Christensen on change in higher education

An interesting article from Inside Higher Education  on actions university leaders must address in the next few years  to remain relevant.

Social Media in Higher Education

Mashable offers an interesting Infographic on the Use of social media in higher education

Future of Higher Education - Larry Summers

Larry Summers recently wrote an Article for the New York Times titled "What You (Really) Need to Know" . The article looks at the University today and discusses changes that should be considered to remain relevant.

Universities Responsibilities

Two recent articles in the New York Times points out the importance of the freedom of access to information. The first was an article by OP-ED columnist by Thomas Friedman that challenged readers to understand the importance of ubiquitous access information. The article suggests the growth of the Internet produced two important outcomes, the first was access to information and the second was economic growth. It is clear Universities were critical to the development of the Internet by becoming anchors of the Internet 2 project and leading the effort to ensure information was available to the general population. The new university based project GigU expects to do the same for economic development. The challenge to universities is to transform and innovate, MITx online access to education is an excellent model for others to replicate.

The second article was a letter to the editor by Vince Cerf, titled Internet Access Is Not a Human Right. Cerf points out that technology is an enabler of rights and must be available to everyone to ensure the expansion of freedom in the world. It is amazing how social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook provide access to what is really happening in real time. Universities must continue to be the spokesperson to demand that emerging technologies are allowed to remain open and available to everyone everywhere. Cerf states Internet access must become a civil right.

The two articles challenge university leadership to remain committed in their resolve to ensure the Internet is allowed to grow and not be restricted by others who would like to control information for profit or political gain. Universities should be proud of the success they have achieved in their investments in technology to support the growth of the Internet. Universities should be congratulated on the leadership that ensured everyone has equal access to information.

Future of Libraries

David Weinberger offers a view of the future of libraries and the role information technology plays in assisting patrons identifying the right resource. Weinberger is co-director of the Harvard Library Innovation Lab.

Top 10 Educational Technology Developments of 2011

Brian Farrell offers the Top 10 Educational Technology Developments of 2011. Take a minute to read developments that will impact you in the near future.

A New Business Model

Chief Academic Officers need to be aware of technology changes taking place this fall with learning management systems (LMS). In the past few months we have been introduced to three new contenders; the first was a product from Instructure called Canvas, a second is from Pearson called Open Study and the last is a startup called CourseKit. All three offer students and faculty services from the cloud, IT departments no longer have to purchase servers, buy an application or hire a support staff. All three systems support collaboration through social networking, providing the faculty and students a Facebook like experience. Early responses from universities that have implemented the products are positive and a common response is the LMS in easy to use, intuitive.

Open Study and CourseKit are offering LMS services at no cost to the University. The two LMS systems offer faculty a choice of many third party applications and the cost of the service is added to the cost of the textbook a student purchases. The business model looks like Apple’s iTunes. All three LMS systems offer services today, Canvas is installed at several major universities and Open Study and CourseKit were introduced in Fall 2011. All three products offer Academic support departments need to review the new offerings to see if there is a fit with their university.

Cloud based LMS systems appear to be following the same path that Google and Microsoft offered with campus email systems. Previously, the two services required significant investments in applications, hardware and support staff. The new model removes all three cost from the university budget. Imagine two of your largest expenses will be gone, you will be able to reinvest in other important projects.

The future of Libaries in a digital world

Reading blogs this morning and found one to be interesting, it focused on Innovation and collaboration: the future of academic publishing and HE libraries. A random comment from the article.....

Both publishing and academia are facing huge change – for the former, entering a new digital paradigm, and for the latter, facing an overhaul of the way universities are funded – which, together, see the Higher Education system being churned. And with churn must come innovation.

By working together, both in terms of across the HE sector and between the HE and publishing sectors, publishers and librarians should be able to rise to the challenges presented and exploit new opportunities without compromising the quality of teaching and research experienced by students. It may mean untying some knots, collaborating in some areas rather than competing, and searching out new opportunities; however, it is necessary if both the academic publishing industry and UK universities want to survive.

I encourage you to take time to read the entire blog post.

From the mind of the CIO

I have been with a group of higher education CIO's in New York City for the past two days discussing all issues technology in higher education. Love this city.....

An early topic at the meeting was consumerization of the market place, it is clear the student is leading technology transformation at many universities. The CIO's were evenly divided on IT's ability to influence consumerization and I doubt university CIO's will influence what students bring to campus. The next discussion was IT's role to ensure all enterprise systems work with mobile devices, students are used to systems like Google & Facebook and expect the same from all our campus systems. The Amazon Fire could raise the bar on expected services on a mobile device.

The CIO's discussed their responsibility with teaching and learning. All the universities are making significant investments in mobility, learning management systems and classrooms. It was frustrating CIO's did not understand the importance of making larger investments to enable faculty to integrate new tools into the curriculum. The Chief Academic Officer and the Chief Information Officer must work with Deans to understand what is needed to encourage faculty adoption.

The final discussion was on disruptive technologies in higher education. The CIO's acknowledged the iPad was disruptive and all were surprised by its success. The discussion centered on information technology's role in the future of higher education. It was clear if technology disruption accelerates many universities will not meet the expectations of the university communities and IT will not remain relevant in the eyes of the students and faculty.