Susan Grajek

EDUCAUSE recommends a "What, So What, and Now What" approach to help build and support a more proactive orientation to the future of higher education.

Four international members of the 2021–2022 EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel share their thoughts on how the EDUCAUSE 2022 Top 10 IT Issues relate to activities and concerns in their own countries.

The EDUCAUSE 2022 Top 10 IT Issues take an optimistic view of how technology can help make the higher education we deserve—through a shared transformational vision and strategy for the institution, a recognition of the need to place students' success at the center, and a sustainable business model that has redefined "the campus."

The EDUCAUSE Showcase "How Dx Powers the Post-Pandemic Institution" offers four lessons for digital transformation.

Remote work for IT staff is evolving from a temporary adaptation to the pandemic to a permanent circumstance. The IT workforce is enthusiastic. CIOs are preparing to lead a distributed workforce and are adapting culture, management, policies, and engagement practices accordingly.

The EDUCAUSE 2021 Top IT Issues examine three potential scenarios for the role of technology in higher education after the pandemic: restore, evolve, or transform.

Many higher education IT budgets have been reduced, just as institutions are more dependent on IT than ever before, contributing to a growing institutional digital divide.

https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/8/a-grand-strategy-for-grand-challenges--a-new-approach-through-digital-transformation

Almost two years after its release, the EDUCAUSE CIO's Commitment on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has attracted more than 550 signatures. Many in the higher education technology workforce report benefiting from DEI actions included in the statement, but more progress is needed.

As colleges and universities contemplate various scenarios for the fall academic terms, campus leaders are deliberating what their institution should do to protect the health and safety of campus constituents and are exploring the role that technology can play in those efforts.

Information security during the pandemic has become more important and more difficult, primarily due to the massive and unexpected shift to home-based devices and work.

As challenging as the current academic term has become, colleges and universities are facing an even longer list of unanswered questions and daunting obstacles for the fall.

Early data on some institutions' IT budget planning show that most (but not all) colleges and universities are preparing for cuts and that many options are under consideration.

With the massive and abrupt move to remote teaching and learning, higher education institutions need to address course grading and exam proctoring to maintain educational continuity.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many colleges and universities had offered courses and programs in fully online or blended learning environments. The technologies, practices, and supports needed for online learning have been implemented unevenly, however, leaving institutions at differing levels of readiness for current circumstances.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, students are facing a variety of challenges in their transition to fully remote access, not only for learning but also for institutional services such as health services, emergency aid, housing and food, and financial services.

Traditional commencement gatherings may not be possible in 2020, considering the social distancing practices that have been put into place around COVID-19. Campus leaders are exploring alternatives to these cherished convocation ceremonies

The focus of higher education's COVID-19 adaptations is on remote learning and working. Advising systems, degree progress tracking, and other technologies to support student success will be equally critical to help students complete courses and attain credentials.

Planning for an emergency can feel like a luxury, until an emergency arises without a plan in place. Although many colleges and universities have pieces of an IT business continuity plan, many will be tested by current events.

One response to the COVID-19 virus is to immediately shift all courses to fully online environments, but many faculty are not prepared to teach online. Colleges and universities undertaking such a momentous shift will need to provide significant and ongoing support to faculty and instructors.

Colleges and universities are working to unmake old practices and structures that have become inefficient and are preparing to use technology and data to better understand and support students and to become more student-centric. They are working to fund technology and to sustainably manage and secure data and privacy. Higher education institutions are applying data and technology to innovate student outcomes and experiences. The role of the CIO is undergoing its own transformation in order to… Show more

Colleges and universities are working to unmake old practices and structures that have become inefficient and are preparing to use technology and data to better understand and support students and to become more student-centric. They are working to fund technology and to sustainably manage and secure data and privacy. Higher education institutions are applying data and technology to innovate student outcomes and experiences. The role of the CIO is undergoing its own transformation in order to advance institutional priorities through the use of technology. The focus in 2020, then, is to simplify, sustain, innovate, and drive to Dx in all of our institutions and places of higher learning. Show less

The digital transformation of higher education is at hand. Leaders must prepare their institutions now to take strategic advantage of the coming shifts in culture, workforce, and technology.

