Consolidation Roiling Ed Tech

The ed-tech market is experiencing a lot of churn right now, as charted by the 2017 Higher Education Technology Landscape Report by higher-ed advisory service Eduventures, which tracks the activity of more than 500 vendors across 40 market segments. This year’s report drew on about 100 fewer vendors thanks to consolidation and closings.

Eduventures, which is owned by the National Research Center for College & University Admissions, tallied the most mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations among textbook, digital course material, and courseware companies; online course providers; learning management systems; learning analytics platforms; and constituent relationship management platforms. For online course providers and online program managers, the report saw “almost as many vendor options as there are academic programs or pedagogical models from which to choose.”

It also noted that cloud-based solutions are now nearly ubiquitous in higher ed for learning management systems, email, and educational apps, while adoption of cloud-based student information systems (SIS) is trending upward “as many institutions start moving critical operations and business processes to cloud providers.”

Adaptive learning and online program managers are witnessing “disproportionately high” growth, according to the report, while courseware and learning-analytics platforms undergo a wave of consolidation.

The segments showing rising competition include student-success and     -retention solutions, e-portfolios, social media platforms, online program managers, and business intelligence and analytics platforms.

Apple Teaching Coding with an App

Teaching students how to write computer code is almost as common at the three R’s. Coding camps have become big business and the Florida Senate approved a bill that would declare computer coding a requirement for graduation.

Now, Apple has is making a splash with its Everyone Can Code curriculum, a free coding app it introduced during the launch of the iPhone 7 in early September. The program, aimed at middle-school students, uses Swift Playgrounds software that allows students to write code to guide characters through a graphical world, solve puzzles, and master challenges using the Swift programming language.

“When you learn to code with Swift Playgrounds, you are learning the same language used by professional developers,” Brian Croll, Apple vice president of product marketing, said in an article for The New York Times. “It’s easy to take the next step and learn to write a real app.”

The Apple coding app requires an iPad tablet to operate but is free to download. The app is so simple anyone could use it to teach themselves to code at home, according to Croll.

Amazon Launches Free Cloud Platform

Amazon continues to muscle its way into higher education. It’s latest step is the launch of AWS Educate, a program that allows instructors and students to use real-world cloud technology in the classroom.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) was started in 2006 as a technology platform providing computing services from data centers from around the world.  AWS Educate is a free service designed to make it easier to find cloud-related course content and combine it with class curricula.

Students and teachers have access to web-based training and self-paced labs through the program, along with in-person and online forums that will help integrate cloud technology with coursework. By joining the program, students and teachers also gain access to the AWS library of educational content, including full courses, syllabi, lectures, and homework assignments.

Higher Ed Heads for the Cloud

Some higher education campuses are cautiously trading in their well-worn learning management systems for cloud computing, reported EdTech magazine. Schools are also shifting other technology services to the cloud, such as student email accounts and administrative applications.

The move isn’t usually about cutting costs. “Cloud services are not necessarily cheaper,” noted a university official. “The value lies in the ways they accelerate the speed of innovation and free you from day-to-day maintenance.”

The colleges and universities highlighted in the article chose cloud services as a means to scale technology services as necessary, remain more nimble as each school’s needs change, and provide reliability to students, especially for schools with a large commuter enrollment.

With many schools tapping into licensed reading materials through their learning management systems, it’s possible cloud services could offer the same. Marian University, Indianapolis, IN, used the cloud to provide electronic textbooks to students at its medical school, along with lecture capture, electronic polling, and assessments.

Google Offering Unlimited Cloud Space

Google is offering students using its Apps for Education unlimited space on an upgraded Google Drive. Previously, students could access 30 GB of space, but the unlimited offer will make it possible to store files as large as five terabytes, according to the company.

Along with the storage space, all files are encrypted for security. Students are also able to access the Google Apps Vault, an add-on tool that allows users to organize their files and assignments.

Google sees the service as a virtual locker for students. It also provides the company an opportunity to interact with users before they start looking for similar services they would be required to pay for after they graduate.

Cognizant Computing on the Horizon

Cognizant computing is the next phase in cloud computing, according to a report from research firm Gartner. Cognizant computing uses information to develop services and activities that enhance the consumer experience and includes bill payment, managing health and fitness, and delivering context-specific ads.

