Julie Hollenbeck, radiation therapy program director, shared the benefits and significance of UM-Flint’s recent purchase of leading-edge simulation equipment in a Q&A with the Flint’s Communications and Marketing team. Out of 85 programs in the U.S., 23 have a Virtual Environment Radiotherapy Trainer (VERT) for its students. UM-Flint us the only program in Michigan to purchase the system. This… Read More »
Coursera for Michigan includes more than 65 courses and 14 teach-outs, with more being offered each month. These resources are useful for those who want more business experience in a new field or more training within their own field. James DeVaney, associate vice provost for academic innovation, states that with offering this service U-M is “able… Read More »
Helen C. Kales, a U-M professor of psychiatry, leads the Program for Positive Aging (PPA) that is working to create innovative options for dementia caregivers, providing reliable information and training, developing support and online tools, and studying to improve self-care. Kales, with the PPA and Johns Hopkins University collaborators developed a web-based support tool called the WeCareAdvisor. The… Read More »
Mingyan Liu, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, was awarded the Distinguished University Innovator Award for her work in helping develop a new approach to enhance cybersecurity. She and her colleagues achieved this by using technology that predicts with up to 90 percent accuracy the likelihood that a company will be exploited by cyber criminals within the next… Read More »
The National Poll on Healthy Aging determined that about half of people 50 to 80 years of age have an online account for their health care, and people over age 65 were less likely to use a computer in regards to their health information than those between 50 and 60 years old. U-M’s Sarah J. Clark, M.P.H., co-associate… Read More »
Recent studies have shown that the use of cellphones has been beneficial and detrimental to summer camps for both the campers and the staff. “As a society, we spend a tremendous amount of time on screens and with digital media, but we don’t understand the full impact that it is having on children,” states lead author Ashley DeHudy, M.D.,… Read More »
U-M gastroenterologist Grace L. Su believes providing the option of videoconferencing for liver disease patients who are unable to make multiple office visits to specialists improves the provided care. Su and her team determined in a study that patients of primary care physicians who used video consultations with liver disease specialists had a 54 percent higher survival rate than… Read More »
I will stay available to our new VPIT-CIO Dr. Ravi Pendse, ITS, and the Michigan IT community through the month of August to assist in making this transition as smooth as possible.
As U-M continues to expand its digital learning portfolio, the Office of Academic Innovation announces a new gateway for one-stop access to online courses and learning experiences created by Michigan faculty and instructional teams. Called Michigan Online, the portal brings together more than 120 massive open online courses (MOOCs), teach-outs, specializations, MasterTrack certificates, XSeries, MicroMasters and professional certificate programs… Read More »
More than 1,500 gamers from all over the world participated in person and online in a momentous weekend fundraising event held at the EMU Convocation Center in April. Their purpose: raise money to provide entertainment devices for kids at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, and other hospitalized children across the United States. The event was hosted by Gamers for… Read More »
In 1965, U-M created the first ever teach-in to protest the Vietnam War through a series of debates, presentations, and seminars. The idea spread and, using Michigan’s example, more than 35 universities followed suit within a week. Last year, U-M once again led the way when the Office of Academic Innovation launched the U-M Teach-out Series as a… Read More »
Origin Stories tells the tales of why and how U-M Academic Innovation initiatives came to be, and examines them in more depth.
Michigan Medicine recently hosted a week-long celebration of patients and their families. A number of events throughout the week brought together faculty, staff, students, patients, and their families to honor, discuss, and engage in all aspects of the patient experience. The Patient Experience Expo, held on April 24, was especially festive, and HITS was there to join in… Read More »
In March 2018, U-M announced the intent to design three new online and hybrid programs: one in data science, a first in public health, and a first MasterTrack Certificate program. Sarah Dysart will be the new director for Online and Hybrid Programs at the Office of Academic Innovation. Dysart plans to work with other faculty on their online… Read More »
Recent graduates Shayan Shafii, Reid Ovis, Aklavya Kashyap, Tristan Neeb, and Sean Dew developed a productivity app that pairs with Amazon’s Alexa to help people set and achieve their goals. These goals could be daily, weekly, or monthly in the context of physical, mental, or social capabilities. Named “Iris,” the app aggregates statistical insights regarding productive activity versus counterproductive behaviors. The ultimate… Read More »
Sean Croskey, Luke Pacheco, Aristotelis Papaioannou, and Dominic Retli, seniors at UM-Dearborn, developed a Nintendo-esque video game, with direction from UM-Ann Arbor emerging technologies librarian Patricia Anderson, that helps kids with disabilities better detect online predators. The goal of the game is to find a missing prince or princess by interacting with other characters, making decisions through the… Read More »
The Board of Regents has appointed Ravi Pendse as U-M’s vice president for information technology and chief information officer. In this role, Pendse will provide university-wide leadership and strategic direction for information technology.
Google and Amazon both recently announced that their voice assistants will respond to requests that end in “please.” Parents are worried that because their children are commanding information from these devices, they are not learning manners. To counter this anxiety, Google’s Assistant will now have a “Pretty Please” feature reminding kids to “say the magic word” before responding.… Read More »
The Office of Academic Innovation launched an edtech accelerator that’s building and scaling digital pedagogy within and beyond the university. Previously, the issue with edtech was that it did not extend beyond the initial department it was used for, but the Office of Academic Innovation is providing the infrastructure to support and scale it. This process involves software… Read More »
This year’s Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day is also the Grand Opening of the new Computer Showcase Central Campus location in the Shapiro Library. Join us at either location 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30 for one-day-only incentive offers and discount pricing on an expanded selection of our most popular products. Advance product reservations are… Read More »