From lectures to the polls: AWS Fix This podcast September round up

This month, many students are heading back to school. And in the United States (US), citizens are starting to head to the polls for a presidential election year. Catch up on what we covered in September on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Fix This podcast.

Back to school: Higher education institutions digitally transform

Campus this year may look a little different for students—many will be learning from their homes and tuning into lectures entirely remotely for the first time. Colleges and universities around the globe are using the cloud to digitally transform and meet the needs of students. We set out to learn more from Notre Dame University in the US and the University of East London (UEL) in the United Kingdom. From Notre Dame, Professors Sharif Nijim and Chris Frederick shared the lessons they’ve learned about engaging students in a remote setting, creating and fostering community among students, and meeting the unique needs of their classes. From UEL, vice chancellor and president Dr. Amanda Broderick shared how the university is offering synchronous blended learning to improve student and professor interactions—no matter where students may be physically.

To learn more about how the AWS Cloud is powering this shift in higher education, listen to our back-to-school episode.

Get out the vote: National voter registration day

How can nonprofit civic organization help get out the vote leading up to the 2020 presidential election in the US? The answer may lie in education, data, and concerts! To foster civic engagement in K12 students, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor founded iCivics in 2009 with a mission to reimagine civic education. Today, over six million students across all 50 states and nearly 200,000 teachers rely on iCivics for nonpartisan, engaging civic education. To learn more about their gamified learning approach, the team sat down with Dr. Emma Humphries, chief education officer at iCivics.

The episode ends with an interview with Emily White, founder of #iVoted Concerts, a nonprofit with a mission to increase voter turnout. This year, the concerts will be delivered digitally with hundreds of musical artists lined up. To attend the virtual concert series, people must RSVP with a photo of themselves and a blank mail-in ballot or a selfie at their local polling station. #iVoted uses a data-driven approach when creating the festival’s line up, and the cloud will power the festival on election night.

This month, in celebration of National Voter Registration Day, remember to check your registration, update it if necessary, and make a plan to cast your ballot. Listen to the Fix This podcast episode #23 – “National Voter Registration Day.”

Check out more Fix This blog posts. All episodes are available for streaming and download on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Overcast, iHeartRadio, and via RSS.