Tag Archives: innovation

The IT workforce: A journey of continuous change

By | August 31, 2017

How do we make sure higher ed teams are prepared and supported as the pace of academic technology moves ever more quickly? In a wide-ranging article in “EDUCAUSE Review,” U-M’s VPIT-CIO Kelli Trosvig writes that higher education IT leaders must commit to a journey of continuous change and improvement, driven sometimes by technology and sometimes by culture. “Expectations… Read More »

“Design thinking” featured at June iiE Gathering

“Spontaneous.” “Open-minded.” “Continue to step out of your comfort zone.” “Keep trying and failing–you’ll keep learning!” These were some of the phrases that came to mind for Shelly Grunsted, assistant professor of legal studies at the University of Oklahoma, after attending the Institute for Innovation in Education (iiE) Ann Arbor Gathering this past June at the Duderstadt Center.… Read More »

Michigan Medicine CIO looks back in time for answers to today’s dilemmas

A majority of U.S. hospitals and health systems implemented electronic health records (EHR) over the last decade, thanks in large part to federal government incentive programs. But not everyone is happy about it. According to a 2016 Survey by Deloitte, seven out of 10 U.S. physicians believe EHRs reduce their  productivity. In a talk titled, “Solving the EHR… Read More »

Accelerating the mobile web

By | August 24, 2017

Most web traffic today comes from smartphones and tablets, but the mobile web remains frustratingly slow. Even on fast 4G networks, a page takes 14 seconds to load on average—an eternity in today’s connected world. A team of computer science researchers at U-M and MIT has found a way to dramatically speed up the mobile web. Their new… Read More »

U-M invests in advanced transportation technologies

By | July 26, 2017

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 »

Better writing through automation

By | July 20, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 »