5 trillion to global GDP by 2028, according to the World Economic Forum.

    “70% of employers can’t find the skills they need for roles like data analytics, software development and remote customer service,” said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup Chairman & CEO.

    Those 30 global organizations are ActionAid Italia Onlus, The American Indian Foundation Trust, Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development, Argencon, Bay Area Community College Consortium (BACCC), Bruxelles Formation, Cité des Métiers, CSC Academy, CSRBOX, Edunet Foundation, Fondazione Human Age Institute, Fundación Konecta, Junior Achievement Americas, Junior Achievement Italy, Laboratoria, Mission Locale de Paris, Reacha Foundation, Tata Community Initiatives Trust, The Royal Alberta College, Technifutur, Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet, Training Point, Turkish Industry & Business Association (TÜSİAD), Unnati Foundation, Uvi Jagriti Sansthan, VetsinTech, Jeevitam-VSS Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd, Workforce Development Inc., and 60 000 rebonds.

    Workforce solutions company ManpowerGroup will also partner with IBM to connect these job seekers to career opportunities.

  • The University of Cambridge Offers Eight Free Courses on Creative Arts on edX

    The University of Cambridge Offers Eight Free Courses on Creative Arts on edX

    IBL News | New York

    The University of Cambridge — founded in 1209 and ranked among the world’s top 10 higher ed institutions — is offering on the edX.org platform a series of valuable, free courses of writing, performance art, screenplay, and comedy writing.

    In total, there are eight courses intended for those in the entertainment industry looking to solidify their skills.

    – Writing successfully for the Stage
    – Finding your voice as a playwright
    – Reconceiving Space: Installation and Performance Art
    – Capstone: Bringing it all together
    – Building your Screenplay
    – Stand Up! Comedy Writing and Performance Poetry
    – Business Success in the Screen Industries
    – Digital Platforms in Performance

    Learners who successfully complete the courses can obtain a paid, verified certificate.

    Altogether, these courses are featured as an 8-months MicroMasters Program in Writing for Performance and the Entertainment Industries, offered at a graduate level for $1,400.

    “By collaborating with EdX, the University is enabling learners from all over the globe to benefit from Cambridge’s passion for knowledge and discovery, giving as many people as possible the chance to experience the quality of a Cambridge education,” says the university on its edX page.

     

  • University of Michigan Extends Its Tuition Free Program

    University of Michigan Extends Its Tuition Free Program

    IBL News | New York

    The University of Michigan’s Board of Regents decided to expand the program that guarantees free tuition for in-state students from families with less than $65,000 in income and less than $55,000 in assets.

    The program called Go Blue Guarantee will be applied to students on Flint and Dearborn campuses beginning the fall semester.

    “Three years ago, this board made a promise to the students of Michigan, that if you show outstanding academic achievement in high school, you can attend our Ann Arbor campus no matter your family’s financial resources. Today, we take that promise one huge step further,” Regent Mark Bernstein said.

    The decision was praised in academic circles, with the union representing non-tenure-track faculty calling the deciding vote a “victory”.

    This requirement won’t be needed for Ann Arbor campus’ students.

    The Go Blue Guarantee was implemented on the main campus in Ann Arbor in 2018.

     

     

  • Open edX Releases Its Twelfth Version of the Platform Called ‘Lilac’

    Open edX Releases Its Twelfth Version of the Platform Called ‘Lilac’

    IBL News | New York

    The edX organization released this month its twelfth version of the Open edX platform called Lilac. This release comes on time, six months after the launch of Koa.

    Developers working on Lilac explained that a new installation method was added: a Docker-based, open-source AGPL v3, community-supported distribution named Tutor.

    The native installation from scratch, on a single Ubuntu 20.04 64-bit server, remained for skillful developers and Linux system administrators.

    “Because the Open edX community has been moving away from the toolset underlying the native installation, Lilac will be the last release using it,” explained Adolfo Brandes, an engineer working on Tutor. “By the time Maple — the next Open edX version — comes out this December, we expect to drop support for it altogether.”

    A third supported installation method is Devstack — a development environment useful to modify code locally.

    In addition to the Tutor dockerized installation, currently, Lilac Open edX included three improvements:

    • A “Complete the course” button allows learners to know if they’ve passed or completed a course.
    • The LTI consumer XBlock can now expose content via LTI 1.3.
    • More micro-frontends enabled by default: notably, the ones that now render the account settings and checkout pages.

    Open edX Lilac Release Notes

  • Investment Company Platinum Equity Buys McGraw Hill for $4.5 Billion

    Investment Company Platinum Equity Buys McGraw Hill for $4.5 Billion

    IBL News | New York

    The investment firm that controls McGraw Hill, Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO) has sold it to Platinum Equity for $4.5 billion, according to a public announcement made on June 15. The transaction is expected to be completed this summer, subject to regulatory approval.

    In 2013, Apollo Global Management bought McGraw Hill Education for $2.5 billion. Since then, McGraw Hill, like most textbook publishers, morphed into a digital content and software company, mostly by purchasing six companies.

    Founded in 1888, McGraw Hill generates around $1 billion a year in revenue from digital products. It has grown its digital revenue from 25% in 2013 to more than 60% today.

    Last year, a proposed merger between Cengage and McGraw Hill collapsed amid significant regulatory opposition.

    McGraw Hill, CEO Simon Allen, and his senior leadership team will continue to lead the business under Platinum’s ownership.

  • Another Wall Street’s Transaction in Higher Ed: Ellucian Sold to Two Equity Funds

    Another Wall Street’s Transaction in Higher Ed: Ellucian Sold to Two Equity Funds

    IBL News | New York

    Private equity funds Blackstone (NYSE: BX) and Vista Equity Partners announced yesterday their acquisition of Ellucian, owned by financial companies TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners. The transaction amount was not disclosed.

    ERP software and SIS provider Ellucian has over 2,700 customers in over 50 countries.

    “Digital transformation is one of Blackstone’s highest-conviction investment themes, and Ellucian has proven itself a clear leader in the fast-growing higher education technology sector,” said Eli Nagler, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone.

    Laura Ipsen, President & CEO of Ellucian, stated that “their investment strategy represents a long-horizon commitment to our company with significant new capital to accelerate digital transformation, our open SaaS platform, and international growth.”

     

  • WordPress Owner Company Buys Journaling App Day One

    WordPress Owner Company Buys Journaling App Day One

    IBL News | New York

    Automattic Inc, the company behind WordPress and Tumblr, expanded its offer of writing platforms with the purchase of the popular iOS and macOS journaling app Day One. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

    The announcement was issued by Day One’s Founder and CEO, Paul Mayne, through a post on its blog this Monday.

    The Day One app, with 15 million downloads and a subscription-based business model, will continue to be managed independently with the existing team, according to the acquired company. However, it will be integrated with Tumblr and WordPress.com.

    “There are no current plans to change the privacy of Day One; safely protecting memories and creating a 100% personal space,” stated Paul Mayne.

    Since its launch in March 2011, the Day One app has received praise from reviewers and was named App of the Year by some publishers. Its focus on privacy, unlike WordPress and Tumblr, has been one of its strongest selling points.