News Feature | November 20, 2014

Education IT News For VARs — November 20, 2014

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Publishers Pressured To Adopt Interoperability Standards For Digital Educational Content

In the news, a new report shows fewer than 20 percent of higher ed faculty have taught online, and Coursera has launched an initiative to work with veterans.

Report: Less Than 20 Percent Of Higher Ed Faculty Have Taught Online-Only Courses According to the 2013-2014 HERI Faculty survey, only 17.4 percent of college and university faculty have taught an exclusively online course at their current school. A little more than 27 percent of faculty at public four-year higher education institutions have taught an exclusively online course within the last two years, compared to 8.5 percent at private universities. The survey was conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute.

Ed Tech Company Raises $18M For New Cloud Platform

Echo360 Inc., an education technology company, has raised $18 million from investors to help sell and market its just-launched Software-as-a-Service platform. According to the Wall Street Journal, the new technology automates lecture-style classes by archiving video recordings of the classes, and helps students take notes and connect online with professors and other students.

Education IT Talking Points

AdmitHub, provider of college admissions application services, has launched AboutAdmissions, a free “Reddit-style Q&A forum” according to Tech Crunch, where students and parents can have their questions answered by admissions experts. Tech Crunch explained that the goal of the new service is to help level the playing field for students from families who can’t afford private admissions consultants.

Market Watch reported that the University of Phoenix has partnered with a number of historically black colleges in order to allow students to access certain online courses in order to complete their degrees at no additional cost. The agreement also includes the University of Phoenix’ support of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund with scholarships for students attending historically black schools, and provide insights and instruction methods in online learning and technology to those institutions that participate in the partnership.

First Lady Michele Obama recently announced that the Veterans Employment Center (VEC) will partner with Coursera to provide new resources to U.S. Veterans, including free courser verified certificates, courser learning hubs, and integration with the Veterans Employment Center. According to the press release, these efforts are designed to “expose new Veteran learners to high-quality industry relevant education and build their skills to succeed in today’s workforce.”

For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Education IT Resource Center.