The Bulletin: Business Intelligence in Education
Campus IT leaders, university administrators, professors and students all rely heavily on data to do their jobs, glean new insights or simply plan smarter. Others are just beginning to explore how business intelligence (BI) can enhance higher education.
Technology Insights — a new app available from CDW — is designed to educate and engage all types of users when it comes to BI. Multimedia assets are organized and tailored to three user profiles: Novices will find the content available along the "Apprentice" track especially helpful, whereas tech-savvy IT leaders will benefit most from content provided along the "Early Adopter" and "Expert" tracks.
What's your BI profile? Which resources will facilitate your BI journey? Find out by scanning the QR code here, or visit edtechmag.com/higher/app.
Today's IT Workforce
The EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research (ECAR) recently released "Today's Higher Education IT Workforce," a comprehensive look at the makeup of today's IT workforce (gender, age and ethnicity) in addition to the economic climate, required skills and state of hiring in higher education IT.
Among the report's key findings:
- Non-CIO IT professionals at doctoral institutions make $11,000–$26,000 more than their counterparts at other institutions.
- Overall staffing levels are holding steady or increasing slightly; however, nearly one-fifth (18 percent) of IT professionals are at high risk for leaving their current positions.
- Benefits and quality of life are the top factors keeping IT professionals at their institutions. (Those factors were rated more highly than compensation.)
- CIOs who are a member of their president's cabinet spend more time participating in and shaping the strategic initiatives of their institution.
To download the full report, visit edtechmag.com/higher/ECARworkforce.
How Big Are Your Pipes?
Three out of four colleges and universities surveyed for the 2014 Association for College & University Technology Advancement/NACUBO/ACUHO-I State of ResNet Report allow an unlimited number of devices to be connected to the residential network. Respondents also are increasing bandwidth across the board.
This year's data show a significant jump in the number of institutions offering 1 gigabit per second, and a continuing decline in those providing slower connection speeds.
SOURCE: Valore Books and TestMy.net, "Higher Ed Hotspots: Comparing University Internet Speeds," June 2014
Social Barometer: Networked Learning
“When I hear about a great new edu website, I first check its terms of use. If it isn't openly licensed, I think, 'that's too bad' and move on." @opencontent (David Wiley, Co-Founder and Chief Academic Officer, Lumen Learning, Portland, Ore.)
“Mobile pedagogy needs to find meaningful mobile learning analytic insights (#xAPI?) #nlc2014." @Ignatia (Ignatia Inge deWaard, mobile learning and MOOCs researcher, The Open University, Milton-Keynes, U.K.)
“'President said we need a MOOC.' — #SixWordStory #edtech" @amichaelberman (A. Michael Berman, Vice President for Technology and Communication, California State University, Channel Islands, Camarillo, Calif.)
“Technology itself isn't amazing. It's what it allows you to do that you couldn't do before that holds value, that is amazing. #edcampusa" @web20classroom (Steven W. Anderson, educator, speaker and blogger, Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Mobility Mayhem?
Sign up for EdTech's Sept. 25 webinar, "Smart Mobile Management," to learn more about what is needed to support the myriad devices now converging on campus IT environments, incorporating mobile device management solutions to ensure greater security and oversight, and infrastructure solutions that work.
For more information, visit edtechmag.com/higher/MDM.
