Educause, Pedagogy and Support
Educause, Pedagogy and Support
The Educause 2012 conference has recently taken place in Denver, Colorado, it may of interest that they broadcast a series of public webcasts
The public webcasts can be found here;
Educause is the representative body for IT and IT related issues in Higher Education form a largely North American viewpoint, their website is;
Another good source of North American views on Higher Education & IT related issues can be found at;
From my own experiences of working of Higher Education in the USA I believe it’s always of value to take note of our counter parts in North America, especially in terms of essential changes in the delivery and servicing of Higher Education from both a private and state funded perspective.
As the new normal dictates it’s not all about IT but it is all about where pedagogy leads IT. IT and related services have to go where the pedagogy leads, this may well be uncomfortable for some but it is an essential element of the current pace of change in learning and social practice.
For leaders of technology in Higher Education this is a big change and as a result has seen more innovation and controlled risk taking appearing within the learning organisation than ever before.
Change is apparent within UK Higher Education some CIO’s and IT Directors have embraced this change while others have stayed firmly within strict parameters of activity. There is a risk to doing nothing, as IT services and networks become ever more reliable and resilient then the function of ‘the IT Department’ comes into question and instead of becoming a thriving organisation where innovation is normal the IT department becomes nothing more than an autonomous monitoring function.
There is an on-going reshaping of the role of the CIO and IT Director in Higher Education it’s no longer the case to be able to manage a complex IT enterprise, it’s also key to understand learning and teaching, regional and national and international economic values, social and political trends and very good customer services.