As many colleges and universities move instruction online as part of their response to COVID-19, data about user preferences, access, and training can help ease that transition for students and faculty.

In 2019, we are preoccupied with organizing, standardizing, and safeguarding data so that we can utilize it to address our most pressing priority: student success. Higher education's work on data and analytics is reminiscent of the Human Genome Project that led to the genomics revolution that has influenced science, medicine, culture, society, and even politics. So we call the 2019 Top 10 IT Issues "The Student Genome Project."

This 2017 report investigates strategic technologies for higher education. In this research, technologies are strategic based on the time, active attention, and priority granted to them

This technologies report provides a snapshot of the relatively new technological investments colleges and universities will be spending the most time implementing, planning, and tracking in 2016.

In 2016, higher education IT organizations are divesting themselves of technologies that can be sourced elsewhere and of practices that have become inefficient and are reinvesting to develop the necessary capabilities and resources to use information technology to achieve competitive institutional differentiation in student success, affordability, and teaching and research excellence.

Every year EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association devoted to advancing higher education through the use of information technology, works with its members to identify the Top 10 IT issues for the coming year. This year’s results indicate that several of the issues identified hold important implications for governing boards. Because the EDUCAUSE Top 10 list identifies higher education’s most strategic IT-related challenges and opportunities, understanding these issues can provide governing boards with… Show more

Every year EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association devoted to advancing higher education through the use of information technology, works with its members to identify the Top 10 IT issues for the coming year. This year’s results indicate that several of the issues identified hold important implications for governing boards. Because the EDUCAUSE Top 10 list identifies higher education’s most strategic IT-related challenges and opportunities, understanding these issues can provide governing boards with an opportunity to help advance and strengthen their institutions through effective and innovative uses of technology. Show less

Thanks to changes in demographics, economics, technology and other areas, higher education is at a crossroads. Its future promises to be turbulent and very different from its present. Analytics—whether in its application to individuals, business practices, or institutions—is helping shape that future. And yet the future of analytics in higher education is itself uncertain. How will our institutions productively harness the promise of analytics? What are the needed baseline investments, and how… Show more

Thanks to changes in demographics, economics, technology and other areas, higher education is at a crossroads. Its future promises to be turbulent and very different from its present. Analytics—whether in its application to individuals, business practices, or institutions—is helping shape that future. And yet the future of analytics in higher education is itself uncertain. How will our institutions productively harness the promise of analytics? What are the needed baseline investments, and how prepared are institutions to make them? What pitfalls lie ahead? And what implications does the analytics revolution have for the profession of information technology and its relationship to business operations and executive functions in higher education? Show less

New technologies, management practices, and end-user preferences have produced
a number of IT trends that promise greater efficiencies or increased institutional
or individual efficacy. These trends have been highly visible, widely discussed, and
broadly covered in publications, blogs, and presentations. With so much discussion
of the benefits of agility, the need for business process redesign, the ubiquity of social
media, and the movement to the cloud, it’s easy to assume that… Show more

New technologies, management practices, and end-user preferences have produced
a number of IT trends that promise greater efficiencies or increased institutional
or individual efficacy. These trends have been highly visible, widely discussed, and
broadly covered in publications, blogs, and presentations. With so much discussion
of the benefits of agility, the need for business process redesign, the ubiquity of social
media, and the movement to the cloud, it’s easy to assume that colleges and universities
are adopting these and other new practices en masse. But what is actually in place
at our institutions? Which types of institutions are most affected by—or leveraging—
IT trends that occupy so much mindshare? Show less

Change continues to characterize the EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues in 2015. The pace of change seems not to be slowing but, rather, is increasing and is happening on many fronts. There is reason to believe that higher education information technology has reached an inflection point—the point at which the trends that have dominated thought leadership and have motivated early adopters are now cascading into the mainstream. This inflection point is the biggest of three themes of change characterizing… Show more

