Higher Education IT in Transition

We recently spoke at the Internet 2 conference updating leaders on what was happening with cloud computing in higher education. The scorecard presented was based on a nationwide survey to leadership groups such as Frye Leadership Institute alumni, Internet 2 technology and academic leaders, and to the Quilt Group.

As we were preparing the scorecard we became aware of an EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) study, Alternative IT Sourcing Strategies, a report focused on how higher education IT departments were utilizing cloud services in 2009. Our own survey findings were similar to those in the ECAR survey. Our top findings:

1. Higher education funding is at one of the lowest points in recent history; many staff are being terminated, increasing fees and tuition are at unprecedented rates, and states are still cutting budgets. It is very interesting that CIOs are avoiding adopting technologies that would significantly lower costs. It is clear CIOs value control of the technology over providing the university significant recurring savings.
   
   
2. The cloud service with the highest adoption is student email. Adoption is low, only 30-35% of higher education institutions are using the service. Survey results show that offerings (for free) from Google or Microsoft are superior to local email support. The response should be concerning to the Chief Academic Officer; hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent on technology that could have been redirected to the academic mission, and academic leaders are not questioning the situation.
   
   
3. Course management systems are the second most cloud-enabled service adopted by universities. The adoption rate is in the single digits, far behind cloud-enabled email. Course management systems in the cloud have significant opportunities to grow for a number of reasons; most important is the faculty will lead the adoption. Many colleges and universities have limited staff to support course management systems resulting in dated systems with limited enhancements. Cloud vendors will offer feature-rich services by leveraging the advantages of crowdsourcing and web 2.0 vendors.
   
   
4. There are several very interesting projects underway, one being OCLC's Web-Scale Management Services. Imagine a comprehensive Web 2.0 integrated library system. If you understand the wealth of content OCLC manages, you are awed by the possibilities of this offering to students and more importantly to research. Keep your eyes on this project.