Relevant Actions for the Next 18 Months

Higher education leaders must ask themselves the age-old question: will today’s technology change the university experience? We predict some elements of legacy practices will survive to ensure existing good experiences continue, but overall higher education must change business processes to remain affordable.

To achieve this goal, the Chief Academic Officer must wisely choose what remains and what changes. Faculty will be faculty and the migration to a technology-enriched learning experience should happen in an orderly manner. Further, technology will offer the faculty member productivity enhancements that will be embraced and adopted. Faculty adoption will be gradual and manageable.

Student adoption will be different; today’s student will expect an online world, a rich web experience, instant access, and a user-friendly experience. The day of limited university email systems, dated library systems and many one-off vertical applications is over and judged wanting by the students. A recent dialogue with student leaders suggested that students would believe the university cares when it begins to address the above issues. The question for the CAO is how relevant is the student's request to adopt emerging Web 2.0 technologies.

What relevant and affordable actions can be completed in the next 18 months?

Several of the suggestions are similar to earlier suggestions but are worth repeating:

1. Software portfolios must be rationalized. The CIO and Deans need to create a strategy of technology support that makes sense and is not duplicative. A good start would be single sign on to all core systems, a simple but powerful student system for registration, a user-friendly library system, and student -centered customer support. The change suggested does not require the university to change applications. Implementing many of the above ideas will save the university real dollars.
2. The CAO, Deans, and CIO must agree to work together to improve the adoption of technology by faculty and students. Students frustration with multiple support organizations and multiple applications is growing and students are beginning to understand their tuition dollars are paying for inefficiencies that are frustrating. Further, the university cannot afford to offer duplicative services without value being added.
3. The university should look at outsourcing its email. Recent research suggests only 25% of universities are using cloud services from Google or Microsoft. The cost for providing cloud based email for all students, faculty and staff is zero!!!!! Many universities are spending thousands of dollars annually to offer an inferior campus based service and hiding behind security or compliance rumors that are false. Both the Google and Microsoft solution far exceeds what universities are offering locally on campus.
4. Google search is a verb, students know and understand its value and use it daily. Faculty and administrators must ask how the existence of Google Books, Scholar, and Search available at no cost could enhance the student learning experience.
5. Students are familiar with Rate My Professor, myedu.com and Wikipedia and have incorporated them into their university experience. University supported applications will be evaluated against what is available on the Web and the student will expect the experience to be equally rich.
6. Facebook is central to the social life of the students. The CAO must understand how Facebook will change the student life experience and incorporate it into the technology plans of the university.

The above changes will not require a significant financial investment by the university. The above changes will require organizational changes and coordination in offering technology services. The above changes could be made in less than a year and result in a savings of thousands of dollars annually.