Author Archives: News Staff
As part of its Quarterly Meeting & Technical Congress being held at U-M, the IMS Global Learning Consortium will host a hackathon focused on “Building the IMS Ecosystem.” Developers, programmers, engineers, UI designers, and any educational technologists are invited to participate. Improve your skills and knowledge working with the latest versions of IMS Global standards like LTI, Content-Item Message,… Read More »
Last week’s announcement from Disney that it will end its distribution deal with Netflix and launch its own direct-to-consumer movie portal indicates the arrival of a new phase of Internet-distributed video, according to Amanda Lotz, a media studies professor with LSA. In an article for fortune.com, Lotz writes that services like Netflix and Amazon Video created a different television experience:… Read More »
At first glance, the Michigan Medicine Inpatient Rehabilitation Computer Therapy Lab might appear to be all fun and games. That’s the intent. Many of the rehabilitation programs developed in the lab are based on gaming technologies — and designed to get patients active and engaged. Such patients include those recovering from strokes as well as spinal cord and head injuries.… Read More »
Starting with Tableau 10.5 this fall, new versions of Tableau will only run on 64-bit operating systems. The upcoming release, Tableau 10.4, will be the last version of Tableau Desktop, Tableau Reader, and Tableau Public to support 32-bit Windows operating systems. (Mac users will be unaffected by this change.) Focusing on 64-bit operating system will allow faster new… Read More »
In a high school classroom in Lima, Peru, a group of students are programming a 3-D printer. Later on, the students—who until then have not had previous programming experience—will be learning to code with Python, eventually building tech projects with social impact. It’s all part of United Technologies for Kids (UTK), an NGO startup that U-M sophomore Giuliana… Read More »
A new UM-Dearborn graduate program will teach students how to effectively process, analyze, and use massive data collections. The 30-credit-hour Master of Science in Data Science degree teaches students how to locate relevant data, clean it, manage it, analyze it, interpret it and use insights drawn from it. Housed in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS)… Read More »
Five research teams from U-M and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China are sharing $1 million to study data science and its impact on air quality, galaxy clusters, lightweight metals, financial trading and renewable energy. Since 2009, the two universities have collaborated on a number of research projects that address challenges and opportunities in energy, biomedicine, nanotechnology, and… Read More »
Proposals for conference sessions are now being accepted for the Michigan IT Symposium. Apply by Friday, August 18, with a brief application on the CIO website.
Used in conjunction with books and lectures, sophisticated educational games designed for college classrooms can offer active learning that some instructors say is hard to replicate in a traditional classroom. Still, not every professor who believes well-designed games are valuable in education uses video games in courses. Barry Fishman, a professor in the School of Information and the School… Read More »
An optimal travel planning search engine and a cognitive computing solution for autonomous driving were among the seven technologies that will receive $600,000 from U-M’s Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization Statewide Innovation Hub to continue their advancement into the commercial market. The advanced transportation innovation hub is part of a statewide initiative, in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s… Read More »
Students and instructors use multiple systems and applications every day that collect vast amounts of data about learners. However, much of the information produced by the current learning data ecosystem is poorly understood and poorly utilized. In a recent article for Educause, Sean DeMonner, executive director of teaching and learning for ITS, and two colleagues from the University of… Read More »
This fall, U-M will test whether an automated text analysis tool can help integrate more writing into large introductory science courses without imposing significant new time constraints. The tool is the latest addition to M-Write, a program run by the Gayle Morris Sweetland Center for Writing. Anne R. Gere, professor of English language and literature who serves as director of the… Read More »
As people spend more time on social media, the lack of true friendship or in-person connections could be harming their health. Robert Pasick—a psychologist, author, and adjunct professor at the Ross School of Business—says the lack of authentic, in-person connections can lead to health problems, or even early death. According to Pasick, social media sites, like Facebook, are giving… Read More »
Michigan IT News is published by and for the U-M IT community to provide updates, answer questions, and spark conversation about how to improve IT services and invest in technologies that support U-M’s current and future needs. We are guided by a dedicated group of Michigan IT staff who make sure we keep focused on the issues, interests, and developments that… Read More »
Courses to support U-M’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative are available now at no cost to teams or departments. Many of the courses are located at the Administrative Services Building in Learning and Professional Development (LPD). Browse the courses below and talk to your supervisor about registering—space is limited. Learn more and see upcoming sessions at hr.umich.edu/diversity. Business… Read More »
J. Alex Halderman (second from right), professor of electrical engineering and computer science, testified before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence at a June 21 hearing titled “Russian Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election.” It focused on the federal government’s role in safeguarding U.S. elections from outside interference. Halderman emphasized that “our highly computerized election infrastructure is vulnerable… Read More »
John Cheney-Lippold, assistant professor of American culture at U-M and author of the book We Are Data: Algorithms and the Making of Our Digital Selves, helps explain the difference between data that is trying to sell you a product, and data that truly knows who you are as a person. “I think we should take the idea of U.S. privacy… Read More »
A research team in U-M’s Mcity Michigan Traffic Lab led by Professor Henry Liu has developed an augmented reality (AR) system that enables engineers and researchers to evaluate challenging and dangerous scenarios in a safe environment. The traffic lab controls all of the signalling and tracks the vehicles on the facility. It collects and archives data from those… Read More »
The Bicentennial IT Historic Timeline showcases the rich history of technology innovation at U-M.
Two of the four new teach-outs scheduled for August and September will focus on technological advances that have changed the way we live: The evolution of the Internet and impact on our lives and society. Privacy and identity in a Big Data era. President Mark Schlissel launched the series in March as part of an Academic Innovation Initiative.… Read More »