Harvard's Professor and EdTech Visionary Robert Lue Dies at 56 From Cancer

The Havard, Open edX, and edX community lost this week a key leader, Robert Lue, 56, Researcher and Professor of Biology at Harvard, Founder of LabXChange.org and HarvardX, edtech visionary and a firm advocate of open source and scientific education. Harvard University reported that Robert Lue died from cancer. His death caused a deep impact on the Harvard and edX community. "Rob was one of the most creative teachers; he was always thinking about how we could do a better job of engaging our students, and he was particularly gifted in imagining how technology and data could be used to enhance the learning experience," said Harvard President Larry Bacow. "The kindness and thoughtfulness he brought to his work over the years infuse many of the pedagogical improvements made at Harvard. He was a valued colleague, and he will be missed." Robert "Rob" Lue was Professor of the practice in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty Director of the Harvard Ed Portal, Richard L. Menschel Faculty Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, UNESCO Chair on Life Sciences and Social Innovation, and Faculty Director and Principal Investigator of LabXchange. He co-authored two biology textbooks and worked extensively in the field of scientific visualization. In 2012, Lue became the founding faculty director of HarvardX, shaping the institution's engagement in online learning and expanding its reach. Lue’s vision was to improve education “by bringing equal opportunities for learning science [to] anyone and anywhere,” said Valtencir Mendes, Senior Program Lead in UNESCO’s education sector. Anant Agarwal, CEO at edX, said, "Rob was an early and ardent believer in edX. Always willing to help across our network + quick to share his grand and inspirational visions of the shared mission we were all working toward. Rob was a friend and I will miss him dearly." Up until his death, Lue was leading LabXchange, a breakthrough, Open edX-based virtual platform launched in October 2019, with over 2.5 million visitors. "Rob was always so happy when students thanked him [for changing] their view of biology by creating these animations," said Alain Viel, Director at the Northwest Undergraduate Laboratories and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard. Viel was his partner of 30 years. An online forum was filled with tribute messages to Lue. • News stories about Robert Lue at IBL News   Colleagues and students remember Robert Lue as a creative teacher, a kind and thoughtful person, a "consummate innovator," and "a fountain of new ideas" https://t.co/7MjCr2Tnoh — Harvard University (@Harvard) November 16, 2020 Rob was an early and ardent believer in @edXonline. Always willing to help across our network + quick to share his grand and inspirational visions of the shared mission we were all working toward. Rob was a friend and I will miss him dearly. https://t.co/gHt1qV2HSZ — anant agarwal (@agarwaledu) November 20, 2020

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Teachers Worldwide Find Creative Solutions to Avoid Education Disruption Due to COVID

The education of over 90% of the world's enrolled student population–nearly 1.6 billion learners–continues to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers have worked individually and collectively to find solutions and create new learning environments. For six months now, teachers around the world have been finding creative approaches to face school closures, adapting, and improvising to keep their students learning. There are many inspiring stories on how teachers kept doing their job throughout the crisis. They remind us that teachers are a vital lifeline for their students. Some teachers traveled for hours each day to establish small learning groups around a laptop, others walked door to door to distribute thousands of much-needed school meals during the lockdown, yet others delivered their classes from the back of a truck. "This crisis has created an unprecedented context that has brought to the fore teacher leadership, creativity and innovation," said a recent report by UNESCO. "In the majority of cases, teachers were forced to act without much warning and with little time to prepare. Curriculums were modified or condensed, lesson plans adapted, working methods turned on their heads. But, whether via the internet, mobile phone, television, radio broadcast, or the mail, teachers continued to provide an education to their students." In countries with poor connectivity, where over 40% of households do not have a computer or online access, many teachers have prepared take-home packages for their students, along with digital communities and support groups on Facebook and Twitter. In order to celebrate teachers' leadership during the COVID-19 crisis, UNESCO plans to celebrate their work on October 5th, with World Teachers’ Day, on the anniversary of the signature of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. The organization has released an event's website.