Change continues to characterize the EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues in 2015. The pace of change seems not to be slowing but, rather, is increasing and is happening on many fronts. There is reason to believe that higher education information technology has reached an inflection point—the point at which the trends that have dominated thought leadership and have motivated early adopters are now cascading into the mainstream. This inflection point is the biggest of three themes of change characterizing the 2015 EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues (see Figure 1). A second dimension of change is the shifting focus of IT leaders and professionals from technical problems to business problems, along with the ensuing interdependence between the IT organization and business units. Underlying all this strategic change, the day-to-day work of the IT organization goes on. But change dominates even the day-to-day, where challenges are in some ways more complex than ever. This "new normal" is the third theme of change. Show less

2015's Top 10 Strategic Technologies for higher education are:
1. BI/reporting dashboards
2. Mobile app development (HTML5, responsive design, hybrid, etc.)
3. Mobile apps for enterprise applications
4. Administrative/business performance analytics
5. 802.11ac wireless networking standard
6. Enterprise identity and access management solutions
7. Incorporation of mobile devices in teaching and learning
8. Mobile data protection
9. Unified communications and… Show more

2015's Top 10 Strategic Technologies for higher education are:
1. BI/reporting dashboards
2. Mobile app development (HTML5, responsive design, hybrid, etc.)
3. Mobile apps for enterprise applications
4. Administrative/business performance analytics
5. 802.11ac wireless networking standard
6. Enterprise identity and access management solutions
7. Incorporation of mobile devices in teaching and learning
8. Mobile data protection
9. Unified communications and collaboration
10. Mobile apps for teaching and learning
Read the report for details and trends. Show less

A research brief designed to help institutional leaders optimize the impact of IT in higher education. Almost all the routine functions of a college or university rely on administrative systems. Those systems support functions such as research administration, student services, and alumni/development, as well as HR, finance, and facilities management. With pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency, institutions will need to make careful choices as they renew these essential and expensive… Show more

A research brief designed to help institutional leaders optimize the impact of IT in higher education. Almost all the routine functions of a college or university rely on administrative systems. Those systems support functions such as research administration, student services, and alumni/development, as well as HR, finance, and facilities management. With pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency, institutions will need to make careful choices as they renew these essential and expensive systems. Show less

A research brief designed to help institutional leaders optimize the impact of IT in higher education. Data breaches and other information security incidents may be one of the biggest risks facing colleges and universities. Information security encompasses the technologies, policies and procedures, and education and awareness activities that maintain the balance between an institution’s need to use data and IT resources to achieve its mission (openness) and the need to secure those data and… Show more

A research brief designed to help institutional leaders optimize the impact of IT in higher education. Data breaches and other information security incidents may be one of the biggest risks facing colleges and universities. Information security encompasses the technologies, policies and procedures, and education and awareness activities that maintain the balance between an institution’s need to use data and IT resources to achieve its mission (openness) and the need to secure those data and resources from external and internal threats (risk control). Show less

A research brief designed to help institutional leaders optimize the impact of IT in higher education. Online learning, or e-learning, is the use of technology to deliver instruction and facilitate and enhance learning. Online learning today includes rich interactive media to promote deeper learning and access to tools that help students reflect on their skills, abilities, and progress as learners. As it has gained in both popularity and promise, online learning has become a priority for… Show more

A research brief designed to help institutional leaders optimize the impact of IT in higher education. Online learning, or e-learning, is the use of technology to deliver instruction and facilitate and enhance learning. Online learning today includes rich interactive media to promote deeper learning and access to tools that help students reflect on their skills, abilities, and progress as learners. As it has gained in both popularity and promise, online learning has become a priority for institutional leaders to understand and apply to their institution’s particular pedagogical culture and strategic priorities. Show less

A research brief designed to help institutional leaders optimize the impact of IT in higher education. Colleges and universities are increasingly focused on helping students successfully attain their goals. With varying backgrounds, abilities, educational goals, and learning preferences, students need support tailored to their circumstances. Institutions are investing in new techniques to guide students through course selection, degree selection, and career planning. Technology can automate… Show more

