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Today to Envision Tomorrow The Future of Enterprise Academic Computing Systems by Matthew Pittinsky Proud of its heritage as the birthplace of a multitude of information technology advances, higher education has solidified its role as one of the most wired industries in America. Historically, universities have spent the lion's share of their information technology funds on hardware, network infrastructure and administrative software packages. Over the last 10 years, a mature group of financial systems, human resources systems and student information systems have emerged to manage operational functions ranging from payroll to admissions to alumni relations. Indeed, students at residential campuses -- an increasing number of which require personal computers -- benefit from access to an IT infrastructure that in many cases will be the most advanced they ever experience throughout their lives. With the motto "one port per pillow" ingrained in campus speeches, it is clear that universities have spent the last 10 years investing in information technology. But what's less clear is why. The scenario is all too familiar to readers of this magazine: million-dollar-plus implementations of administrative systems, extensive wiring of campus facilities, and virtually no change in how teaching and learning is engaged both inside the classroom and outside. Described by some campus CIOs as the "Back Office hangover," the specter of recreational computing and other non-academic uses of technology has administrators wondering where the next generation of priorities for IT should be. Enterprise Academic Computing To be sure, some institutions have made headlines by developing extensive applications that provide an academic intranet to support course activities. In perhaps the most widely cited example, the Harvard Business School spent approximately $11 million creating an enterprise-grade academic computing platform. Since HBS completed its project in 1997, an entire marketplace of homegrown and off-the-shelf systems has grown to meet what many consider the next big IT wave in higher education -- enterprise academic computing. From helping faculty create simple course Web sites, to providing discussion boards and chat rooms for continued discussions outside the classroom, to creating online multimedia distance learning courses, the impact of the Internet has created a compelling need to refocus institutional priorities on how technology can enhance our core mission of teaching and learning. We see six key pressures that have given rise to the emerging enterprise academic computing imperative. Defining each challenge is critical if institutional leaders are to shape appropriate and effective requirements and deployment strategies. 1. Pressure to improve instructional quality. The ultimate goal of all higher education institutions is to provide effective, quality academic programs. Researchers have found that the addition of online elements to a course increases student motivation and participation in class discussions and projects. Online communication also provides an additional layer of instructor accessibility. Web-based learning environments permit the instructor to deliver a course in the classroom, and make available a variety of customized resources, allowing students to utilize materials in whichever way works best for them. By providing a Web site that enables reinforcement, communication and collaboration, instructors provide a broader and more accessible environment to their course outside regular sessions. 2. Pressure to unify disparate academic computing resources. Today's academic computing landscape looks a lot like administrative computing did prior to recent investments in enterprise administrative computing. Institutions are relying on a mix of fragmented home-grown and small-scale products, few of them capable of integration, and all of them requiring extensive training and support costs. Little uniformity exists across courses for the student in terms of basic tools, and the ultimate result is low usage and high costs. For many university CIOs, the fragmented nature of academic computing platforms has created an unsustainable environment for delivering effective services. Unifying content resources in a digital library, unifying the framework of course Web sites, and tying academic computing into the administrative systems for course and student information are all key priorities. 3. Pressure to demonstrate return on network investment. It's never long before the rallying cry of a networked academy gives rise to one simple question: How does a university's network enhance teaching and learning? Universities have long operated as consensus communities consisting of administrators, faculty, students, trustees and alumni. As the initial euphoria of laying cables wears off, renewed attention is being placed on achieving a return on network investments. Academic computing investments provide universities with a dramatic layer of new functionality that is clear, tangible and compelling for key university constituencies. At a fraction of traditional hardware and back-office investments, faculty can use the Web in their teaching, students have access to course resources 24 hours a day, study groups can work together on campus and off, and much more. Today's students expect more than network access; they expect network usage. 4. Pressure to reach more students. With the increasing ubiquity of information technology -- Internet, video, audio -- the traditional barrier to delivering courses to greater numbers of students located in places beyond the physical campus has become compelling. Course management systems enable universities to create, deliver and manage their courses utilizing Internet technologies to reach more students. The pressure to reach more students has two key components. First, states like Utah project student increases on the order of 100%, yet the system literally can't build twice the number of campuses. In this case, adopting academic computing systems allows the university to distribute access to its courses across the state via a common technology platform. Second, for more entrepreneurial-minded institutions, virtual campuses can deliver high-margin programs like an executive MBA, which provide much-needed new revenues, without incurring additional facilities overhead. For-profit institutions such as the University of Phoenix are creating competitive pressures by offering programs in the backyards of traditional campuses. As such, an investment in academic computing can be viewed as an investment in reaching a bigger marketplace of learners. 5. Pressure to lower costs in delivery of instruction. As readers of this magazine know, research sponsored by Educom (now EDUCAUSE) and NLII suggests that investments in academic computing can reduce labor costs from 96% of the budget in a traditional lecture format to 84% of the budget in a technology-supported course. This reduction leads to longer term savings in turn, since labor costs usually rise more rapidly than technology costs. As part of a reengineering effort at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), according to the research, the Institute found that the biggest part of RPI's instructional cost was personnel driven -- both faculty and support staff cost. By leveraging more technology to improve productivity, RPI ultimately saved money. Another major financial issue for tuition-sensitive colleges and universities is student retention. Educom developed an analytic model to test this theory, and found that savings were realized both through increased class size (i.e., gains in the number of students that can be served) and in higher retention and greater student achievement (e.g., a 68% completion rate compared to a 50% completion rate in traditional classes). Leveraging only the classroom, desks, lectures and a blackboard to facilitate the learning process is clearly a one-size-fits-all proposition that will never appeal to the full range of students that colleges and universities seek to serve. 6. Pressure to meet customer expectations. Never underestimate the subtle (and not so subtle) influence of students. With 5.3 million students arriving on college campuses every fall equipped with personal computers, the demand for universities to leverage technology in the delivery of classes is a critical consumer demand. Today's students are Web-savvy and expect to be able to plug in to university resources as part of their curriculum. It is students, oftentimes, who are the deciding factor in why faculty use the Web and other technologies in their teaching. Envisioning the Future Advocates of academic computing have long buttressed their arguments with both instructional and financial arguments for why their institutions need to finally focus on the "other side" of MIS offices. Progress consistently has been made, but with the mass market impact of the Internet and campus networks, the imperative to focus on academic computing has finally reached critical mass. Partners like University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Tufts University, University of Pittsburgh and Cornell University all have seen record usage of the Web by instructors and a generally contagious interest in leveraging academic computing resources as a regular component of the teaching and learning process. Perhaps it has taken years of spending millions of dollars wiring classrooms and residence halls, and installing enterprise-grade administrative software systems, to finally illustrate the critical role of academic computing. The pressure to reach new students, realize return on network investments, lower the cost of delivering instruction, meet customer demand and improve instructional quality are all vital forces shaping the development of a new breed of enterprise academic computing projects. By understanding these needs, we can better envision the future of higher education on campus, at work and at home. Matthew Pittinsky is chairman and co-founder of Blackboard Inc., which provides platforms for teaching and learning over the Internet. matthew@Blackboard.net |
