June 11, 2010

The Changing Role of IT and the People Who Manage It

Jun. 11, 2010 at 09:00 PM | By Todd Gibby | Comment Count

There seems to be a lot of buzz these days about the changing role of technology at colleges and universities and of the people who manage it. This often comes up when speaking with people on campus; and recently a number of articles in the higher education trade press offered a range of perspectives on this topic. Three particular pieces caught my eye over the last month or so. Each of these articles raises important points about the evolving landscape of education technologies at academic institutions and the future role of technology administrators. At the risk of over-simplifying, my main takeaway from each of these articles is as follows:

“The Incredible Shrinking CIO” by Jeffrey Young in The Chronicle of Higher Education (May 9, 2010): A paradox is occurring: one the one hand, the influence of technology on campus continues to rise and the responsibilities of the CIO are becoming ever more expansive. On the other hand, the influence of the people in charge of technology seems to be seeping away. This is substantiated by an observed pattern of downgrading of titles and removal of CIOs from presidential cabinets / councils and by a growing general perception on campus of IT departments being more “operational” and less “strategic.”

“Not So Special” by James Garner Ptaszynski, Ph.D in Inside Higher Ed (May 12, 2010): Technology is a driving force in higher education, but education is – arguably – no longer the driving force in technology that it once was. This has played out in the form of institutions having less sway with vendors and receiving less preferential treatment (or eye-popping discounts). The article also explores how this happened (e.g. the battleground among technology providers for hearts and minds of young consumers now occurs during primary school, not during college years) and how campus technologists are responding (e.g. either pining for the past or forging a new future).

“Higher Education IT in the ‘New Normal’” by Mary Grush in Campus Technology (April 28, 2010): This is an extensive and informative interview with Stephen Laster, CIO of Harvard Business School, in which he examines the sustainability of the cost basis in education. In this case, the term “new normal” represents the concept that “even as the economy continues to recover, there will be pressure on higher education institutions to be more efficient with their financial and human resources.” While it acknowledges the trends described above, I found this to be an optimistic piece in that it almost reads as a how-to guide for building that new future in which education technologies play a strategic role in addressing challenges facing universities.

As I sat down to write this post, I began to realize the deceptively deep and wide expanse of this topic. As such, my “editor” (our very own Dan Obregon) encouraged me to take it in bite-sized chunks.

Accordingly, I am going to try to tackle this in two parts:

Part 1: Decentralization, User Emergence, or a PR Issue?

Part 2: “Less Focus with More Dedication” and Other Paradoxes from .edu