EDUCAUSE | Leadership Development

Today's Clash of Cultures on College Campuses and the Role IT Needs to Play - Notes from a talk by Morris Beverage

llarsen — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:38:50 -0500

Today's Clash of Cultures on College Campuses and the Role IT Needs to Play
Morris Beverage
President, Lakeland Community College
General Session, EDUCAUSE Enterprise Information and Technology Conference, May 2008

Abstract:
Campuses today face a growing number of clashing cultures. Faculty struggle with traditional methods of teaching in an environment where demands for flexibility and convenience are rising. Learners increasingly treat a college degree like a commodity. Battles rage over resources allocation. Politicians are exerting influence on campus operations and outcomes. This session will address these issues and the role IT departments need to play to help higher education not just survive, but thrive.
Podcast and PowerPoint available at http://net.educause.edu/ENT08/Program/14535?PRODUCT_CODE=ENT08/GS03

Notes

Beverage began his talk with a look at two cultures the sociological transformations versus the technological transformations happening today. He described the sociological transformations as "it's an "us" vs "them" world now in higher education" but we have to understand who are "us" and who are "them" in this scenario.

Beginning with the evolutions of service paradigms, he described the
instructional paradigm where an institution exists to provide "me" with instruction ( student's perspective)
Vs
Learning Paradigm where an institution exists to provide "me" with a learning opportunity (customer perspective)
Vs
Commodity Paradigm where an institution exists to provide "me" with a degree (consumer perspective)

Students became customers and then moved to the commodity paradigm.

The impact on faculty includes

Expectations of seamless transferability
Expectations of "convenience" factor
Expectations of faculty access and responsiveness
Beverage quoted Aimee Luebben "Some students enter universities believing that the fast-food principals of convenience, on-demand, and instant response can be generalized to education"
They want a faculty's email address, cell phone, etc...

He discussed the impact of student evaluations that can drive the teaching process and mentioned www.ratemyprofessors.com where faculty are rated on quality, easiness, and sexiness
Studies found that students gave sexy professors higher quality and easiness scores than non-sexy professors.

On the technology side, faculty feel administrative pressure to expand the use of technology within their instructional activities and must do so with

insufficient professional development opportunities
inadequate training on new technology
unclear expectations

He said the cost of technology must be calculated on hardware costs and soft costs which includes training. The soft costs are more than ½ the total costs.

Beverage offered a game show of questions from a 2005 survey of college and university presidents done by the Chronicle

#1 presidents' main concern is Money - funding, costs, costs, costs
#2 whom do presidents meet with weekly - CFO
#3 what do presidents feel they are most unprepared to do - fundraising
#4 over 96% agreed they'd rather spend their time golfing

About us - the Higher Education environment

Higher education serves the 'economy'
Increasing emphasis on workforce development
Much emphasis on where and what research will get funding
[He said that Thomas Friedman, the journalist, is impacting public policy. In Ohio, where Beverage is from, politicians read Friedman's book last year - it may have been the only one they did read.]
Spellings commission report talks about a change from a system primarily based on reputations to one based on performance (accountability, meeting expectations, outcomes)

Beverage indicated that the relationships between academia, industry, and the state were once distinct but now lines are blurred so that these now overlap particularly in issues of governance.
He believes there has been an erosion of the idea of the public good of education.

We now have a changing culture within higher education

Consumers who used to be students have become transactional (as in commerce). Examples included:

Fee for services (tuition for a degree)
Demand for alternative delivery options
Higher education as a "for-profit" enterprise

There is increasing litigation from students including a rapid increase in tort litigation and Student bills of rights.

Beverage talked about student consumerism via results of a survey done by Delucchi & Korgen in 2002.

