AWS Public Sector Blog

Category: Education

Alexa, ask Bolton College about what’s happening on the campus this week

Ada, Bolton College’s chatbot, has been supporting students since April 2017, answering a broad range of questions about the College and its services. Recently, the college launched its staff-facing chatbot, which responds to questions from teachers and support teams regarding campus services, student progress, and more. Through the voice-first Alexa Skill, students, teachers, and support teams can get information about the College, their studies, and their work through their Echo smart speakers or via their Alexa smartphone app.

Students to accelerate public sector innovation in Germany, ‘powered by AWS’

Today at the AWS Public Sector Summit in Brussels, Munich University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) and CODE University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, announced the launch of their innovation labs designed to accelerate the digital transformation of the public sector. The centers will focus on driving innovation in Germany, helping government, education, and nonprofits tackle some of the most pressing challenges to delivering a wide range of citizen services. With this initiative, students will have access to AWS technologies, innovation methodologies, and technical expertise to experiment with ‘born-in-the-cloud’ solutions.

Spring 2019 Hot AWS EdStart Startups – Machine Learning and Analytics Edition: Octopus BI, HelioCampus, Singsound, and Bibliotech

AWS EdStart members are creating products and solutions to improve teaching and learning and are using machine learning and analytics to advance global education. Octopus BI, HelioCampus, Singsound, and Bibliotech use AWS to revolutionize education analytics, language learning, and eBook distribution. Read on to learn about these EdTechs.

Environmental Problem Solvers: University of California Santa Barbara Builds Machine Learning Tool to Measure Chemical Impact

Currently, there are 150 million chemicals registered and managed by the American Chemical Society. Every day, 15,000 to 20,000 new chemicals are registered. These chemicals are present in everything from our household cleaning products to the food we eat. But how do these chemicals affect us? And how do they affect the environment? A research group at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara, with funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), works to answer those questions for the masses with the Chemical Life Cycle Collaborative (CLiCC) tool.

Sciences Po students tackle common good challenges through the Public Innovation Lab powered by AWS

Today, the Sciences Po School of Public Affairs, an international research university ranked among the best institutions in the world in the fields of humanities and social sciences, announced the launch of a new Public Innovation Lab, powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The Public Innovation Lab will focus on building innovative and practical solutions to challenges faced by French public and private organizations, including government, education, and nonprofits.

Reaching students and teaching mathematics playfully and rigorously around the world

Matific supports national mathematics curricula and popular textbooks in more than 40 countries and 30 languages. Since founding the company in 2012, the mission was to impact mathematics and science education around the world. To go global, the company needed both scale and reach. And with the complexity of local education regulations, they also needed to meet the security and compliance requirements for each country.

AWS Field Trips Expand to Global AWS Summits with AWS Educate

As part of our commitment to making science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers accessible to students, we host AWS Field Trips to engage young students with cloud technology. Three years ago, the AWS Field Trip program started at AWS re:Invent to inspire and engage middle school students to pursue STEM education and careers by exposing them to fun, hands-on engagements with technology. Since then, the program has scaled to Madrid, Spain, and Ottawa, Canada, reaching middle school students globally. This year, AWS Field Trips are expanding to several 2019 AWS Summits globally, reaching more students and providing a pathway for continued learning through AWS Educate.

Finding Answers in the Cloud: MIT’s Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel Re-design

MIT is replacing the Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel (WBWT) with a new, state-of-the-art facility. And they’re relying on AWS to do it. Post-refresh, the WBWT, first commissioned in 1938, will be the largest and most advanced wind tunnel to reside in a U.S. academic setting. But first, it helps to understand why the re-design is happening in the first place.

No downtime on learning – Prince William County Public Schools commitment to the cloud

Recalling back to when he was a teacher, Andy Wolfenbarger, Supervisor of Student Information Systems at the Department of Information Technology Services at Prince William County Public Schools, was pulling triple duty – coaching football and tennis on top of teaching his four high school classes. With grades due, Andy had a small block of time after school to get them in. But unbeknownst to him, the switch in the network closet next to him needed to be upgraded. In the middle of inputting his grades, the system went dark.