The Definitive Source for Information About IT Issues Effecting Higher Education

The Campus Computing Project.

Several weeks ago, it was my sincere pleasure to attend a dinner hosted Casey Green, the man behind the Campus Computing Project. For those who may not be familiar with this 20+ year old effort, it is an exemplary data collection, analysis, and reporting project focused on the use of IT in Higher Ed.

Learning about this work has been inspiring … it's a great example of what can come from a consistent, well thought out effort, over time.  The Campus Computing Project has generated a wealth of data, over a very long term, providing a treasure trove of insights. If you want to know how your institution compares to like institutions in terms of budget practices, major challenges, constituent perceptions, and more, this is the place you can turn to learn about it.

Below is a scattering of insights offered from the 2010 survey results, as discussed in this Educause video in which Green provides an overview of the report at an Educause conference (captured and delivered here using Sonic Foundry's MediaSite application, providing a viewing experience I enjoyed – watch it full screen). Some of these are eye-openers, while others simply confirm things you may have already been thinking. In either case, I believe this sampling of observations give a good sense of the breadth of information covered in this robust data.

• Most important IT issues in Higher Ed on 2010: The top-most slot was a tie between “Hiring/retaining qualified staff” and “Financing aging hardware/software”.
• There is a lot of ‘churn' in the structuring of IT units in academia, with nearly 60% having restrucuted in the last 2 years, or intendingd to in the next 2 years.
• 100% of the respondents reported that they are using a third party provider to provide Emergency Notification Services.
• Higher Education institutions are developing slowly in terms of Disaster Recovery planning.
• Moodle, Sakai, and DL2 are all gaining market share as customer migrate away from some older Blackboard versions, as their Blackboard contracts reach end of life.
• Another thing that was mentioned that I was particularly surprised by was that it was reported in a corresponding survey that the CIO is the operating officer for Online Education in many schools!

Note: To learn more about the make up of survey respondents, just watch the first 5 minutes or so of the video.

I look forward to immersing myself in the Executive Summaries available from the Campus Computing Project, and to making this wonderful resource a part of my ed tech information resource kit. 

In his closing Keynote at last month's Campus Technology 2011 conference, “The Fourth Decade of the ‘IT Revolution:' Continuing Challenges and Opportunities”, Green emphasized the need to “bring data to the conversation”. The Campus Computing project has surely bought data to the conversation in a big, big way. Thank you Casey Green!

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Collecting studies focused on the impact of Education Technologies