IT

Campus technology leaders: Before and after — by Joshua Kim

On 09/02/2010, in cost of getting a degree, education technology, IT in HE, leadership, strategy, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Campus technology leaders: Before and after — from InsideHigherEd.com by Joshua Kim

Before	After
Implements Strategic Vision	Develops Strategic Vision
Reports to a Top Academic Official	Is a Top Academic Official
Background in Technology	Background in Education or Libraries
Focus is on Systems and Technology	Focus is on Learning
Supports Faculty Teaching	Enables Active Learning
Manages Local Technology Infrastructure	Manages Cloud Based Technology Infrastructure
Manages Enterprise Systems	Manages Integration of Enterprise with Consumer Systems
Technical and Managerial Intelligence	Social and Emotional Intelligence
Has To Do More with Less	Has To Do More with Even Less
Focus is on Implementation	Focus is on Implementation and Experimentation
Presides Over Expensive Services	Key Driver of New Revenues and Increased Productivity
Manages Technology Infrastructure	Evangelizes Potential of Technology for Educational Transformation

.
From DSC:
This caught my eye because I am a firm believer that all decision-making boards at each and every college and university (across the entire world) must now have a visionary, informed technology leader on them — as such technologists will be able to provide important strategic direction to their organizations. It’s not just about keeping the systems running anymore (which is a tough enough job by the way) — it’s also about setting strategic direction and using technology to increase the number of students one can assist/develop (while aiming to decrease the price of such offerings).

Tagged with: cost of getting an education • educational technology • IT • leadership • strategy • vision

Learning amongst the riches: Students in the cloud

On 09/01/2010, in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, expectations, global / globalization, IT in HE, student-related, universities, by Daniel Christian

Learning amongst the riches: Students in the cloud — from CampusTechnology.com by Trent Batson

The cloud is where new learning conversations and related innovations are happening. Learning itself is becoming virtualized. Universities have a new role, but are as essential as ever: They are guiding learners in the process of learning amongst the riches.

Tagged with: colleges • community college • emerging technologies • engaging students • Global learning • IT • student expectations • student-related • universities

U Michigan iPhone app grows from student project

On 08/03/2010, in computer science, innovation, IT in HE, programming, project-based learning, by Daniel Christian

U Michigan iPhone app grows from student project — from CampusTechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser

An iPhone app conceived by two students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, built as a computer science class project, and purchased by the school’s IT organization has made its public debut in the Apple iTunes store. Formerly named iWolverine, now called “University of Michigan,” the app allows users to track buses in real time through the popular Magic Bus Web application, listen to the school’s fight song, check dining hall menus, and search for buildings, among other features.

Tagged with: computer science • innovation • IT • programming • project-based learning

Decrypting and Repurposing DVDs: Opportunity for Library, IT Partnerships – from NITLE

On 07/30/2010, in A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, copyright/ownership/NFTs, digital video, faculty, IT in HE, library / librarians, media/film, by Daniel Christian

Tagged with: A/V • adjunct faculty • copyright / royalty-free • faculty • fair use • IT • library / librarians • Media/film

EDUCAUSE Live Web Seminar: What do newer generation faculty want from IT services?

On 06/30/2010, in adjunct faculty, expectations, faculty, IT in HE, leadership, webinars, by Daniel Christian

July 7 –> EDUCAUSE Live Web Seminar: What do newer generation faculty want from IT services?

Speakers: Bruce Maas, Chief Information Officer, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Michael Zimmer, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Date: July 7, 2010
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET (12:00 p.m. CT, 11:00 a.m. MT, 10:00 a.m. PT).

In this free, hour-long web seminar, “What Do Newer Generation Faculty Want from IT Services?,” Bruce Maas and Michael Zimmer join host Steve Worona to talk about how former Net Gen and late Gen X students are becoming our colleagues and bringing the attitudes, aptitudes, expectations, and learning styles of their generation with them. Tune in to hear a discussion on the inherent tensions and opportunities in both supporting and getting out of the way of faculty who are “digital natives.”

