Colleges list priorities for Higher Education Act reauthorization

educationdive | March 15, 2019

As Congress considers updating the law guiding federal policy on higher education, college officials across the country have offered a set of three dozen recommendations related to student loans and aid, access and accountability, and the collection of key data.The Higher Education Committee of 50's ideas for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) include: streamlining the Free Application for Federal Student Aid; supporting expansion in online instruction; eliminating higher ed tax credits and using those funds to expand Pell Grant access; and reverting the 90/10 rule ratio to 85/15.It also wants to develop a broad Student Unit Record Data System that would collect and disseminate student-level data, stripped of personal details, to provide better information about national, regional and institutional outcomes. The HEA was last reauthorized in 2008 and has since fallen off its pace of updates every few years, according to a review of the process and its current prospects by The Atlantic. Current cross-aisle talk among key legislators could be threatened by the reality of their different political positions, the publication concluded.

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Last year, the assembly of the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization agreed to set an aspirational goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, reinforcing targets and commitments made already by both industry and individual states for the sector. While net zero provides a common goal for aviation, it comes with a recognition that this sector is likely to be one of the hardest to abate. Most stakeholders agree that meeting this challenge will require a broad approach, encompassing both operational efficiencies and changing the ways we fuel flight.

Spotlight

Last year, the assembly of the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization agreed to set an aspirational goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, reinforcing targets and commitments made already by both industry and individual states for the sector. While net zero provides a common goal for aviation, it comes with a recognition that this sector is likely to be one of the hardest to abate. Most stakeholders agree that meeting this challenge will require a broad approach, encompassing both operational efficiencies and changing the ways we fuel flight.

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Education Technology

YuJa Inc. Announces New, Enhanced Features Across its Portfolio of Ed-Tech Solutions

Businesswire | July 10, 2023

YuJa, Inc., a leader in ed-tech solutions, has introduced a number of new and exciting features across its portfolio of higher education offerings, which include the flagship YuJa Enterprise Video Platform, YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility platform, YuJa Engage Student Response System, YuJa Verity Test Proctoring, and YuJa Himalayas Enterprise Archiving Platform. “Our goal is to continually innovate to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Nathan Arora, Chief Business Officer at YuJa, Inc. “With these new features, updates, and enhancements, we aim to empower educators and institutions with innovative tools that foster engaging learning environments and enable seamless collaboration. We are dedicated to supporting the ever-changing landscape of higher education and ensuring our products remain at the forefront of educational technology.” Highlighted feature introductions and updates are listed below. YuJa Enterprise Video Platform A number of Enterprise Video Platform improvements were implemented. Highlights include: The need for third-party cookies has been eliminated, which simplified product use and enhances the privacy and security for institutions as they access the Video Platform from within their learning management system. A new umbrella system infrastructure has been deployed to support systems of higher education with multiple campuses or institutions using a single Video Platform instance. Administrators can manage system-level deployment and designate sub-administrators at an individual college level. A new client-side Microsoft Teams app complements the cloud-side Teams integration, which creates a streamlined video-sharing workflow between Teams and the Video Platform. YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility Platform YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility Platform has a long list of new features to help streamline accessibility across institutions. Some accessibility enhancements include: A new gradient reader helps reduce unnecessary eye movements and increases the reader’s focus by providing a guiding color gradient to facilitate a smooth shift between lines of text. YuJa Panorama provides “How-to-Fix” guides to help instructors fix accessibility concerns. Now, guides can now be edited with new text, images, and links, and each issue is now accompanied by both a video tutorial and a link to web content accessibility guidelines. The Alternatives Formats Menu has an updated UI and minimized steps to view a preferred format. YuJa Verity Test Proctoring Platform Among the top updates to the YuJa Verity Test Proctoring Platform include the following: YuJa Verity users can now monitor third-party assessments across all learning management systems, which provides secure testing environments within the Verity LTI app. A new lockdown app has been launched. The app works seamlessly with Verity Live Proctoring to ensure students can’t end recordings during an assessment and enforces strict measures to prevent common methods of bypassing proctor settings. Instructors can now create custom profiles for their proctoring settings, which can be applied to upcoming proctored tests. YuJa Engage Student Response System The YuJa Engage Student Response System also saw a host of new and updated features, including: A new mobile application for IOS and Android has been introduced to their respective app stores to provide on-the-go access to polls and results for both students and instructors. Surveys have been updated to seamlessly integrate with the gradebook and new question types have been added. Gradebook results can be manually adjusted within YuJa Engage, which allows instructors to tailor the grading process to better align with individual student progress and ensure accurate evaluation of academic performance. ABOUT YUJA, INC. YuJa is a leader in ed-tech solutions. Our platforms provide organizations of all sizes with the tools to educate, engage, inspire and collaborate. We serve learning enterprises within all sectors, including higher-ed, K-12, government, healthcare, non-profit and corporate. We have legal headquarters in Delaware with primary U.S. offices in Silicon Valley, California, and Canadian offices in Toronto.

