Author Archives: News Staff
ECoach is a digital platform that was originally developed by a research team led by Timothy McKay, professor of physics, astronomy, and education, to create a tailored communication system for introductory large-scale courses at U-M. ECoach provides personalized and timely feedback to students on how to succeed with content informed by behavioral science techniques such as motivational affirmation and… Read More »
Beginning September 4, the University of Michigan’s 583,000 alumni worldwide can join faculty, staff, and students from all three campuses to earn individual course and course series certificates offered by Michigan Online at no cost. Michigan Online is U-M’s new global learning community that puts digital learning opportunities all in one place. The announcement by the Office of… Read More »
When U-M researchers started getting spontaneous hugs from nurses while testing Fifth Eye, their new patient monitoring system, they knew they were on to something. Developed using machine learning and sophisticated signal processing, Fifth Eye monitors a single streaming EKG lead. Based on the activity of the heart, the system’s analytics can predict if a patient will deteriorate several hours… Read More »
The University of Michigan has been recognized as one of the first Chapters in the new Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC) Pilot Program. “The WHPC Chapter Pilot will enable us to reach an ever-increasing community of women, provide these women with the networks that we recognize are essential for them excelling in their career, and retaining them… Read More »
U-M engineering researchers have received more than $16.7 million from a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency initiative to push microelectronics beyond Moore’s Law—the transistor scaling that has allowed for 50 years of rapid progress in electronics. DARPA’s Electronics Resurgence Initiative is a $75 million effort to jumpstart innovation in the field. The funded projects at U-M include: An open-source… Read More »
In a recent blog post, the Office of Academic Innovation describes how it employed “pop-up” usability testing as a valuable means to collect student feedback for making improvements to the course page layout of its data visualization tool, Academic Reporting Tools 2.0. Unlike traditional forms of usability testing—such as one-on-one interviews, focus groups, etc.—“pop-up” tests are free… Read More »
While many universities have established programs to foster digital innovation, getting faculty to try out new technologies can be a challenge. A recent article in “Campus Technology” highlights the work of U-M’s Office of Academic Innovation as one of several academic technology leaders that encourage faculty to experiment and engage with emerging technologies and pedagogies. The story cites… Read More »
Engineering professor Sang-Hwan Kim won’t be surprised if UM-Dearborn soon becomes a center for human-centered design—an emerging field focused on the intersections of technology and human experience. His department is stacked with faculty specializing in ergonomics and human factors (a cousin of ergonomics). And come fall, the launch of a new Master of Science in Engineering degree program… Read More »
Philomena Meechan, LSA Language Resource Center, and Todd Austin, LSA Instructional Support Services, recently presented with Professor Alexander Knysh, U-M Near Eastern Studies, and faculty from St. Petersburg State University, Russia at the SUNY COIL conference in New York and at the UNICollaboration Conference in Kraków, Poland. Their presentation showcased how two Near Eastern Studies courses used a combination of… Read More »
Robin Brewer, an assistant professor in the U-M School of Information, leads an effort to introduce high school girls to technology through workshops that encourage them to create social impact through coding. Brave Initiatives, a Chicago-based non-profit, started offering weekend workshops in January, 2018 to young women at Hamtramck High School in Detroit. Brewer leads up this Detroit chapter… Read More »
Raven Lanier, a copyright specialist with the Office of Academic Innovation, answers a lot of questions about copyright and intellectual property (IP). IP issues can be particularly confusing when it comes to online courses. “It can seem overwhelming when you first get in, but IP issues don’t have to be overwhelming,” Lanier writes in a recent blog post… Read More »
Last month, the Department of Justice lost its suit to prevent AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner. In a recent article, Amanda Lotz, professor of media studies at U-M, predicts that these types of mergers will reshape the American media landscape, even more so because of the elimination of net neutrality. “The reason AT&T’s purchase of Time Warner is so… Read More »
The use of digital credentials in college admissions holds the promise of helping universities assemble a class of more diverse and prepared students, but more work needs to be done to make them useful across higher education. To understand the potential for using digital badges for admissions and what is needed to get colleges and universities to a… Read More »
What happens when an English faculty and a Chemistry faculty partner to create a writing-to-learn program? You get M-Write. Listen to the latest episode in the Origin Stories podcast as English professor Anne Ruggles Gere, director of the Sweetland Writing Center, and Ginger Schultz, assistant professor of chemistry, discuss how they came together, from disparate fields, to create the… Read More »
In a short interview with “EducationTIMES,” U-M’s newly appointed VPIT-CIO Ravi Pendse discusses his new role and his vision for the future. “I see a teacher in every person I interact with,” says Pendse when asked how he would draw upon his past experience as a collaborative university leader. “So, I expect to listen, learn, adapt, and collaboratively lead. If… Read More »
A team of researchers from U-M have created a computing device that is 0.3 mm, many times smaller than a grain of rice. That beats IBM’s March claim of creating the world’s smallest computer. However, unlike most existing devices—which retain their programming and data even when they are not externally powered—these new microdevices from IBM and now Michigan lose all… Read More »
A new U-M website launches today at SocialIntegrity.umich.edu — just in time for Social Media Day June 30.
A Bitcoin boom could make millionaires, but a bust could just as easily destroy the cryptocurrency. So what exactly is Bitcoin and how does it work? LSA researcher Lynette Shaw provides insights about new forms of digital currency—and what actually makes something worth anything. According to Shaw, an assistant professor in the Center for the Study of Complex Systems,… Read More »
Register for the free training session “Digital Self-Defense: Threats, Passwords, and Securing Your Accounts.”
Ted Hanss’ last day with U-M is June 30. A retirement reception is scheduled for Wednesday, June 20, 2018, from 3–4:30 p.m. in the lobby of Ford Auditorium near the University Hospital cafeteria.