73.3% would take course in which "I would learn a little or nothing but would receive and A"
52.6% believe "It is the instructors responsibility to keep me attentive in class"
42.5 % "said if I pay - I'm entitled to a degree"
23.6% said "Instructor should take into account the degree that I need in a class"

He also described the contractual relationship as is being defined in the courts and gave some data on cheating:

17,401 students at 19 schools participated in a survey where
50% have observed cheating
54% believe if they cheated their friends or fellow students would not disapprove
73% would not report cheating they observed
41% worked on an assignment with others when the instructor asked for individual work
32% copied (by hand or in person) another student's homework
32% paraphrased or copied a few sentences from an Internet source without citing the work
30% paraphrased or copied a few sentences from a book or other hardcopy media (not electronic/web-based) without citing the source

He also noted that reports show that women who switch into technology majors cheat more than women who are in general education majors - this was in order to get better grades which would lead to better jobs.

Beverage asked: Are we looking at two competing cultures that can be balanced or do we need to look at an integrated view of these cultures. Much transition has taken place because of technological and much from demands on society. He cited Bruno La Tour's Aramus; or the love of technology "Socio-techno-logical systems never fail for lack of technology, they always fail for social reasons.

The key, Beverage said, was if you want to live long and happy lives you must be able to tell "us" in our language what "we" need to know. You must translate the technological problem and give the solution but in not technical language. His example was:

sociological problem - Cheating on online exams -> convert it into->
technological problem - technology makes it easier -> and identify->
technology solutions - use lockdown browser to prevent access to other sites/disable printing, selecting, copying -> restate->
sociological solution - "control the process"

His second example was:

sociological problem - communicating with ALL stakeholders in an emergency-> convert it into
technological problem - array of technologies available, timeliness issue, not knowing what resources will be available -> and identify
technological solution - develop comprehensive system to broadcast to all -> restate->
sociological solution - relevant effective and timely info is provided to all stakeholders at appropriate times during an emergency

Beverage says that we must deal with and articulate with the social issues when we communicate with our stakeholders.

His take-home message was to forget more computer classes if you want to impact your career because the study of business is the study of systems but the study of management is the study of people.

Beverage's list of competencies needed by IT professionals include:

Ability to think strategically from both sociological and technological perspectives
Strong leadership, communication, customer service skills
Ability to create and manage strategic partnerships
Understand change and how to take advantage of the opportunities that change affords
Must be a self-directed constant learner - develop your learning skills

During the Q&A period he added the following point.
Rigor is still critically important. We want to do more than graduate students. We want to graduate students who can succeed.

======
Podcast and PowerPoint available at http://net.educause.edu/ENT08/Program/14535?PRODUCT_CODE=ENT08/GS03

E07 Podcast: Things I’ve Screwed Up—and How! - Greg Jackson

gbayne — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:05:49 -0600

In this 35 minute podcast, we feature a speech by Greg Jackson, Vice President and CIO for the University of Chicago. This speech was recorded at the EDUCAUSE 2007 Conference in Seattle, Washington and is entitled, "Things I’ve Screwed Up—and How!".

The abstract:

Recognitions, awards, best practices, best of breed: so engaging, so uplifting, so motivating, so prominently covered. Failures, frustrations, firings, misdirection: so off-putting, so depressing, so demoralizing, so rarely covered. The literature on quality improvement and economist Paul Ormerod’s Why Most Things Fail contend that progress and quality improvement require that we not only seek success but also avoid failure, and therefore that we understand both. In this session, Jackson will offer a different perspective by reflecting on some mishaps and why they occurred.
WINNER: 2007 EDUCAUSE Leadership Award. Award sponsored by SunGard Higher Education, An EDUCAUSE Platinum Partner.

2008 Southwest Conference Will Address Empowering Community Through Technology

cluckett — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:44:00 -0600

The 2008 Southwest Regional Conference, "Empowering Community Through Technology," will be held February 20–22 in Houston, Texas. View the program and register by January 23 to save money with low, early-bird rates.

Jean E. Engle, chief knowledge officer, NASA/Johnson Space Center, will present a general session (topic TBA) on Friday, February 22.

The conference will focus on these topic areas:

Empowering Our Teaching and Learning Communities
Leading the Charge for Change
Making IT Work: The Confluence of Technology, People, and Expectations
Corporate and Campus Solutions

View the list of speakers, who will address pertinent topics such as IT governance structure recommendations, succession planning for CIOs, tracking assessment data for general education, and active learning with mobile and wireless technologies. In addition, half-day preconference seminars will cover topics such as blended learning, effective leadership strategies, and privacy practices for academic organizations.

