Strategize Your Strategy: Planning for the Year Ahead
Amid a tumultuous outlook for higher education, 2026 will require institutions to join together many different people and disparate parts, find common purpose, and agree on what matters most and how best to move forward.
Technology and data professionals can sustain the rapid rate of change by recognizing and intervening as teams address change fatigue, making human connections across the institution, and adapting data and analytics strategies to serve institutional missions.
Sustain Change
As change fatigue becomes more widespread in higher education, leaders need better ways to recognize when their teams are depleted so they can respond effectively. The Energy-Commitment Model offers a framework for guiding timely interventions that restore capacity and sustain change efforts.
Make Connections
Alongside their ongoing nurturing of institutions' technologies and data, technology leaders will also be nurturing connections among and between the people at their institutions—their senior leaders, staff, faculty, and students. The 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 highlights how higher education technology and data leaders can foster a collective will and support individual capabilities—two deeply connected actions that will help institutions thrive in the year ahead.
Build your skills in the EDUCAUSE Senior Directors Institute: January 2026
Adapt Data
Data and analytics continue to serve as a critical foundation for institutional strategy, decision-making, and student success in higher education. Indeed, with the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence, data and analytics have never been more pivotal or complex. The future of institutional effectiveness, student success, and innovation will hinge on how colleges and universities adapt their data strategies to this changing environment.
Explore the 2025 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report | Data and Analytics Edition
Register for the EDUCAUSE Data Literacy Institute: February 2026
Showcase Webinar
Join the EDUCAUSE Showcase Webinar | Strategize Your Strategy: Planning for the Year Ahead at 1 pm ET on December 8 to learn from institutional and industry experts as they explore the key trends, challenges, and opportunities facing higher education and how to plan ahead to thrive amid uncertainty.
Preparing for the year ahead doesn’t stop here. Continue on to find additional resources and insights from your peers, industry experts, and EDUCAUSE.
Hear from the Community and Analysts
Feed Your Curiosity
Hear from Your Peers in EDUCAUSE Review
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Cathy Bates and Susan Featherston, "Leading Change Management: A Conversation with CIOs and Finance Leaders"
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Todd Kreuger, "Elevating IT: An Intentional Journey of Transformation"
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Mustafa Akben, Klara Jelinkova, and Sarah Buszka, EDUCAUSE Exchange, "How Is AI Shaping Institutional Resilience?" [podcast]
- Jason Maslanka and Ed Puckett, EDUCAUSE Shop Talk, "The Modern Era of IT Strategic Planning" [podcast]
Dive into the Research
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Mark McCormack, Jenay Robert, and Sean Burns, "Establishing ROI for Evaluating Edtech Tools," EDUCAUSE Review [case study]
Attend Professional Learning Events
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Learning Lab | Integrating AI Literacy Into Your Teaching Practice: January, 2026
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Learning Lab | Using Instructional Design to Drive Collaboration: February, 2026
Continue the Conversation in Community Groups
Bookmark EDUCAUSE Library Pages
Meet the Industry Experts
Learn from Germán Freiwald, Industry Solutions and Strategy Senior Director, Education, Salesforce in this quick clip.
Learn from Mark Sparvell, Director Education, Microsoft Corporation, in this quick clip.
Don’t miss the next Showcase.
We hope you enjoyed the 2025 EDUCAUSE Showcase Series. Next year, we’ll continue exploring the issues identified in the EDUCAUSE Top 10. Stay tuned for the Collaborative Cybersecurity Showcase launching in February 2026!
Note
- Gartner, 2026 CIO and Technology Executive Agenda: The A.R.T. of Strategic Pivots in a Turbulent World, By Daniel Sanchez Reina et. al, 13 October 2025.
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
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