Education IT News For VARs — October 30, 2014

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

In news this week, universities are facing growing challenges by changes in technology, including preparation for the Internet of Things (IoT) and digitizing media. Technology is also being used to introduce students to computer coding and to teach literacy to preschoolers.

Are Universities Prepared for the Internet of Things?

This article from Campus Technology investigates how well campus networks are prepared to handle the burgeoning IoT. Citing a Gartner study that predicts the IoT will expand to 26 billion units by 2020, which would be 30 times as many devices as in 2009, the article looks at how campus IT departments are attempting to plan for the security, data storage, and network issues created by this deluge of devices.

University Digitizing Project To Take Years

Campus Technology reports the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse has undertaken a project to digitize its entire video archive to create a database of searchable digital files. The project involves the conversion of approximately 5,000 videotapes and is projected to take up to ten years to complete. In part, the project stems from the university’s decision to phase out VHS technology in classrooms, replacing them with digital media players. The conversion issue is also one faced by many institutions of higher education, not just with VHS but also with compact discs, both of which have a rapid rate of deterioration.

Five Resources To Introduce Students To Computer Coding

This article from Education Dive investigates five apps and Web-based platforms to help introduce students to computer coding in schools. The five are: Scratch Jr, Tynker, Gamestar Mechanic, CodeHS, and Codecademy. The article reports that high school students in 25 states can currently use computer science classes to satisfy math or science credits, so there are existing — and growing — opportunities to develop such software and management systems.

Education IT Talking Points

This article from The New York Times examines plans by the Sesame Workshop to tackle technology as a means of promoting literacy in preschoolers. Sesame Workshop and ToyTalk, a children’s speech recognition company, have announced a two-year research partnership agreement designed to investigate the use of conversational technology in establishing literacy among preschoolers. This agreement would be building on results from a September 2011 report published by Sesame Workshop’s Joan Ganz Cooney Center, in which children’s literacy expert Marilyn Jager Adams argued that speech recognition technology was a valuable literacy tool.

BoomWriter Media has announced a partnership with Providence-based non-profit Highlander Institute to offer the Technology Heroes Program statewide for all Rhode Island educators. Designed to “help teachers to be champions of technology in their classrooms” and to provide students with an engaging and educational experience, the Tech Heroes Program has been offered nationwide to school districts with clear success. BoomWriter is an interactive group-writing platform that allows students to collaborate on creative writing projects that are then converted into published finished products.

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