A research brief designed to help institutional leaders optimize the impact of IT in higher education. Colleges and universities are increasingly focused on helping students successfully attain their goals. With varying backgrounds, abilities, educational goals, and learning preferences, students need support tailored to their circumstances. Institutions are investing in new techniques to guide students through course selection, degree selection, and career planning. Technology can automate
and enhance these techniques and tailor them to individual student needs, providing students with personalized pathways through their higher education experience and helping advisors or faculty focus on nonroutine tasks. These programs depend on analytics, a form of decision support based on the extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analytics, and explanatory and predictive models. Student success is one of higher education’s primary applications of analytics. Show less

EDUCAUSE presents the top-ten IT issues facing higher education institutions. Many of these issues are not new. But in 2014 the ideas, solutions, and models that have been accumulating in higher education and technology will hit IT organizations—and the institutions they serve—fast and hard. This is the year that the front part of the herd will join the mavericks, tipping the balance for the rest.

IT and higher education leaders have long used the annual EDUCAUSE top-ten IT issues findings to calibrate their IT-related activities and inform their strategic planning. In 2014, EDUCAUSE is introducing a complementary list: the top-ten strategic technologies in higher education. Together, the two lists can provide more complete and nuanced guidance on institutional IT priorities.

This research bulletin uses data from ECAR research on students and IT and on e-learning to paint a picture of the role MOOCs currently play in higher education and the directions MOOCs might be heading. The bulletin provides current motivations and obstacles for MOOCs, a perspective about how MOOCs relate to e-learning more generally, and data about the kinds of students who participate in MOOCs. Also included are findings about the value proposition of MOOCs, both for students and for… Show more

This research bulletin uses data from ECAR research on students and IT and on e-learning to paint a picture of the role MOOCs currently play in higher education and the directions MOOCs might be heading. The bulletin provides current motivations and obstacles for MOOCs, a perspective about how MOOCs relate to e-learning more generally, and data about the kinds of students who participate in MOOCs. Also included are findings about the value proposition of MOOCs, both for students and for institutions, as well as questions institutions might ask themselves when considering MOOCs. Show less

Twenty-three colleges and universities collaborated with Internet2, EDUCAUSE, the publisher McGraw-Hill, and the e-textbook platform provider Courseload to deliver free digital versions of textbooks to over 5,000 students and faculty in 393 undergraduate and graduate courses with a median class size of 28. The pilot shed light not just on the usability of McGraw-Hill textbooks in Courseload but more broadly on the value of digital materials in higher education at this time.

EDUCAUSE presents the top-ten IT-related issues facing higher education institutions. In this article, members of the 2012-2013 EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel frame each issue with discussion and a set of strategic questions.

EDUCAUSE presents the top-ten IT-related issues facing higher education institutions. In this article, members of the 2012-2013 EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel frame each issue with discussion and a set of strategic questions.

IT salaries account for 39% of the IT budget. They compensate IT staff, whose performance lays the groundwork for an efficiently run institution that provides the highest quality education and research. This report uses data from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) 2008, 2011, and 2012 salary surveys of higher education administrators and professionals to examine salaries for 50 IT positions in higher education and derive insights into salary… Show more

IT salaries account for 39% of the IT budget. They compensate IT staff, whose performance lays the groundwork for an efficiently run institution that provides the highest quality education and research. This report uses data from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) 2008, 2011, and 2012 salary surveys of higher education administrators and professionals to examine salaries for 50 IT positions in higher education and derive insights into salary levels, salary differences across positions and institutional types, and patterns of change in IT salaries. Show less

The ECAR 2012 Symposium, was held June 18–20, 2012, in Boulder, Colorado. This event gave IT and higher education leaders the chance to imagine that the year is 2020 and to speculate about the biggest contributions that IT will have made between now and then to transform higher education. Attendees proposed 16 ideas and then explored the top-4 ideas in greater depth. This bulletin reports the solutions that came of these discussions, identifies the themes and challenges underlying all of the… Show more

