Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

How personalization will drive higher edtech in 2017

The consumer experience has changed drastically in just the last 10 years. Long gone are the days when customer service interactions happened face-to-face, as consumers increasingly prefer the convenience and automation of mobile experiences. This rise in on-demand services has created a new consumer who expects personalization: a timely experience catered to their unique preferences and interests.

Most of us appreciate how mobile has helped to facilitate this new instant gratification because we can remember a challenging customer experience. Students today never knew a world where paychecks were deposited at a specific bank location during specific hours, TV shows and movies aired at certain times or radio stations decided what you would hear.

Campus vs. Edtech Personalization…Read More

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Are wearable devices destined to flop in education?

Although wearable devices and the data they generate have dominated talks about the future of education, research suggests these devices will have to become more useful in order to drive greater adoption.

The abandonment rate of smartwatches is 29 percent, and 30 percent for fitness trackers, because people do not find them useful, they get bored of them or they break, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.

The 2016 Gartner Personal Technologies Study surveyed 9,592 online respondents from Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. between June and August 2016 to gain a better understanding of attitudes toward wearables, particularly buying behavior for smartwatches, fitness trackers and virtual reality (VR) glasses.…Read More

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Can an app curb sexual assault on campus?

Wendy Mandell-Geller was just putting the finishing touches on a mobile app focused on reducing the incidences of sexual assault on college campuses—while also encouraging safer sex—when a new, 5-year study validating her beliefs was published in Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics. The report suggested that mobile cell phone interventions are an effective mode for delivering safe sex and sexual health information to youth and young adults (19-24 years of age).

“Youth and young adults account for nearly half of the new infections, primarily as a result of risky sexual behaviors,” according to the report, which points to mobile technology as a popular option for delivering safer sex interventions for adolescents. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 78 percent of teens now have a cell phone and almost half (47 percent) own smartphones. One in four teens (23 percent) has a tablet computer, and 93 percent have a computer or have access to one at home.

And while the report also outlined some key limitations of delivering safe sex information to youth (e.g., the fact that some of the higher risk groups may not have access to smartphones), it did validate Mandell-Geller’s assumption that mobile technology could be effectively combined with safe sex information and consent tools.…Read More

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10 most-needed higher education apps for 2017

From apps that manage finances and credit scores to those that find scholarships for all education levels, and from apps that better organize collaborative projects to those that allow for unprecedented organization of scholarly articles, late 2016 saw a boom in higher education apps with major potential for 2017.

Used any of the apps listed? Have some suggestions of your own? Be sure to leave your comments in the comment section below.

[Listed in alphabetical order]…Read More

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5 must-haves in a student-friendly campus app

[Editor’s Note: This article was originally run on Optimal Partners Blog–a source of news and information for today’s higher ed IT staff and leadership. To read more, visit the blog at http://blog.optimal-partners.com/]

Mobile apps are meant to give your students a solution to a specific problem, for example, an app for dining services. The type of mobile app your team creates may vary depending upon your users’ needs. Regardless of what problem you’re trying to solve, here are a few key points that you should consider before you begin development.

1. Have you pinpointed your goal?

When developing a mobile app for university students, you want to make sure that you have a goal in mind. Do you want to create an app that connects them to academic support? Do you want the app to supplement their residential life experience?…Read More

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7 back-to-school apps for college students

It happens every year: students vow to stay on top of academic work and remain organized all semester. In theory, it’s a great idea. In practice, however, it doesn’t always work.

But in today’s app-dominated world, students have a plethora of tools at their disposal to help them meet their academic goals.

Pass these apps along to students to help them stay organized and focused as they begin a new year. [Editor’s note: eCampus News has not reviewed these apps.]…Read More

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How 3 colleges are embracing Pokémon Go for campus engagement

Pokémon Go–the popular augmented reality game from Nintendo that’s sweeping the U.S. has caught the eye of several creative professionals at colleges using the CampusBird Interactive Map and Virtual Tour platform.

Pokémon Go Guilford 

The team first got wind of the Pokémon Go + CampusBird activity from the following Tweet from Guilford College.  And (as map/tech geeks do), we had to explore further.…Read More

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5 key points to consider when developing a mobile app for university students

[Editor’s Note: This article was originally run on Optimal Partners Blog–a source of news and information for today’s higher ed IT staff and leadership. To read more, visit the blog at http://blog.optimal-partners.com/]

Mobile apps are meant to give your students a solution to a specific problem, for example, an app for dining services. The type of mobile app your team creates may vary depending upon your users’ needs. Regardless of what problem you’re trying to solve, here are a few key points that you should consider before you begin development.

1. Have you pinpointed your goal?

When developing a mobile app for university students, you want to make sure that you have a goal in mind. Do you want to create an app that connects them to academic support? Do you want the app to supplement their residential life experience?…Read More

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10 apps that block mobile distractions

As devices become a ubiquitous necessity during class, these apps can help curb mobile distractions—a plus for professors and students.

It’s rare to find college or university course these days that prohibits the use of devices during class. However, it’s also rare to find a student that isn’t battling almost constant mobile distractions from social media platforms and email—and students agree.

For example, University of Maryland, College Park (UMDCP), student Cindy Rosales only trusts SelfControl to help her avoid distracting websites. “It’s very easy for me to get distracted on social networks or online shopping. SelfControl was a great app that really disciplined me, while also rewarding me for the time I studied diligently,” she said.

Two years ago, eCampus News ran an article on apps that can help block mobile distractions, “6 apps that block social media distractions” as devices began to enter the classroom at an unprecedented rate. However, as device use has grown, as well as the expanding diversity of devices, more apps have been developed that provide even more nuanced ways to block mobile distractions.…Read More

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Trend: Online learning going personal

Personalized support and advising achieved through new advances in technology and data analytics are all recommended for helping today’s online students.

In a recent online learning panel, innovative institutions that have achieved measurable success in their online learning programs waxed poetic on how harnessing technology to bolster personalized learning experiences is the key to online learning’s success; specifically in helping students advance toward their educational goals and create a culture of success.

The panel was part of A recent webinar hosted by The New Media Consortium (NMC) called “Getting Personal,” and featured insight from college and university IT and technology leaders on how advancements in online learning environments and adaptive learning technologies are making it possible to support learners’ individual paths.

“There are so many different things involved when you start to talk about personalized learning and putting those tools together,” said Dr. Vanessa Kenon, lecturer at the college of Education & Human Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio. “We’re trying to start from the beginning when students come in for the admissions process…getting all their degree plans laid out so that they can actually see how long it’s going to take them and what the cost is for them if they decide to make changes. It’s an approach that integrates those degree plans with the students getting the right kind of advising they need and a more personalized approach to getting them in the right courses…and try to get them to finish in four.”…Read More

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