tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92045414161394942612024-03-08T10:35:20.493-05:00Campus TechnologyCampus technology is a pretty broad topic. What are students doing with technology for fun or in class? How are faculty and students using technology to learn and do research? What tools are colleges using to provide better service and operate more efficiently? What infrastructure technologoies and making it all work? How secure is it anyway? This is the anything blog about how technology is used in one of the coolest places on earth.Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-82078889456049010022018-02-21T16:29:00.000-05:002018-02-21T16:29:17.174-05:00<b>Ageism in a period of very low unemployment?</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HDaXWDr-Y-8/Wo3klKdCiLI/AAAAAAAAAQc/lngE64DlexIOg7BslJv97SkPO_JXlyN3wCLcBGAs/s1600/Low%2Bunemployment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HDaXWDr-Y-8/Wo3klKdCiLI/AAAAAAAAAQc/lngE64DlexIOg7BslJv97SkPO_JXlyN3wCLcBGAs/s320/Low%2Bunemployment.jpg" width="320" height="179" data-original-width="300" data-original-height="168" /></a></div>The past two years have been a real education for me. I left my position as a CIO after working in higher education for over 30 years. I had no intention of retiring, and still don’t, but soon found that finding another opportunity at 60 is almost impossible. After talking with colleagues my age, I found that all felt that they had encountered ageism in their own search for full-time, part-time, or consulting work. All of the people in my straw poll are highly qualified, very experienced, professionals. They have had long and successful careers and are usually highly educated. Why in a period of 4.2% unemployment and a booming economy are we seeing that most companies and organizations are not seeking out this treasure trove of experience? All of the older professionals I have talked with are interested in working, have flexible schedules, and are willing to negotiate on compensation. Some don’t need health care or other traditional benefits.<br />
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I have an idea why there is resistance. Some may believe that older workers will not be committed or will not be around for the long term or are not technologically savvy. This is less true than ever. Keep in mind that younger employees often move on to the next opportunity when something looks a bit better. In our society people can expect to live until their 80’s and be fit to work in many fields until at least 70. Organizations need to wake up and realize that older professionals are exactly what they need and can afford. Stereotypes are bad for everyone. <br />
Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-24384356626980572902018-02-13T11:48:00.000-05:002018-02-13T11:48:08.316-05:00<b>Selling Digital Transformation<br />
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As I write this title I wonder if digital transformation can be sold or even understood. Sales professionals and consultants can paint a picture with the term, but will the customer be sold? I would suggest that most CIOs would be strong advocates for change and digital transformation, at least as they define it. Therein lies the problem. What is digital transformation? It is usually described as a change in culture within the organization that everyone buys into that can position the organization to provide greater efficiency, better customer service, perhaps lower operating costs, and a platform for innovation and growth. It centers on the adoption of strategically selected technologies to create a better organization. For some entities this might mean eliminating paper processes or providing smooth workflows to save time, cost, and effort, as an initial step. For others it could mean enhancing customer service, raising productivity or improving the supply chain with a cloud ERP system. In all, digital transformation is a commitment to improve performance in all areas using technology.<br />
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I take the position that CIOs and consultants should use the term digital transformation only when talking to CEOs and they should be quick to provide a definition that hits the pain points of the particular organization. Digital transformation is a buzz phrase that has multiple meanings, yet we see it in every technology blog and IT article. Digital transformation puts a label on a goal. Unfortunately it is not meaningful to the average person. It belongs in a the strategic plan and the elevator speech of any CIO these days, but when discussing this type of change with functional users or other executives it should be coupled with 3-4 significant projects that result in significant change and improve the organization. These projects should provide the groundwork for changes down the line. I say 3-4 projects because this is probably the maximum amount of change an organization can deal with in one conversation. Managing change and setting goals must be done in manageable bites. Include enough ideas to whet the appetite, but make sure the goals are not overwhelming.<br />
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As we prepare for the next decade institutions/organizations need to take a hard look at what they want to become and how they want to operate. They need to consider their goals and their competition. What will it take to remain successful? What kind of organization do we want to and need to become? How do we want to present ourselves to the market? What changes do we need to put in place to enable us to be agile and poised for additional change? Digital transformation is the process that leads to agility and better performance, but it needs to be presented as a series of strategic steps within a larger context.<br />
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Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-78585304036921300252018-02-13T11:46:00.001-05:002018-02-13T11:57:26.484-05:00<b>The New Higher Education CIO</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a9L0aHCKx_8/WoMY1Mj0DqI/AAAAAAAAAQI/eXyekefk9e0-jQ74an7eY8H2Qm9icCpVwCLcBGAs/s1600/New%2BCIO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a9L0aHCKx_8/WoMY1Mj0DqI/AAAAAAAAAQI/eXyekefk9e0-jQ74an7eY8H2Qm9icCpVwCLcBGAs/s320/New%2BCIO.jpg" width="320" height="160" data-original-width="318" data-original-height="159" /></a></div>After serving in a number of roles in higher education, including 16 years as a Chief Information Officer, some of what I have been thinking about and reading in articles and job ads lately about the new CIO has been affirmed. Recent articles talk about the CIO needing to be a communicator, a consensus builder, a visionary, and someone who provides solutions, not just technology. Of course to provide solutions the CIO needs to understand the business or institution in the higher education world. Understanding means mentally sitting on the academic and business side of the desk and understanding what the institutions are and will be. This seems to be an affirmation of the obvious, but it’s not so true on many campuses.<br />
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Over the past two years I have talked to CIOs, academic leaders, higher education business professionals and vendors about technology and higher education in a period of great change. Some have said this is nothing new. IT has been bringing on new technologies for the past 15 years. This is true as campuses have implemented web ERP systems, SMART classrooms, installed wireless networks everywhere, and most recently started to work on student success initiatives. Student success projects have been collaborative with other parts of the campus and have been largely driven from the top. As a result, everybody works on this. These recent initiatives provide a glimpse of how information technology (IT) should work. I would suggest that many CIOs are still techies who do not understand higher education and have been focusing primarily on ERP upgrades, computer refreshes, firewall placement, security, and internet capacity and up-time. As a result, IT is often seen as outside the loop of higher education and not connecting well with what really needs to be done on campus.<br />
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This sounds harsh and unappreciative, but ask a provost, CFO or registrar what they think of IT on their campus. Having read job advertisements for dozens of CIO positions in the past two years, I can tell you that the most often seen “must haves” are that the new CIO “needs to be an effective communicator and accomplished innovator”. This implies that the last CIO was probably not an effective communicator and was not particularly innovative. In other words, the last CIO did not get higher education and was focused too much on providing ubiquitous (often unnoticed and underappreciated) infrastructure. I have no intention of bashing CIOs or IT teams. They provide incredibly valuable services and often do so with limited staffing and funding. That said the new CIO needs to be something different. They can’t view the next need from the faculty or a user department as “just another project that I don’t have time for”. <br />
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The new CIO needs to either come from outside of IT or be an IT person with the passion for providing service and technology that advances the mission of the college/university. A person with only an IT background needs to get out on campus as often as possible and participate in campus life and sit with administrative and academic department heads regularly to understand their biggest pain points and that next regulatory requirement. A CIO does not have endless resources, but they need to become a broker for the resources they do have. Where can time, energy, and money be utilized to benefit the institution? Can partnerships be formed within the college to meet a need or initiative that advances the campus? I think campuses are looking for the new CIO to be their partner, not a gatekeeper or solely and infrastructure provider. IT cannot be all things to all people, but with much better communication and openness to meaningful innovation they can hit the moving target a bit closer to the center.<br />
Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-32974247746312310332014-06-24T12:15:00.000-04:002014-06-24T13:19:53.760-04:00An Acadmic Commons: Library, Meeting Space, Lounge, Gallery, Coffee Shop, Student Services Center, Faculty Development Center, or Digital Repository<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lCi7Wd2a32s/U6mjxBDyQlI/AAAAAAAAANg/enso6Zwt21U/s1600/ssc-library2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lCi7Wd2a32s/U6mjxBDyQlI/AAAAAAAAANg/enso6Zwt21U/s320/ssc-library2.jpg" /></a></div>So what's happening in your college library these days? My former campus, Salisbury University (MD), is in the early stages of building a learning commons. What is a learning commons? Well, it seems that a learning commons is a mix of teaching and meeting spaces, student services centers, computer labs, lounges, theaters, maybe the IT Helpdesk, video edit bays, paper resources (previously called books and newspapers, coffee shops with lite fare, and soft seating. These academic playgrounds are an amazing new addition to colleges that are lucky enough to have waited until now to build such a place. Those who built and ordinary <i>library</i> in the last 10 years really missed the boat. Imagine a library (sort of) that looks like a shopping mall, but has the contents of the college center, IT labs, auditoriums, bookstores, and has a few student and faculty services thrown in. All of this under a cloud of Wi-Fi. If you classes are online, hybrid or blended, you may have to rarely leave this amazing new place. Here are a few examples:<br />
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The <a href="http://library.du.edu/anderson-academic-commons/index.html"><b>Anderson Learning Commons</b></a> at the University of Denver includes:<br />
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154,223-square-foot building<br />
98,000 online journals<br />
39,500 linear feet of library collections onsite<br />
4,000+ pieces of furniture refurbished and reused from Penrose Library<br />
1,864 chairs each with access to power outlets<br />
1,000 databases<br />
200-seat event space<br />
135 computers (Macs & PCs) for patron use<br />
75-seat café, 50 seats on the porch<br />
32 group study rooms, six seminar rooms and dozens of group booths<br />
2 fireplaces<br />
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I don't see a running track or showers, but they must be in there. Special thanks to <a href="http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/06/18/on-becoming-an-academic-commons.aspx">Campus Technology</a> the magazine for this lead. <br />
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The <a href="http://www.usd.edu/academics/academic-commons/">University of South Dakota learning Commons </a> looks to be more of a mega services center - with coffee.<br />
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Academic & Career Planning Center<br />
•Seek academic advising<br />
•Explore majors & careers<br />
•Understand graduation requirements<br />
•Excel at job interviews<br />
•Discover internship opportunities<br />
•Succeed through First-Year Experience<br />
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Academic Support <br />
•Writing Center<br />
•Presentation Center<br />
•Math Emporium<br />
•Student-Athlete Success Center<br />
•Lab Consultants<br />
•Supplemental Instruction<br />
•Learning Specialists<br />
•Tutoring<br />
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Center for Academic and Global Engagement<br />
•Learn through service-learning<br />
•Study abroad<br />
•Conduct undergraduate research<br />
•Explore National Student Exchange<br />
•Compete for a national scholarship<br />
•Help for International Students<br />
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ITS Help Desk & Equipment Checkout<br />
•Receive personal computer support<br />
•Request technology assistance<br />
•Checkout computer & media equipment<br />
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University Libraries<br />
•Get research help in person and online<br />
•Research 24/7 in 250+ databases<br />
•Find scholarly research sources<br />
•Check out books & media<br />
•Access local & regional historical materials<br />
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I started by mentioning the <a href="http://www.salisbury.edu/newsevents/fullstoryview.asp?ID=5720"><b>Salisbury University Learning Commons</b></a>. This is very early in the construction phase, but will included:<br />
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2 stories in the Internet café<br />
12 classrooms<br />
18 group study rooms<br />
24/7 = hours of the café study room<br />
40+ seats in board/meeting room<br />
