IBL News

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  • The OLC Accelerate 2022 Conference Posts Its Program

    The OLC Accelerate 2022 Conference Posts Its Program

    IBL News | New York

    Online Learning Consortium announced the program for the OLC Accelerate 2022 event, which will take place November 14-17, 2022, in Orlando, Florida (at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin).

    This week, November 1-3, the event was held virtually, with streaming sessions via Zoom.

    This year’s conference theme is “Reflecting Onward: Evidence for a Changed World”.

    “This year’s program promises to be filled with thoughtful discussions aimed at innovating our methods, challenging the status quo, and broadly sharing effective practices for online and blended learning,” said Program Chairs Adam Davi (University of Arizona), Dorothy Loftin (Oregon State University), and Angela Gunder (OLC).

    “OLC Accelerate 2022 serves as a collective call for educators, administrators, and allies to engage in deeper thinking and a sharing of collective wisdom that helps us all hone our craft and identify strategies for the future,” they added.

    This year — the 28th OLC conference — the conference tracks will include a new Student Support and Success track.

    The Accelerate 2022 are:

    • Access, Equity, and Open Education
    • Blended Learning Strategy and Practice*
    • Engaged and Effective Teaching and Learning
    • Instructional Design
    • Leadership and Institutional Strategy
    • Research, Evaluation, and Learning Analytics
    • Student Support and Success
    • Technology and Future Trends

    The onsite keynote speaker will be Dr. Josie Ahlquist, a digital engagement and leadership researcher, and author. She teaches education professionals and campus executives how to humanize technology tools and prioritize building online communities.

  • Educause Recognized Five Top Educators for Their Accomplishments in Higher Ed IT

    Educause Recognized Five Top Educators for Their Accomplishments in Higher Ed IT

    IBL News | Denver, Colorado

    The professional association Educause recognized five top educators through its Awards Program during its annual conference, last month in Denver, Colorado.

    This program, under the guidance of eleven professionals on the Recognition Committee, “brings peer endorsement and distinction to professional accomplishments in higher education IT,” Educause said.

    The honorees were:

    • Leadership Award: Michael Berman, Former CIO at California State University.
      Michael Berman
      “For demonstrating vision and foresight in the use of emerging technologies; for developing innovative strategies and solutions in support of teaching, learning, and research; for encouraging and engaging others in a spirit of strengthening the IT profession.

     

    “Sue B. Workman: Former Vice President/CIO, Case Western Reserve University Leadership Coach.

    Sue B. Workman“For modeling exemplary strategic leadership and effectiveness in the governance of technology organizations; for cultivating work environments that promote continuous professional growth and success; for being a role model for those who aspire to become future leaders in the IT profession.”

     

     

    • Community Leadership Award: Lisa A. Stephens, Assistant Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University at Buffalo Senior Strategist, Academic Innovation, SUNY.Lisa A. Stephens“For exhibiting leadership in exemplary cross-institutional innovation and collaboration; for inspiring interest, talent, and energy toward a common effort; for maintaining an unwavering commitment to applying the ideals of higher education for bettering individual lives and society as a whole.”

     

    • DEI Leadership Award: Keith W. “Mac” McIntosh, Vice President and CIO, University of Richmond
      Keith W. “Mac” McIntosh
      “For displaying exemplary commitment in promoting and advancing DEI efforts within the IT profession; for fostering inclusive partnerships within his own institution and beyond; for leading with intention and catalyzing critical conversations around how DEI strengthens the profession”

     

    • The Rising Star Award: Joseph Licata, Product Management Consultant and Former Associate CIO at Maricopa County Community Colleges District
      Joseph Licata
      “For exemplifying vision and insight to achieve operational excellence; for advancing unique and innovative technology solutions with a resoundingly positive impact for the institution and the greater community; for leading the way in cultivating efficient and effective teams.”

    John O’Brien, President and CEO of Educause, said, “my hope is that we can make our way home imagining ways to lead the way, creating more equitable and inclusive campuses and prioritizing health and well-being, all in the relentless pursuit of a greater good.”

