October 22, 2012 - 12:39am
In Other Ivory Towers: Harvard reports record enrollment for online classes
BY LYDIA KOEHN
Enrollment in Public Health 207x, the online adaptation of a Harvard University School of Public Health class in epidemiology and biostatistics, surpassed 30,000 students when it went live Monday, The Harvard Crimson reported Tuesday.
“This is the biggest course in public health ever offered in the world,” E. Francis Cook, one of the Public Health 207x professors, told the Crimson.
The class is one of seven free online courses offered by Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas and the University of California, Berkeley as part of edX — a virtual learning program developed by Harvard and MIT last spring, according to the Crimson. Computer Science 50x also saw record enrollment numbers.
Princeton University stores student data without policy
The information of students at Princeton University is being recorded without rules or regulations by university databases each time an individual uses his or her student ID card, The Daily Princetonian reported Thursday.
Beginning next year, students’ dorm room information will be streamed in real time over a secure campus Wi-Fi network, according to the Princetonian.
Princeton spokesman Martin Mbugua told the Princetonian there is currently no explicit policy regarding the use of data recorded from students’ IDs, adding there is no stated policy for the length of time the data will be kept.
Data gathered from the cards of students presently dates as far back as June 2010, the last time a new system was installed, according to the Princetonian.