48 bells in carillon<br />
62 feet = height of the central atrium<br />
115 laptop computers in the building<br />
290 desktop computers in the building<br />
290+ large monitors for classrooms and study areas<br />
350 area jobs supported<br />
418 seats in the Assembly Hall<br />
1,020 square feet for the IT Help Desk<br />
1,650 square feet in the Math Emporium<br />
3,940 square feet in the Writing Center<br />
4,287 square feet for Instructional Design and Delivery<br />
9,841 square feet in the Center for Student Achievement<br />
25,610 square feet in the Nabb Research Center and archives<br />
224,071 square feet overall<br />
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These are some amazing spaces. For those who have been thinking that the traditional college campus was going to vanish and that all 19 year olds would be earning their degrees online - forget about it. Who would not want to come and spend your day at any of these places. What about the cost you say? You gotta play to win. These schools are betting that if you build it, they will come. I think they are right (at least for many 19 year olds).<br />
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Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-65612422958055651342014-05-12T16:21:00.001-04:002014-05-14T16:02:43.609-04:00Educause Top Ten Issues for 2014 vs 2009<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YeYlifoig0E/U3EmAde3cnI/AAAAAAAAANA/bsE8jNddX_g/s1600/th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YeYlifoig0E/U3EmAde3cnI/AAAAAAAAANA/bsE8jNddX_g/s320/th.jpg" /></a></div>The annual Top Ten Issues list for 2104 was revealed in the Educause Review in <a href="http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/top-ten-it-issues-2014-be-change-you-see">March/April 2014</a> . If you have followed the list for more than a few years you will notice that the list seems different this year. Usually the same items shift positon a few spots each year and maybe one new item pops up. This year it has a totally different feel. It should be noted that the panel that puts this list together costs of about 20 leaders from large, small, private and public colleges. Of the group of 20 or so leaders, only about 4 are presidents or non-CIO types.<br />
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<b>2014</b><br />
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1. Improving student outcomes through an institutional approach that strategically leverages technology.<br />
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2. Establishing a partnership between IT leadership and institutional leadership to develop a collective understanding of what information technology can deliver.<br />
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3. Assisting faculty with the instructional integration of information technology.<br />
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4. Developing an IT staffing and organizational model to accomodate the changing IT environment and facilitate openness and agility.<br />
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5. Using analytics to help drive critical instititonal outcomes.<br />
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6. Changing IT funding models to sustain core services, support innovation, and facilitate growth.<br />
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7. Addressing access demand and the wireless device explosion.<br />
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8. Sourcing technologies and services at scale to reduce costs.<br />
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9. Determining the role of online learning and developing a strategy for that role.<br />
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10. Implementing risk management and iformation security practices to protect institutional IT resources/data and respond to regulatory compliance mandates. Also included in the #10 slot was developing an enterprise IT architecture that can respond to changing conditions and new opportunities.<br />
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For so many years the list mentioned Funding IT, ERP, infrastructure, and a little about instructional technology each year in different orders.<br />
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In <b>2009</b>, five years ago, we saw:<br />
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1. Funding IT<br />
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2. Administrative Systemes/ ERP<br />
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3. Security<br />
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4. Infrastructure<br />
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5. Teaching and learning with technology<br />
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6. Identity and access management<br />
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7. Governance, Organization and Leadership<br />
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8. Disaster recovery and Business Continuity<br />
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9. Agility, adaptability and responsiveness<br />
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10. Learning management systems.<br />
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It is refreshing to see that IT may be breaking out of the self perception as an infrastructure provider and is now thinking of itself as more strategically. I am hoping this is a good sign that the leadership on campuses is seeing IT as a partner and as part of the solution. I know this is not true on every campus. The 2014 CORE Sata Survey, also an Educause effort, notes that 47% of CIOs are a part of the presidents cabinet on their campus. Another good sign. We are in a time when colleges need to redefine themselves, or at least reaffirm (to themselves) who they are. Colleges that don't recognize the role of technology in the delivery of all products and services will be in trouble. <br />
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So good job Educasue and many college presidents for bringing IT to the table. I would like to survey college presidents and see if they agree with the Educause panel. Maybe Educause will do this too!<br />
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Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-80369855692262995422013-12-19T16:59:00.000-05:002014-01-04T12:06:34.428-05:00Survey: Do resident college students want to take courses online?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TKz246LkVMc/UrNsP_P0WgI/AAAAAAAAAMw/AfjGO4sJSdM/s1600/untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TKz246LkVMc/UrNsP_P0WgI/AAAAAAAAAMw/AfjGO4sJSdM/s200/untitled.png" /></a></div>First, let me say that I work at a medium/smallish public college in New Jersey. The College of New Jersey is very selective. If you walk the campus you will get the impression that you are on an intimate private college. Over 60% of the students live on this very walking campus. Distance learning. or eLearning, has not been a strategic initiative. The college does utilize a learning managment system and offers a limited number of blended courses in the winter and suummer sessions. The faculty and students have been very committed to the "traditonal" face to face faculty/student relationship.<br />
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Here is where the surprise comes in. In my annual fall technology survey I asked students "Would you consider taking a totally on-line course during the fall or spring semester, if they were available?" Of the 844 students responding <b>62%</b> said yes! This was a bit of a surprise because the overall tone I had picked up on around campus has been that "we don't do that here. We are committed to the traditonal classroom experience." I also asked students if they would consider taking a blended course or totally on-line course during the summer or winter sessions. Of the sample 8% said they would be interested in taking a blended course during the shorter sessions and 15% said they would be interested in taking a totally online coure in January or over the summer.<br />
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Let's step back and look at the larger numbers. TCNJ has about 6500 undergraduate enrolled. Exptrapolating the percentages this would mean that approximately 4030 students would like to take a fall/spring course totally on-line. Based on an average load of 16 credit hours and 4 credits per course, this means that perhaps 500 course sections could be offered on-line every semester. This is about 25% over the totally sections taught. What does this mean for classrooms needed, building support, utilities, and other infrastructure costs. This could also reduce the amount of on-campus needed for adjunct faculty and even effect faculty parking! As colleges struggle to maintain, and even build more, facilities what does this mean for the total cost of instruction and services. What does it mean for the budget, the number of support personnel needed, and ultimately tuition? Hmm. Worth thinking about.<br />
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Looking at the interest in January and summer session courses we could guestimate the 22% of the same 6500 students, or 1430 students, might take a class if it were offered totally or partially online. At roughly $2,000 per course, this could be up to $285,000 in potentially lost revenue. Since some blended courses are currently offered now, its hard to say exactly how much revenue is lost.<br />
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So we know that eLearning courses require less infrastructure and probably fewer staff to support physical classrooms. We can also at least see that even with minimal promotion, there is some lost revenue. With some promotion and prehaps the creation of certificate or other programs, this could grow significantly. I am in no way throwing stones at my employer. No way. At my last instution there was prehaps more eLearning going on, but there was not strategic direction or analysis done to see where costs could be cut and perhaps additonal revenue generated. I think community colleges (some at least) are much more attuned to the market than the traditonal four year residential colleges. Its probably time for many public colleges to at least dig into the possiblities. Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-41813959219425654422013-12-07T10:22:00.000-05:002013-12-07T10:48:18.565-05:00What tech gadgets are college students using? - Fall 2013Each year I do a survey of college students to see what technologies they are using for both school and personal activities. This is helpful in IT planning and often has implications for the instructional use of technology. In the fall of 2013 I surveyed 864 students at The College of New Jersey(TCNJ). TCNJ is a mid-sized (6500 undergraduates)state college in Ewing, New Jersey. Most students are residents of NJ and are very strong academically. TCNJ is highly ranked by US News and World Reports every year and is quite selective. That said, the students are like many others in terms of their academic and personal use of technology. <br />
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In this post I want to focus just on the gadgets or devices that students own. The survey goes into many other areas, but I want to focus on this one area. After all, this might also help some parents with their Christmas gift giving for 2013. Back to the survey. I asked students if they owned any of the following devices. The results are:<br />
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<b>2013</b><br />
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iPad 15% <br />
Tablet other than iPad 6% <br />
iPod 40% <br />
iPod Touch 33% <br />
eReader 22% <br />
Personal printer 66% <br />
Television 69% <br />
Gaming console 39% <br />
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<b>2012</b><br />
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iPad 13% <br />
Tablet other than iPad 4% <br />
iPod 47% <br />
iPod Touch 41% <br />
eReader 19% <br />
Personal printer 67% <br />
Television 73% <br />
Gaming console 47% <br />
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The first thing you will notice is that students own multiple devices. In most cases they own 3 or 4 of the devices listed. It should also be noted that most of these devices are potentially networked attached devices. This tremendous implications for the capacity of the campus network and the bandwidth provided. All college CIOs will tell you that you will never meet the demand. You just keep chasing the demand. <br />
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A couple of other trends to note. Tablet ownership is rising with the iPad leading the way, but adoption is fairly slow. With lower cost Android tablets hitting the market, overall ownership should rise, but slowly. Other surveys show tablet ownership by college students at just below 20%.<br />
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iPod ownership is dropping, but is still strong. Another question of the survey asked about smart phone ownership. Smart phones are now carried by about 90% of the students. This has risen by about 10-20% a year for the past four years. Of course smart phones include MP3 music storage and playback. This has to be cutting into iPod sales. <br />
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eReader ownership may be increasing slightly. We don't see very many eReaders on campus and eTextbook sales have not really taken off, so I would say this device appeals to a certain group, but is not growing rapidly. The tablet is a more versatile device and will likely be adopted faster. Students are not looking to own many devices, they want versatility and multi-use devices.<br />
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I always ask about television ownership. I have a hunch that this device will disappear over the next ten years. You can see that TV ownership is dropping slowly. Live sports and the use of the TV as a gaming display are probably keeping its ownership fairly high. On demand TV over the computer or tablet will continue to force these numbers down. Colleges are watching this trend since most are spending $100,000 or more to provide TV in residence halls. <br />
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Although this this survey shows a drop in gaming console ownership, I actually think this will be a consistent number for years. game enthusiasts will always be on campus. I don't see this number growing. It may drop as students use the laptop or tablet as a platform. Of course this will require strong wireless networks. More games will move to the cloud. Right now many games require too much local CPU power to operate from the cloud, but this will gradually change. <br />