    On the other hand, Educause will host a virtual version of 2022 Educause this week (November 2 – 3, 2022).

    Next year, the 2023 Conference will take place in Chicago, IL, on October 9 – 12, 2022.

     

  • Oracle Launches a Cloud Infrastructure that Allows ISVs to Run their Own Services

    Oracle Launches a Cloud Infrastructure that Allows ISVs to Run their Own Services

    IBL News | New York

    Another giant entered the battle for cloud infrastructure services, a competitive industry dominated by AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Oracle introduced an offering called Oracle Alloy during its annual conference in Las Vegas in October.

    Oracle’s pitch is that its technology is a partner-controlled cloud environment. “It can be independently operated in a partner’s own data center with full control of operations to help address data control, regulatory, or sovereignty requirements,” said the company.

    This cloud infrastructure platform enables service providers, integrators, ISVs (independent software vendors), and financial, telecom, or other organizations to operate as cloud providers and roll out branded and tailored cloud offerings to their customers.

    • These providers could set their own pricing and billing and operate their clouds independently in each country.
    • Also, a company could run custom software-as-a-service applications on its Alloy-powered infrastructure and sell them to customers.
    • An embedded version of Oracle’s Fusion Cloud ERP software can be used to manage the administrative and business tasks involved in providing cloud services.

    “As cloud providers, our partners have more control over the customer experience for their targeted customer or industry, including where the workloads reside and how their cloud is operated,” said Clay Magouyrk, Executive Vice President at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

    Chris Kanaracus, research director at IDC, said that its firm increasingly sees the cloud as not something tied to a specific location but rather a consistent operating model for IT.

    During the same OracleWorld conference, along with Alloy and Oracle’s new tools for developers, MySQL HeatWave Lakehouse was presented, a cloud-based data lakehouse designed to support enterprise analytics projects. Oracle claims that the offering can provide significantly faster performance than competing products.

    Also, this week IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced new software designed to break down data and analytics silos and streamline planning and analytics.

     

  • The FTC Sues Chegg for Exposing Millions of Users’ Social Security Numbers and Other Key Data

    The FTC Sues Chegg for Exposing Millions of Users’ Social Security Numbers and Other Key Data

    IBL News | New York

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued last week edtech provider Chegg, Inc (NYSE: CHGG) for “its lax security practices that exposed sensitive information about millions of its customers and employees, including Social Security numbers, email addresses, and passwords.”

    “These practices resulted in four separate data breaches in a span of just a few years, leading to the misappropriation of personal information about approximately 40 million consumers,” states the complaint.

    A key component of Chegg’s information technology infrastructure was Simple Storage Service (S3), a cloud storage service offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that Chegg used to store a substantial amount of customer and employee data. The FTC alleges that:

    • Chegg allowed employees and third-party contractors to access the S3 databases with a single access key that provided full administrative privileges over all information.
    • Chegg didn’t require multi-factor authentication for account access to the S3 databases.
    • Rather than encrypting the data, Chegg stored users’ and employees’ personal information in plain text.
    • Until at least April 2018, Chegg “protected” passwords with outdated cryptographic hash functions.
    • Until at least April 2020, Chegg failed to provide adequate data security training for employees and contractors.
    • Chegg didn’t have processes in place for inventorying and deleting customers’ and employees’ personal information once there was no longer a business need to maintain it.
    • Chegg failed to monitor its networks adequately for unauthorized attempts to sneak in and illegally transfer sensitive data out of its system.

    In each of the four incidents cited in the complaint, the FTC alleges that Chegg failed to take simple precautionary steps that would have likely helped prevent or detect the threat to consumer and employee data – for example, requiring employees to take data security training on the telltale signs of a phishing attempt.

    The FTC suggests conducting regular in-house security training and provides Cybersecurity for Small Business resources for inspiration.

    Chegg’s Third Quarter 2022 Earnings

    On the other hand, Chegg announced this week its third-quarter earnings, showing a decrease of 4% year-over-year in net revenues, to $164.7 million, a decrease of 4% year-over-year.