The ECAR 2012 Symposium, was held June 18–20, 2012, in Boulder, Colorado. This event gave IT and higher education leaders the chance to imagine that the year is 2020 and to speculate about the biggest contributions that IT will have made between now and then to transform higher education. Attendees proposed 16 ideas and then explored the top-4 ideas in greater depth. This bulletin reports the solutions that came of these discussions, identifies the themes and challenges underlying all of the discussions, and shares advice on how to help prepare for and participate in IT’s potential contributions to higher education. Show less

IT departments at community colleges provide services to more than 13 million students annually. Community colleges are distinguished from other types of higher education institutions by their institutional missions, the populations they serve, and the degrees and certifications they confer. However, as institutions of teaching and learning, they have congruent responsibilities with all higher education institutions to provide the technological infrastructure, support, and services that… Show more

IT departments at community colleges provide services to more than 13 million students annually. Community colleges are distinguished from other types of higher education institutions by their institutional missions, the populations they serve, and the degrees and certifications they confer. However, as institutions of teaching and learning, they have congruent responsibilities with all higher education institutions to provide the technological infrastructure, support, and services that students, faculty, and staff need to be successful in their respective roles. ECAR engaged in a research project about IT services in community colleges to identify the strengths, opportunities, and challenges of community college IT. Show less

This research report explores the enterprise application landscape in higher education. Learn which types of applications are more—and less—widespread, which solutions are most common, when open source is most widespread, and the frequency of outsourcing and the system office in application management.

EDUCAUSE presents the top-ten IT-related issues facing higher education institutions, as identified by the EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel. Panel members frame each issue with discussion and a set of strategic questions.

Academic leaders face escalating pressures to document and improve student outcomes and institutional efficiency. IT leaders have their own requirements for enhanced data and benchmarking tools to optimize services and play a growing role in providing campus analytics services. This session will provide an orientation to the current state and future promise of analytics in higher education. We'll discuss developing service goals, data sources and quality, and partnerships. Begin planning for… Show more

Academic leaders face escalating pressures to document and improve student outcomes and institutional efficiency. IT leaders have their own requirements for enhanced data and benchmarking tools to optimize services and play a growing role in providing campus analytics services. This session will provide an orientation to the current state and future promise of analytics in higher education. We'll discuss developing service goals, data sources and quality, and partnerships. Begin planning for your institution's analytics capability and services today. Show less

This report summarizes results from the 2011 EDUCAUSE Core Data Service survey data. More than 800 institutions participated this year and contributed data for an expanded set of topics, including data centers, information security, research computing, and distributed IT. Key findings, important trends, and similarities and differences across different types of institutions are highlighted.

Previously, the name of the CDS report reflected the fiscal year for which the financial data in… Show more

This report summarizes results from the 2011 EDUCAUSE Core Data Service survey data. More than 800 institutions participated this year and contributed data for an expanded set of topics, including data centers, information security, research computing, and distributed IT. Key findings, important trends, and similarities and differences across different types of institutions are highlighted.

Previously, the name of the CDS report reflected the fiscal year for which the financial data in that report were collected. The result was that the CDS Fiscal Year 2009 Summary Report, for example, was released in October 2010. Beginning this year, the report title reflects the calendar year in which the data were collected and analyzed because the CDS data extend beyond financial data. While this change results in the appearance of a skipped year, the Core Data Service runs sequentially, with no years skipped. Show less

Higher education IT data needs to go beyond descriptive analysis to new ways of using data and research to align IT strategy with institutional strategy, plan new services and initiatives, manage existing services, and operate the IT organization on a daily basis.

Upheavals in work location and environment during the COVID-19 pandemic are challenging the higher education technology workforce.

The 2011 report of identity management (IdM) in higher education updates ECAR's 2005 research and extends that work into the domain of federated identity. ECAR gathered information through a survey of 323 higher education institutions in the U.S. and Canada and from interviews with 55 IT leaders at 43 institutions.