It will impact mobile devices and apps, wearable technology, networking, services, and cloud providers, and should become one of the most important parts of customer retention over the next few years.

“Cognizant computing is already beginning to take shape via many mobile apps, smartphones, and wearable devices that collect and sync information about users, their whereabouts, and their social graph,” said Jessica Ekholm, research director at Gartner. “Over the next two to five years, the Internet of Things and big data will converge with analytics. Hence, more data will make systems smarter.”

The use of cognizant computing will allow businesses to gain insight into products and services their customers want. They will then be able to turn data into personalized services and offers for customers.

“The increased awareness of and implementation of analytics and self-learning systems will force business-to-customer companies to hasten their adoptions of these technologies to stay competitive and better serve the consumer of the future,” Ekholm said. “Analytics is the key component and creates the backbone of cognizant computing.”

World Wide Web Turns 25

At 25, the World Wide Web has become an integral part of life. A recent Pew Research study found 87% of adults in the United States use the Internet, 90% admit the Internet has been good for them, and 76% believe it’s been good for society.

In another Pew study, technology experts said that by 2039 access to the Internet will be like flipping a switch for electricity and an Internet of Things will allow artificial intelligence-enhanced, cloud-based information storage and sharing via smartphones, wearable technology, and smart appliances.

Most of the innovation will come about as digital natives grow older. Those individuals are currently in school or on campus.

“The first generation that grew up on the web is hitting maturity,” Jeff Jaffe, CEO of the World Wide Web Consortium, told Computerworld. “Everything that’s happened until recently was with people who weren’t web natives by birth using technology and using it to improve life. I can only imagine when you have digital natives hitting maturity the level of innovation will be even greater.”

Pros, Cons of Cloud Computing

In a June report, Educause ranked cloud computing third on its list of the top IT issues facing higher education. Yet, a Gartner report predicts that 30% of organizations using software as a service, such as for e-mail, will switch back from the cloud to on-premises systems in the next year.

In an article for Information Week, David Crain, assistant provost and chief information officer at Southern Illinois University, explained some of the reasons why his institution is headed back to on-premises service, at least for e-mail.

The university has been using cloud services for the last two years, but Crain found that discounts the institution receives on most technology made cloud services far more expensive than alternatives. He noted that the downtime in cloud service has been “consistently and significantly higher than we experienced with the on-premises solution.” Cloud security issues and the amount of bandwidth consumed are also concerns.

Crain said schools looking into cloud services should investigate private and community cloud offerings, costs, and the complexities of integrating services. He also advised against signing a long-term contract or using a cloud service without a strong service agreement.

iOS 7 Pushing Desktop Computers Out?

Robert X. Cringely, the pen name for tech journalist Mark Stephens, recently blogged about a future of computing where smartphones replace desktop computers. That future began with the launch of iOS 7 and the iPhone 5s, a device as powerful as some laptops that also enables Bluetooth connectivity.

In fact, he wrote, a move away from desktop to mobile technology is part of Apple’s strategy.

“Here’s what I expect we’ll see,” Cringely said. “Go to your desk at work and, using Bluetooth and AirPlay, the iPhone 5s or 6 in your pocket will automatically link to your keyboard, mouse, and display. Processing and storage will be in your pocket and, to some extent, in the cloud. Your desktop will require only a generic display, keyboard, mouse, and some sort of AirPlay device, possibly an Apple TV that looks a lot like a Google ChromeCast.”

If Cringely is correct, it could also mean more big changes in education, according to Joshua Kim in his technology blog for Inside Higher Education. Replacing desktop computers with mobile devices would allow learning platforms to be merged into mobile apps that could be updated regularly.

“A desktop-replacement mobile device would enable us to bundle e-learning content with the e-learning platform,” Kim wrote. “All curricular materials could be delivered to the mobile device, synced to the cloud, and designed to work seamlessly with the mobile learning tools.”

Concerns Partly Cloud-y for the Future

Apple CEO Steve Jobs demoted the personal computer to “just a device” when he announced the launch of iCloud computing at the recent Worldwide Developers Conference. Jobs might be correct, but a March 2011 study commissioned by Qwest Software suggests that while higher education leaders see cloud computing in their future, they aren’t as certain of how to make it happen.

