A growing number of colleges offering direct admissions, a little-known practice that gives students a fast-track to college, bypassing essays, recommendation letters and sometimes even the application itself. The practice is gaining steam among colleges hoping to balance their enrollment.

A growing number of universities are looking at classes and majors aimed at giving influencers the skills needed to spot misinformation, communicate effectively with audiences and understand business contracts they could enter.

Date &amp; Time: Wednesday, January 8 at 12pm ET <br><br> The technologies that empower learning and living on college and university campuses have changed dramatically over the years. In this podcast, Ron Shaffer, a trendspotter and expert in education technology, will begin by leading us through a look back on this journey. With the benefit of an historical perspective, listeners will glean some insights that we can apply to today's campus technologies. We will then shift our gaze to the near future and explore some of the new and emerging tech that will be evolving life and learning on campus in the decade to come.