The most popular higher-ed tech stories of 2010


eReaders like the Apple iPad gained traction in higher education this year.

Later this month, we’ll count down the 10 most significant higher-ed tech stories of 2010, as chosen by our editors. But first, here are the campus technology stories that you—our readers—deemed most noteworthy in the past year, as judged by the number of page views they received:

10. How to use higher education’s ‘new toy’: Social media

Campus technology officials in charge of social media efforts have come to a consensus: There are no social media experts, so keep experimenting with your school’s tweeting, linking, and posting until you’ve struck the right balance…

9. Florida college looks to become eBook pioneer

An all-eTextbook campus won’t just make Florida’s Daytona State College the envy of the education-technology world. The program will also save academic careers cut short when students can’t afford their books, pushing Daytona officials to find an electronic alternative and perhaps serve as a model for higher education…

8. Are today’s students addicted to social media?

University of Maryland students who went 24 hours without TV, cell phones, MP3 players, and laptops during a recent study reported symptoms you might expect from someone struggling with substance abuse, including an “unbearable” need for electronic communication, persistent anxiety, and a frantic “craving for some technology.” The study’s findings have prompted some observers to ask: Are today’s students addicted to technology—and if so, what implications might this have for education?

7. iPad pilots launching in higher ed this fall

Educators say there’s a simple reason they believe the Apple iPad pilot programs coming to colleges and universities this fall will run smoother than previous trials with popular eReaders: the apps…

6. Text messaging: a lecture hall epidemic?

College students say their professors would be “shocked” to know just how often they send text messages during lectures, and one researcher has offered a simple and stringent solution: Give failing grades to text-happy students…


5. Online learning official: Lecture capture helps students ‘review, review, review’

Jacqueline Moloney wants college students to do less transcribing and more listening. Moloney, executive vice chancellor and head of online learning at the University of Massachusetts Lowell campus, has overseen an effort to make lecture capture technology a standard feature in the university’s classrooms. Along with a suite of other technologies, about one-third of UMass Lowell’s classrooms have been equipped with lecture capture programs that, Moloney said, let students “review, review, review” by rewinding the video lectures and hashing over complex concepts…

4. University dean accidentally hits the ‘reply all’ button

Higher-education faculty and administrators got another lesson in the pitfalls of electronic communication and viral eMail messages last week when a University of Missouri dean mistakenly sent a message that referred to a student as suffering from “mental distress” to the campus’s 6,000 graduate students…

3. Class of 2014: eMail’s for old people

For students entering college this fall, eMail is too slow, phones have never had cords, and the computers they played with as kids are now in museums…

2. Professor’s ‘yawn’ rant offers a lesson in viral video

Cornell University Professor Mark Talbert’s search for a student who yawned during class was first seen by about 200 students. The recorded rant had been viewed 218,000 times on YouTube as of press time—and educators say it’s a reminder that anything said in a lecture hall these days can be held against you in the court of viral video…

1. University library sees demand for Kindles soar

For students looking to temper sober textbook readings with a literary escape into the world of vampires and zombies, Oregon State University is loaning out Amazon Kindle electronic readers stocked with the latest in popular books…

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter: Innovations in K12 Education
By submitting your information, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Oops! We could not locate your form.

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter: Innovations in K12 Education
By submitting your information, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.