Category: Education

Every year, students across the U.S. and around the globe begin preparing for college entrance exams. These tests are a key component of any student’s application to college. The ACT, a nonprofit organization that administers the ACT test, wanted to make the process of researching, studying for, and taking the ACT less stressful for students and parents. Today, they are announcing a new Alexa skill that helps guide high school students through the process of preparing for and taking the ACT.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO, Andy Jassy, spoke with Teresa Carlson, Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector at AWS, in a fireside chat at the 2019 AWS Public Sector Summit in Washington, DC. The conversation spanned a variety of topics including how AWS is helping public sector customers accelerate their pace of innovation, how organizations can leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence, the unwavering support of AWS for our defense and national security customers, and the critical nature of moving fast to solve public sector challenges.

As cloud transforms the public sector, every organization has the ability to think big and transform their ability to achieve their mission. From enabling the workforce to securing data to finding the right tool for the right job, organizations can design for a future of continual innovation, enabled by AWS. See below for the 15 highlights, speakers, and announcements from the Tuesday Keynote at the AWS Public Sector Summit in Washington, DC.

George Mason University (Mason) and Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), in collaboration with AWS Educate, announced a Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) pathway in cloud computing. This degree offers students a seamless transfer pathway from a two-year associate degree to a four-year bachelor degree in the cloud, providing a clear path to high-demand careers in cloud computing at AWS partners and customers.

The Career Colleges Trust announced it is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to integrate AWS Educate and its Cloud Degree program into a new, two-year cloud qualification which will provide thousands of students with the opportunity to pursue technology careers in the cloud computing industry. The programme of study will launch in early 2020 and will be rolled out in further education institutions and universities across the UK.

Cal Poly has announced the Satellite Data Solutions (SDS) Initiative to support the growing opportunity to solve the planets most critical challenges with low earth orbit (LEO) satellite data. The DxHub will work closely with the AWS Ground Station team to test and improve satellite connectivity and improve access to satellite-acquired data to solve problems. Through the DxHub and the SDS Initiative, students and faculty will have access to AWS services, technologies, and technical expertise to experiment with ‘born-in-the-cloud’ solutions that build on, and add to, space-based data analytics.

AWS Competency Partners have the expertise to help you succeed at each stage of your cloud journey. The AWS Competency Program helps you identify and choose top APN Partners that have been vetted, validated, and verified by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Guidance from these partners can provide value-added services and solutions, leading to bigger results that help organizations at any stage of their cloud adoption journey. At the AWS Public Sector Summit, we highlighted the following APN Partners who were recently awarded AWS Government and Education Competency designations.

From inside the classroom to inside the human brain, the blog stretched to new heights this past month. Check out five of our best posts from the month of May.

With cyberattacks on the rise against higher education institutions, it is critical to detect vulnerabilities in the Docker images that may run your applications. This involves not just vulnerability scanning of the applications, but of the OS packages installed in a Docker image as well.

From January 24, 2019 – April 22, 2019, AWS Educate hosted the Alexa Skills Challenge for student members in the United States. Students built solutions to address challenges in the academic setting related to student life, learning, and the community. Participants learned and built solutions using a variety of AWS technologies such as machine learning and conversational artificial intelligence. With AWS Educate’s resources and support, participants delivered helpful Alexa Skills. And now (drumroll please), here are the winners of the AWS Educate Alexa Skills Challenge.