TALENT DEVELOPMENT
PRnewswire | April 27, 2023
Clever, the platform powering digital learning for more than 75% of U.S. K-12 schools, today announced its new service, Clever MFA+. Designed to help districts facing a growing number of cybersecurity incidents in schools, Clever's new offering protects sensitive data by providing a dual layer of authentication that's easy for administrators and educators to use.
"With the growing sophistication of hackers, we designed this tool to support the realities of schools today, offering busy teachers and staff peace of mind," said Mohit Gupta, Group Product Manager at Clever. "Clever MFA+ helps districts prevent malicious account access, meet insurance requirements, and ensure a safe and secure learning environment."
In a recent Clever survey, one in four administrators said their district had experienced a hack, phishing incident, data breach, or other cyber attack in the past year. The impact, including cost and learning time lost to get systems running again, is high for K-12 education – on average costing schools $1.6M per ransomware incident.
Clever MFA+ serves as a holistic, all-in-one solution that helps districts easily secure access to critical applications:
• Staff-and teacher-friendly factors: Clever MFA+ offers a variety of authentication options, including app tokens (TOTP), SMS codes, voice calls and hardware tokens, as well as biometric.
• Clever MFA+ into familiar devices and apps: The solution covers Chromebooks and Windows devices, while integrating with Google Workspace, Azure, AD and ADFS and any additional apps available with SAML, OpenIDConnect, or OAuth2.
• One, secure Clever login: This new offering means sensitive applications and devices can be protected behind one secure login and with one familiar, trusted single-sign on partner.
"Our instructional programs all filter through Clever — and some of our most sensitive information is rostered into those programs. Having a second layer of protection is paramount," said Dylan Jones, Instructional Technology and Data Coordinator at Sunflower County Consolidated School District. "Clever MFA+ provides seamless protection for an app that all teachers and staff are used to and familiar with! We already do identity management, rostering, and the single sign-on Portal with Clever — so MFA just made sense."
Clever MFA+ is now available with a low price per staff user per year, and schools benefit from free set-up and support to make adoption seamless and quick. To learn more about Clever MFA+, visit here.
The Clever SSO portal for students remains free of charge. Districts can take advantage of built-in MFA functionality to secure the Clever Portal for users with admin access and the existing Clever Badges + Pin functionality to protect students' accounts today.
About Clever
Clever is on a mission to connect every student to a world of learning. More than 75% of U.S. K-12 schools now use Clever to power secure digital learning experiences. With our platform for schools and a network of leading application providers, we're committed to advance education with technology that works for students everywhere.
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ONLINE EDUCATION
PRnewswire | March 31, 2023
The Ellucian Foundation, established in 2020 by the leading higher education technology solutions provider Ellucian, today announced that the 2023 Progress, Accomplishment, Thriving, Hope (PATH) Scholarship Program will accept applications March 27th – May 12th for U.S. institutions and March 27th – May 26th for eligible institutions outside of the U.S. Now in its fourth year, the PATH Scholarship provides grants to higher education institutions globally to support students facing economic hardship and educational disruptions. For 2023, the PATH Scholarship Program will focus on providing grants to 2-year public colleges in the U.S. and eligible higher education institutions in Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ireland, Lebanon, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
"Students across the globe cite lack of financial resources among the biggest obstacles to achieving their educational goals," said Laura Ipsen, President & CEO, Ellucian. "We are proud to support students through The Ellucian Foundation's PATH Scholarship program, helping those facing financial hardship stay in school and complete their program of study."
• "Receiving the Ellucian PATH Scholarship means that I will be able to prioritize and focus on my education rather than worrying about how to finance it." - 2022 PATH Scholarship Recipient, Pacific University
• "Funding with my bills will take some of my worries and stress away so I can concentrate and finish school, which will be a dream come true." - 2022 PATH Scholarship Recipient, Central Carolina Technical College
• "This program provided invaluable support to students who were needing additional assistance...because of this award, our students are edging closer to achieving their goal of earning a degree." - an administrator from Our Lady of the Lake University. • "With the allocation of these funds, I can complete my degree this year. If I was not awarded...I would have had to remain on an academic registration hold, restricting my enrollment in Spring semester classes." - 2022 PATH Scholarship Recipient, Pacific University
"In the U.S., two-year public colleges play a vital role in providing access to higher education for underserved students, offering an affordable and flexible learning pathway to a better life," said Jen Welding, Executive Director of the Ellucian Foundation. "We are honored to continue this program and support students at these institutions and other higher education institutions around the world through this year's PATH Scholarship program, providing much-needed financial relief to help students facing hardships stay in school and achieve their educational and career goals."