From DSC:
I would propose that it’s not necessarily just “getting out of their way”, but rather teaming up with them to make innovation continue to occur on our campuses. We need team-developed / relayed courses. Gen X or not, no one can do it all anymore.

Tagged with: adjunct faculty • faculty • IT • leadership • webinars

Tagged with: budgetary • cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related • IT

Wimba solutions improve academic and administrative help and support services

On 06/16/2010, in IT in HE, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Wimba solutions improve academic and administrative help and support services — from wimba
Schools rely on Wimba to provide flexible, cost-effective expansion of virtual support and service offerings, enabling increased accessibility and continued collaboration.

New York, NY (PRWEB) June 15, 2010 — Wimba® Inc., a leading provider of collaborative solutions for educators around the world, announced today that colleges and universities are increasingly turning to the capabilities of the Wimba Collaboration Suite™ to meet growing demands for enhanced help and support services. By providing collaborative solutions that support a 24/7 online environment, Wimba makes it possible for schools to deliver academic and administrative help – whether through the expansion of help desk support, online tutoring, informal instruction opportunities or other campus services – to students, faculty and staff whenever and wherever it is needed most.

Taking the Help Desk to the Students
The help desk, a mainstay of the collegiate experience for decades, is facing a crisis of convenience. According to a 2008 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), while students attribute relatively high importance to academic advising and career counseling, 35% to 51% of students rarely (or never) take advantage of those services. Inconvenient hours and even performance anxiety can keep students from seeking one-on-one support. Forward-thinking institutions that realize students greatly benefit from academic advising/planning, academic skill development and other services that may affect learning and retention are taking the help desk to their students using Wimba.

…

Making Academic Support Easily Accessible
Being available at the exact moment a student is facing an academic challenge greatly increases academic success. Wimba Pronto™, an instant collaboration system designed to promote learning through informal instruction and meetings, encourages students and faculty to interact frequently as individuals or in small groups.

Tagged with: IT • web-based collaboration • Wimba

The Future of Cloud Computing — Pew Internet & American Life Project

On 06/11/2010, in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, future, IT in HE, by Daniel Christian

The Future of Cloud Computing — by Janna Quitney Anderson, Elon University and Lee Rainie, Pew Internet & American Life Project
June 11, 2010

A solid majority of technology experts and stakeholders participating in the fourth Future of the Internet survey expect that by 2020 most people will access software applications online and share and access information through the use of remote server networks, rather than depending primarily on tools and information housed on their individual, personal computers. They say that cloud computing will become more dominant than the desktop in the next decade. In other words, most users will perform most computing and communicating activities through connections to servers operated by outside firms.

Among the most popular cloud services now are social networking sites (the 500 million people using Facebook are being social in the cloud), webmail services like Hotmail and Yahoo mail, microblogging and blogging services such as Twitter and WordPress, video-sharing sites like YouTube, picture-sharing sites such as Flickr, document and applications sites like Google Docs, social-bookmarking sites like Delicious, business sites like eBay, and ranking, rating and commenting sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor.

This does not mean, however, that most of these experts think the desktop computer will disappear soon. The majority sees a hybrid life in the next decade, as some computing functions move towards the cloud and others remain based on personal computers.

Tagged with: cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related • future • IT

InfoComm 2010: Rich media driving the ‘Evolution of the Network,’ Cisco exec declares

On 06/10/2010, in digital audio, digital video, disruption, game-changing environment, IT in HE, multimedia, online media, telecommunications, telepresence, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

InfoComm 2010: Rich media driving the ‘Evolution of the Network,’ Cisco exec declares — from The Journal

“Just looking at what’s going on on networks around the world, it’s incredible. Traffic is literally exploding on networks,” de Beer told InfoComm attendees. “[Networks of the past were built] around data and [were] optimized for Web traffic. In just two or three years from now, when 90 percent of traffic is video, those networks will have to look fundamentally different.”