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I did not even include laptop ownership on this list. This got its own question. At TCNJ virtually all students own a laptop. Only four students of 858 respondents said that they did not own a computer. This question showed that about 20% of students own a desktop and a laptop computer.<br />
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These are interesting results for 2013. Technology ownership is very strong at this and other mid-sized residential campuses. I think these results would be similar to surveys at public and private colleges of almost any size. Results from community colleges would most certainly vary and in most cases show lower adoption of most devices. That said, life is good for almost all undergraduates. Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-18269711078231143962013-09-20T11:50:00.002-04:002013-09-20T11:50:07.584-04:00Do college students prefer eLearning options?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W5HJegezlT8/UjxsWcD3O3I/AAAAAAAAAMg/PZklzRz5ryk/s1600/elearning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W5HJegezlT8/UjxsWcD3O3I/AAAAAAAAAMg/PZklzRz5ryk/s320/elearning.jpg" /></a></div>With all of the hype about MOOCs, blended learning, flipped courses and web supported courses where do college students stand? I was looking at the recently publiched <a href="http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERS1302/ERS1302.pdf">Educuase ECAR Student on Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2013</a>. This recent version of the annual survey has lots of good information about students and their technology use. A few things jumped out at me in light of all of the talk about various types eLearning teaching/learning options.<br />
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- A little less that 70% of college students have taken a blended learning course (A course with a mix of web based learning and face-to-face teaching).<br />
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- Few students have taken a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). Less than 5% in most college categories.<br />
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- Students are more prepared for "mobile learning" than most colleges (using smart phones, tablets, or laptops to consume course content)<br />
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Blended learning, whether a straight up mix of traditonal lecture and web assisted instruction or a strict formula of so many class sessions and so many virtual session, seems to be pretty common place. There are several leading vendors in this space and most colleges use one or the other. Four year colleges (not for profit)seem to allow faculty decide how far they want to go with incorporating digital content into courses. often the IT department does not know how much the faculty are leveraging the technology. This comes too close to an academic freedom issue. That siad, i cannot think of a college that does not have a learning managment system in place. We are afraid not to do so. The LMS is now one of many expected technologies that both students and faculty members just think needs to be there - like email and wireless. Even a small campus can expect to pay over $100,000 a year for an LMS. So where is the strategic use of the LMS being discussed. I think that for the most part this is not happening at non-profit colleges. As a result we just don't know if its cost effective or contributing anything to the learning experience. BTW, I personally think that a well leveraged LMS can enhance any class and probably lead to greater learning. Although I have this hunch, most schools just don't know. No strategy and no outcomes assessment.<br />
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MOOCs are intriguing. They are noted in the education press and the New York Times almost daily. Legislators are looking very hard at the MOOC to reduce seat time, reduce time to degree,reduce facilities costs, increase graduation rates, and lower the cost of a college degree. These are pretty high expectations. As MOOC providers refine their deliver methods, most colleges are trying to figure out whether they are in or out of the discussion. Frankly, most are out and will be out. Another hunch, I think MOOCS are more about access than a replacement for traditonal instruction. I can see MOOCs playing a large role in continuing education for various professionals. The concept already exists, just on a smaller scale. I can also see MOOCs provding access to the higher education in the larger global community. Most surveys show that MOOCs are being embraced more quickly outside the US. The MOOC may also be a viable alternative to the traditonal masters degree program offered by many colleges. Perhaps not in every discipline, but certainly in education, the social science, and business.<br />
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- Most students have at least one mobile device. This could be a smart phone (78%), a tablet (18%), or a laptop (90+%). I don't see colleges leveraging this. Students access the LMS, but that's about it. There are a few small exceptions in allied health, education and sciences, but I think these prevalence is exagerated. There are lots of opportunities, but smaller levels of adoption. I am not seeing specialty software for the disciplines and certainly don't see colleges developing their own mobile tools. This is slow moving. We will see adoption of mobile in student and academic services before we see it to any degree in the classroom. That said, if faculty can create opportunities to exploit mobile technology, students are ready for it. Again, a case where the students are ready, but the academy is lagging behind.<br />
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In summary, I think that we are still at the start of using technology in education. We have many tools for teaching and learning both in the traditonal classroom and outside of it. I do not see a strategic push on most non-profit campuses. I think we are still in a bit of a wait and see place right now. Students seem very ready to embrace eLearning, at least as a part of their education. Colleges seem to playing wait and see. <br />
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Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-22955249914804277222013-07-30T14:16:00.000-04:002013-07-30T14:16:03.854-04:00Effective Leadership is like cultivating the soil to grow positive results. Hitting the ground with a shovel is not cultivating.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XQZo3kbzxag/UfgCupWTD4I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/3-9plUnN6iM/s1600/quote-the-secret-to-success-is-good-leadership-and-good-leadership-is-all-about-making-the-lives-of-your-tony-dungy-53867.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XQZo3kbzxag/UfgCupWTD4I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/3-9plUnN6iM/s320/quote-the-secret-to-success-is-good-leadership-and-good-leadership-is-all-about-making-the-lives-of-your-tony-dungy-53867.jpg" /></a></div>Bad leadership can effect campus technology in very large ways. I felt I had to write this post after witnessing bad leadership on so many levels for so long. This is not whining, just a warning. Effective leadership is really hard to find these days. Perhaps it always was hard, but we just need more good leaders right now. I want to focus on bad leaders for a moment and then talk about what makes a good leader. First, there are many types of bad leaders. Some just got the job because they are charismatic or politically connected. There is such a hunger of good leadership that many institutions will take a leap of faith based just based on a resume or an impressive pedigree. Finding a strong leader is harder than most institutions think. In higher education we typically form a committee, look at job posts from other colleges and put together our own advertisement. We do this for most senior level jobs - deans, Vice Presidents and even Presidents. The results of a bad choice can be disastrous - FOR YEARS! Have you witnessed a bad choice of a leader that then haunted and hurt your campus for years? I have.<br />
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Bad leaders are often persuasive and engaging. They may be great at cocktail parties. They may even "light up a room" when they enter it. Often, however, these turn to be bad dates where what you thought you were seeing as attractive and exciting is not that at all. After a bad date you can just walk away, when you hire the bad date you own them or they own you. The bad leader often fails to articulate a vision; changes directions constantly; throws out the “vision of the day” and barks at direct reports to get it done; leaves his/her direct reports to sort things out and spends much of their time doing other things; and only shows up at public events and has little or no visibility to the campus. The bad leader’s motivation is often simply to remain in the job. <br />
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So what makes a good leader? There are many elements that make a good leader. We all like a visionary who can see around corners and tell us what is coming with great certainty. We like a leader who is a great communicator on stage or off. We want someone who is inspiring. We want someone who makes us all want to be a part of his/her team. We want someone who is not so full of themselves that they can talk to anyone on campus - anyone. We want someone who can represent the college off campus as they raise funds, promote the college, or serve as an icon for what is good about our college or institution. Do you know many leaders like this? I don't either.<br />
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It is pretty hard to find this perfect leader. That's not making you feel very good right now, particularly if you’re serving on a search committee. There is a good chance that you will not find your dream date. So what should you focus on? All of the attributes above are important. I like to be inspired by a visionary who is a great communicator. This is great, but what about the everyday leader. Leaders spend most of their time in their offices just like you and me. Hopefully they get out on campus and connect with the people they serve - yes serve. Most spend lots of time working with a small number of direct reports. Leaders can be VPs, directors, and support staff in a small department. Whatever the level, I think the most important skill that he/she needs is to have is the ability to relate to their team. Here is where the cultivating comes in.<br />
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Leaders cannot do the work of the organization. They just can't. They are there to lead. What they can do is create an atmosphere where good things can happen and good service and solutions can grow. They need to be able to cultivate the people on their team. They need to be able to be accepting, yet demanding. They need to keep the focus on the goals of the institution every day. They need to live the line or "walk the talk". They cannot cheat or like the Emperor with no clothes, they will be found out and their credibility will vanish. <br />
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Effective leaders need to work at connecting with all the people on their team. Even in a large organization and effort to do this needs to be made. This is hard work and there are only so many hours in a day, but even trying is setting a good example and people notice. Back to cultivating. Have you known a boss who seems to get so frustrated by their inability to move an organization or team forward that they try to beat the team in submission. They start pounding the ground with a shovel, metaphorically, by yelling, sending nasty emails, and generally trying to rule through fear. Some use a surrogate to deliver the angry message. I worked for a boss like that once. <br />
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So what is cultivating? Cultivating is learning as much about your team as you can. Find out who they are and what they want from life and their careers. Explain what your vision is and encourage them to help you get there. Create an environment where they can share their ideas without fear. Have you ever been at a leadership meeting where after a long diatribe from the leader the group is asked what they think or what their teams are doing to support to the mission? Have you witness dead silence at these moments. People are afraid to say anything for fear that they will be judged or ostracized by the leader. Striking fear into people does not create the kind of team oriented "we are on the same page" environment that makes for a good place to be or work. Now I am not suggesting that every meeting be a Kumbaya love fest. The process of cultivating a team at any level takes time and the building of trust. There is nothing wrong with challenging people. In fact this is a good thing. It builds self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment. Even failures, or failing to meet a goal, can present a mutually educational moment. <br />
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So the next time you are looking for a leader, look below the surface. Make every effort to find out what the persons management style really is. Don't ask them. They will tell you how inclusive they are. Dig deeper or pay someone else to dig deeper. Ask their former leadership teams or employees. Ask leaders from the profession who may know them and their style. Find out how they live their daily lives on the campus or in the organization. If they cannot cultivate their team, they probably are not the person you want. I love a good visionary speaker. They can be thought provoking and even exciting. Those are great skills, but the day to day cultivating skills are the most important. Now you can see why good leaders are so hard to find. BTW, if you don't get a good feeling about a potential leader, keep looking. The pain of starting a search over is far less the pain of making a bad choice.<br />
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Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-46301075431846577392013-06-07T10:00:00.000-04:002013-06-07T10:41:43.343-04:00Are college IT departments starting to write programs again?I have been in the college game for more years than I want to admit. "Back in the day" (70's and 80's) college IT departments actually wrote programs do do things. Really! If you wanted to do anything on a computer you had to write the program. Most colleges were lucky to have a registration system that was written in house or by a computer science faculty member. In the 1980's we began to see the first integrated commercial systems. My first experience was with the Information Associates' SIS system. This was just for registration, records, admissions and financial aid. Development or programming began to die at around that time. In the later 80's HR and Finance became commercial products as well.<br />
