This morning, the Chronicle reported a data breach at Indiana that was a result of a file copied to the wrong folder. It included data affecting 146,000 students - BAM! The kicker was that the file had been sitting there for "nearly a year" and nobody realized it. This type of breach needs to be [...]
The EDUCAUSE Horizon Report 2013 gives wearable computing a four to five year horizon before we begin seeing a significant showing of the technology in our hallowed halls. Checkout this video from CES this month. The possibilities are very intriguing.
WHAM! A new article published by the Chronicle of Higher Ed recounts some serious self-appraisal from the founder of Udacity, Sebastian Thrun. It seems that MOOCs work if you already have a degree or are among the demographic of highly self-motivated individuals that largely already have access to higher education. This flies in the face of [...]
A recent ECAR report cites a tragedy of the commons playing out in the ether of university wireless networks. It seems that the number of "Internet capable devices" is increasing at a steep rate among campus humanoids, most sharply among students. In fact, the prediction is that there will be four devices per student on [...]
Like many of my colleagues in higher education, I’m struggling to get my head around this mobile thingy. […]
One of the smartest administrators I know has a saying that he applies to the work we do in Student Affairs. "Anything good we do will require Collaboration, Cooperation, Coordination, and Communication." The Four C's, as they are known, have become a mantra for professionals in our division. While we don't always succeed in implementing [...]
In a crowd of 50,000 students, there’s always someone experiencing an unexpected turn of events. Car accidents, apartment fires, sexual assaults, hospitalizations, and other types of unplanned events can severely disrupt a student’s ability to focus and perform well academically. While some of these incidents may make the evening news, more often the disruptive problems [...]
Our journey to the cloud may be approaching quicker than we think. Recently, TAMU has launched two pilot projects to examine the feasibility of moving all university email to a cloud-based service. The two leading candidates are Google Apps for Education and Microsoft Office 365. None of this should be a surprise to anyone as [...]
Aggie students do great real-world research. Student Research Week (SRW) showcases some of this outstanding work with competition and special speakers. In its 15th year, this annual endeavor is a collaborative effort between academic and Student Affairs offices. But managing 1185 competitors, judges and event volunteers also requires having IT as a strategic partner. This [...]
How do you assign more than 7,750 students into less than 7,450 residential spaces? That question gets much more complicated when you have to consider each student’s application date, gender, age, eligibility for participation in residential living learning communities, and preferences for roommate and room price. That’s the kind of challenge Residence Life has been [...]