There’s a Big Data skills gap in higher education

Higher education is overflowing with data points to be parsed, analyzed, and evaluated, but a data-related skills gap could stand in the way of analytics’ potential.

big-data-skillsData experts have for years said college students should become adept at analyzing what’s known as Big Data as jobs in the data field explode in some parts of the economy. A human element is necessary, these experts say, no matter how much data in available.

SAS on March 24 unveiled an online program known as SAS Analytics U — an initiative meant to better train students on the ins and outs of data analytics skills while providing an online platform where they can discuss data-centric topics amongst each other and with experts.

Six ways Big Data is changing higher education…Read More

5 cutting-edge privacy considerations for Big Data

White House, MIT host discussion on the new implications for privacy and learning with Big Data

bigdata Big Data is taking higher education institutions by storm; however, the discussion has moved from whether or not Big Data is useful to whether or not institutions can actually manage the data received, and not just in capacity, but in privacy—privacy that, according to leading experts, is just an illusion.

During a “Big Data Privacy Workshop: Advancing the State of the Art in Technology and Practice,” co-hosted by the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) and the MIT Big Data Initiative at CSAIL in Cambridge, MA, thought leaders from academia, government, industry and civil society came together to discuss the future role of technology in protecting and managing privacy.

The workshop, one of a series of events being held across the country in response to President Obama’s call to review privacy issues in the context of increased digital information and the computing process to power it, offered cutting-edge considerations for not only higher education institutions, like MIT, but business and the health care industry.…Read More