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Fast forward to Y2K or year 2000. We all feared these legacy programs would die. We patched furiously with great fear that the end was near. It wasn't. We survived. Then came the web. Most us adopted ERP systems. The services were the same, but on the web. For five years this took every ounce of effort and talent to keep up and running. Years later only two companies are in the market - Sungards Banner product and Oracles Peoplesoft products. <br />
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The world may finally be changing again. Banner and PeopleSoft are the new legacy systems. Sorry guys, you have been long and faithful servants. We all use one or the other (yes, Datatel is in the space too but owned by SunGard). Enter <a href="http://www.workday.com/applications/industry/higher_education.php">WorkDay </a>and SalesForce. The world of higher education is about to change again. I forgot to mention that for the last 5 years colleges have deployed dozens of third party niche systems. We did not build we bought. For those of you in the business, you know that this cannot continue. IT shops on college campuses are too small to manage a big ERP AND dozens niche products used all over campus from campus police to residential life to medical records to judicial affairs ... . <br />
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Back to WorkDay and SalesForce. Workday is a new player (created by Dave "the legend" Duffield). Mr. Duffield created PeopleSoft back in the 90's. This totally web architected cloud system is doing well in the HR and Financial Management space. Higher Ed has not been real interested because they have not had a student systems module. Rumor is this will change this summer (2013). Workday will get into the higher education space for real with the new student system. I will learn more about it at a meeting with Workday next week. This is exciting. A cloud system, developed for the cloud, by innovators who we know have what it takes. There are two big wins for higher education here. If we move to systems like this, much of the time spent on maintaining our ERP can be spent on development again. Imagine programmers programming!!<br />
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Next, the <a href="http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/highered">SalesForce Foundation</a> offers an inexpensive way for colleges to reduce the number of niche apps they are running by creating home grown targeted apps on the SalesForce framework. Programmers get to program again. Colleges can reduce their inventory of third party apps, save annual maintenance costs on dozens of products, and become more self sustaining without adding lots of new staff. Better service to campus users, lower costs, and interesting work for programmers. Thank God we are headed back to the future. A few predictions for the next 5-10 years:<br />
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The current big players with still be around, but will not be growing customers.<br />
College spending on bandwidth will jump, but costs will be recovered from reducing spending on campus data center infrastructure.<br />
Data centers will shrink even more than they already have as colleges become more comfortable with having their data in the cloud<br />
Colleges need to start developing again and reduce the number of third party apps they are now supporting. New development tools can enable this.<br />
Development for the mobile device will never get traction because tools like SalesForce do this as you develop.<br />
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So what do ya think?<br />
Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-57102812814065774602013-03-08T11:22:00.000-05:002013-03-08T13:29:06.331-05:00So what role will IT play in teaching and learning in 5 years?<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OT64TBG7_TM/UToQAQPPqzI/AAAAAAAAAL0/y4y-NRgjvoY/s1600/th.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OT64TBG7_TM/UToQAQPPqzI/AAAAAAAAAL0/y4y-NRgjvoY/s320/th.jpg" /></a>So what role will IT play in teaching and learning in 5 years? Now that's an interesting question. I guess to even start address this question you have to take a big step back and look at who will higher education be serving in 5 years and in what will delivery systems be like. <br />
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Who will we be serving? Look at who we are serving now. At community colleges we serve working adults and younger students with specific career goals or a desire to transfer to four year schools. This number has always been large, but will get larger with a continued need to train and retrain for careers. The more traditonal 18-22 year old student bachelor's degree seeking is not going away. At many public colleges the applicant numbers are generally strong, although some <a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/12/19/fall-2012-college-enrollments-fell-18">surveys </a>show declines particularly at four year private colleges. Students and parents feel that a bachelors degree is a necessity. At private four years colleges the applicant numbers are mixed with smaller less famous schools struggling a bit to fill their classes and more elite colleges doing well in this area. Graduate school enrollments are declining according to the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/business/new-enrollment-drops-again-in-us-graduate-schools.html?_r=0">New York Times</a> . It probably safe to say that this will not improve a great deal in the next five years. What we will see is probably an environment where people want to go back to sschool, but they have more critical issues to address. Layoffs of part-time students, parents or spouses has something to do with the decline, but so does the general uncertainy about investing in anything. Even if you have a job, will you have one next week? Will this still be the case in five years? Maybe.<br />
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So what role will technology play down the road a bit? I think for the 18-22 year residential student, things will not change dramatically. This faculty in this space has totally embraced in-class technology, but sadly many just use PowerPoint. There are a few innovators, but these are the few exceptions. We will see more blended courses (mix of traditonal lecture and web content including audio/video) and some additonal flipped courses (pre-recorded lectures presented online before face to face classes). The college faculty of today, in this environment still seem resistent to new modes of teaching. Blended learning and flipped courses will do very well at community colleges where the students are often older and have jobs or family responsibilities. Tech assisted courses will be a major attrraction for these students who value flexibility. I am curious to see how MOOCs (massive open online courses) will do. I am expectng that these will not offer a challenge to more traditonal programs, but they will provide access to under served groups and will be profitable. I cannot imagine someone doing an entire degree using the MOOC option. I am VERY curious to see how companies like <a href="http://myline.straighterline.com/colleges">StraighterLine</a> will do. Straighter line offers general education courses for a monthly membership fee of $99. They have a number of accredited colleges that will take their courses in transfer. This will have great appeeal to the adult learner who needs flexibility or wants to "catch up" enroute to a degree. When you start looking broadly at the global community of learners, you have to wonder how programs like the <b><a href="http://www.uopeople.org/">University Of The People</a></b> will do. Free college degrees for the financially challenged? Wow.<br />
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Graduate education will change quite a bit. The costs have risen and most employers are not willing to subsidize it. Going full-time is hard because of the costs and graduate assistantships will be hard to get. If the country needs for advanced degrees in the science or technology ares, there will have to be more financial aid. The return on investment for a graduate degree is just not there. For those who do go to graduate school part-time online, there will be many options. There are many online degree programs and these are not nearly as unacceptable as they once were. Colleges that are not developing online graduate programs may find themselves with few or no students in the next few years.I think this will be particularly true of the non-research colleges that offer masters in education, the liberal arts, or business. Many of these programs will dissappear.<br />
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So as we look down the road a few years I think we will see few changes on the four year undergraduate college/university, although there may be a few less of them. Graduate education will move online for all but heavily research based degrees. Enrollments will generally continue to fall. The most interesting area will be the options open to part-time learners in the North America and the online options for potential learners in the third world. Degrees and advanced education for this group will soar, thanks to the internet and growing connectivity. The landscape will change pretty quickly as more education is needed in order to find the few "good jobs" out there, but cost and the lack of flexibility of traditonal models are major obstacles.<br />
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(Special thanks to <a href="http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/beginning-something-big">Educause Live</a> for some of the info about alternative higher education providers.)<br />
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Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-69355246090882496572013-02-14T13:56:00.000-05:002013-02-19T15:47:15.851-05:00Technology Issues for 2013 - My list<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T20AUzff_hw/UR0y0oJ-ghI/AAAAAAAAALk/SKrhJEe6dz4/s1600/Lists.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T20AUzff_hw/UR0y0oJ-ghI/AAAAAAAAALk/SKrhJEe6dz4/s320/Lists.jpg" /></a>There are lots of lists on the web. Some recognize accomplishment. Some show the "worst of this or that". Some are just list of stuff that someone thinks are important. This is my list of things that I think most colleges an universities have not figured out yet. Maybe these are opportunties for smart entrepreneurs to tackle or maybe they are just destined to stay on the list. These are not in any special order. They are just issues or questions that have been on my mind for a long time.<br />
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<b>Working with faculty to enhance teaching and learning with technology.<br />
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I have spent much of the last 15 years trying to gently introduce technology into teaching and learning. It started slow with the creation of a few "Smart Rooms" and creating an easy way to help faculty post syllabii and course materials on the college web site. We then added a learning managment system and supported it. Then clickers. Then plagerism protection software. Then Smart Boards. Then library databases. Then podcasts. Then two way interactive video connections to virtual guest speakers. Then lecture capture. All of this but we are almost 15 years down the road and I don't think we have established critical mass yet. The early faculty evangelists are still there blazing the trail. Retirements have brought in young faculty with energy and expectations for the latest tools. Adoption has grown and we are spending more and more money to maintain the hardware and software. We are spending much more money now in outfitting the classroom than ever before. Figure this into the rising costs of education. I have noticed two things along the way. Faculty adoption is totally a personal preference and most senior academic admnistrators have not taken a position on technology adoption or referred to it as strategic. So where does instructional technology fit? Its expensive. Most campuses have provided some technology in almost every classroom. Many colleges have staff dedicated to supporting technology use. Students seem to like some level of technology in their classes, although surveys suggest that they still value the personal touch. All of this and its not srategic. Its just a slowly growing set of tools that are made available. I think all of this is very nice, but as we look at the cost of education, I think we need to decide if its important. If its not, we should put most of it back in the box and save the money. "Are we in, or are we out" (to paraphrase Heidi Klum from Project Runaway).<br />
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<b>Reporting</b><br />
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It has been 10 years since I help implement PeopleSoft on my last campus. It was a <b>BIG </b>deal, as it is on all campuses. The upside is that we now have web based services that are available 24x7. This is a big upside. We are collecting more data that ever before. We probably have what many would call Big Data. What most colleges don't have is a way to make use of the data. Every campus I have worked at or visited, or heard about struggles with reporting. Why is this? It seems odd that ERP companies like Oracle and Sunguard have created large and complex systems without "plug and play reporting tools". I know there are many third party products that, with much heavily lifting, can do reporting to some degree or another. Schools that have done this well generally have many people and dollars to throw at it. It just seems odd that ERP companies would not have provided this from the get go. I am even more surprised that 10 years later many schools still identify reporting as a major concern.<br />
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<b>Sufficient bandwidth</b><br />
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Bandwidth is like a drug or so it seems. You just keep needing more and more to get the "feeling". As a CIO on two campuses we have added bandwidth at an average rate of 20% per year. Remember bandwidth was not an issue 15 years ago right before college costs started rising rapidly. Just one more thing that was that not a part of the mix back then. I am on a small/medium sized campus and our main internet circuit is about 300MB. I know you laugh at me large schools. I have to say that the difference in our bandwidth is probably proportional to the difference in our size and budgets. It is not uncommon for a smaller college to spend $100k to $200k per year on bandwidth. This does not count the routers and related security tools. Looking down the road, I see cable TV dissappearing. More audio and video in course web sites. More of the same from the colleges PR department. More video conferences and distance learning classes via video. Oh, and voice over IP. Look out 5 years and the average small college will need gigabit connection. We could be looking at $400-$500k per year. Very few existing services will go away. In the words of Tim Gunn we will have to -- "make it work".<br />