In 2020, Ellucian partnered with the Business-Higher Education Forum and pledged an initial $1 million to create the PATH Scholarship. Now administered by the Ellucian Foundation, the program will award block grants to higher education institutions in $10,000, $15,000 and $25,000 (USD) amounts. The institutions will then distribute the scholarships to students in financial need, with a maximum award of $1,500 (USD) per student. Students can use these funds to help cover items such as housing, tuition and food. Since its creation, the program has distributed over $1.6 Million in scholarships to 1,900+ students.
For 2023, The following types of higher education institutions are invited to apply:
• In the U.S., public two-year institutions that are eligible to participate in the Federal Title IV Student aid programs. Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) are strongly encouraged to apply.
• In Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ireland, Lebanon, Mexico and the United Kingdom, not-for-profit higher education institutions that are approved by the country's ministry of higher education (or other national government ministry) to provide associate's or bachelor's degrees.
An independent judging committee will select the institutions chosen to receive a PATH Scholarship award. Recipient institutions in the U.S. will be notified in mid-July and those outside the U.S. in mid-September.
ABOUT ELLUCIAN
Ellucian powers innovation for higher education, partnering with more than 2,900 customers across 50 countries, serving 22 million students. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, including data-rich tools for student recruitment, enrollment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners and user community of more than 45,000 provides best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes
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CORPORATE LEARNING SYSTEMS
Cheetah | May 30, 2023
Cheetah Learning, a leader in Accelerated Exam Prep for the Project Management Professional (PMP)®, has introduced a new certification course in Agile project management.
The online Cheetah Agile certification course teaches the fundamentals of Agile project management, skills that can be applied in numerous industries. Those who complete the course are Cheetah Agile Certified and qualified to lead as Agile project managers.
"Agile is the future of project management," said Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, CCL, CAC, PMI-ACP, RYT, founder and CEO of Cheetah Learning. "Since its beginning in software development, it has evolved to demonstrate its usefulness in a variety of applications. Project managers who learn the Agile method are well-positioned to succeed for themselves and for their employers."
Because the emphasis is on achieving significant goals in two weeks, becoming Cheetah Agile Certified aids in project completion. The fundamental goal of the two-week deadline is to remediate one of the main causes of project delays, namely procrastination brought on by digital distraction. People can put procrastination in the past by making it a habit to focus and complete a substantial endeavor in two weeks. Even LaBrosse utilized this method to finish her book, The Cheetah Agile Project, in just two weeks.
One student had this to say about the course: "Being part of the beta group for the Cheetah Agile Certified program gave me a hunch that improving my project-completion speed would benefit my career. But I was surprised to find out that it was also an immense help in my private life. As part of the class demonstration project, I took on a personally meaningful task – preparing an estate sale – something I had been putting off. Thanks to my diligence during the course, we discovered an additional $450,000 worth of assets in the estate!"
Becoming Cheetah Agile Certified helps managers achieve their goals faster in the following ways:
1. Delivering value quickly and continuously
2. Fostering collaboration and feedback
3. Continuously improving processes
4. Building a network of like-minded professionals
5. Picking the right opportunities to stand out
Cheetah Agile Certified managers improve their own prospects while also succeeding for their employers. Applying what they've learned in the course enable managers to:
1. Stand out in a job market where Agile-trained managers are in demand
2. Expand career opportunities, including higher salaries and more responsibilities
3. Increase credibility and trust
Agile training also leads to increased self-confidence, the ability to accomplish more with fewer resources, and more interesting and challenging work assignments.Learning Agile techniques supercharges the skills and careers of project managers," said LaBrosse. "It's an investment that pays off immediately for managers and their employers and continues to provide benefits long-term."
About Cheetah Learning
Cheetah Learning is the two decades-long industry leader in Accelerated Exam Prep for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam. Cheetah students culminate their four-day intensive accelerated learning program by taking and passing the Project Management Institute's PMP® exam. Cheetah students are guaranteed to pass the PMP® exam by following Cheetah's program. Worldwide, there are nearly 80,000 Cheetah Alumni. PMP® is a registered trademark of the Project Management Institute.
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