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Online Education

ACE Partners with the Center for Financial Training, Expands Opportunities for Business Professional Development

PRnewswire | June 29, 2023

Creating more education opportunities for business professionals, American College of EducationⓇ (ACE) has partnered with the Center for Financial Training (CFT). The collaboration allows CFT course completers to apply earned credits to an ACE bachelor's-completion degree at a 3% tuition reduction. It also provides professional and career advancement opportunities to an increasing population of adult learners with college credit but no degree. CFT provides industry-related education and training for bank and credit union employees for career advancement and professional development. Taught by experienced subject matter experts, completers learn the latest trends in finance from entry-level skills to management enhancement. "At ACE, we aim to expand opportunities for business leaders to upskill and advance their careers through education," ACE President and CEO Geordie Hyland said. "CFT has the same mission, and we're excited to combine our resources to contribute to today's evolving business landscape." "Partnering with ACE provides us a way to extend our coursework into degree programs for finance professionals," Vice President of CFT Renee Few added. "Working in finance requires continued educational opportunities and creating a link for our course completers to go even further with their development is at the heart of what we do." About American College of Education American College of Education (ACE) is an accredited, 100% online college specializing in high-quality, affordable programs in education, business, leadership, healthcare and nursing. ACE is ranked #2 on Newsweek's 2023 top online colleges list. Headquartered in Indianapolis, ACE offers more than 80 innovative and engaging programs for adult students to pursue a doctorate, specialist, master's or bachelor's degree, along with micro-credentials and graduate-level certificate programs. In addition to being a leader in online education, ACE is a Certified B Corporation. About Center for Financial Training The Center for Financial Training (CFT) is an industry-supported adult education and training nonprofit organization that has been providing continuing education courses and professional development programs for members of the financial industry since 1901. CFT courses are designed for multiple experience levels and areas of responsibility, and offer students up-to-date, practical, industry-related information, and skills. The skills help employees work smarter and better, improving their on-the-job performance and productivity.

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Corporate Education and Training, Online Education

Course Hero Launches "AI Academy" to Help Educators Navigate Role of AI in the Classroom

prnewswire | August 23, 2023

Course Hero, the learning platform used by over 150,000 educators, today announced the launch of AI Academy, a first-of-its-kind teacher training program empowering educators to respond to the various opportunities and challenges that AI presents. "Artificial intelligence has significantly disrupted the classroom in recent months, leaving educators with little guidance and even less training, while institutions work to catch up with the technological advancements," said Sean Michael Morris, Vice President of Academics at Course Hero. "We designed and built this course based on feedback from our community of educators, who are astute learners themselves and relentless in their pursuit of creating impactful learning for their students." The four-week program, AI Academy, will help faculty gain the critical tools and skills needed to teach in the age of AI and will prepare them to use the technology as an effective teaching and learning resource. Participants will learn new ways to create assessments and assignments, understand how AI impacts academic integrity, and use it to teach digital literacy to their students. Educators who complete the four-week-long program, will receive a Certification in Teaching with AI, along with 10 continuing education units. Those who are interested in the program can register here: https://education.coursehero.com/ai-academy/. In a recent survey from The Crimson, many faculty respondents revealed in open-ended responses that they did not know how to proceed in plans to adapt their teaching, research, and scholarship in the age of AI. In another recent survey of 1,000 faculty, commissioned by Course Hero, younger faculty (Gen Z and Millennials) respondents were more likely to say the pace of adoption is too fast, while half of all Baby Boomer respondents said they were not aware of their institutions' pace of change regarding the adoption of generative AI. "While used thoughtlessly, AI can shortchange learning, but there are also enormous opportunities to empower students if faculty members are intentional and thoughtful in introducing AI to the classroom," said Edward Tian, Founder of GPTZero and speaker at Course Hero's 2023 Education Summit, where some of the most well-attended sessions were focused on the role of AI in the classroom. "Every educator should take this opportunity to equip themselves with the tools they need to succeed as the classroom continues to evolve." About Course Hero Course Hero is on a mission to help students graduate confident and prepared. The online learning platform now offers more than 100 million course-specific study resources created by and for students and educators, as well as 24/7 tutor help. More than 150,000 faculty across the U.S. and Canada use Course Hero to share their resources with the community, collaborate with other faculty, and hone new strategies for instruction. Every day, students, educators and tutors on Course Hero help more than 30 million students make every study hour count.

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