Page 3 - Campus Technology, August/September 2017

Campus +Industr y TECHNOLOGY HAPPENINGS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
PRIVACY IN ED TECH. Education technology startups are doing a lousy
job of protecting the data privacy of
the students who use their products, according to an exploratory research project out of Carnegie Mellon University (PA). After extensive interviews with six companies, chosen based on criteria that included student data privacy risk, staff size, reputation and revenue growth, the researchers found that aside from adhering to federal and state-level requirements, data privacy generally wasn’t on the radar. What was more important during these companies’ first five years of operation was customer acquisition and product development. Read the full story online.
IT SPENDING ON THE RISE.
According to the latest forecast from International Data Corp., worldwide IT spending will increase by 4.5 percent in 2017, rebounding from last year’s growth of 2.5 percent. Total spending is expected to reach $2.1 trillion, and increase by
another 4 percent in 2018. The source of that positive momentum, according to the market research firm: stronger upgrade cycles for cloud infrastructure and mobile devices. “Cloud and mobile are still the big drivers for IT spending, despite the attention devoted to new technologies like augmented reality, artificial intelligence and robotics,” said Stephen Minton,
vice president for customer insights and analysis at IDC, in a statement. Read the full story online.
PERSONALIZED TUTORING.
OpenStax, the Rice University (TX) nonprofit that has released almost two dozen free textbooks into academia, is beta testing a new personalized learning system that works with its materials. OpenStax Tutor will launch this fall for three courses: college physics, biology and sociology. The tutoring service, which is available online, uses web-based OpenStax textbooks to deliver content, simulations, videos, “spaced” practice questions and instant feedback. While students study, Tutor “learns” how they learn and what areas they struggle with, and then uses that information to “tutor” them. The program personalizes the assessments and schedules practice optimally to help users remember what they’ve learned and focus effort on areas that need extra work. Read the full
story online.
UNIFIED STUDENT DATA. Southern New Hampshire University is simplifying administrative processes and unifying
data across the institution with a new student information system. The private nonprofit institution, known for rapid growth and innovation with competency- based education, has chosen Ellucian’s SaaS-based Banner SIS to manage
its complex needs and “continue its mission of reinventing higher education for the modern day student,” according to a news announcement. In conjunction with Ellucian’s Ethos product, Banner will allow SNHU administrators and faculty to “view and manage student and university information in a single platform while providing complex reports that
can identify trends, report progress and inform decision-making.” Read the full story online.4
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CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | August/September 2017
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