De Beer is predictably bullish on video and, especially, telepresence. Earlier this quarter Cisco completed a $3.3 billion buyout of videoconferencing and telepresence solutions provider Tandberg to help it stake a claim in what Cisco has estimated to be a $34 billion market for collaborative technologies.

He pointed to a future for collaboration that make it easier for users to create and manipulate rich media and for IT departments to deliver these technologies while also cutting back on the need for end-user support.

He added: “When it comes to rich human interactions, being able to easily create, find, share, consume, and manage content is very important. And we believe the network, what we now term as ‘medianet,’ which you should think of as the evolution of the network that is ready for rich media,… will play a very important part.”

Tagged with: digital audio • digital video • disruption • game-changing environment • IT • multimedia • online media • telecommunications • telepresence • web-based collaboration

Positioning IT as a strategic partner on campus — from Academic Impressions

On 05/28/2010, in game-changing environment, IT in HE, leadership, by Daniel Christian

Positioning IT as a strategic partner on campus — from Academic Impressions, May 27, 2010

At a time when institutions of higher education are increasingly looking for technological solutions to strategic challenges, recent downgrades in the rank of the chief information officer at institutions such as MIT and the University of Chicago has sparked alarm in some quarters and a series of debates over whether the CIO may start to disappear from university cabinets at other institutions.

While there isn’t any conclusive data to suggest that the CIO role is shrinking, the concerns over that possibility do serve to direct increased attention to one of IT’s pressing challenges: that is, how to position the CIO, and the broader IT organization, as a strategic partner within the institution.

From DSC:

I can not stress this strongly enough:

IT must be empowered with solid, strong seats at the top decision-making tables throughout higher ed.
For those institutions who allow their CIO’s to have a seat at the table — and who put visionary, tech-savvy, experienced, competent leadership in such positions — they will thrive (assuming that the culture of their organizations can withstand the change that’s becoming necessary to play in this game).
For those institutions who devalue the role of IT and the CIO…such organizations will continue down the road of cost cutting and their enrollments will continue to decline.
I’ll say it again, the status quo must go; and there are few who understand the need to change as much as someone within or (recently) from the tech side of the house. I say this because even those who are in tech struggle to keep up with the pace of technological change these days — so someone outside of the tech area will have an even tougher time keeping up, understanding the trends at hand/play, understanding the threats and potential benefits of various technologies — and thus being able to make the appropriate strategic decisions.
Technology will continue to have a highly-disruptive effect on the world of higher education — so one had better have some leadership on board the board that understands and can anticipate such disruption and make plans to respond to as many different scenarios of disruption as possible.
(Think Blockbuster here, as to an example of an organization who failed to properly appreciate/value technology and it’s disruptive impact enough.)

Tagged with: game-changing environment • IT • leadership

Reinventing Higher Education Conference — May 4th in Segovia, Spain

On 04/29/2010, in dangers of the status quo, education reform, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, by Daniel Christian

About the Reinventing Higher Education Conference
A conference organized by IE University, Segovia (Spain), 4th May 2010.

The field of Higher Education is experiencing one of the most fascinating and challenging transformations since the foundation of the first universities eight centuries ago (emphasis here and below by DSC):

• New actors are entering and are supplementing the traditional role of the State and other grand institutions in setting the agenda of education institutions.

• New technologies are reshaping the way knowledge is generated and distributed, including the learning methodologies, the forms of delivery and even the role of professors.

• A new profile of students is entering higher education. The web generation brings new skills and attitudes into class. At the same time, continuous education is becoming a fast-growing segment for many universities.

• The internationalization of education stakeholders and cross-border mobility are key features of the new higher education environment.

