Roadmaps

This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the 2008 study, Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship , by Mark C. Sheehan. The ECAR research study explores higher education’s involvement in five areas of research-related information technologies: high-performance computing resources, cyberinfrastructure applications and tools, data storage and management resources, advanced network infrastructure resources, and resources for collaboration within virtual communities. The report, which is based on results of a quantitative survey of 369 U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities and consultation with cyberinfrastructure experts and 12 university executives and technical staff members, discusses who uses, who provides, and who funds cyberinfrastructure resources as well as how important each technology is and will be to research and teaching.

This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the 2008 study, IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice, by Mark R. Nelson. This ECAR research study was designed in collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges to analyze the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise in medical schools and colleges. As the potential of biotechnology, proteomics, informatics, computational genomics, and other IT-intensive disciplines continue to offer breakthroughs in medicine, research in these fields requires greater and higher-level technology resources for infrastructure as well as IT support and services. The study is based on the results of a January 2007 web-based survey sent to 125 medical schools and colleges in the United States, as well as qualitative interviews with leaders at 10 institutions.

This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the 2007 study, Service on the Front Line: The IT Helpdesk in Higher Education. The study explores the information technology (IT) help desk as a complex enterprise operating within a dynamic environment that includes the goals and culture of the central IT organization, the resources and services of the help desk, service level agreements between help desks and their clients, practices for evaluating and improving help desk services, and the perceived success of the help desk organization. Findings are related to the principles and practices of IT service management literature, and they are based on a literature review to identify issues and establish the research questions, consultation with selected higher education chief information officers, a quantitative survey of IT administrators at 454 colleges and universities in the EDUCAUSE database, qualitative interviews with 36 executives at 24 institutions, and four case studies about help desk and service management practices at a total of five higher education institutions.

This roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007. A longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, and 2006 ECAR studies of students and information technology, this 2007 study reports noticeable changes from previous years. It is based on quantitative data from a spring 2007 survey and interviews with 27,846 freshman, senior, and community college students at 103 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies these students use, own, and experience; their technology behaviors, preferences, and skills; how IT impacts their experiences in their courses; and their perceptions of the role of IT in the academic experience.

This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the 2007 study, IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources. The study explores multi-institutional collaboration in terms of the types of information technology (IT) collaborations in higher education and the practices associated with positive outcomes. It is based on a literature review to identify issues and develop research questions; a screening survey of 586 colleges and universities to distinguish collaborators from non-collaborators; a follow-up survey tailored for 157 institutions presently engaged in at least one form of collaboration and a separate follow-up survey tailored for 113 institutions that have elected not to participate in IT collaborations; qualitative interviews with IT leaders from 30 institutions including both collaborators and non-collaborators; consultation with a select group of chief information officers who are extensively engaged in collaboration; and two in-depth case studies that look at how collaborators form, manage, and sustain their ventures.

This roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the 2007 ECAR study, Shelter from the Storm: IT and Business Continuity in Higher Education. The study looks at IT unit readiness to foster and support the functioning of colleges and universities that are challenged by disruption. Responding to a well-documented increase of interest in business continuity and disaster recovery issues among higher education chief information officers (CIOs), ECAR designed the study to inform executives about how institutions approach continuity issues and to identify practices that are associated with good business continuity outcomes.

This roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2006. A longitudinal extension of the 2004 and 2005 ECAR studies of students and information technology, this 2006 study is based on quantitative data from nearly 29,000 freshman and senior students at 96 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies today's students are using, with what levels of skill they are using them, how IT use contributes to the undergraduate experience, and what value the use of IT adds in terms of learning.

This roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the ECAR study, Safeguarding the Tower: IT Security in Higher Education 2006. When ECAR studied IT security in 2003, we discovered that despite efforts to develop a secure IT infrastructure in higher education, uneven management awareness and a culture that equated good IT security with the curtailment of academic freedom constrained IT security options and choices. The results of this 2006 study of IT security in higher education demonstrate that there has been a sea change in less than three years. This study not only assesses the current condition of IT security practice, but documents changes in practice over time among a constant set of respondents. Among 492 total survey respondents, fully 204 institutions responded to both the 2003 and the 2005 surveys.

This ECAR Roadmap explores the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise. To collect, analyze, and distribute information across an expanding range academic disciplines and geographic locations, research efforts rely heavily on IT infrastructure, people, and a broad range of IT services. Ever-larger data sets are being collected and shared, simulations and visualization are becoming routine tools, and the co-evolution of science and computing increasingly requires scientists to have solid grounding in information management.

This ECAR research study illuminates findings from a survey of identity management practices in higher education. In addition to exploring the adoption of identity management technologies, the study examines the importance institutions place on the benefits of identity management and their ability to deliver those benefits; the motivations that drive institutions to adopt identity management and the challenges they face; the policies and plans being prepared to support identity management; how identity management projects are organized and what resources and staff are dedicated to them; and the factors that influence good outcomes in identity management investment and capability. The study is based on a literature review, consultation with a select group of individuals representing organizations involved in identity management, survey responses from 403 higher education institutions, and qualitative interviews with 36 executives and IT personnel from 24 institutions. A corporate edition is available here.

Since the 1980s, higher education has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on administrative technologies to improve access to information. Institutions implemented new enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, data marts, data warehouses, and technologies to improve reporting. This roadmap analyzes the outcomes at more than 380 higher education institutions. It looks at what the chosen strategies have accomplished, in what ways institutions use the data they collect, whether institutions are investing more resources in tools that enable them to collect and manipulate management information, and the degree to which information and analysis are being used to support institutional decision making.

A longitudinal extension of the 2004 ECAR study of Students and Information Technology, this 2005 roadmap is based on quantitative data from over 18,000 freshmen and senior students at 63 higher education institutions. It focuses on what kinds of information technologies today's students are using, with what levels of skill they are using them, how information technology use contributes to the undergraduate experience, and what value the use of IT adds in terms of learning. The roadmap also provides a review of and comparison with the 2004 ECAR study of students and IT and the 2003 ECAR study of faculty use of course management systems undertaken at the University of Wisconsin System.

This Roadmap is designed to illuminate the major discoveries of the ECAR research study called Good Enough! IT Investment and Business Process Performance in Higher Education, which takes a complex look at the performance of so-called business processes in higher education, with a special focus on how IT investments have influenced that performance. It explores the question of what higher education has gained from its sizeable investment in improving business processes. This study also looks at the role that leadership and culture play in the performance of institutional processes. CIOs and others from more than 300 U.S. and Canadian institutions provided quantitative data, while individuals from some two dozen institutions participated in interviews. In addition, ECAR visited exemplary institutions to provide a detailed look into the mechanics of particularly interesting efforts to improve the performance of campus processes.

This ECAR roadmap is designed to illuminate a host of current network management practices related to IT in higher education; opportunities for connectivity to external networks; the institutional context of organization, leadership and management; current emerging technologies and converged networks; and the future of networking. The roadmap is based on five major research initiatives: a literature review, consultation with the EDUCAUSE Net@EDU Integrated Communications Solutions Working Group, survey responses from 517 chief information officers and network directors in higher education, qualitative interviews with 12 higher education leaders about their view of the future of IT networking in higher education, and three in-depth cases studies involving four U.S. institutions and SURF, a Dutch higher education and research partnership.

This ECAR Roadmap is designed to illuminate a host of current financial management practices related to IT in higher education; to describe the state of the practice in this critical area; and to identify funding practices that appear to contribute to the overall effective function of the IT operation. The study is based on five major research initiatives: a literature review, survey responses from 482 chief information officers and 386 chief business officers in higher education, qualitative telephone interviews, and three in-depth cases studies involving five institutions.