Category: Higher education

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) believes that technology is a powerful tool for driving results and innovation on campus. Their chief information officer, Mark Henderson, developed a task force—called the Data and Technology Innovation Lab—to identify department challenges and task individuals to build innovative solutions using technology. One area where UIUC identified an opportunity was sports analytics using machine learning (ML). Learn more about how UIUC was inspired by what they were seeing in professional sports, using data to shift their approach to coaching football.

Pearson delivers anywhere, anytime digital course material and learning opportunities for students globally using AWS. As a global company, Pearson turned to the cloud to deliver content globally, build agile, accessible solutions, and to power its digital transformation. With Revel and Pearson eText, Pearson provides flexible, digital learning solutions for students and instructors, including digitized textbooks with interactive, multimedia content, and assessment features. Building on AWS has helped Pearson to iterate quickly, innovate on behalf of students and educators, scale on demand, and reach learners globally.

Research computing has come a long way from the mainframes of the 1960s. At the recent Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing (PEARC) conference, I noted four emerging themes that underscore how the field continues to evolve.

Starting today, Instructure will provide users of its Canvas Learning Platform with access to extensive cloud computing curriculum through AWS Educate to help prepare students for careers in cloud computing. With this addition, more than 700,000 higher education educators will have access to curriculum suitable for virtual, in-person, or blended classroom environments.

Novel challenges require novel solutions. To address the COVID-19 pandemic, public sector organizations are holding virtual hackathons to solve problems that arise from the virus and its effects on society. Hackathons #WirVsVirus in Germany, Hack the Crisis in Sweden, and #EUvsVirus brought together thousands of stakeholders to brainstorm and create innovative solutions using technology and cloud computing to address the ongoing challenges of the pandemic. Attendees at these virtual events worked to find solutions for problems like faster diagnosis of COVID-19 and connecting food with those in need. From technical mentorship to AWS Promotional Credit and providing access to technologies like AI, AWS supported these hackathons, their participants, and their solutions.

The leading vocational and professional education provider in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) Information Technology Discipline, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), through its AWS Educate initiative, announced the launch of a new cloud computing diploma to prepare students for entry-level cloud technology jobs. Starting in September 2020, the two-year program will be available to IVE students and will support approximately 100 cloud computing students annually.

The impact of COVID-19 has K12 and higher education institutions working hard to prepare for students to return to learning that will be anything but typical. The 2020-2021 academic year will include various teaching and learning modalities—virtual, hybrid, and face-to-face—and most expect a shift from one to another throughout the year. Globally, EdTechs are working with AWS to accelerate features and solutions to better support students and educators in teaching and learning, physical and mental wellness, and health and safety.

States are transforming their workforce and addressing immediate unemployment and re-skilling challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. One state—Utah—announced a plan to train and certify 5,000 students for cloud careers by June 2022. Yesterday, Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert announced the statewide initiative, enable training at Utah technical schools, community colleges, universities, and select K-12 career and technical education schools with access to AWS education and training programs.

Portland State University (PSU) is using machine learning (ML) to help students find the most effective pathways to graduation. By tracking the course history of successful graduates and presenting recommendations to current students, PSU can provide guardrails and best practices for a focused journey towards degree completion.

Each year, millions of students travel abroad to study and enrich their personal development and global perspective through international student exchange programs. Virtual exchange is becoming an important part of digital learning environments due to its student-centered, cost-effective, and equitable means of advancing international education. One example is
ImmerseU, a virtual exchange learning platform developed by Class2Class, an AWS EdStart Member.