Tag: higher-ed

Great Presentation on the Role of the IT Liaison

http://connect.educause.edu/library/abstract/BetwixtandBetweenThe/44446

So I am still waiting to hear the results of Brian’s foray into the lion’s den at IT4BC, but that’s only one of a number of things that have had me thinking on a perennial topic of mine, how to engender innovation in higher ed, specifically with conservative IT departments, or to frame it differently, how to improve my management ‘kung fu’ and make change happen within the political landscape on a typical campus.
Which is why I found this presentation by Matthew Braaten of Lander University on The Emerging and Necessary Role of the IT Liaison so interesting. The sections I found particularly helpful were the discussion of the “political framing” of organizations (“scarce resources and enduring differences make conflict central to organizational dynamics“) and the technique for mapping the political terrain. Even if the maps seem too simplistic to you, the very act of considering these dynamics before you engage strikes me as another step towards cultivating awareness and intent, which is to say, better kung fu!

The Changing Landscape and the New Academy

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0353.pdf

This article from the latest educause journal describes nine patterns in the changing educational landscape, the first of which is “Learning and teaching have changed, as has cognition” (emphasis mine.)  It goes on in greater detail to explain that:

 A growing number of today’s students, whose cognition was formed in the digital age, take access to the Internet for granted; access is simply an essential aspect of daily life. These students display an “Information-Age Mindset”: they expect to try things rather than hear about things; and they tend to learn visually and socially. Today’s students are accustomed to using technology to organize and integrate knowledge. These students are polite, but also bewildered at first, later disappointed, and often finally disillusioned and dispirited by passive learning experiences.

Is it in fact ‘cognition,’ the act through which we ‘come to know,’ that is changing? Well … maybe. But I couldn’t just let this statement slip by, as it is uttered with apparent certainty and yet the amount of contention surrounding this one issue can, and indeed has, filled up more than a few books. – SWL

– via [OLDaily]