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<b>Determining if technology plans are worth writing.<br />
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I think I have written 4-5 IT plans over the past many years. They seem to take forever to write, but I actually enjoy the "looking into the future part". You get to look at what is happening or might happen in IT down the road and develop a game plan. Actually, its part plan and part warning. You end end up trying to warn the powers that be about what is happening over the hill and letting them know how you think your campus should react. This can be dangerous territory since they may not share your view and almost never share your sense of urgency. I always like to circulate the plan for input, but truthfully its more to float the ideas and see what happens. The real value is within the IT unit. I find that my team likes to know where we are headed, even if we change course down the road. We almost always change course down the road for some reason. I think this is linked to the human desire to minimize uncertainty. So I am not totally sure if IT plans matter in the grand scheme of things. I like to think so. They do help me crystalize my general direction even if there is a big question about whether the college needs them. I guess I will keep writng and reading and looking over the hill in case someone want to know what's over there.<br />
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Other CIOs will have their own lists and I may also -- tomorrow. <br />
Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-40680553881362089222013-01-29T14:45:00.000-05:002013-01-30T10:10:23.920-05:00College Student Technology Survey - Fall 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YfZBAem3KyQ/UQgmVpNCj8I/AAAAAAAAAK8/qbM8v_RLaCI/s1600/students.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="143" width="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YfZBAem3KyQ/UQgmVpNCj8I/AAAAAAAAAK8/qbM8v_RLaCI/s200/students.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Over the past year I changed institutions. After many years as the CIO at Salisbury University in Maryland I moved the same position at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). Both are great schools, but have a different feel. Salisbury has about 8,700 students (7,900 UG) and TCNJ is slightly smaller at about 7,400. There is a clear emphasis on the undergraduate (6,500 UG) experience at TCNJ although it has some graduate programs. Salisbury is more of a comprehensive with many more graduate programs. TCNJ is more selective and largely residential, but the schools come from the same “teachers college” roots.<br />
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I could not wait to survey the students at TCNJ. In December 2012, I sent out a web survey and was able to get 816 responses in three days. I did not do a follow-up request. In the past I have found that 800 students give you a pretty good sample to identify trends. <br />
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Here are the interesting observations for fall 2012 at TCNJ:<br />
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Of 816 students surveyed <b>all but one<i></i></b> student owns a computer. Computer ownership is no longer even a consideration at TCNJ. Virtually students own a laptop and about 25% also own a desktop computer. We also found that about 17% own tablets. Multiple computers have hit this campus. That said, TCNJ still operates many computer labs, as most campuses do. Teaching in a computer lab is desirable in many disciplines and many disciplines and students take advantage of institutionally purchased specialty software. Just for the record, 42% of the TCNJ students own MACs and about 60% work on PC laptops. This seems to be a growing trend, but is surprising at the over cost of higher education and the relative cost of a MAC over a PC.<br />
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Students still own portable music devices with 88% owning either an Apple iPod or an iPod touch. E-readers owned by 19% of the students and 47% own game consoles. TCNJ does not offer free printing in labs and the library so 67% of students own personal printers. BTW, 74% of students are TCNJ own televisions. I was a little surprised by that since I was starting to think that the video demand of Netflix and Hulu would start bringing this number down.<br />
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In the cell phone space 809 of 811 respondents own cell phones. <b>Smart phones are owned by 77%</b>. This has grown rapidly. When I asked the same question in 2008 at Salisbury smart phone ownership was at 5%. At TCNJ, 50% of the students own iPhones, 22% own Android phones and only 3% own blackberries. Windows Smart phones came in at only 1%.<br />
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TCNJ went with the Google free email and apps option for students a few years back. I was surprised to see that 87% of the students are using Google Apps. Where is Microsoft office – in the labs. The TCNJ students are pretty great at checking their email. The survey suggested that 95% check their email daily and 99% check it at least 2-3 times a week. This is quite a bit higher than I have seen in recent years. Many college administrators will tell you that students never check their email. This is not rue at TCNJ.<br />
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One last observation for this installment. Students are still the target of the RIAA and the MPAA for illegal downloading of music and films. At TCNJ 59% of students say they never illegally download entertainment content and only 11% say that they do it often. These may not seem like good numbers, but they are not bad at all.<br />
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Next time I will look at the “write in IT suggestions” of TCNJ students.<br />
Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-52644520416797454932012-12-20T15:42:00.000-05:002012-12-20T15:43:10.563-05:00The Cloud and Colleges: Are we there yet?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-58VPfnEtBkM/UNN4KKBkiaI/AAAAAAAAAKo/qucCkKgoStY/s1600/cloud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-58VPfnEtBkM/UNN4KKBkiaI/AAAAAAAAAKo/qucCkKgoStY/s200/cloud.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Well Christmas is almost over and my holiday blog is so last month. Time to look ahead to 2013. I am thinking about mobile, BYOD, security, a decent reporting solution (that I can afford), and the cloud (not Saas). <br />
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I attended Educuase last month and made sure to see Casey Green's session on the <a href="http://www.campuscomputing.net/item/campus-computing-2012-mixed-assessments-it-effectiveness">Campus Computing Survey</a> . I always enjoy seeing what Casey has come up and comparing it to the ECAR study produced by Educause. The <a href="http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/results-2011-core-data-survey">Core Data Survey</a> provides some pretty good metrics for comparion on all sorts of issues.<br />
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There are many things to look at this year, but I was struck by the low numbers associated with cloud computing in higher education. In late September I made my first trip to Oracle World in San Francisco and heard Larry Ellison talk almost totally about cloud computing and how his products (almost every product you can think of) will serve us in the cloud. Well he said "your cloud, the Oracle cloud or a cloud hybrid", not just the cloud. A cloud hybrid is a little of yours and a little of his. this was a new term for me. He must have heard that most of higher education and business is just not quite ready to give of their data and their customizations for a single cloud flavor of their ERP system.<br />
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For a moment try and imagine that you a CIO who is looking hard at the cloud as the future resting place for all computing. We can see the benefits of smaller or no data center; fewer database administrators, if any; and a disaster recovery plan that is clearly "Larry's problem". This is where we all want to be, but the message from most big providers is that all you have to do is run "vanilla". All customers use the same software and pretty much follow the same business practices. What a concept. <br />
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I do not intend to mock the cloud as a concept. It probably is where we will all go some day. In the real world we all have those things that make us just a little bit different. In higher education we generally think that these differences are not problems, but are part of our identity or features. Our way is in fact the right way and is a reflection of who we are. Obviously, this cannot be compromised and we need find a way to incorporate our uniqueness into the systems we run.<br />
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So, back to Larry's idea of "your cloud, the oracle cloud, and the hybrid cloud". I think he means that we could run part of our major systems (ERP) on the campus and part on his cloud at the same time. This is facinating, but hard to get your head around. Back to the <a href="http://www.campuscomputing.net/item/campus-computing-2012-mixed-assessments-it-effectiveness">Campus Computing Survey</a> , in 2011 it showed that about 4% of colleges were putting their critical business systems in the cloud. In 2012 this jumped to 6%. This is a 50% increase in one year, but looks like a slow moving trend.<br />
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To date only email (75%) and and learning management systems (37%) are moving to the cloud (<a href="http://dlitgroup.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/2012-campus-computing-project-survey-highlights/">GRCC, blog on CCS 2012 results</a>). On the email front most of this is student email with Google and Microsoft offering free products. Low risk, since its only student information. I have dipped my toe in the water with smaller systems like medical records, judicial records, and student job services. I am uncomfortable with all of these since I cannot help my users when they have issues. I also don't know where the data is or what happens if "company X" goes out of business. BTW, we are trying to move away from one cloud vendor and they want to charge us for our own data!<br />
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The <a href="http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/top-ten-it-issues-2011">Educause Top Ten Issues 2011</a> paper talks about cloud computing as a key strategic issue, but also provides questions about security and even the definition of cloud computing. So as we start 2013 maybe we can keep whacking away at the definiton of cloud computing; learning more about where the data is and how secure it is;and determining how we can maintain all that is important to our campuses business processes while being "vanilla" in the cloud. More work needs to be done and more questions answered before many colleges adopt cloud computing models. <br />
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My advice is to focus on what you can control and achieve in 2013. Go for some lower hanging fruit like deploying mobile applications, encouraging/supporting the use of teaching technologies, staying focuses on security, and keeping the wireless services "always on" and seemingly open. The cloud discussions will continue. I don't think we are there yet.Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-64827002115436079752012-11-28T11:13:00.001-05:002012-11-28T11:19:39.202-05:00Christmas and the college student 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6cK97tO9f-g/ULY1Z7n4UBI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/1sDUpZ_AxPE/s1600/9594824_sc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="78" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6cK97tO9f-g/ULY1Z7n4UBI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/1sDUpZ_AxPE/s200/9594824_sc.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Time for the annual gifts for college students blog. This is the third year for this topic and I have to say that it appears that most college students have everything they need. Of course this is never totally true. The tech wizards would never let that happen. You can look at my blogs for the past two years on this topic for more ideas, but here are a few new options.<br />
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In the past year or two I have become aware that I am adding a few extra pounds. Imagine. I think this is a universal feeling that even college students share with the rest of us, even though they are often blessed with a great metabolism. Well I had a birthday last month and my resourceful daughter new about my recent weight concern and bought me a <a href="http://www.fitbit.com">FitBit</a> ($99). This is the coolest thing if you have a touch of OCD. You wear or carry this little electronic device around and it monitors your activity level from walking to climbing steps. On the fitbit web site you can also add workout information, if you are extra active. It doesn't stop there. You can enter in the foods you eat noting calories from an extensive drop down dictionary of foods -- even restaurant foods. All of this tracks toward your personal weight loss goal. Whatever it might be. Its all about calories burned and calories consumed. Oh, you can also track your sleep patterns. There is also a mobile app available on iTunes if you want to use your phone to track you activities and other data. Very cool for the compulsive geek who wants to lose a few pounds. It also has a social networking piece if you want to share your progress and encourage others.<br />
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The other cool thing I am looking at is the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GGCAVM/ref=gw_c1_tatehhol_txt?ie=UTF8&nav_sdd=aps&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0YA1RD8YCJ6BYT7DJVGV&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1422367422&pf_rd_i=507846">Kindle Fire HD</a>. This came on the market last year, but there are two sizes now, 7" ($199) and 8.9" ($299) display. I am looking at the larger one that competes directly with the iPad3 ($499). There are a few things that make it more attractive than the iPad. The price; the dual stereo speakers; and the USB input. I like the iPad, but this is hard to pass up. Its a great extra device with great power for the mobile college student. BTW, I would only buy the wifi version. Going with a 3G version just adds more monthly data costs. You probably already know that 3G is pretty slow.<br />
