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.

Community: Here’s what I’m thankful for in higher education

Students and professors at the University of Maryland, College Park discuss what they’re most thankful for in higher ed this Thanksgiving season

thankful-thanksgiving-education There’s been a lot of vitriol about higher education in the public and media lately, but for those students and professors on campus, there’s still a tremendous amount to be thankful for in the postsecondary world.

Whether looking at higher ed as a stepping-stone in student’s career paths, a chance to be exposed to new things, or as a place to make new friends, higher ed has brought several benefits for its community this Thanksgiving season.

What are you thankful for in higher education this holiday season? Leave your comments with the story or ping us on Twitter @ecampusnews.…Read More

11 leaders shaping the future of higher education

eCampus News’ new Advisory Board members sound off on the future of higher-ed…and their role in shaping it

higher-education-boardThere’s certainly no dearth in vocal opinions when it comes to discussions on higher education, but who are the professors, administrators, and leaders working on today’s evolving campuses? Who are the consultants and analysts working to better a changing landscape? And most importantly…what do they think?

As part of eCampus News’ mission to be the platform for innovative news and opinions on higher education, we asked 11 of our most helpful sources—the people we consider true leaders in higher-ed because of their direct involvement and outreach in the higher education arena—to become part of our 2014 Advisory Board.

From learning about Georgetown Library’s Head of IT’s predictions for the future, to one of higher-ed’s most well-respected analyst’s take on current issues, we hope you enjoy meeting some of our favorite people in higher education.…Read More

Student hub Chegg files for $150 million IPO

Textbook rental company Chegg filed for an initial public offering on August 14, and it’s hoping to raise $150 million.

Chegg started as a Craigslist-style site that sold and rented cheap textbooks, but over the last decade it has become an online hub to help college students get tutoring, choose their courses, and take notes. Its CEO, Dan Rosensweig, has said he envisions Chegg as the “student graph” – an educational equivalent of Facebook’s social graph of user information.

Now, Chegg is taking another page out of the social network’s book:  it’s going public.

Chegg filed for an initial public offering on Aug. 14, and it’s hoping to raise $150 million. The company is valued at $800 million and, according to its S-1 filing, generated a net revenue of more than $213 million in 2012. It has already raised nearly $200 million from various investors.…Read More

Niche-based digital marketing attracts nontraditional students

Targeted digital marketing has proven effective in attracting nontraditional students to Mount Olive College.

To improve enrollment, officials at Mount Olive College in Mount Olive, N.C., knew they needed to understand their own student population better, and identify the types of students they should target in the future.

To do this, the college enlisted the help of ed-tech company Hobsons.

“We really have not done any digital marketing before [using] Hobsons,” said Jennifer Ricks Merritt, director of marketing at Mount Olive College. “We started in January 2012. We saw that we needed to begin growing our inquiries and moving into the online area, [and] we liked Hobsons because they had had success in adult programming marketing, [which is] not something that every college is doing.”…Read More

Best practices in higher-education technology use

Here are some of the best practices in campus technology use featured in our November/December 2012 edition.

An Arkansas college has achieved success by learning its students’ technology needs … A new eLearning venture invites students to contribute course content themselves … Tufts University has become a leader in social media outreach by focusing on one word—“Vibe”: These are among the best practices in higher-ed tech use featured in the Nov./Dec. 2012 edition of eCampus News.

The digital version of our Nov./Dec. edition is now available. You can browse the full publication here, or click on the headlines below to read any of these highlights:

Boise State seeks to redefine ‘well-educated’…Read More

Top higher-ed tech news: November/December 2012

Here are some of the top higher-education technology stories in the November/December issue of eCampus News.

Campus leaders ponder eLearning’s future … colleges re-engineer remedial instruction … civil libertarians question the use of an anonymous online tool to report campus incidents: These are among the top higher-education technology stories in the November/December issue of eCampus News.

Our November/December issue is now available in digital format at eCampusNews.com.

You can browse the full publication here, or click on any of the headlines below to read these highlights:…Read More

Social media saves money, boosts efficiency for college recruiters

A new study examines social media’s impact on college spending.

It’s no secret that teenagers today practically live online—so online is where college recruiters should go to find potential students, reveals a study about increased social media use among admissions officers at U.S. colleges and universities.

The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth this month released a study that indicates significant changes in recruiting tactics as higher education warms up to social media.

The newly released data show for the first time that using social media cuts costs for college recruiters, and as a result, 86 percent of surveyed schools plan to increase investments in these tools during the next year.…Read More

New York University expansion causes controversy

Matthew Broderick is a star, but at a recent public hearing, he was simply a Greenwich Village neighbor upset with New York University, the Huffington Post reports. NYU’s expansion plan, known as NYU 2031, has drawn a lot of controversy in the lower Manhattan neighborhood where the university wants to add four new buildings and a total of about 2 million square feet of development, the Village Voice reports.

“They might need to expand but they certainly don’t need to destroy the Village,” Broderick told reporters at the hearing. “I used to play in the area when I was a child; it was very important to me growing up. I’ve watched so much of it disappear. I think it’s gone too far and it’s really hurting the Village.”

Besides arguing against altering the aesthetics of the historic neighborhood, neighbors also worry about the demolition of familiar businesses and homes, not to mention dealing with two decades of construction which could bring about an increased number of rats……Read More