Tag Archives: innovation

U-M invests in advanced transportation technologies

By | July 26, 2017
0 Comment
Two men installing tech in a vehicle.

An optimal travel planning search engine and a cognitive computing solution for autonomous driving were among the seven technologies demonstrating high potential to help solve transportation issues that will receive $600,000 from U-M’s Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization Statewide Innovation Hub program to continue their advancement into the commercial market. The advanced transportation innovation hub is part of a… Read More »

Better writing through automation

By | July 20, 2017
0 Comment
M-Write logo

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 »

LSA & ITS team win President’s Staff Innovation Award

By | May 30, 2017
1 Comment
" "

Congratulations to Jeff Dils, Victoria Green, Chris Mueller and MaryBeth Stuenkel (ITS), and Monika Dressler (LSA) for receiving the Presidential Staff Team Award for Innovation for ExamScan, a new service that digitizes hand-written and graded exams and makes it easier for instructors to return and review exams with students. ExamScan allows large classes to conduct literature-based, data-driven examinations… Read More »

Large scale memory swapping

By | May 25, 2017
0 Comment
" "

Operators of large computer clusters have long searched for an efficient way to share server memory to speed up application performance. Now, U-M engineers led by Mosharaf Chowdhury, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, have developed open-source software that lets servers instantly “swap” memory from other servers in the cluster when they run out, instead of writing to slower storage media… Read More »

M-Write adds automated text analysis

By | May 22, 2017
0 Comment
" "

M-Write, a program built on the premise that students learn complex material by writing, will expand in fall 2017 to add automated text analysis (ATA) to its digital toolkit. M-Write was created by U-M professor of English Anne Gere, director of the Sweetland Center for Writing, and Ginger Shultz, assistant professor of chemistry. M-Write helps students develop their conceptual… Read More »

Apple acquires “dark data” startup Lattice

By | May 19, 2017
0 Comment
" "

Apple has acquired data mining and machine learning company Lattice, co-founded by Michael Cafarella, a professor of computer science at U-M, and Chris Re, a professor of computer science at Stanford. (Cafarella was the co-creator of Hadoop, a widely used big data processing technology.) According to the Lattice website, the startup was born out of a Stanford research… Read More »

Medical, dental educational tool adds new apps

By | May 16, 2017
0 Comment
" "

The SecondLook™ Series, an award-winning educational tool that fosters self-review and evaluation, is expanding beyond histology to include mobile applications for musculoskeletal anatomy, neuroanatomy, and oral radiology. The technology behind the SecondLook™ Series was a collaboration between the Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) education and training group and Michael Hortsch, associate professor of cell and developmental biology and associate… Read More »

U-M presents at human-computer interaction conference

By | May 16, 2017
0 Comment
" "

Challenges of ridesharing among low income populations, personalization of health improvement technology, and possible explanations for why we aren’t overwhelmed with choice when shopping online are among the research papers School of Information faculty, alumni, and current students shared at the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, May… Read More »

Mythbusters: “Slow” universities vs. “fast” edtech companies

By | May 15, 2017
0 Comment

James DeVaney, associate vice provost for academic innovation, thinks the myth that universities are slow to embrace change and edtech companies are always agile is limiting the collective potential of the wide range of actors seeking positive change in higher education. He believes that examining the difference between partnerships and vendor relationships is the key to moving past this paradigm and… Read More »

The aces of Spade

By | May 10, 2017
0 Comment
" "

Growing up in Los Angeles, U-M student Jake Fleshner and his brother liked to visit a local deli, and then nearby stores before heading home. These local businesses often attracted similar customers, so why weren’t they promoting each other to their customer bases? That question eventually led to creating Spade America—a mobile app that lets consumers scan discounts as… Read More »

Teach-Outs: A new online model?

By | May 4, 2017
0 Comment

James DeVaney, associate vice provost for academic innovation, explores how U-M’s new Teach-Outs might represent the next step in developing an online education model that moves beyond MOOCs to create a “compassionate public square for the information age.” In his guest commentary for Inside Higher Ed, Devaney writes: “While I continue to encourage patience to those who care to… Read More »

The future of learning

By | April 25, 2017
0 Comment
" "

Buckle up your backpack for a futuristic ride through U-M’s new world of cyber-learning. Imagine being able to predict how students will perform in class and then helping them achieve more. Picture students learning policy development by acting as stakeholders in simulated political events. Envision an online platform that can mentor a whole new generation of civil rights… Read More »

Enriching scholarship starts May 1

By | April 25, 2017
0 Comment
" "

During the Enriching Scholarship conference (ES) you will have the opportunity to participate in over 100 sessions about effectively integrating teaching and technology. Enriching Scholarship 2017, brought to you by the University of Michigan Teaching and Technology Collaborative, will be held May 1-5 on the U-M Ann Arbor campus. ES is a great opportunity to expand your horizons,… Read More »

U-M using big data to improve lives

By | April 21, 2017
0 Comment
Scatter graph

A cardiologist created a computer simulation of a patient’s blood flow, helping surgeons locate the best placement of a stent to address her rare heart condition. Students and faculty developed a mobile app that helps predict which Flint neighborhoods are at high risk of having lead-contaminated water. And an engineer is using predictive models based on high volumes… Read More »

Fishman named Michigan Professor of the Year

By | April 20, 2017
0 Comment
" "

Barry Fishman, known for his gameful learning approach to teaching, has been named Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year by the Michigan Association of State Universities. Fishman, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Learning Technologies, teaches in both the School of Information and the School of Education, and is director of the Undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Information Program.… Read More »

Silver screens

By | March 22, 2017
0 Comment
Close up photo of a piece of transparent film being held by a tweezer, soft-focus of Prof. Guo in the BG.

L. Jay Guo, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, has developed a “stainless” silver film that could change the way touchscreens and flat or flexible displays are made, and also help improve computing power. By combining silver with a little bit of aluminum, the U-M researchers found that it was possible to produce exceptionally thin, smooth conductive layers… Read More »

U-M launches digital “teach-outs”

By | March 14, 2017
0 Comment
photo of President Schlissel standing at podium.

Authoritarian rule and fake news are among the topics for the University of Michigan Teach-Out Series, a new open online opportunity for global learners. President Mark Schlissel kicked off an Academic Innovation forum March 13 with the announcement of the first four global community learning events on the edX platform, intended to encourage public discourse about relevant issues.… Read More »