Cybersecurity is an expensive business. To prepare to address sophisticated threat actors, an enterprise needs to maintain a complete security operations center (SOC) filled with state-of-the-art technologies and experienced professionals who know how to identify and mitigate threats. All of these factors add up. According to a new report released by threat prevention provider Perception Point and Osterman Research, organizations pay $1,197 per employee yearly to address cyber incidents across email services, cloud collaboration apps or services, and web browsers.
Monday, December 5, 2022
This Copyright Lawsuit Could Shape the Future of Generative AI - Will Knight,Wired
A class-action lawsuit filed in a federal court in California this month takes aim at GitHub Copilot, a powerful tool that automatically writes working code when a programmer starts typing. The coder behind the suit argues that GitHub is infringing copyright because it does not provide attribution when Copilot reproduces open-source code covered by a license requiring it. The lawsuit is at an early stage, and its prospects are unclear because the underlying technology is novel and has not faced much legal scrutiny. But legal experts say it may have a bearing on the broader trend of generative AI tools. AI programs that generate paintings, photographs, and illustrations from a prompt, as well as text for marketing copy, are all built with algorithms trained on previous work produced by humans.
Let’s educate tomorrow’s voters: Democracy depends on it - Elias Blinkoff, Molly Scott, and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Brookings
The final results of the 2022 midterm election in the United States are in. Journalists tell us that a key issue for voters was preservation of democracy. A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll showed that while inflation was the top issue on voters’ minds, “preserving democracy” captured second place. The issue that claimed little attention was education. Yet, as Thomas Jefferson once said, “An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.” That is, if we care about democracy, we must also care about education.
Sunday, December 4, 2022
Apprenticeships for office jobs can prepare downtowns for the future of work - Annelies Goger and Tracy Hadden Loh, Brookings
And the wave of federal funding earmarked for workforce development, infrastructure, innovation, and climate adaptation will create additional opportunities to strategically engage local talent in the reinvention of downtown neighborhoods. Finance and insurance, professional and business services, and many government administration jobs could benefit greatly from offering apprenticeship pathways from high schools and community colleges into roles that are currently hard to fill, such as project managers, account managers, cybersecurity technicians, and graphic designers.
Building a Team to Lead in a Crisis: Four Key Steps - Erkia James, Knowledge at Wharton
As a Prepared Leader, you need to be ready to do the following: Make space for other people to stand up, speak up, and contribute as the situation dictates. Let go of your ego and be humble enough to allow others to take the lead as the situation dictates. Let these things happen spontaneously and without obstacles as the situation changes. Building a crisis team is like putting together a puzzle. Each piece should play its role and fit well enough with the others to make a complete picture. The four action steps linked below can be used to guide your efforts.
PROOF POINTS: 861 colleges and 9,499 campuses have closed down since 2004 - Jill Barshay, Hechinger Report
Despite high profile stories about the closing of small liberal arts colleges, such as California’s Mills College and Vermont’s Green Mountain College, college closures have actually declined in the past five years. But the numbers may spike again as declining U.S. birth rates soon translate into fewer graduating high schoolers after 2025. First, the numbers. Thirty-five colleges and universities shut down in 2021, a 70 percent decrease from 2016, when a peak of 120 colleges shuttered, according to an analysis of federal data by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO). For-profit operators ran more than 80 percent of the 861 institutions that ceased operations between 2004 and 2021.
Saturday, December 3, 2022
OpenAI debuts ChatGPT and GPT-3.5 series as GPT-4 rumors fly - Sharon Goldman, Venture Beat
As GPT-4 rumors fly around NeurIPS 2022 this week in New Orleans (including whispers that details about GPT-4 will be revealed there), OpenAI has managed to make plenty of news in the meantime. On Monday, the company announced a new model in the GPT-3 family of AI-powered large language models, text-davinci-003, part of what it calls the “GPT-3.5 series,” that reportedly improves on its predecessors by handling more complex instructions and producing higher-quality, longer-form content. Meanwhile, today OpenAI launched an early demo of ChatGPT, another part of the GPT-3.5 series that is an interactive, conversational model whose dialogue format “makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.”
https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-debuts-chatgpt-and-gpt-3-5-series-as-gpt-4-rumors-fly/
Distinctive Excellence: The Key to Effectively Managing Continuing Education Units - Michael Frasciello, Evollution
Distinctive excellence is where the quality question is best addressed. Quality is an experience our students perceive from their first inquiry to their last learning engagement. When the entire student lifecycle experience is perceived as high quality, we see enrollment growth, more consistent persistence and increased retention in our programs. In this context, the most important aspect of quality is doing what we have always done in our CE units: recognizing that our students bring valuable experience and perspectives into our programs and classrooms. We best address the quality question by not viewing our students through a deficit lens but through a distinctiveness lens—through their life experiences, perspectives, discipline, focus, prior learning and potential.
Accelerating Adoption of Competency-Based Education - Annie Galvin Teich, Fierce Education
A new initiative from the Competency/XChange reveals that colleges and universities have begun to embrace competency-based education (CBE) with more than 1,000 CBE programs being offered across 600 institutions. New research projects that CBE programs will continue to grow over the next five years. The value of CBE is it allows students to get credit for competencies—knowledge, skills, and behaviors.
Friday, December 2, 2022
Faculty elitism is hurting your institution - Cheryl Hyatt, eCampus News
One of the most pernicious ways we undercut the vital work of higher education is through maintaining a culture of faculty elitism. In most colleges there is a stark division between faculty and professional staff. At its worst, that can lead to costly errors from undervaluing the input of others or noxious work environments where professional staff are treated as underlings. Snobbery on college campuses is one of the most counterproductive things we do.