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Have you thought about electronic stocking suffers? You can use an iTunes gift card for apps and for music. Here are a couple of articles with lots of app ideas for college students:<br />
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<a href="http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/09/21/5-apps-college-students-should-use-this-school-year">US News: Five Apps College Sudents use this year</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Best-Apps-College-Students-24369921">GeekSugar - 10 great apps for the college student</a><br />
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There are many neat apps on these lists. I like free <a href="http://www.jiwire.com/iphone">WiFi finder</a>. This notes where you are and where you can find WiFi in your immediate area. I use this when I travel. I also like Notability for taking notes and evernote for organizing activities. You can Google Apps for College Students and get even more ideas. These are often either free or offered at just a few dollars. Again, the iTunes gift card can cover these.<br />
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One last cool idea. The backpack that also charges your devices. You carry backup power with you. The <a href="http://www.mypowerbag.com/">Powerbag</a> lets you charge your backpack and you then have power all day. You can also carry other stuff. It lists at a pricey $139 at the company site, but I suggest looking at Amazon or Groupon. I have seen it as low as $59.<br />
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Have a Merry Christmas!<br />
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Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-76944806833861709842012-09-11T09:57:00.001-04:002012-09-12T13:40:50.650-04:00Rapid progress of MOOCs. When will the business model be discovered?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-olzzSirY-WM/UE-MYpxmHtI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/msnJjWFqpXE/s1600/thumbnail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="130" width="198" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-olzzSirY-WM/UE-MYpxmHtI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/msnJjWFqpXE/s200/thumbnail.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I have been wondering how long it would take for an accredited college/university to grant college credit for free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs. That was last month. Colorado State has started to do it! In the recent Chronicle of higher Education article, <i><a href="http://chronicle.com/article/A-First-for-Udacity-Transfer/134162/">A First for Udacity: a U.S. University Will Accept Transfer Credit for One of Its Courses</a></i>, Colorado State took the step. It is their course offered through Udacity, but the implications are interesting. Typcally. colleges and universities in the US will accept college credit transferred from regionally accredited colleges and universties. CSU fits this criteria.<br />
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This should mean that almost any school in the US will also grant credit for the course(s) when transferred from CSU, or will they? I would guess that over the courseof this academic year many college curriculum or admissions committees will have to decide how they want to handle this.<br />
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"Some 94,000 students worldwide took the course when it first came online early this year, and 98,000 more signed up for the second class, which started in April. "We have students from well over 100 countries, from 13-year-olds to 80-year-olds, sharing in the experience," Mr. Evans (course instructor from UVA)said of the class, one of a growing number of massive open online courses, or MOOC's, that have been attracting national attention this year."<br />
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Once colleges deal with the transfer issue, they will have to think about creating their own policies for granting credit for MOOC courses. According to the Chronicle article "in order to earn the three transfer credits toward their bachelor's degrees at Colorado State, students will need a "certificate of accomplishment" from Udacity showing they passed the course. Then they have to pass a proctored examination offered by Udacity through a secure testing center. The exam, administered by the Pearson VUE testing group, will cost $89."<br />
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So Pearson is already stepping in to provide testing and assessment services. How different is this from the College Board or the Educational Testing service providing verification of accomplishment tests for high school advanced placement students. Not very different.<br />
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<b>Time to ask more questions:</b><br />
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Does this mean that with the proper assessment from a respected assessment vendor or college that other colleges will accept the courses in transfer and grant credit?<br />
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Will traditional colleges limit the amount of MOOC credit that they are willing to accept toward a degree? Many do this with transfer credit now.<br />
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What does this mean for the student and the cost of a college degree? If students take as many MOOC courses as they can transfer to the school of their choice, how will this reduce the total cost of their college degree?<br />
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Will "for profit" colleges start granting degrees totally on the basis of MOOC classes (for a modest processing fee?<br />
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When will someone find a business model that makes MOOC courses viable on a large scale. Let's see, if "College X" charged $25 for a MOOC class and $75 for the "verification of learning exam" with 98,000 students in the class -- a single class could generate <b>$9,800,000</b>. Most of these students could transfer the credit to the school of their choice and apply it toward a degree.<br />
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Most colleges are still shaking their collective heads and writing the whole MOOC thing off. I am glad to see the <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/gates-foundation-offers-grants-for-moocs-in-introductory-classes/39792">Gates Foundation</a> funding some research on MOOC courses. This will be good information for the education community to consume and use for even further discussion. I feel more committee meetings being called. <br />
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Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-81450475763405234272012-08-13T15:34:00.002-04:002012-08-13T20:22:42.950-04:00What in the world is a MOOC and what does it mean to higher education?A MOOC is a Massive Open Online Course."A massive open online course (MOOC) is a category of online course where the participants are distributed and course materials also are dispersed across the web. MOOCs are a very recent variant of online education, which itself is a form of distance education." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course">Wikipedia </a>. MOOC's are free courses offered by some of the best schools in the world and by the best professors. If you have an internet connection, you can take a course. The technology used is available at reasonable prices to any college, not just the elite. Some are already using tools like learning management systems and class video technology with their own students, in regular courses. This content is most often strongly protected behind a userid and password.<br />
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This has been a topic of interest to those who think about the future of education and teaching, and the growth of advanced learning around the world. Stanford, Princeton, MIT, the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania are some of the early players. They are providing free on-line courses to the world. <a href="https://www.coursera.org/">Coursera</a>, <a href="http://www.mitx.org/">MITx </a>and a few other organizations are the delivery systems.<br />
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You can Google and get lots of information about MOOC's. I visited the Coursera site last night and found that they offer 117 courses in 16 content areas, for free. This is a limited number of courses and it does not look like the courses lead towards a degree -- yet, but what an opportunity. When you look at this list of courses and the schools that are offering them you have to come back to other questions that are abuzz in higherd education these days:<br />
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Does a degree mean anything anymore?<br />
What are college students learning in college?<br />
Is a college degree worth all of that money?<br />
Is the four year residential college seeing its last days?<br />
Will this greatly empower those living in remote areas of the world and what does that mean?<br />
Will the 3rd world leap over the west?<br />
Will this find its way to K-12 and make home schooling the preferred method for many more families? (See the <a href="http://moocs.co/K-12_MOOCs.htm">Kahn Academy</a>, if you think this is far off.)<br />
Will college students assemble a group of MOOC classes, a few regular on-line classes, and in person classes and earn a degree?<br />
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I might revisit these questions over the next few months, but more importantly I think all colleges and universities need to consider them themselves. We are always developing or refining strategic plans, planning for regional accreditation, or trying to think of how our campus can be "distinctive". With all due respect to my colleagues, most have their head in the sand over this topic. Many consider it to be just another game for the rich schools. I am pleased that the term "blended courses" has almost become mainstream on many campuses, but this is just the start. The cost of education and the market place will decide whether the product we have been providing for decades is still going to hold up. I am a great advocate of the traditonal baccalaureate experience, but its day may have come and gone. I urge every college president to learn what MOOC is and to start a discussion on their campus. <br />
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Will a degree from <a href="http://www.wgu.edu/">Western Governors University</a>, the <a href="http://www.phoenix.edu/beta.html">University of Phoenix</a>, or the <a href="http://www.umuc.edu">University of Maryland University College</a> be as valuable as those from other schools? They already are!<br />
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BTW, last night I signed up for a course entitled "<a href="https://www.coursera.org/#course/inforiskman">Information Security and Risk Management in Context</a>" offered by the University of Washington.<br />
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Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-16187688084982249622012-08-09T11:39:00.000-04:002012-08-13T15:40:39.980-04:00Fall 2012 Technology for the College StudentIts time to start another year on college campuses. Colleges have become so rich with technology over the past few years that you would think that students have everything they need. Of course, enough is never quite enough. There are still some basics that most students seem to want , or need, for their very own. I am from the hot pot, telephone, and refrigerator generation. Colleges don't allow hot pots anymore. The fridge and the microwave are still staples. I thought the need for a TV might die off, but not yet. Most students still have a TV in their rooms. Many campuses are moving to all digital TV services with HD channels. At my last post we offered 100 channels, including 15 HD channels. Of course Netflix and Hulu on the laptop are gaining fast.<br />
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Here is my list of digital staples for the fall of 2012:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Combo-Keyboard-920-002553/dp/B003VANO7C/ref=br_lf_m_1000818051_1_3_img?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&pf_rd_p=1382059762&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000818051&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0GAZBE3VM1C87W3134RE">Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse</a>. Who wants to write a paper on a laptop keyboard when you can turn your laptop into a desktop for less that $50.<br />
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<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/products/compare/1617?ids=286135,261972,263786,265555">Audio speaker system</a>. I have talked about these before, but now there are so many choices and price points. Why not turn your laptop into a powerful sound system for moveies or music. Here is a comparision of a few products that run from the fairly cheap to the pricey. You have to decide how far you need to go. If you like the more traditional three speaker option (pretty good, for cheap) check this <a href="http://www.geek.com/shop/pg-product/?pid=743012214&PHPSESSID=71c2d1a68d4dc4a34e7fdbcbf217e251">one</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_173920_25151070_pe_b4/?docId=1000818361">Decent ear buds or headphones</a>. Here again beauty is in the ears of the beholder. There are choices to be made, but even the cheap ear buds or headphones would probably be adequate. there are plenty of places on campus (the gym, library, dining hall, computer labs...) where you have to keep your music to yourself. Keep in mind that these are often lost or misplaced, so I would not invest too much. <b>Update: I just bought some nice sounding ear buds at <a href="http://www.fivebelow.com/media-products/headphones.html">Five Below</a> for $4.99!<br />
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<a href="http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=37&sel=Price%3BPrice4,Detail%3B133_265_30192_30192,Detail%3B133_269_10586_17076">Small LED TV</a>. As noted above, TV is still alive and well and most campuses are going digital to offer many channels and HD services. Most students still bring a TV to campus. I think the 24" or 32" are generally adequate, but sports intense students might disagree. I have seen 50" LCDs on campus. Yes the rooms are still pretty small, so imagine the dominance of the big units. I like the new LED models for a sharper picture and lighter weight. The prices on these have come way down.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bestuniversities.com/blog/2009/100-best-free-iphone-apps-for-college-students/">IPhone apps for free</a>. In the past few years we have seen the number of Smart phones jump on campuses. The numbers stand at 70% on most campues now. The Smart phone is the new laptop. Well sort of. IPhone has the dominant position in the space at the moment, so I found this list of free apps for the iPhone connected college student. Most of these are not toys or games. They are cool useful tools and they are FREE.<br />
