In This Issue Current Issue Archives

January, 2008

The Edutech Report - January, 2008 - Full Issue PDF
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Staying Ahead of Expectations in Academic Information Technology
By Thomas Warger
The satisfaction of needs might already seem daunting enough in the academic information technology scene, but in many ways the better chance for meeting the academic community’s expectations comes with staying ahead of them. Basically, those expectations keep moving, honoring the truism that change is constant in technology. It is also true that projects, programs, and services churned out by the IT organization usually seem static and incomplete compared to the constant flow of innovations happening elsewhere in the world of technology.

Quotes of the Month
Digital natives and immigrants; Future IT requirements

Newsbriefs
Free Yale Online Courses; New ECAR Study on Helpdesk Issues; EDUCAUSE Looking for Nominations; EDUCAUSE Looking for Nominations

The Monthly Staff Meeting
By Thomas Warger
The all-hands IT staff meeting is often a strange event. In even a small IT shop the staff are clustered in tight little specialty groups. Their paths rarely cross in the normal run of business. They are a group of people divided by a set of related but separate tasks. Some work in an intensively heads-down manner, watching over servers and disk farms or writing and revising code. Others are almost entirely outward-looking, answering helpdesk calls or solving equipment problems in classrooms.

Where to Find a CIO
By Thomas Warger
When the CIO position comes up vacant, where will the college or university find the replacement? Too often there is not a ready successor in place. The academic IT profession has done a terrible job of preparing for succession; too little effort has gone into the development and preparation of future CIOs. Sometimes a good prospect to step up to the top position will have to endure being passed over and look for that role elsewhere. In that case, at least the net outcome for the profession is good. And the double turnover at the original institution might have benefits of its own, namely a thorough change of leadership.

What Ails the Faculty Committee
By Thomas Warger
The faculty IT advisory committee has just had its last meeting of the semester. Of the four faculty members, only two showed up. Neither of the student reps attended. The agenda—put together the day before after an e-mail plea for topics from the CIO’s secretary—was thin at best. At least the meeting was short, and nobody had any real complaints to air.

Edutech Responds
computer lab signage; printing costs; communicating with students