The 10 most popular eCN stories of the year

Here’s a list of the 10 most popular stories we’ve published in the last year.

Recently, we published a special “year in review” digital edition in which we recapped what we thought were the 10 biggest higher-education technology stories of 2012, and analyzed what these stories might mean for colleges and universities in 2013 and beyond.

(You can access this special digital publication by clicking here.)

Now, we’ve assembled a list of the 10 most popular stories we’ve published in the last year, as measured by the number of page views each received. If you missed any of them before, here’s your chance to read them now, simply by clicking on each headline.…Read More

Romney’s higher ed overhaul in Mass. fizzled

Romney has stayed largely silent on higher education issues.

Mitt Romney took over as Massachusetts governor in 2003 with a sweeping plan to overhaul the state’s public college system to cut waste, reduce costs and boost efficiency.

“This is my opportunity to be bold,” he said in announcing the plan.

But when Romney left office four years later, not a lot had changed. His strongest mark on higher education was for a merit scholarship program he championed for top high school students.…Read More

Viewpoint: Colleges shouldn’t fear the cloud

Cloud adoption continues, despite lingering security concerns.

The irony about cloud computing in higher education is that most schools have used the technology to some extent but might not even realize it.

Gmail is one example. Yahoo Mail is another. The fact is, web-based applications—which many schools rely on for daily communication—don’t always register with most people as being part of the cloud computing trend. But they are, given that they essentially fit the layman’s rudimentary explanation of the cloud: where storage and computing capacity exist (provided by a vendor) so all that is needed on a PC, laptop, tablet, or smart phone is a browser.

There are more technical details to actual cloud infrastructure, platforms, and delivery, but for the purposes here, we will stick with the basic view.…Read More

USA Funds awards $2.5 million in higher education grants

According to PR Newswire, USA Funds, a nonprofit organization that helps American families benefit from postsecondary education, announces the award of more than $2.5 million in grants for the quarter ending March 31, 2011. USA Funds awarded 30 grants to organizations in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

“These grants support programs that improve students’ awareness of and preparation for postsecondary education, promote access to high-quality higher education opportunities, and increase student persistence and completion of their programs of study,” said Robert C. Ballard, USA Funds senior vice president, Access and Outreach. “These programs are in line with the USA Funds mission to enhance preparation for, access to and success in postsecondary education specifically for underserved, low-income middle and high school students; students of color; and first-generation postsecondary students.”

Click here for the full story…Read More

For-profit colleges find new market niche

The for-profit online institution Kaplan University has an offer for California community college students who cannot get a seat in a class they need, reports the New York Times: Under a memorandum of understanding with the chancellor of the community college system, they can take the online version at Kaplan, with a 42-percent tuition discount. The opportunity would not come cheap, however; Kaplan charges $216 a credit with the discount, compared with $26 a credit at California’s community colleges. Supporters of for-profit education say the offer underscores how Kaplan and other profit-making colleges can help accommodate the mushrooming demand for higher education. At the same time, government officials have become increasingly concerned that students at for-profit colleges are far more likely than those at public institutions to take out large loans—and default on them. For better or worse, the tough times for public colleges nationwide have presented for-profit colleges with a promising marketing opportunity. “We thought, in light of the budget crisis and the number of community college classes which are being canceled, if we have that same class here, we would give students the opportunity to take it at Kaplan,” said Greg F. Marino, president of Kaplan University Group, a profit-making business owned by the Washington Post Company…

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…Read More

Report details coming trends in campus technology

Typing on a laptop could be outdated in four or five years, according to ed-tech projections.
Typing on a laptop could be outdated in four or five years, according to ed-tech projections.

Open scholarly content will become more commonplace in higher education in the next year as online universities and textbook companies organize and harness the internet’s mass of educational material, according to a report that predicts campus technology advances within the next five years.

The 2010 Horizon Report, released this week by education technology advocacy group EDUCAUSE and the New Media Consortium, describes technological changes that will have the greatest impact on college students and faculty.

The seventh annual report’s short-term prediction focuses on open content—a trend buoyed by MIT’s Open Courseware Initiative and the Open Knowledge Foundation, among others.…Read More

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