The Educause: 2011 Top Ten IT Issues art…

The Educause: 2011 Top Ten IT Issues article discusses the various challenges associated with running an IT market on a contemporary scholastic budget. It begins by attempting to explain the funding structure of a typical IT department within a university campus. It details the different strategies utilized by campuses in their attempt to forcast upcoming trends and explains the pragmatic and logical need for transparency in today’s modern campuses. Later, it specializes the argument by introducing the previous mindset of IT co-ordinators and their focus on static, institution owned wired campuses. Continuing, it also mentions their early dismissal of the shift towards mobile, privately owned technologies and details their struggles of coping with the upcoming budgetary and security constraints that this shifting paradigm has created. The rest of the article details possible strategies for the future of the IT, focuses on the need for a responsive and adaptive infrastructure, and IT’s role in disaster planning and response while detailing the differences and challenges existing between regular infrastructure and the emerging cyberstructure.

 

After considering the article, the main point to take away from it with consideration to the broader community of educators context is that this network, (and IT administrators), were caught off guard by both the pace of the advancement in an otherwise discounted tech and that the static nature of their infrastructure has hampered their ability to catch up. The key to remaining relevant according to the article is adaptability and this is used as an allegorical theme throughout the paper. Of course this mirrors the contemporary themes being explored currently in Pedagogical academia. The teacher’s role is in a state of flux and with the modern focus based around individualized learning, adaptability is the foundation that the struggle for relevance is based upon. That being said, the article’s cautionary message combined with the various hyperlinks and information about IT implementation outside of the education biosphere make it quite useful for future review.

 

Future versions of this report would definitely be useful, if not interesting because of their relevance with regards to pedagogical practice and the extra context, surrounding implementation etc., added that most teachers are not aware of.

Posted in: Week 02: The Edtech Marketplace