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Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

CCS Presentation Systems Launches First Ever Esports Demonstration Center

CCS Presentation Systems, one of the largest audio-video systems integration companies in the US, just announced the creation of a fully-functioning Esports Demonstration Center at its Scottsdale, AZ corporate headquarters. It provides customers with a working demonstration of every component of an esports facility – game play, audience presentation, streaming and more.

“This Esports Demo Center was purpose-built for our education customers. It includes everything necessary for school teams to be successful in this competitive sport,” said Julie Solomon, Chief Marketing Officer for CCS. “Esports gaming has very specific equipment standards. Facilities need to mimic each other as much as possible or players will be at a disadvantage during competition.”

The Extreme-eCampus News Worldwide Esports Survey found that 21% of schools already have an esports program and that over 70% of K12 schools are now considering introducing competitive gaming to their curriculum. Currently, there are more than 200 colleges and universities offering nearly $15 million in scholarships to high school students to join their esports programs.…Read More

Do students need more online privacy education?

One privacy expert says colleges should stress internet-use policies in the aftermath of the Rutgers suicide.
One privacy expert says colleges should stress internet-use policies in the aftermath of the Rutgers suicide.

Privacy advocates say the rules regarding internet privacy and appropriate online behavior should be stressed at colleges and universities, especially among incoming freshmen, in the wake of a Rutgers University student’s suicide after a video of him having sex was posted on the web without his consent.

A lawyer for Tyler Clementi, who was a freshman at Rutgers in New Brunswick, N.J., confirmed that Clementi had jumped off the George Washington Bridge last month. Clementi’s suicide came days after the student’s private sex acts were made available in an online broadcast set up by two students—Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, both 18—who were later charged with invasion of privacy, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan.

The investigation began “after Rutgers police learned that the camera had been placed in the 18-year-old student’s dorm room without permission,” according to a Sept. 28 release from Kaplan’s office. Kaplan said Wei was released after surrendering to Rutgers University Police Sept. 27. Ravi was released on $25,000 bail.…Read More

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Facebook Places: Marketing tool or educational asset?

UK's Facebook Places ad campaign guides students to an educational web site.
UK's Facebook Places ad campaign guides students to an educational web site.

The University of Kentucky, if all goes according to the campus’s marketing plan, could pop up in 1.3 million Facebook news feeds during the fall semester—and students might just learn something about maintaining online privacy in the process.

The Lexington, Ky., university placed six-foot wooden Facebook Places logos in six campus locations with the heaviest foot traffic to encourage students to “check in” using Facebook’s geo-tagging application, which lets users show friends where they are—the campus library, for instance.

Places, which is similar to geo-tagging services Yelp, Gowalla, Booyah, and Foursquare, launched in August and drew skeptical reviews from many in higher education. Facebook users must opt into Places before the application displays the person’s location.…Read More

Students: Social media blackout eye-opening, ‘annoying’

Harrisburg students admit to finding ways around the school's social media ban.
Harrisburg students admit to finding ways around the school's social media ban.

Students at Harrisburg University, where technology officials recently deprived students of social media access for one week, said the restriction was a minor inconvenience for many on campus, and showed some students just how tethered to popular social sites they had become.

IT decision makers at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania–a campus of about 600 students established in 2001–banned access to Facebook, Twitter, AOL Instant Messenger, and MySpace through the school’s network during the week of Sept. 13 as a way of showing students how ingrained the technology has become in their everyday lives.

Harrisburg also hosted a panel of social media experts during the experimental week who discussed privacy and security issues in social media, how the technology is used to communicate with mass audiences, and how the professional world has adapted to the exponential popularity of sites like Facebook.…Read More

Free online learning coming to some in Haiti

Most of Haiti's campuses were destroyed in January's earthquake.
Most of Haiti's campuses were destroyed in January's earthquake.

The founder of the tuition-free online University of the People said providing an education for Haitians after a massive earthquake destroyed most of their country’s colleges could demonstrate the value of a web-based university infrastructure targeting those in developing nations.

The university, launched last year by founder and president Shai Reshef, announced Sept. 20 that it would join the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in the organization’s efforts to help Haiti recover from a Jan. 12 earthquake that killed between 200,000 and 300,000 people, according to government estimates.

University of the People committed to enrolling 250 college students from Haiti into its free online programs, including computer science or business administration, over the next three years. The 600-student university is not yet accredited, but officials have pledged to achieve accreditation in the coming years.…Read More

Students: Video lectures allow for more napping

More than half of students said streaming video lectures have improved their grades.
More than half of students said streaming video lectures have improved their grades.

College students gave video lectures high marks in a recent survey, although many students supported the technology because it freed up more time for napping and hanging out with friends.

And three in 10 said their parents would be “very upset” if they knew just how often their child missed class and relied on their course web site.

A majority of students who responded to the survey, conducted in August by audio, internet, and video conferencing provider InterCall, said they would only attend a live lecture if an exam were scheduled for that day, or to borrow notes from a classmate. The survey didn’t indicate the percentage of students who took this position.…Read More