Just imagine the scene: It’s deadline day for mid-term papers to be turned in. Students are anxiously working on campus to submit their papers, thankful to be done with them and enjoy the holidays. Suddenly, the IT director gets the dreaded message that the network has crashed. Too many students at once working to upload voluminous documents. That’s all it takes and this IT director’s holidays are on hold.
All Articles
12/12/2012
Could the admission of Grand Canyon University (Ariz.) into the Western Athletic Conference help change the perception of for-profits among the higher education community?
12/10/2012
As a consultant to schools on programming for students with autism, I’m used to proposing ideas and hearing, “Sounds great, but sorry, we can’t do that.” Good intentions sometimes can’t overcome limitations in resources. But when I proposed the development of a bachelor’s degree designed to meet the specific needs of students with autism to The Sage Colleges (N.Y.), the response was very different. From the president on down, the prevailing attitude was, “How can we make this happen?”
11/29/2012
The readers have spoken and for the first time ever, University Business magazine is honoring higher education products and services, in this first annual Readers’ Choice Top Products for 2012. Earlier this year, campus leaders and administrators from across the country had the unique opportunity to nominate what products they and their peers around the country are using, and voice how these products contribute to the success of their schools.
11/26/2012
As the December issue was going to press mere days after Hurricane Sandy ripped through the Northeast, we were already hearing of colleges and universities in the region beginning to put the pieces back together. While the monstrous storm caused power outages and damage to many institutions, the effects likely would have been far worse, and even deadly, if not for effective disaster preparedness planning.
11/26/2012
Preached by a select few in academe who saw the recession approach like a speeding freight train, the do-more-with-less philosophy—finally—is gaining traction and critical leadership support in higher education both nationally and abroad. Yes, finally.
11/21/2012
The Myth: If you use open source, you’re on your own.
11/21/2012
With today’s increased focus on college costs, the call for disclosure of information about affordability and outcomes has also been on the rise. Besides the traditional rankings, a growing number of websites purport to shed light on affordability, or net cost, or return on investment based on IPEDS data combined with other information sources.
11/21/2012
- 71% of people expect mobile sites to load as fast or faster than desktop sites.
- 74% will abandon if a site takes more than 4 seconds to load.
- You have 5 seconds of someone’s time. Yet the average web page size is over 1MB and growing.
- 86% of responsive web designs send the same content to mobile devices.
Source: Luke Wroblewski, author, Mobile First
11/21/2012
A college reunion this spring at the State University of New York at Oswego presented the web-development team an opportunity to build an iPhone app using an open-source software called Kurogo, developed by Modo Labs. The app was a hit, with 30 percent of the 2,000 or so reunion attendees downloading it to share photos and stay on top of events over the course of three days.
11/21/2012
Unintended consequences will frequently result from unique events. Barton College (N.C.) fashioned one of the most dramatic finishes ever played when it won the DII National Men’s Basketball Championship in spring 2007. In the last 45 seconds, a single point guard sank five baskets. The shot that won the game dropped with 0.1 seconds to go. (If you love basketball and have not seen this clip, it’s on YouTube under “Barton College Basketball.”)
11/20/2012
Flipped classrooms are more of a strategy than a specific collection of technologies and room configurations. As long as
students have the ability to access lecture materials and other online elements in their non-class time, a professor can flip the course. However, there are two components to room setup that tend to work better than others:
11/20/2012
By now, most of us have heard the term “flipped classroom” and learned that the concept is not as aerodynamic as its name. But it is becoming a movement. In this type of learning space, lectures and other traditional classroom elements are swapped out in favor of more in-person interaction, like small group problem solving and discussion.
11/20/2012
Our institutions of higher learning are populated by experts in a wide range of fields—smart people with strong problem-solving abilities. This past year, as a first-time college president, it occurred to me that I should make a concerted effort to harness this brainpower for the good of my institution and its students.
