Technology Breaks Down Barriers Across Campus
Some of the most innovative initiatives in higher education technology are happening at the edges. Boundaries are dissolving, and forward-thinking institutions are choosing to lean into that dissolution rather than resist it. The boundaries between IT and the rest of the campus, between institutions and their communities, and between the physical and the digital, are all coming down to ultimately extend learning opportunities beyond campus walls and help institutions meet their goals.
How Technology Is Breaking Down Boundaries
IT teams are taking their off-the-shelf software solutions and customizing them to fit their own needs and the needs of the entire campus, streamlining operations for students and staff. At the University of Notre Dame, the IT team has customized its ServiceNow platform to support and simplify initiatives across campus.
DISCOVER: CDW’s latest research report outlines how technology removes friction from the workplace.
University-led artificial intelligence literacy initiatives aimed at K–12 students dissolve the boundary between higher ed and the communities that feed it. Institutions such as the University of South Florida, Purdue University and Stanford University are connecting with K–12 students and teachers to build artificial intelligence literacy. By extending their expertise downward and outward, institutions are treating K–12 schools as partners in preparing the learners of tomorrow.
At Cleveland Institute of Art, the new Interactive Media Lab serves as a community resource in addition to an institutional one: Community organizations are invited to use the resources in the space. These digital production centers not only educate, they also feed local creative industries, providing two-way benefits for institutions and their communities.
The lines between physical and digital have been blurring for years in higher ed. In classroom technology, AV over IP is removing the boundary between infrastructure and the environment, turning audiovisual technology like displays and cameras into software-defined network endpoints. And in physical security, real-time security operations centers are using technology and data intelligence to enhance physical safety at and beyond the campus perimeter.
In technology leadership, the instinct is often to draw clear lines between systems, stakeholders and responsibilities. But the most consequential work being done right now lives precisely where those lines used to be.
