This month, I am sharing information on some providers that have extended their services and are offering free upgrades to help users being impacted by COVID-19. As you know, each day is different and companies are doing their best to keep up with demand. This list only covers some services that I am currently aware of, so keep… Read More »
The university recently entered into an agreement with Adobe that provides all faculty, staff and students on the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses and at Michigan Medicine with access to Adobe Creative Cloud apps. The agreement advances an ITS initiative that is based on a desire to build partnerships that would benefit the entire university community. Previously,… Read More »
It might seem pretty safe to add an app that promises to help take control of your health. But doctors who appreciate the research potential of incorporating big data into medical care are also warning about the need to manage the risk of exposing such health data while it’s still possible to do so. “Some health data shared… Read More »
This month’s tip is a tool that I am using right now as I type this paragraph. It is LanguageTool, which I have installed as a browser extension, but it is also available for Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Android, as a desktop application, and more. The service is open source and can be used offline (the desktop app)… Read More »
On February 3, Logistics, Transportation & Parking (LTP) launched a new real-time bus information system. The new system will enable riders to see university bus locations in real-time and predicts precise arrival times for every campus route and stop. The old (DoubleMap) system will remain live until February 29, 2020. Riders will enjoy a number of new features,… Read More »
Gamut, a new suite of online learning tools from Academic Innovation are available for immediate use by any U-M faculty or instructional staff. Each tool is a standalone web application that uses a technology called the Learning Tools Interoperability protocol, which allows them to easily integrate into any course on Canvas, Coursera, edX, or FutureLearn. So far, the… Read More »
Packy, a furry, fun mascot is the symbol of the BackPac app created by U-M students to encourage others, particularly their peers, to spend some time volunteering in the community—especially during the holidays when the needs are great. “The number of volunteers has significantly gone down in the last decade,” said Gaurav Dhir, co-founder of BackPac and a… Read More »
The Sloan Equity and Inclusion in STEM Introductory Courses project has agreed to incorporate ECoach, a learning tool developed at the University of Michigan, into new STEM courses at all participating institutions.
On October 15, LSA Technology Services hosted the second Technology Tools for Teaching event, where presenters demonstrated a variety of learning technologies. Over 100 participants visited 23 team stations set up in the Biological Sciences Building. LSA Technology Services partnered with Academic Innovation, The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT), Information and Technology Services (ITS) Teaching and… Read More »
Perry Samson, U-M atmospheric science professor, has developed a backchannel tool to encourage his students to ask questions during class. He says this new participation model has increased the overall level of inquiry in his classes and has allowed underrepresented student’s voices to be heard.
Problem Roulette, a digital study tool developed at the Center for Academic Innovation, offers students access to practice questions from previous exams in a points-free environment. Since its launch in 2016, more than 11,600 students have completed more than 2 million problem attempts using the tool. Problem Roulette is now available in 12 active courses across seven subject… Read More »
A new tool curated by the Office of the Vice President for Research promotes internal funding opportunities from across campus so faculty can generate support to advance research and scholarship. Research Commons, which launched this month, provides a unique shopping experience for researchers to identify internal funding opportunities in one space without having to navigate multiple websites. “We… Read More »
With 19 schools and colleges as well as 277 degree programs, U-M provides a diverse range of academic opportunities. Navigating through this expansive academic world can be challenging, but the navigation is simplified with the Academic Reporting Tools platform (ART 2.0) — now called Atlas. David Nesbitt, software portfolio manager at the Center for Academic Innovation, said renaming the… Read More »
In an interview with “Kiplinger” magazine, Florian Schaub, assistant professor in the U-M School of Information, discusses how to protect your data given recent concerns about FaceApp, a Russia-based photo manipulation app whose privacy policy made broad claims about how they might reuse images. According to Schaub, unbundling specific aspects of opt-in privacy policies would provide users more… Read More »
The three instructors worked with behavioral scientists, developers, and user experience designers from Academic Innovation to develop Tandem.
New research from the School of Information shows those who create the apps we use are not making decisions about which ads are attached to their apps, but they are picking which ad networks are used. And those often-arbitrary choices may be making us vulnerable to questionable ads and data privacy concerns. “Despite this reliance on ads, we… Read More »
When we think about the technological divide between urban and rural communities, our minds likely go to infrastructure—a lack of a physical grid, wiring, or towers to connect those in remote communities. While this is a large part of the issue, School of Information doctoral student Jean Hardy says a bigger concern is the lack of innovation in the way… Read More »
Sage provides tailored resources to students who completed the national Healthy Minds survey.
Gabriela Marcu, a U-M assistant professor of information, electrical engineering, and computer science, is studying the ways in which educational technology might better support students with special needs.
CloudConvert is an easy-to-use online file conversion tool that has saved me time, frustration, and has eliminated the need to install more software on my computer. Sometimes you have a file that needs to be converted to another format. Perhaps it is an .mp3 audio file that you need in .wav format for video editing. Or maybe it… Read More »