A Startup Company Raises $16M for User Interface that Adds LMS Capabilities to Zoom

ClassEDU Inc, a startup company led by Blackboard co-founder and former CEO Michael Chasen, plans to launch at the end of October a powerful LMS interface for Zoom, which will be adding in live assessments, an attendance tracker, a proctoring tool, and a gradebook, along with other capabilities and features. [See below the video showing the platform] Washington DC-based, Class for Zoom announced this week that it closed $16 million in seed financing. Early prominent investors in Zoom, along with Deborah Quazzo, Partner at GSV Ventures, and other edtech venture capitalists participated in the funding. "Teachers using Zoom today need frictionless tools to take attendance, hand out assignments, give quizzes, grade items, or even talk with students one-on-one," said Michael Chasen. "We designed Class for Zoom to feel and work like an in-person classroom." Zoom web conferencing is currently used by over 100,000 K-12 schools and colleges across 25 countries, becoming de facto a learning platform. ClassforZoom.com took advantage of the Zoom phenomenon and built on top of this platform, attracting plenty of capital. For its initiative, it used the software development kit that Zoom makes available to third-party developers. Due to COVID, students and teachers needed a better tool than Zoom to complete their daily learning tasks. "Class for Zoom fills a major pedagogical gap at a critical time, by making the virtual classroom feel and operate more like the traditional classroom," said Lev Gonick, Chief Information Officer at Arizona State University and board member of ClassEDU. The app, designed for small virtual or hybrid classrooms, is still in development. The price of the product hasn't been announced yet, although Michael Chasen disclosed that it will be sold to schools as an annual subscription.   Another startup built expressly atop of Zoom is Grain.co, which lets users take notes and share clips from video calls on other media platforms. It attracted $4 million in April 2020.

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The University of Illinois Had a Comprehensive Anti-Virus Plan, but Students Partied On

The most comprehensive plans to limit the COVID-19 virus' spread can break down when students party on. The New York Times yesterday narrated the case of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where over 40,000 students take tests twice a week, cannot enter campus building unless an app vouches that they test negative, and everyone wears a mask. University scientists developed a quick, inexpensive saliva test, and other researchers put together a detailed computer simulation, modeling the movements of everyone on campus–including some little partying of students. However, enough students continued to go to parties even after testing positive, dismissing commands from public health officials. Common sense was absent. Partying after receiving a positive test result wasn't on anyone's expectation. Some fraternities and sororities, as well as some off-campus housing, throw large parties and gatherings ignoring containment plans. Some of the infected students even tried to circumvent the app so they could enter buildings instead of staying isolated in their rooms, university administrators said in a letter to students. Last week, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reported an uprising in cases and imposed a lockdown. Students had to stay in their off-campus dorms. Some of the students who tested positive even tried to circumvent the app so that they could enter buildings instead of staying isolated in their rooms. A total of 334 new positive cases were identified in August. The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity was placed on interim suspension after another large party this weekend. Approximately 100 additional students and organizations were facing disciplinary action for their behavior. Officials from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said, "over these past few days, the irresponsible actions of a small number of students have created the very real possibility of ending an in-person semester for all of us." "For two weeks, starting now, we are intensifying our efforts to identify and swiftly remove those individuals who have created this unacceptable risk for our campus and community and who have undermined your hard work to stay together." According to experts, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is not an isolated case. Too many college students countrywide are irresponsible and end up doing the exact opposite of what they are told, spreading an infectious disease.

Analysis: UX / UI Will Determine the Success or Failure of Your Next Web Project

Today, creating memorable and effective user experiences adjusted to the target audience determines ultimately the success or failure of any web enterprise. Consumers have millions of products to choose from. What separates the excellent from the mediocre comes down from the user experience. The UX (user experience) design process starts by understanding the psychology of the user. It needs to effectively address the user's desire to find the information quickly and convince him or her to come back. The UI (user interface) layout should be designed to engage the audience, identifying the type of actions the user will take, whether it's requesting more information, signing up for a service, or purchasing a product. That's when visuals, blocks of content, intuitive navigation, logical structure, call to action buttons, and other interactions will all come together. UX and UI designers will start by keeping sight of businesses' branding, marketing goals, and corporate strategy. They then put themselves in the user's shoes, anticipating their motivators and turn-offs. Instead of making assumptions, by conducting user testing, surveys, and research on how people interact, it removes the guesswork and provides a starting point. Consider also that consumer habits change. A website that left people satisfied two years ago, may now be less effective. It's interesting to check the latest trends in web design. Tools like FlowMapp, Stormboard, and Whimsical can help construct user flows, determining how a design needs to be structured to later building a wireframe and prototype. Lastly, usability testing is the final step before the project goes live. The golden rule on UX, UI, and usability processes, is to keep users at the center. • Resource: UX design process: a simple (but complete) guide   #UX research is instrumental in creating products that people use and love. Here are the 5 best practices to get the most out of your #UserResearch – https://t.co/AiJJvZEP2m. — Udacity (@udacity) August 19, 2020

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Saturday, November 22, 2025

Education technology today is marked by rising AI adoption among educators and innovative personalized learning approaches.

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Today in AI & EdTech

Saturday, November 22, 2025

AI is transforming the education technology landscape as more teachers adopt intelligent tools, driving forward and adaptive learning experiences.

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