The EDUCAUSE Review (online, January 12, 2015) reflected on top ten technology issues facing higher education in 2015, considering these to have “reached an inflection point—the point at which the trends that have dominated thought leadership and have motivated early adopters are now cascading into the mainstream.” Each issue identified has value in relation to the changes facing the University of Oregon, but one seems to stand out as an idea for consideration here, “Issue #2: Optimizing the Use of Technology in Teaching and Learning in Collaboration with Academic Leadership.”

For many on college and university campuses across the country, the ever-growing number of technology options can seem to be overwhelming, especially when attempting to learn about, implement and utilize these technologies within a large, diverse community of faculty, technologists, staff, and students. UO faces this dilemma on a number of levels, involving the application of technology in the classroom, the development of online and hybrid learning tools, the introduction of new applications as well as the maintenance of existing programs. EDUCAUSE states a somewhat obvious point that “an overlooked but critical starting point is for an institution to define its educational objectives and strategy.” Helpfully, they go on to recommend five steps as a focal point for coordination:

– Work with academic leadership to articulate the institutional strategy for the use of technology in teaching and learning to best fit the institutional culture and priorities.
– Translate that strategy into a teaching and learning technology roadmap that prioritizes the technologies that will best achieve the institutional strategy and fit institutional resources.
– Define and clarify roles in supporting instructional technology to bring together all relevant institutional parties as productively as possible.
– Move to a technology support model that aligns technology integration support and faculty professional development that is course/program specific and based on research that demonstrates improved student engagement and success.
– Ensure that faculty have sufficient support and release time to integrate the technologies into their courses.

Check out the full article to view all 10 top issues for 2015.