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So this is my short list for this fall. If you can think of more, please comment.<br />
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Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-14150318732711855192012-07-12T13:46:00.000-04:002012-07-21T18:03:18.632-04:00The Surface tablet by Microsoft<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L4J1W9dEeNo/T_8MR_H4kYI/AAAAAAAAAJo/yRZYTFfs_jc/s1600/MS%2BSurface.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="146" width="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L4J1W9dEeNo/T_8MR_H4kYI/AAAAAAAAAJo/yRZYTFfs_jc/s200/MS%2BSurface.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This is an amazing new entry device that will be entering into the tablet space. It could give the iPad a run for it's money. Price and the success of Windows 8 will make all the difference. Here is a guest post from <i>Jeddel Yeras<b></b></i> from The College of New Jersey (with permission).<br />
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<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx">Microsoft Surface</a><br />
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Break on through... Surface. Last month the Redmond Giant, Microsoft, announced some details for its upcoming tablet offering called "Surface" and set the media in a frenzy of speculation as to whether this could be the long waited for "iPad Killer". Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed Apple's products as much as the next guy, but frankly, I've grown somewhat tired of their market dominance and arrogance. Yes, the iPad is an excellent piece of hardware and there is no argument that iOS offers a plethora of applications. But do you really need that many apps? Is the iPad truly a versatile system that can revolutionize the computing industry and replace the PC? Arguably No. Microsoft has been patiently studying the market and analyzing its competition. The shortcomings of Android, and the success of Apple as well. It's response is what I would consider a truly "next generation" device that incorporates the option for both tablet as well as PC. Yep... You heard right. A tablet that can actually replace a notebook PC. Microsoft Surface will be offered in two variants a slimmed down version for the more "tablet-oriented" consumer dubbed "Surface RT" (code for "runtime") and a full featured version dubbed "Surface Pro" which will run the Windows 8 Pro Operating System. Pricing information is sketchy and rumors have a price range of $599-$999 but this is purely speculative as no formal announcement has been made by Microsoft on pricing structure for the much anticipated device. <br />
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I personally do not own a tablet. I've played around with borrowed iPad's and didn't even bother to touch an Android tablet. I found the concept of a tablet interesting, but the functionality just wasn't there. They just seem like an overpriced electronic toy. Microsoft Surface, on the other hand, caught my interest. These machines will run Windows 8, carry a ClearType 10.6" HD display, configurable with up to 128GB of memory, runs Office Apps, and comes with a built-in keyboard that folds to a screen cover? I smell a winner! The perfect synergy of productivity and portability without skimping on the fun factor. Now this is a product that I would strongly consider investing in. Another unique aspect for this device, which strays from anything Microsoft has done in the past, is that the hardware and the software is all Microsoft. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is still to be determined, but it's a bold move by the company who previously was only interested in software distribution, leaving vendors to handle the hardware aspect. <br />
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The value in a device such as this is broad for any consumer. Students would have portability and accessibility to familiar applications such as Office. Business users would be able to seamlessly integrate to corporate systems and possibly even run business applications compatible with Windows 8. If I could have a portable machine like this, weighing at just a hair over 2lbs, that runs all of my essential Microsoft apps AND plays Call of Duty??? Well, I'm sold<br />
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<br />Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-45422022409815518132012-06-26T16:42:00.001-04:002012-06-26T16:43:27.770-04:00One thing for the college student in 2012<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zsH6FjB0ilY/T-oYa2jGVFI/AAAAAAAAAJY/u9VGINuByUA/s1600/other%2Bipad2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="165" width="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zsH6FjB0ilY/T-oYa2jGVFI/AAAAAAAAAJY/u9VGINuByUA/s200/other%2Bipad2.jpg" /></a><br />
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I have been thinking about THE really nice thing to have for a college student to have this fall. Virtually all students have a laptop these days, and I still think this is a great investment. Prices are all over the place. The cheaper $500 models are probably alright, but don't expect them to last four years. If you spend about $800 for a business class <a href="http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/latitude-laptop-deals?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&ST=dell%20latitude&dgc=ST&cid=57811&lid=4338163&acd=eBuqLZ9f9,1429297600,901qz26673">laptop</a>, you can be pretty well assured of getting four years from them. Many students are opting for the $1500 <a href="http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro">MacBook Pro</a> and of course this will most likely make it four years as well (keeping in mind that accidents do happen.)<br />
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If I could buy just one more gadget this year I think I would buy the iPad 2. Yes, the iPad 2, not the 3. Why you say? Apple is still selling version two of $399 for the low end wifi model. Although it only has 16GB of storage and is not a 3G machine, it still has many of the features of the iPad 3 for less money. <br />
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<a href="http://store.apple.com/us/buy/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad/ipad2">Apple iPad 2</a><br />
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If you don't want to buy from Apple, you can buy it at the same price from <a href="http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=Ipad2&adid=22222222220060357447&wmlspartner=wlgeo&wl0=e&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=23308960658&wl4=&veh=sem">Walmart</a>.<br />
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Most colleges are already WiFi everyone, so connectivity is rarely an issue. Although the iPad is not the best work machine, it is great for research, movies, email, Facebook, listening to music, taking notes and keeping track of assignments. Most campuses these days are using Blackboard or some other learning management tool and these will often work fine on the iPad (if your school supports the mobile app for the software). You can buy the 3G model, but expect a data plan charge of $30 to $40 a month. Ouch.<br />
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BTW, I am not a big Apple fan, generally. I just hate spending the big dollars for Apple laptops, when another brand is often as good and much cheaper. That said, other tablet makers just don't seem to be in Apple's league at this point. Android tablets don't have the "instant on" and generally the sound is not as good. With Windows 8 coming, this might improve and present more options. The only downside to the iPad is the lack of standard USB ports. I have heard many people say "how do I get my pictures from my camera to the tablet? You can work around this with a card reader for a few more dollars.<br />
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I think higher education is just starting to embrace the tablet and it's still primarily a tool that is more fun than it is practical. I think this will change so if you have a few graduation gift dollars, I would take a hard look at the iPad 2 while they last. The price is right.<br />
<br />Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-89951209641734957362012-06-21T13:21:00.000-04:002012-06-24T19:04:17.412-04:00Technology Rage<b>Technology Rage</b>, or rage against the machine, is a fairly new psychological disorder. I am not sure that the American Psychiatric Association has recognized it yet, but its a growing disorder in the work place and in education settings. Here is an extreme example:<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqkGfinCFs0&feature=related
">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqkGfinCFs0&feature=related<br />
</a><br />
The higher education world is an interesting mix of typical officer tech users, resident student users, faculty instructional users, and excutive users. With the growing complexity of college environments Tech rage is being seem more often. Who ever thought the technology and emotion would become so linked.<br />
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The video example only shows the distruction of a device. In the real world, Tech Rage is often seen when one person becomes agressive or even abusive toward another person. Usually the target is a technology support person or the Helpdesk. This is much like shooting the messenger. Increasingly malfunctioning technology, or a users lack of understanding of how a particular technology works, can result in explosive behavior or a series of what we call "the email bombs". The email bomb is the expression of one's feelings fired over email to a person or the world with full raging emotions contained in it. An email bomb is generally filled with things that you would never say to the recipients face, but the faceless email transaction enables the angry user to blow off steam without having to feel bad -- at least until the calm down and realize what they just did.<br />
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<b>How do we avoid Tech Rage?</b> <br />
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1. Take your fingers off of the keyboard<br />
2. Close your eyes<br />
3. Take 3-4 to four slow deep breaths <br />
4. If needed, go to the restroom<br />
5. Create a picture in your mind of the cutest small child you can think of<br />
6. Wait at least 1 minute and slowly open your eyes<br />
7. Think the person who might best give you advice on your problem and call them. DO NOT SEND EMAIL!<br />
8. Using your church voice, slowly explain your problem and ask for advice.<br />
9. If you are referred to another office and this frustrates you, repeat this process starting at step 1.<br />
10. If your problem is not resolved to your satisfaction within 15 minutes, leave your desk and take at least a 10 minute break and then repeat steps 7 to 9.<br />
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If all of this fails, call it a day and watch your favorite movie or TV show on <a href="http://www.hulu.com/">Hulu </a>and before starting to work again, reboot.<br />
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Remember, IT is here to help -- really.Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-40223074343923383622012-05-18T11:47:00.000-04:002012-05-18T11:47:58.618-04:00Tech advice from the class of 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LRGeU7xJ0Q8/T7ZvCm5zLbI/AAAAAAAAAJI/J8iSkbp5esY/s1600/graduates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="173" width="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LRGeU7xJ0Q8/T7ZvCm5zLbI/AAAAAAAAAJI/J8iSkbp5esY/s200/graduates.jpg" /></a></div><br />
In my 2012 tech survey of students at Salisbury University (my former institution)I asked a new question: <b>"What do you think is the one most important technology skill for a college graduate to have?<i></i></b>. My survey received over 600 responses. I may come back to this question in future blogs, but since we are in the month of graduations, I thought it would interesting to see how the seniors 2012 answered this question.<br />
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A couple of interesting observations about seniors first. This is a group that spends a great of time online.<br />
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How many hours a week to you spend on the internet?<br />
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11-15 31%<br />
16-20 18%<br />
more than 20 hours 26%<br />
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I also asked seniors which technology tools the used the most.<br />
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PowerPoint 94%<br />
Blackboard 95%<br />
Campus library site 72%<br />
Spreadsheets 62%<br />
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I did not ask about word processing programs since I was pretty sure that with 99% computer ownership, word processing was pretty universal. So we see that these are students who are on the web a great deal and use productivity tools extensively. So what did they think were most important tech skills college graduate should have?<br />
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Well, I got 126 student open ended responses. Almost half felt that all graduates should be well versed all of the programs included in the <b>Microsoft Office Suite</b>. Almost half of the responses focus on the suite or parts of it (Word, Excel and PowerPoint). They think that this is the basic tool set of almost any career, regardless of the field.<br />
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The second most often skill noted was the ability to do critical research on the internet. By critical I think they mean knowing the difference between opinion and scholarly research. They phrase it differently, but they seemed to know that not all web content is equal.<br />
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The third most often mentioned skill was general computer literacy. Knowing how operating systems work, storing data, dealing with different files and formats seemed to be important. A fair number singled out email use as important.<br />
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Several respondents also mentioned that knowing how to type is an important asset. There were many others carried opinions touching on knowing how to effectively use social media and using the web for business networking. Two students focused right in on learning to adapt new technologies.<br />
