Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/373915
62 September/October 2014 BizEd U R FI NG USS/TH I N KSTOCK technology UDACITY RECENTLY ANNOUNCED its creation of nanodegrees, which it describes as "a new type of credential for a modern workforce." With the help of about US$1.5 million from AT&T, Udacity will offer bundles of hands-on job-specific courses, which also will include a capstone project and career support. "You can get a nanodegree as you need it and earn new ones throughout your career, even if you need to switch paths," writes Clarissa Shen, vice president of business development and partnership, in a Udacity blog post. The first nanodegrees will take approximately six to 12 months to complete and will focus on four job titles: front-end web developer, back-end web developer, iOS developer, and data analyst. Shen adds that AT&T will offer as many as 100 paid intern- ships to students who complete the programs successfully. In addition to AT&T, companies such as Google, Facebook, salesforce.com, and the data management platform Cloudera have supported this effort. Udacity will announce when its first nanodegree courses go live at www.udacity.com/nanodegrees. DIGITAL SIGNAGE HAS become a common tool that business schools use to communicate their news and accomplishments to their campus communities. But determining how to design, place, and use them can be both art and science, says Melody Walker, director of communications at the Olin Business School at Wash- ington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The school recently placed two large displays from the Planar Clarity Matrix video wall system line in its newly opened Knight Hall—one in the first-floor lobby and one in the third-floor gathering area. The first-floor Udacity to Offer 'Nanodegrees' Curating a Digital Experience sign is an 86 inch by 52 inch LED digital display with three panels. The panels include a touchscreen overlay that works much like a giant iPad to allow users to interact with the narrative content. The third-floor sign has an eight-screen display that measures 240 inches by 52 inches. Both signs are programmed with content such as stock data, Google news, local traffic, and weather; profiles of Olin community members; a photo gallery slide show; social media content; and fun facts about the school and region. The school integrated Microsoft's content manage- ment platform SharePoint 2010 with digital signage software platform Four Winds Interactive to customize the content on each display. The software pulls infor- mation from Olin's Facebook, Twitter, and blog posts to keep content fresh. Before the signs were unveiled, the communications staff created a stockpile of "evergreen" content—such as student and faculty profiles and interesting facts about the school. They also follow a content calen- dar with deadlines to create new content throughout the year. Keeping the content stream flowing "seemed overwhelming a few months ago," says Walker, "but now that it is up and running, it's exciting to be able to push content out to a wider audience." Business schools often view the installation of digital signage as a way to add a "wow" factor to their facilities, but there's more to it than that, says Adrienne Wartts, the school's web content management specialist. Used correctly, she says, such signage can build community by providing "equal parts inspiration and information." Digital signage on the third floor of Olin Business School's newly opened Knight Hall.