Tag: higher education

Over 5,850 education leaders traveled to Denver, Colorado, to engage on topics and discussions in higher education IT. Throughout the week, we shared ways to increase access to learning and improve student outcomes – from bringing Amazon Alexa voice technology to campus to improving current educational technologies with machine learning. In case you missed it, read on for key themes and takeaways.

The UCLA School of Medicine’s BREATHE (Biomedical REAl-Time Health Evaluation) project for pediatric asthma wanted to know if real-time data collection could pinpoint ways to predict and prevent asthma attacks in children. To explore this, the School of Medicine Research Computing (RC) Team designed an Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment that uses 24/7 data collection, machine-learning algorithms, and heavy computation that their on-premises cluster could not handle.

EDUCAUSE is almost here! Discover how cloud-based virtual desktops and application streaming increase access to learning and how moving your database to the cloud helps boost flexibility, agility, and cost effectiveness. Throughout the event, we will also be sharing examples of how to personalize and increase access to learning with machine learning and voice technology. One example is Alexa for Business by CDW.

Saint Louis University (SLU) will become the first university to bring virtual personal assistants into every student residence on its campus and to equip them with a private, SLU-specific skill through Alexa for Business. This fall, SLU plans to place more than 2,300 Amazon Echo Dots in residence hall rooms and student apartments.

Using AWS Direct Connect, Internet2 and NET+ members can now establish private connectivity between AWS and their datacenter, office, or colocation environment, which can reduce network costs, increase bandwidth throughput, and provide a more consistent network experience than Internet-based connections. Internet2, a member-owned advanced technology community, provides a collaborative environment for U.S. research and education organizations to solve common technology challenges and to develop innovative solutions in support of their educational, research, and community service missions.

At the University of Oklahoma, we asked ourselves: Can Amazon Alexa help engage college students and enhance their educational experience? How will students utilize voice technology as they graduate and move into their careers? Within the University of Oklahoma IT department, we aim to affect the student experience on campus in more ways than just delivering technology. We have found that the more a student is engaged on campus, the more likely they are to graduate. Technology innovation, like Alexa, will play a major role in that mission.

We are announcing a similar change for Amazon WorkSpaces. Educational institutions can save up to 14% per month on Amazon WorkSpaces by leveraging license discounts from Microsoft for Qualified Education Users. This equates to a $3.52 per user/month savings, and $0.03 per user/hour for WorkSpaces. You can take advantage of this discount if you qualify, based on Microsoft Licensing Terms and Documentation. If you think you may qualify, please contact us so that we can enable the discount for you. There is no upfront investment or financial commitment.

The University of Arizona addressed the challenge of creating a more efficient and agile IT operation by deciding to go all-in on the cloud. After initial success in migrating their Kuali Research Administration system, they created a roadmap and began migrating their PeopleSoft application environments, including Enterprise Learning (EL), Human Resources (HR), and Student Administration (SA) to AWS. The University of Arizona has 42,000 students with more than 300 majors. To be responsive to their students, they are in the process of migrating over 95 enterprise services to the cloud.

How does a world-class technology university navigate the migration from an on-premises data center to a future-proofed IT infrastructure in the cloud? California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) is one of the top engineering schools in the nation, but the university was struggling with legacy technology that put data at risk.

Amazon AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed, secure application streaming service that allows you to stream desktop applications to any computer running a web browser. AppStream 2.0 offers no upfront investment and no infrastructure for you to maintain. For education, this means students from K-12, primary, and higher education have greater access to learning resources […]