Education IT News For VARs — November 13, 2014
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
In news, the Indiana Department of Education got hacked twice. Also, tech companies are scrambling for qualified applicants to fill jobs, and a new initiative aims to connect employers with technical graduates. In other news, video conferencing is still gaining ground.
Indiana Department Of Education Site Hacked For Second Time In Same Week
The IndyStar reports that hackers infiltrated the Indiana Department of Education’s website not once, but twice in the same week. In the second attack, the hackers posted a message on the site that read, “SUPRISED (sic) WE ARE HERE AGAIAN (sic)??? THE LAST TIME THIS SITE WAS DOWN NO PATCH WAS DONE.” The department states it installed a patch after the first attack.
Tech Companies Sidestepping Degrees With Cybersecurity Training
Bloomberg reports there is a labor-shortage in the field of cybersecurity, and to meet this growing gap, many tech companies are side-stepping the degree requirement to hire. Although colleges and universities are responding to the shortage by creating cybersecurity degree programs, they cannot keep up with the growing need, so some of those companies are creating their own training programs, Bloomberg reports. In its 2014 annual security report, Cisco estimates the gap between the demand for qualified cybersecurity professionals and the supply of those workers is at 1 million people globally.
New Initiative Aims To Connect Employers With Technical Graduates
According to Tech Crunch, Codecademy, the free online interactive platform that teaches coding, has partnered with other technical skills educators to find jobs for their graduates. The initiative, called ReskillUSA, also includes Thinkful, The Flatiron School, Grand Circus, Wyncode, Sabio.la and Dev Bootcamp. Codecademy’s CEO Zach Sims says one goal of ReskillUSA is to reach out to employers to demonstrate that for some jobs, a bachelor’s degree in computer science is not always necessary, and that the skills training provided by its members can often fill the employer’s needs.
Six Recent Investments Made In Higher Ed Video Conferencing
This article from Education Dive examines six investments in video conferencing for higher education that demonstrate the potential for the technology for the future. The programs include the Medical College of Wisconsin, which will utilize video conferencing to access top lecturers regardless of location; Missouri State and University of Missouri-Kansas City, where videoconferencing has made a new collaborative pharmacy program possible between the two institutions; The University of Wyoming, which incorporated video-conferencing technology into its new interview rooms; Central Arizona College, which uses interactive TV to offer classes among its 22 sites; Florida International University, where video conferencing is used in the Chaplin School of Hospitality; and Carroll College (Helena, MT), whose new “Global Education Room” will allow for international video conferencing between schools.
Education IT Talking Points
According to a press release, The New York Times has launched NYTimes.com In-School Access, The digital subscription service that allows full, login-free access to the newspaper’s content from any device using an IP address from a school. The service also allows access to the archives from 1851-1922 and 1981-present. According to a release, the new service is offered in addition to another education digital subscription that allows full access to NYTimes.com content and smartphone apps from any location, upon login. Today marks the new service’s worldwide rollout, as it was previously only available to a select number of schools this summer.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Education IT Resource Center.