     

     

     

  • Google Shuts Down Hangouts, Transferring Users Into a Slack-Like Service

    Google Shuts Down Hangouts, Transferring Users Into a Slack-Like Service

    IBL News | New York

    Google Hangouts — the text, video, and voice chat service app built into Gmail — shut down yesterday eliminating this web service. The iOS and Android apps died in July 2022.

    People using Hangouts saw a prompt message asking them to move to Chat in Gmail or the Chat app, the company’s Slack-style instant messaging app for business.

    Hangouts had a slow death, with Google encouraging users to migrate over to Chat in 2021.

    Most of the messages and contacts will be automatically transferred over, although not all the data. Google said that users should use Google Takeout to download and save a copy of their data. Users will have until January 2023 to keep their Hangouts data.

    Chat provides additional features for group conversations as well as security and collaboration tools like Spaces and editing Docs, Slides, or Sheets side-by-side with other users. Chat users can also send GIFs and use @mentions to notify someone in the group.

    Google says that Chat is a better way for users to connect with others. According to the company, the new integrated view in Gmail makes it easier to use Chat alongside Gmail inbox, Spaces, and Meet.

  • 2U Launches New Boot Camps Under the edX Brand, Retiring the Trilogy Name

    2U Launches New Boot Camps Under the edX Brand, Retiring the Trilogy Name

    IBL News | New York

    2U, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWOU) announced yesterday the launch of 200 Online Boot Camps under the edX brand on its website, retiring the “Trilogy Education Services” name.

    This offering, developed by 50 edX partner universities, will start at the beginning of 2023. It will target 10,000 students annually in high-demand technology fields such as web development, data analytics, UX/UI, cybersecurity, fintech, digital marketing, and project management.

    All Boot Camps will be fully online and include live, virtual classroom sessions led by university-vetted instructors. These programs are part-time (18-24 weeks) and designed for working adults and professionals with a need for a flexible schedule who are ready to invest 20+ hours outside of class for self-study and projects.

    2U/edX also features full-time (12-week) Boot Camps, with classes Monday through Friday, for those seeking a more accelerated learning experience.

    The 2U company started to deliver Boot Camp programs in 2016. Since then, have graduated from these intensive technology training programs, with 31% not having a bachelor’s degree. About 6,700 companies have hired program graduates, including Google, Target, State Farm, H&R Block, Infosys, and others, according to 2U.

    Institutions like the University of Central Florida, University of Denver, University of Oregon, University of Utah Professional Education, Tulsa Community College, and the UK’s University of Birmingham have established partnerships to connect Boot Camp programs with local workforce agencies and corporate, nonprofit, and government funders.

    Struggling Company

    The 2U initiative comes at a very complicated moment for the company, dominated by layoffs and a deep declining stock value, with a loss of over

    The Harvard Crimson, owned by Harvard University — who, along with MIT, sold edX to 2U — published a story highlighting the stock plummeting of 2U since the purchase.

    “In its nine years under Harvard and MIT, edX — founded to make premiere college courses accessible to digital learners everywhere — grew to include more than 3,000 courses, with 39 million participants around the globe. But in the period since the sale was announced, the education technology firm that bought edX for $800 million, 2U Inc., has seen the price of its shares plummet by more than 86 percent and cut 20 percent of its budgeted personnel costs.”

    Anant Agarwal, founder of edX and now a 2U employee, said to The Harvard Crimson that “2U is in a strong financial position,” citing the company’s projection from July that it will make approximately $110 million in profits by the end of this fiscal year.

    “2U made a legally binding commitment to preserve and advance edX’s founding mission” when it acquired the nonprofit, Agarwal wrote, including continuing the free track to audit courses, protecting data privacy for individual edX users, and safeguarding the intellectual property rights of faculty and schools.

    The company’s competitors have also struggled over the past year. Coursera, which went public in the spring of 2021, has seen its stock price drop almost 71% since June 2021. Shares of Udacity fell 50%.

    Since the acquisition, more than 5 million users have joined edX, according to Agarwal, who noted that the company has added many new course offerings.