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A summary review and aggregation of responses suggests that the class of 2012 feels that college graduates need to know the tools of business that(or the world of work) focus on the communication of ideas and communication between people. Many are thinking critically about what is good information and bad information on the web. They also think that they should know something about about how a computer works beyond the basics of a particular program. <br />
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I know that my sample is small (126) and that the opinions they expressed varied. I think the "take away" for colleges is that we need to acknowledge what students think is important and spend even more time making sure that we provide what they think they need, regardless of the academic discipline. I am not at all suggesting the technology <i>become <i></i> </i> the center of their education, but noting that they recognize that they are entering a world that requires certain skills and we should too.Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-85059060550424045842012-05-08T15:04:00.001-04:002012-05-08T15:06:24.455-04:00How viable are tablets for schools<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hWhiN2WuAKg/T6luLvsG-5I/AAAAAAAAAI4/QnmDMc-LAu4/s1600/thumbnailCAM7NJJ6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="160" width="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hWhiN2WuAKg/T6luLvsG-5I/AAAAAAAAAI4/QnmDMc-LAu4/s200/thumbnailCAM7NJJ6.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>This is a guest blog from Estelle Shumann, with permission. I think the topic and point are perfect for these times. I see too often that colleges, schools and even individuals think that spending money on technology will fix "whatever ailes them". All too often hardware and software are wasted because little or no planning was done. Thanks Estelle!</i><br />
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The classroom is typically quick to adapt to advances in information technologies. High schools, colleges and universities are among the first places you’re likely to see cutting-edge computers, laptops and other technological equipment. In fact, many are turning cutting edge technologies into accredited online universities. <br />
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One technology that’s just starting to make the leap towards widespread use in higher education is the tablet computer. In institutions of higher education, tablets are perceived less as luxury commercial technology than as useful tools with the potential to make education more efficient.<br />
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Grandview High School in Jefferson County in Missouri is one high school attempting to increase the use of tablets for schools. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch story from August 2011 reported that the school spent approximately $164,000 to provide tablets and wireless Internet access for each of its 330 students. Grandview principal Matt Zopf said that students would retain the same tablet throughout high school and keep it after graduation.<br />
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Once the tablets are in the students hands, there are several ways that this equipment can impact their educational lives. Tablets can be used to take tests or complete and submit homework. Entire online classrooms can be created through different tablet applications, such as Moodle. Textbook software can also be downloaded to the tablets, giving students a digital textbook and cutting down on paper printing.<br />
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Although Grandview’s tablet implementation has progressed smoothly, other school districts have suffered different fates. Jennings School District in St. Louis County spent $1.25 million on 2,500 handheld computers. Poor management led to seldom-used tablets and $77,500 in missed rebates, costing the district $300,000 more than was budgeted for the project.<br />
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Cost is a big factor in implementing any new technology in education, and tablets are no different. An infographic printed by McClatchy Tribune compares the prices of tablets and educational software over the course of the six-year life-span typical of most college textbooks. For a typical classroom of 32 students, the cost of equipment and annual software upgrades would total approximately $36,000. This figure is almost three times the estimated cost of traditional text and workbooks for the same classroom.<br />
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Statistics indicate that tablet ownership among students is growing, especially at colleges and universities. A 2012 study conducted by the Pearson Foundation found that 25% of all college students own a tablet, up from only 7% the previous year. Of those students who owned a tablet, 90% felt that their tablet was useful for educational purposes. Approximately two-thirds of all college and high school students surveyed believed that tablets and digital textbooks would replace traditional textbooks within five years.<br />
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The use of tablet computers has encouraging potential for the future of education. Like laptops and other recent technological advances, tablets take the power of computing and wireless Internet access and make it even lighter and more portable. Although cost-prohibitive at the moment, technologies have a way of becoming cheaper with time. As the price tag on tablet computers plummets, so will any major obstacles keeping schools from implementing the use of tablets on a much wider scale.Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-42148388914515053912012-04-13T09:12:00.003-04:002012-04-13T09:14:00.986-04:00How do college students use their cell phones?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H-9oKdefJjs/T4gllBJ6MrI/AAAAAAAAAIs/pXhh-9-aZyk/s1600/iphone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="156" width="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H-9oKdefJjs/T4gllBJ6MrI/AAAAAAAAAIs/pXhh-9-aZyk/s200/iphone.jpg" /></a></div><br />
In an earlier post I noted that in our student surveys running from 2009 to 2012 we saw that the percentage of Smaarrt phones has jumped from 5% (2009) to 70% (2012). As you may have noticed, buying a flip phone is almost impossible these days. I wanted to get a sense for how students are using their phones, besides making phone calls. Here is what 620 students said in March 2012:<br />
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- Browse the internet 72%<br />
- Text message 99.5%<br />
- Take pictures/videos 94.5%<br />
- Send/Receive email 62.8%<br />
- Watch videos 55.8%<br />
- Listen to music 60.3%<br />
- Read 28.0%<br />
- Access class materials 53.0%<br />
- Don't own a cell phone 0<br />
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There is a great deal going on here. It can be seen the the phone is the portal office and recreation center for most students. Keep in mind that this same survey showed growth in tablet ownership (18%, double what we saw in 2011), but this is not close to the Smart phone ownership numbers. We see that texting is preferred over email, no surprise. I am surprised that 53% of students surveyed use their phones to access course materials, including the learning management system (Blackboard). We only deployed Blackboard mobile in January 2012. I was also surprised that 28% said they use their phones to read. Personnally, I cannot imagine doing much reading on the cell screen. Perhaps this is for younger eyes. <br />
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Recreational use is also interesting to note. Taking pictures and videos (94.5%), watching videos (55.8%) and listening to music (60.3%)all show that the phone is for more that making calls and texting. I think these numbers show us how students are using their phones, but they may also show us how to communicate with them and how to shape a message, whether it be educational or informational. Colleges should be taking note as they think about communicating with prospects, creating and delivering courses and course materials, and marketing. The mobile is the device of choice.<br />Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9204541416139494261.post-74703183393027095512012-04-09T10:22:00.000-04:002012-04-09T13:35:58.061-04:00Trends in College Teaching and Learning 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d6SW8Y1fQIs/T4MZuwFhZ_I/AAAAAAAAAIg/F9iTxR-ELis/s1600/Instructional%252520Technology%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="192" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d6SW8Y1fQIs/T4MZuwFhZ_I/AAAAAAAAAIg/F9iTxR-ELis/s200/Instructional%252520Technology%255B1%255D.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This has been interesting year in the instructional technology world. Blackboard is still buying much of the competition. The latest being MoodleRooms. You can still use Moodle as your learning management system, but you have to either maintain it yourself or find another partner. Sakai is still going strong as one of the few remaining alternatives to Blackboard. Putting this aside, there are some major trends to watch with multiple vendors in each space. Regardless of the discipline, I think all areas of higher education should be looking at the following to extend their teaching and extending learning is THE major trend. Extending learing beyond the traditional classroom.<br />
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First, let me state that I am not talking about making major changes in the content of courses or suggesting that ALL faculty should be pressured into adopting any of the followign trends or technologies. These are personal choices that individual faculty have to make. Here is what I am seeing:<br />
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<b>Communication/Collaboration</b> - Collaboration outside the classroom is the biggest change I have seen in over 30 years in higher education. A few years back we have been amazed at the idea of answering student questions in virtual office hours; having students in traditonal classes collaborate online without regard to to time or distance; working with students or colleagues from other universities in real time or asychronous research or class projects; bringing virtual quest speakers into the classroom using Skype or some other free tool; continuing relationships made during study abroad experiences well after returning home with teleconferencing; creating a class or campus research publication with a tool like <a href="http://digitalcommons.bepress.com/">Digital Commons</a> or a class wiki; having creative writing students share their work with a personal blog; and creating short instructional videos with a cell phone or Flip camera. This list could go on. Notice that I did not mention Blackboard or other learning managment system (LMS) in this paragraph. The LMS has become a baseline toolset for teaching, but any of the tools noted above can be used without the LMS. <br />
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<b>Mobile Apps - </b> This is a really new space and largely undeveloped in my view. It has great potential, but the jury is still out. At the very least though colleges should have a campus level mobile strategy that includes a smart phone hehicle web site and access to the LMS. I have said before, ALL of your student prospects from this point on will likely get their first impression of your campus on their phones. The view had better be good and easy to navigate. I have to say that the <a href="http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Mobile/Products/Mobile-Learn.aspx">Blackboard Mobile Learn</a> product is easy to deploy and gets the job done in a flash. Your students can access their class pages and see grades, assignments, and even turn in an assignment all from their phone. Now that 70% of current undergraduates have smart phones, this is the bare minimum that a college can get by with. The next step is access to your student administrative systems. Within a year some basic access to grades, financial aid status, admissions application information, and perhaps bill payment will be expected. I would look for apps that can help student researchers to collect data, take photos, record audio interviews, and other data collecting activities. Speciality apps that can do all sorts of things will be available in short order. After all there are over 600,000 Apple apps already out there.<br />
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<b>Big Data -</b> This is the latest buzz phrase in IT referring to lots of data, as the name implies. Applied to higher education, I think big data refers to data warehousing and/or analytics used for decison making and of courses research. Here campuses have options. For analytics are their a host of analytics tools and dashboard type applications. The key question here is "what do you really need?". Most vendors are selling very slick user interfaces with green, yellow, and red lights and other cool do-dads. Frankly, I have not seen a campus use these to date. Most could do just as well with timely automated reports. I have not found a President whop really wants to look at an Admissions dashboard. Collecting lots of data and creating useable data models for decison IS adviseable, but it can be done in may ways. My advice, is to generate questions first and then find the data to answer the questions. I would also take a look at constituent relationship software like <a href="http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/products/higher_education_solution">Sales Force for Higher Education</a> (CRM) or <a href="http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Analytics/Overview.aspx">Blackboard Analytics</a>. Of course there are other products out there as well. Again, I suggest thinking about what you need and how you want to see it before buying. This will help you leverage your big data about potential and current students to make decisions, communicate, inform, and intervene at just the right moment. On the research side, things are even better. You can create virtual computing environments in a flash for on campus applications and you can rent space and computing cycles in the cloud for a very low price. Just for an example, chack out <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/s3/">Amazon </a> and for smaller storage needs <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/">drop box</a>. More on research tools later.<br />
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Communication, mobile, and big data are the hot items right now for higher education technology, in my view.<br />
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<br />Jerry Waldronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502768889290032440noreply@blogger.com0