E07 Podcast: Frye Institute Overview

kellywalker — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:40:05 -0600

This 40-minute podcast recorded during the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference features Brian L. Hawkins, President, EDUCAUSE, Edward Kelty, CIO/Dean Information Services, Rio Salado College, Ann Kovalchick, Deputy CIO and Executive Director, Academic Technology, Tulane University, Greg Marrow, Chief Information Officer, North Carolina Central University, and Lisa Trubitt, Assistant to the CIO for Policy & Communications, University at Albany, SUNY providing a "Frye Institute Overview."

The session abstract:

This session provides an overview and background on the Frye Leadership Institute. Participants in the 2007 Institute will offer their comments and observations, and there will be an opportunity for the audience to ask questions and engage in discussion of this special professional development opportunity.

E07 Podcast: IT Leadership and the Role of the CIO - The Annual Gartner/EDUCAUSE Update

kellywalker — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:50:02 -0600

This 49-minute podcast recorded during the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference features Michael R. Zastrocky, VP & Research Director/Academic Strategies, Gartner, Inc. speaking on IT Leadership and the Role of the CIO: The Annual Gartner/EDUCAUSE Update.

The session abstract:

As higher education institutions face a growing shortage of IT leaders, some executives question the need for a CIO while others see this role expanding. During this annual Gartner/EDUCAUSE update, we will look at the role of the CIO and how it has evolved, along with current and future institutional needs for IT leadership. We will also look at how institutions can prepare for the next generation of IT leaders and future models for IT governance.

E07 Podcast: An Interview with Robert Renaud

kellywalker — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:03:50 -0600

In this 16-minute podcast, we feature an interview with Robert Renaud, Vice President and CIO, Dickinson College He discusses the future of and challenges facing Enterprise Resource Planning systems as well as leadership in a time of change.

E07 Podcast: Brian Hawkins - Learning To Drive (and Other Lessons Learned Along the Way)

gbayne — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:11:20 -0600

In November of 2006, Brian Hawkins, EDUCAUSE President, announced his plans to retire from the presidency of EDUCAUSE at the end of the 2007•2008 academic year. At the 2007 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, he was asked to share the important lessons he has learned in his nearly 40-year career in higher education regarding management, leadership, and professional life. In this 42-minute podcast of that address, entitled "Learning To Drive (and Other Lessons Learned Along the Way)", he discusses issues including personnel management, professional development, and how to map a course for good leadership and a successful career.

What I missed at Educause

smiltenb — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:54:46 -0500

I was really looking forward to hearing more about Microsoft Live@Edu, communication strategies (texting, portal and othe web services), LMS and organizational strategies for IT units at other colleges. But I didn't make it out to Seattle this year because we are getting ready to meet our first milestone for MICA Connected.On Monday we will release Oracle/PeopleSoft Campus Solutions 9.0 to our community. Along with CS 9.0 we are upgrading our Oracle/PeopleSoft portal and with a entirely new approach to branding and integration with our main web site.I'm optimistic that after we launch these new systems on Monday I'll have some time to catch up on all the news from Educause 2007.

EDUCAUSE 2007 Update--No Walk-In Registration in Seattle

lgesner — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:53:10 -0500

There will be NO walk-in registration on site in Seattle.

Due to a record-breaking response and space limitations in the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, EDUCAUSE 2007, October 23–26 in Seattle, Washington is SOLD OUT, and online registration was closed on September 19, 2007. Please note that participant name badges will be checked for entry to conference sessions. View additional information about hotels and how to follow conference happenings on the EDUCAUSE 2007 Web site.

EDUCAUSE 2007 Conference in Seattle Has Sold Out

lgesner — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:16:16 -0500

Due to a record-breaking response, the EDUCAUSE 2007 conference, October 23–26 in Seattle, Washington, is now SOLD OUT. For more information, please see the EDUCAUSE 2007 Web site.