     

  • Most Higher Ed CIOs Are Ready to Invest More in Analytics, Says Gartner

    Most Higher Ed CIOs Are Ready to Invest More in Analytics, Says Gartner

    IBL News | Denver, Colorado

    Experts agree that data and analytics are critical for running today’s educational institutions. In fact, 60% of CIOs in higher education say that they are essential, according to Gartner.

    But these implementations are not taking place. There are several inhibitors, according to Marlena Brown, a Senior Research Analyst at Garner Inc.: Ineffective technology, misalignment of needs, and lack of understanding and trust.

    In an opening talk on the main stage during the 2022 Educause in Denver, Colorado, last Thursday, Marlena Brown [in the pictures above and below], revealed that 42% of higher ed CIOs indicated that they want to increase investment in business intelligence and data analytics, while 16% would grow their expenditure in AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning).

    In order to put analytics capabilities to work, Garner Associated examined cases ranging from simple descriptive and diagnostic analysis through predictive and prescriptive analyses that enable institutions to identify and bend trend curves.

    Analytics, with the help of AI and Machine Learning, will determine scenarios impacting student success, as several experts indicated to IBL News during the Educause event. Prescriptive analytics will help to increase the retention of students at risk and avoid the high number of dropping learners.

    According to Gartner, these are the four needed stages of analytics:

    • Descriptive — What happened?
    • Diagnostic — Why did it happen?
    • Predictive — What will happen?
    • Prescriptive — What should I do?

    Technologies involved include regression analytics, forecasting, simulation, predictive models, complex event processing, neural networks, recommendation engines, data hub, and data lake, and analytic sandbox.

    Marlena Brown highlighted the importance of establishing a clear vision, outlining what every institution is trying to achieve. “I’d suggest creating an environment for exploration of advanced analytics as well,” she added.

     

  • “We Need More From Technology,” Says Educause While Presenting the 2022 Top 10 Issues

    “We Need More From Technology,” Says Educause While Presenting the 2022 Top 10 Issues

    IBL News | Denver, Colorado

    The higher ed professional association Educause presented the 2023 Top 10 IT issues during its annual conference yesterday in Denver, Colorado.

    “Today’s times demand more from technology,” said Susan Grajek, Vice President for Partnership, Communities, and Research at Educause, during the opening keynote address [In the picture above]. “We need new foundation models,” she added.

    Susan Grajek highlighted the idea that “data leads to better decisions.” “The AI (Artificial Intelligence) foundational models can be applied to higher” as “potential value of AI is emerging.”

    Another idea that Educause insisted on in front of thousands of educators and industry leaders gathered for three days (October 25 – 28, 2022) in Denver was the extension of stress and anxiety among students.

    In an exclusive interview with IBL News, John O’Brien, president of Educause, said that 70% of them show or have shown mental health issues in the last post-pandemic months.

    The top 10 IT issues research was divided into three themes: leading with wisdom, ultra-intelligent institutions, and everything is anywhere.

    1. Leadership – Leading with WisdomIssue #1 – A Seat at the Table: ensuring IT leadership is a full partner in institutional strategic planningIssue #3 – Evolve, Adapt, or Lose Talent: creating a workplace that allows for and supports movement up, down, and sideways to accommodate shifts in personal and professional goals and to foster healthier work/life balanceIssue #5 – Enriching the Leadership Playbook: leading with humility and candor to engage, empower, and retain the IT workforce
    2. Data – The Ultra-Intelligent InstitutionIssue #2 – Privacy and Security 101: embedding privacy and security education and awareness in the curriculum and workplaceIssue #4 – Smooth Sailing for the Student Experience: using technology, data, insight, and agility to create a frictionless student experienceIssue #6 – Expanding Enrollments and the Bottom Line: focusing on data and analytics initiatives on identifying academic programs with high potential for recruitment ROI

      Issue #7 – Moving from Data Insight to Data Action: converting data analytics into action plans to power institutional performance, enhance operational efficiency, and improve student success

    3. Work and Learning – Everything is AnywhereIssue #8 – A New Era of IT Support: updating IT services to support remote and hybrid workIssue #9 – Online, In Person, or Hybrid? Yes: developing a learning-first, technology-enabled strategyIssue #10 – SaaS, ERP, and CRM: an alphabet soup of opportunity: managing cost, risk, and value of investments in new ERP solutions

  • CUNY Unveils a $1.6B Plan to Build a Science Park and Research Campus in Manhattan

    CUNY Unveils a $1.6B Plan to Build a Science Park and Research Campus in Manhattan

    IBL News | New York

    CUNY (City University of New York) will launch, in partnership with New York City and the State leadership, the Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC) Kips Bay, a $1.6 billion, first-of-its-kind, innovation hub for the life sciences industry in Manhattan in 2031.