AI is the future–is your school ready to teach it? - Cheryl Martin, eCampus News
Artificial intelligence is one of the most important and transformative technologies of our time. From assisting pathologists and discovering new drugs to recommending products and automating entire factories, more and more organizations are adopting AI to solve some of the world’s most important problems. As young people grow up in an increasingly connected and technologically dependent world, they’re naturally interested in learning how to harness those technologies. But many higher education institutions do not have the capacity to meet the surging demand for computer science majors.
DARPA to Explore How AI Tools Can Help Train Adult Learners - Kate Lucariello, Campus Technology.
DARPA is inviting technologists, researchers, students (including minors), teachers, and "creators of digital learning platforms or cutting-edge AI techniques to propose AI tools or technologies that can address the critical challenges facing adult learners," the agency said. Successful tools will seek to create customized new skills learning experiences aimed at adults who have completed postsecondary education. The competition is open for $750,000 in awards; proposal abstracts due Dec. 18, 2022
Thursday, December 1, 2022
Young adults with degrees say they need more real-world training - Kate Tornone, Higher Ed Dive
Individuals with degrees often find their education failed to prepare them for the realities of the workforce, according to Nov. 15 survey results from Multiverse. A majority of young adults (those age 18-26) with degrees said real-world workforce training is the most important element to preparing for a career. But that factor is missing from many higher education programs, they said. The top three elements that a college education lacks are “having a clear idea of what a job is like,” “real workforce training” and “quality time with industry professionals,” that group said.
The Gravitation Toward a Seamless Institution for the Modern Learner - Frederick T. Wehrle, Evolllution
Each college or university has longstanding processes and structures, but it’s critical to think ahead and adapt them to suit the modern learner. The traditional way of doing things will not work for every learner today, and departments need to begin working together to bridge the gap that has created obstacles for students. In this interview, Frederick T. Wehrle discusses the reason departments have been siloed, student interests and patterns, as well as planning ahead to become a more seamless institution.
Metaverse Meets Higher Ed: Security, Privacy, Safety Concerns - Brandon Paykamian, GovTech
Administrators from the Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Michigan say that users and providers of emerging XR technologies should be conscious of privacy, security and safety challenges. Richard LaFosse, compliance and policy lead for academic innovation at the University of Michigan, says XR technologies such as VR headsets far exceed webcams in terms of data capture concerning one’s surroundings, so it’s easy to see how similar violations might be found where privacy considerations are left out of XR initiatives, particularly if students are using devices in their home where the expectation of privacy is so high,” he said. “XR devices collect a lot of [personally identifiable information] that could trigger [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] FERPA protections.”
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Analyzing the Return on Investment for Online Education - Susan D'Agostino, Inside Higher Ed
Though higher education has historically been a reliable economic engine for individuals and the economy, college insiders have long failed to convey the industry’s value to students, parents, employers and policy makers who question the investment, Kathleen Ives and Deborah Seymour argue in their new book, Using ROI for Strategic Planning of Online Education. Online learning has potential to provide access and optimal course pacing and content to students with time, geographic or medical constraints.
Putting Students First: Balancing Priorities Like a CIO - Lois Brooks, Modern Campus
Technology no longer plays a supporting, peripheral role in the operations of a higher education institution. As digitization becomes our norm, technology—and leaders who can strategically deploy technologies—are playing a more central role than ever. On today’s episode of the Illumination by Modern Campus podcast, EvoLLLution Editor-in-Chief Amrit Ahluwalia sat down with Lois Brooks—Vice Provost and CIO at University of Wisconsin-Madison—to discuss the evolving role of technology leaders.
https://moderncampus.com/blog/balancing-priorities-illumination.html
Measuring HE ethics: An inclusive new ranking is launched - Nic Mitchell, University World News
The new Globethics.net University Ranking (GUR), launched on 16 November 2022 with University World News as the media partner, claims to provide a unique global ranking instrument that places values, ethics and sustainability as central principles of higher education institutions worldwide. It encompasses themes not previously captured in other higher education ranking instruments, including the aspirations of students and the values of institutions.
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Can You Tell Whether This Headline Was Written by a Robot? - Christopher Mims, NY Times
\Artificial-intelligence software programs that generate text are becoming sophisticated enough that their output often can’t be distinguished from what people write. And a growing number of companies are seeking to make use of this technology to automate the creation of information we might rely on, according to those who build the tools, academics who study the software, and investors backing companies that are expanding the types of content that can be auto-generated.
Next Chapter Matters – Two More Universities Launch Midlife Programs For Every Budget - Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, Forbes
Whether you are retiring with millions in the bank or stuck at midlife desperately dreaming of a career pivot, there may soon be a university program for you. The latest offerings coming to the market are a testament to the diversity that is likely to develop as educational institutions start to respond to ageing societies and the future of work. The idea that you get all the education you need up front in a four-year bundle at 18, should fast fade as careers lengthen towards the six-decade mark and retirement ages drift ever upward. There are now 12 programs on offer, and the two latest launching this year in the US are the University of Chicago and the University of Colorado Denver.
What will it take to create inclusive AR/VR for a more diverse metaverse? - Nicol Turner Lee, Rashawn Ray, and Kinnis Gosha, Brookings
These experts discuss the current and future possibilities of AR/VR and the metaverse, and the impact on public sector applications. They also dive into how to attract more diverse developers and subscribers on these spaces.
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