The names and eMails of customers of Citigroup Inc and other large U.S. companies, as well as College Board students, were exposed in a massive and growing data breach after a computer hacker penetrated online marketer Epsilon, Reuters reports. In what could be one of the biggest such breaches in U.S. history, a diverse swath of companies that did business with Epsilon stepped forward over the weekend to warn customers some of their electronic information could have been exposed…
…Read MorePodcast 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.
Google working on mobile payment technology: report
According to Reuters, Google is joining Citigroup and Mastercard to set up a mobile payment system that will turn Android phones into a kind of electronic wallet, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. The new technology, which is in its early stages, will allow consumers to wave their Android phones in front of a small reader at the checkout counter to make payments, the Journal reported…
…Read MoreHome schooling’s appeal spreads to mainstream
Studying at Harvard, meeting for group French lessons, volunteering at a hospital and spending a day in the wilderness are just a glimpse into a typical day of home schooling, which looks dramatically different today from just a mere decade ago, Reuters reports. Once considered distinctly Christian, the movement is deepening its mainstream roots, experts say. While a majority of home school parents still cite religion or values as a top reason for keeping their children out of public schools, home-school education has been increasingly appealing to a broader audience…
…Read MoreTardy students get rude awakening with sunrise robo-calls
Chronically tardy and truant high school students in Fall River, Massachusetts may think they’re having a nightmare when they are aroused at sunrise on Wednesday by their principal’s voice, Reuters reports.
“It’s 6:15 and it’s Durfee High School calling,” booms the voice of Principal Paul Marshall of B.M.C. Durfee High School in a pre-recorded call set to ring through to about 500 of the school’s 2,400 students, Vice Principal Ross Thibault said on Tuesday. The so-called “robo-calls” are aimed at rousting the worst-offending sleepyheads from bed and getting them to school on time…
Idaho passes Republican bill to curb union rights
The Idaho state legislature approved a bill on Tuesday to strip public school teachers of many of their collective bargaining rights while protesters in five states rallied against Republican efforts to curb union power, Reuters reports. The Idaho bill, which excludes issues like class size and workloads from negotiations for the state’s 12,000 unionized teachers, was given final approval by the Republican-led House and is expected to be signed by Republican Governor Butch Otter. The bill also eliminates teacher tenure, limits the duration of teacher labor contracts to one year and removes seniority as a factor in determining the order of layoffs…
…Read MoreCalifornia headed for cuts for for-profit students
California’s student aid commission said on Friday that aid funds going to students at for-profit schools should be slashed first when the state cuts its education budget, Reuters reports. The U.S. Education Department has criticized some for-profit schools, which range from universities offering PhD’s to trade schools offering car-repair training, for low graduation rates and high loan default rates. The California Student Aid Commission, which administers financial aid programs, voted unanimously on Friday to put Cal Grant aid to for-profit schools’ students at the bottom of its priority list when the state is forced to make budget cuts relating to education financing…
…Read MoreArizona university founds civility institute
A university in Tucson is seeking to turn the shooting rampage that severely wounded U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords last month into a teachable moment with a new institute promoting civility in politics, Reuters reports. The University of Arizona on Monday inaugurated the National Institute for Civil Discourse, which is a nonpartisan center for debate, research, education and policy.
The center seeks to “advance the national conversation currently taking place about civility in political debate,” the university said in a news release…
Special Report: In Saudi Arabia, a clamor for education
Saudi teenager Abdulrahman Saeed lives in one of the richest countries in the world, but his prospects are poor, he blames his education, and it’s not a situation that looks like changing soon, Reuters reports.
“There is not enough in our curriculum,” says Saeed, 16, who goes to an all-male state school in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. “It is just theoretical teaching, and there is no practice or guidance to prepare us for the job market.”
Saeed wants to study physics but worries that his state high school is failing him. He says the curriculum is outdated, and teachers simply repeat what is written in text books without adding anything of practical value or discussions. Even if the teachers did do more than the basics, Saeed’s class, at 32 students, is too big for him to get adequate attention. While children in Europe and Asia often start learning a language at five or six, Saudi students start learning English at 12. Much time is spent studying religion and completing exercises heavy with moral instruction. One task for eighth grade students: “Discuss the problem of staying up late, its causes, effects and cure.”…Read More
Meg Whitman joining HP board after purge
Hewlett-Packard Co is shaking up a board criticized by many as dysfunctional, bringing in five new directors including former eBay chief Meg Whitman, as new CEO Leo Apotheker remakes the company, Reuters reports. HP’s board had for years come under fire from shareholders and business leaders such as Oracle’s Larry Ellison, most recently after it forced out Mark Hurd as CEO in controversial fashion. The new directors will bring fresh thinking to the world’s largest technology company by revenue, including much-needed expertise in areas such as telecommunications and international experience, the company said…
…Read MoreTime names Mark Zuckerberg 2010 Person of the Year
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of The Facebook social networking site that has more than half a billion users, was named Time magazine’s 2010 Person of the Year on Wednesday, Reuters reports. Time defines the Person of the Year as the person who, for better or for worse, does the most to influence the events of the year.
“This year they passed 500 million users. … The scale of Facebook is something that is transforming our lives. One in 10 people on the planet, and it’s excluded in China where one in five people on the planet live,” Time editor Richard Stengel said upon announcing the winner on NBC Television’s “Today” show.
“It’s not just a new technology. It’s social engineering. It’s changing the way we relate to each other. I actually think it’s affecting human nature in a way that we have never even seen before.”…Read More