    It will include new modern facilities for 4,5000 students from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH), the Hunter College School of Nursing and School of Health Sciences, and the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s multiple healthcare programs.

    This project, spanning 1.5 million square feet in Kips Bay [see maps below], will transform the Brookdale Campus on East 25th Street into new, state-of-the-art teaching and commercial facilities. The initiative will further a career pipeline in life science for local students, in addition to rebuilding a pedestrian bridge that will connect East 25th St. to Manhattan Waterfront Greenway.

    SPARC Kips Bay will be funded jointly by the city and state with additional investment from the private sector in life sciences.

    The project, expected to break ground in 2026 and be completed by the end of 2031, will include additional lab and research space for CUNY SPH and house the school’s library and study centers. The new campus will also include additional classrooms for the school’s planned undergraduate program in public health.

    The project, announced this month, is expected to generate approximately $25 billion in economic impact to the City of New York over the next 30 years, create 10,000 jobs, and create a pipeline from local public schools to careers in the growing and essential fields of life sciences, health care, and public health.

    At a press event on October 19, Governor Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez unveiled the plans for the new campus.

    “COVID-19 proved how important New York’s public hospitals, research institutions, and universities are to the survival and the well-being of our beloved city,” said Chancellor Matos Rodríguez. “So it is fitting that the mayor and the governor have teamed up with CUNY to transform this Brookdale Campus into a public health and education hub to better meet the needs of our students’ faculty and of all Yew Yorkers,” he added.

     

  • Pandemic-Disrupted Teaching and Learning Effects Will Continue for Decades, Stanford Says

    Pandemic-Disrupted Teaching and Learning Effects Will Continue for Decades, Stanford Says

    IBL News | New York

    Reverberations of pandemic-disrupted teaching and learning will likely continue for decades. The seismic changes of the health outbreak in 2020 and 2021 will result in a no return to “normal”.

    This is the main conclusion of a report elaborated by Stanford University Digital Education unit, released this month. This Pandemic Education Report — as it has been titled — gathered stories about how the campus supported academic continuity during the period of emergency remote instruction. Stanford leaders, faculty, staff, and students provided diverse perspectives on the challenges they faced.

    This extensive review will serve as the foundation on which Stanford can design its future digital education strategy, said the institution. “The disruption to teaching and learning, as devastating as it was, also contains gems of opportunity,” stated the authors of the report, as shown in the video below.

    The 87-page report, comprised of interviews with 59 administrators and faculty, as well as a survey of 6,000 students, follows similar reviews elaborated by Harvard University, MIT, and other institutions.

    Regarding the extensive use of Zoom and Canvas, the report points out ideas such as:

    • “The suddenly more prominent role of Zoom and Canvas when emergency remote education began did raise concerns among some faculty and staff. It meant that Stanford’s teaching, learning, and work were conducted in platforms developed by private, for-profit companies whose products were designed to accommodate a wide range of customer needs. Zoom, in particular, is a business meeting tool not designed with education in mind.”
    • “Instructors quickly increased their skill in using Zoom for teaching and thoughtfully reworked their instruction, with help from newly developed resources and training programs rapidly spun up by teams across campus. These innovations, explored in this review, improved student engagement in remote teaching and learning.”
    • “What’s more, because of Stanford’s location in Silicon Valley, it had a strong connection with the company based in nearby San Jose before the pandemic began.” (…) “We already had this highly scalable infrastructure with Zoom and, furthermore, a very tight relationship with their CEO and founder.”
      .