Educause Review for July/August is out

The latest Educause Review just came out with several interesting articles.  There was much focus on the economic context higher ed is in right now.

• Managing in a New Reality by Philip J. Goldstein
  Goldstein points out that working within a tight budget is not new to IT organizations — cuts happened as recently as 2004 in many organizations.  He gives several areas where IT leaders can leverage the current crisis to create a better future for their organizations and institutions.  He also points out several areas where IT leaders can support their institutions in different areas where things will be done differently.
• Top 10 IT issues for 2009 is out
  Some things did jump out at me.  Both in this article and the one above ERPs and the disconnect between the promise and the value realization comes up.  Many institutions find a lack of buy-in from the administration as to the use of the ERP and process improvement.  Change is difficult and changing the way something has always been done is more difficult.  But as people are asked to more with equal or negative staffing levels the ERP can help.  Governance came up too, something I’ve been interested in.  With budget pressure IT needs transparency in its spending to help other units understand where it spends and why.  I was surprised to see LMS/CMSes bringing up the end of the list.  That is, I was surpised to see them on there at all.
• Essential versus Strategic IT Investments by James Hilton
  This should sound familiar as he talked to us at Frye about this exact topic.  I can’t  say I’ve listed to the audio of the interview but the excerpt sounds to be just like our session with him.
• Learning and Technology — “In That Order” by Malcolm Brown
  I was looking forward to this piece since he posted to one of the Educause lists looking for students to participate.  He interviewed 14 students inviting them “to suggest what educators should be thinking about as we plan our learning environments for the next two to four years.” These observations and the specific examples in the article are good reminders with fall approaching.   He found the common messages to be
  • “too much or unfettered technology is bad and directly hinders learning; and
  • the use of technology should not come at the expense of personal interaction both in and outside the classroom.”