Jobs For Connecticut Now

Tech startup companies are all the rage these days. From apps that count calories to businesses incorporating digital strategies into their economic plans, it’s clear  that technology is taking over our world at an exponential rate. One place the digital world meets the real world more frequently than any other is the university. In fact, many top-notch universities, like our very own MIT, are utilizing digital technologies, such as online education for masters programs and direct digital relationships between students and faculty, to foster a fuller educational experience.

Fast Coexist, a tech blog, recently posted an article that explained three different ways that top-notch universities are building out their digital presence. The article said that these universities are using, “a top-down strategy driven by the administration, a bottom-up strategy that uses students to evangelize (and support) the new tools to professors, and through professors themselves looking to expand their digital platform. And to support these trends, venture capitalists are starting to put real money to work.”

These three different methods have proven to be quite successful in past years for both the universities and the tech startups that create the products. 2tors, a New York-based company that helps big-name universities establish digital master’s programs, grossed $32.5 million from their project in 2010. In 2012, MIT will launch MITx , which it calls an open-teaching initiative that lets non-enrolled students earn a certificate for a lesser fee than traditional graduate classes, which the university hopes will broaden their reach.

These digital resources are gaining support as universities realize that making education accessible and personal is becoming more and more enticing to prospective students as well as current students and faculty. It will be interesting to watch how these products and services change business models and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship as they begin to take hold throughout our higher education systems.