• Transnational accreditation and ranking systems may play key role in constructing and signaling the quality of the diverse institutions

• The governance and funding of higher education centers will vary and universities and governments may seek alternative sources of income.

• Universities may become catalysts of innovation and more accountable to society in a number of ways: how research is applied in development and innovation, the connections between university departments and companies as well as the relevance of education for graduates’ careers.

Tagged with: dangers of the status quo • future of higher education • game-changing environment • Global learning • IT

Looking for Jobs?: Look to IT — from ITIF.org

On 04/28/2010, in career development, computer science, IT in HE, programming, by Daniel Christian

Looking for Jobs?: Look to IT — from ITIF.org by Robert D. Atkinson and and Scott M. Andes

Download PDF

In this WebMemo ITIF finds there has been impressive domestic growth of high-skill, high-wage IT jobs over the past ten years. ITIF’s analysis shows there were 688,000 new IT jobs created from 1999-2008, an increase of 26 percent – four times faster than U.S. employment as a whole. The addition of thousands of high-end jobs in the areas of network design and administration as well as data communications analysis and engineering more than offset lower level programming jobs that have moved to other countries. Because of this job growth, U.S. GDP is over $52 billion larger in 2008 than in 1999. The memo reinforces the need to maintain investment in this area. The advent and expansion of new IT systems such as health IT and smart grids, the continued expansion of broadband, and the growth of e-commerce and e-government, show the importance of IT jobs to the U.S. economy going forward.

More encouraging, IT jobs are predicted to grow even further in the next decade. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook…

Tagged with: career development • computer science • IT

Geoffrey Moore: April 2010 Presentation – Core, Content, and the Cloud

On 04/22/2010, in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, innovation, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Geoffrey Moore: April 2010 Presentation – Core, Content, and the Cloud — my thanks to Mr. Rick DeVries, Calvin College IT Dept. for this resource

Presentation | Excerpt of slides

Tagged with: cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related • computer science • innovation • IT • workplace

From DSC: Morgan Stanley’s findings raise some important questions

On 04/22/2010, in colleges, IT in HE, mobile learning, mobile technologies, telecommunications, universities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Morgan Stanley’s findings — as found within their Internet Trends presentation — raise some important questions such as:

If mobile is going to overtake desktop in 5 years , what does that mean for the networking infrastructures on our campuses?
How does that affect the work of instructional technologists? Faculty members?
Does this trend carry with it any implications for pedagogy?
Other?

Tagged with: colleges • IT • Mobile learning • mobile technology • pedagogy • telecommunications • universities • web-based collaboration

Gartner on Higher Education: a Conversation at Georgetown University — a guest post by Paul Heald (on Michael Feldstein’s blog)

On 04/06/2010, in future of higher education, higher education, IT in HE, by Daniel Christian

Gartner on Higher Education: a Conversation at Georgetown University — a guest post by Paul Heald on Michael Feldstein’s blog

Quotes include:

The major higher education trend he identified was the conflict between IT’s role in promoting organizational efficiency versus its role in promoting personal productivity. Organizational efficiencies often come at the expense of the administrative freedom of students and professors. As a result, these groups, whose buy-in is essential to the realization of organizational efficiencies, have a cultural bias against such organizational efficiency when it affects their personal productivity tool choices.

In addition, the presentation included the identification of several ‘megaforces’ critical to higher education. These included (emphasis DSC):

The death of distance – in an increasingly connected world, physical distance becomes ever less relevant to the choices we make.
The removal of time constraints – with 24/7 access to learning, administrative systems, etc., the time constraints once associated with working are no longer as pressing. Conversely, this suggests that students now expect university services to be available 24/7.
Web 2.0 and the use of social software – the role of collaboration and the web being a two-way medium.
Segregation through world communities – while old forms of segregation collapse under the force of the networked world, newer forms of separation evolve among world communities.
Organization-centric versus people-centric consumerism and the proliferation of free services have changed the balance of power.

Tagged with: higher education • IT

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