The EDUCAUSE 2022 Top 10 IT Issues take an optimistic view of how technology can help make the higher education we deserve—through a shared transformational vision and strategy for the institution, a recognition of the need to place students' success at the center, and a sustainable business model that has redefined "the campus."
"There will never be a return to what we knew as
normal," a university president stated during one of this year's IT Issues
leadership interviews.Here, as we begin another year of the
COVID-19 pandemic, we all recognize that the higher education we knew will not
return. The past two years have served as an inflection point at which the
much-discussed and much-debated transformation of higher education has
accelerated and proliferated.
Another
leader, a chancellor, said: "The best opportunity is to redefine education
right now. What does higher education look like in a post-COVID world?"
The leaders we interviewed are not reflexively reacting to the changes in the
world and simply watching their institutions adapt in response. Instead, they
are redefining the value proposition of higher education by reshaping
institutional business models and culture to anticipate and serve the current
and emerging needs of learners, communities, and employers. Rather than working
to restore the higher education we had, they are creating the higher education
we deserve.
What is the
higher education we deserve? One leader emphasized transformed teaching and
learning: "I believe that we have the opportunity to reconceptualize how
it is that we are no longer going to be in front of the classroom but, instead,
we're going to be facilitators of knowledge."
Another
leader described a more "customer"-focused institution:
"Universities are going to have to become increasingly commercially-minded
and agile and adjust much more to what students want and to what employers and
governments are asking from higher education as well. The successful
institutions will be the learning institutions that are able to respond more
dynamically and be more agile in terms of their response, compared with those
universities that are less reflective, less able to change."
Another
president emphasized the need for colleges and universities to differentiate
themselves. "One of the criticisms of higher education is that it is
excessively homogenous. There is substantially less choice for people who want
to engage with higher education than you might expect. We need to start carving
out areas of very distinctive expertise and advantage and then plug those, in a
modular way, into much bigger programs of work. I think the biggest
transformation will be the move away from the cookie-cutter institutions that
attempt to be all things to all people toward players who really carve out and
dominate more spaces. And I think that's going to be a tricky journey."
Each leader
defined the new higher education a bit differently, but all recognized that the
higher education we deserve cannot be created without technology. In fact, for
the first time ever, most leaders spoke of technology not as a separate set of
issues but as a driver and enabler of, and occasional risk to, their strategic
agenda.
The 2022 Top
10 IT Issues describe the way technology is helping to make the higher
education we deserve.2 Making the higher education we
deserve begins with developing a shared transformational vision and strategy
that guides the digital transformation (Dx) work of the institution. The
ultimate aim is an institution with a technology-enabled, sustainable business
model that has redefined "the campus," operates efficiently, and
anticipates and addresses major new risks. Successfully moving along the path
from vision to sustainability involves recognizing that no institution can be
successful and sustainable without placing students' success at the center,
which includes understanding how and why to equitably incorporate technology
into learning and the student experience.
2022
Top 10 IT Issues
- #1. Cyber
Everywhere! Are We Prepared?: Developing processes and
controls, institutional infrastructure, and institutional workforce skills
to protect and secure data and supply-chain integrity
- #2. Evolve
or Become Extinct: Accelerating digital transformation to
improve operational efficiency, agility, and institutional workforce
development
- #3. Digital
Faculty for a Digital Future: Ensuring faculty have the
digital fluency to provide creative, equitable, and innovative engagement
for students
- #4. Learning
from COVID-19 to Build a Better Future: Using digitization and
digital transformation to produce technology systems that are more
student-centric and equity-minded
- #5. The
Digital versus Brick-and-Mortar Balancing Game: Creating a
blended campus to provide digital and physical work and learning spaces
- #6. From
Digital Scarcity to Digital Abundance: Achieving full,
equitable digital access for students by investing in connectivity, tools,
and skills
- #7. The
Shrinking World of Higher Education or an Expanded Opportunity? Developing
a technology-enhanced post-pandemic institutional vision and value
proposition
- #8. Weathering
the Shift to the Cloud: Creating a cloud and SaaS strategy
that reduces costs and maintains control
- #9. Can
We Learn from a Crisis? Creating an actionable
disaster-preparation plan to capitalize on pandemic-related cultural
change and investments
- #10. Radical
Creativity: Helping students prepare for the future by giving
them tools and learning spaces that foster creative practices and
collaborations
Monday, November 1, 2021