In Pulse on Public Sector Virtualization and Cloud Computing, potential cost savings were cited as the biggest incentive for adopting cloud computing to a third of the participating institutions. However, a third also said security breaches were the biggest obstacle. All told, about half of the schools surveyed were optimistic about the prospects of cloud computing.

“There are some challenges around security, funding, and around access, but all those things can be tackled," Paul Christman, vice president of sales for Qwest’s Public Sector division told Campus Technology. “Of the three market segments in this survey, the feds are driven by mandates, the states by cost savings. But education is really driven by what this can do, what this can accomplish, and what this can’t accomplish in some other way. The search for the positive [aspects of cloud computing] is really borne out in the academic side.”

Music in the cloud

There are many correlations that can be drawn between the turbulent past of the music business and the future of e-Books, and publishers and other components of the e-Book industry have worked hard not to fall prey to the same mistakes that plagued music. It is interesting and potentially beneficial to take into account not only the past but also the current trends and the future of the music industry.

An article from the New Yorker takes a look into online music in the cloud—specifically at some online radio services such as Pandora, MOG, and Spotify.

According to Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, “Of the twenty hours a week that an average American spends listening to music, only three of it is stuff you own. The rest is radio.” When it comes to music, we are already accustomed to accessing it and we do not necessarily own a copy of all the music that we want to listen to. In the future, we may become more accustomed to accessing e-books in the same way.

College to develop distance learning program via flash drives

The Thomas Edison State College was recently awarded a federal grant to develop a course delivery system that utilizes flash drives so that students can participate in distance learning without connecting to the internet at all times. According to the college’s website, they will develop 40 courses over the next few years that contain a similar structure to the online course but students will only need to connect to the internet to submit assignments and participate in online discussions. Dr. George A. Pruitt, president of Thomas Edison State College commented, “This grant enables us to make our courses and degree programs more readily accessible to students in locations all over the world, even where broadband Internet access is limited, including remote rural areas in the United States, in the Middle East and on ships at sea.”

The college will also begin developing courses that use cloud computing technology. The technology enables content to be stored on a server so that users can access the content at anytime from various mobile devices or PCs. This will lead to a platform independent course delivery system that enables all classes to use the same content regardless if it is an online course, independent study, delivered via flash drive, or delivered to a smartphone or web-enabled device.

Digital Happenings

Starting last week we included a posting of a short list of other news and articles from the week that caught our interest. We received some positive feedback, and so here again this week is a collection of overflow stories and links from the past few days that might be of interest:

• A recent article from eSchool News discusses George Gilder’s prediction for the future of network computing at universities. Gilder believes that cloud computing will soon become obsolete and “storm computing” will be the next big thing.
• A posting on Google News says that the world’s oldest Christian Bible, a 1,600-year-old manuscript, has been digitized and is now available online.
• An interesting website called The Know Something Project provides some great information and a good overview of the e-book environment.
• A posting on the Kindle Review blog provides some interesting thoughts about Google’s plan to defeat the Kindle. The posting notes, “Google cares far more that the Kindle doesn’t succeed than it does about its own success in books.”
• Two new e-readers were introduced this week: the Ditto Book and Cybook Opus. The Ditto Book is a 6-inch non-wireless device that includes: black & white e-ink screen, long battery life, ability to read text and PDF, support for ePub, and expandable SD card slot for an additional 2 GB of storage. The Cybook Opus is a 5-inch device that includes: black & white e-ink screen, support for ePub and PDF files, and has 1 GB of internal storage with an SD card slot for additional storage.
• An article from Wired takes a look at the bookstores that are creating their own e-readers.
• David Carr from The New York Times wrote an interesting article after he visited Google to meet with chief executive, Eric Schmidt and founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
• An article from CNET says that some hotels are beginning to offer their guests e-readers for use during their stay. A second article from Teleread questions if the hotels that offer Kindles have received consent from Amazon. It was recently reported that the BYU library discontinued their Kindle loaning program because Amazon has not responded to their request for written consent.