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  • EDUCAUSE Day 1: Has Ed Tech (Finally) Turned the Corner?

    By Joshua Kim October 13, 2010 4:30 am EDT

    So far the mood at EDUCAUSE 2010 seems to be really good. The last two EDUCAUSE conferences have been pretty grim affairs, with CIOs talking about layoffs and companies conserving cash and shying away from big risks. Walking around the vendor floor today I sensed a mood of optimism; new products, new alliances, and a high level of energy. Talking to some folks from higher ed world it sounds as if funding has stabilized, lay-offs are not on the horizon, and budgets for investing in ed tech may be coming back.

    Maybe it is the announcement of the Next Generation Learning Challenge, and the partnership between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and EDUCAUSE.

    Maybe it is the exciting news about new products, partnerships, and products that the companies are starting to announce (I'm still waiting for someone to top McGraw-Hill's pre-conference purchase of Tegrity - any nominations for what company announcement will be possibly more disruptive and interesting?)

    Of course, these impressions are just that - and EDUCAUSE is just getting going. We will all learn a great deal more from the sessions - the one nobody should miss is Casey Green's "2010 Campus Computing Survey: Two Decades of Data, Information, and Insight About IT Planning and Policy Issues" on Thursday at 8:00am.

    What other sessions do you think will give us the best indication of if we have managed to turn the economic corner in ed tech?

    The danger of forming impressions so early is confirmation bias, in that I'll probably interpret any subsequent data to support my initial positive conclusions. If I'm wrong, and we still have more pain to endure, I want to know.

    What is your sense of the mood at EDUCAUSE so far? Have we really turned the corner?

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Comments on EDUCAUSE Day 1: Has Ed Tech (Finally) Turned the Corner?

  • Optimism to Spare
  • Posted by Cameron Evans , Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft | http://www.higherinnovation.com on October 13, 2010 at 11:30am EDT
  • I agree that there is a bit of lift at #EDUCAUSE10. The focus for our CIO/CTOs is much sharper going into the next digital decade. I believe most higher ed leaders want to position their institution for the post-modern student in a world of branded, services delivered through the cloud.

    It is also great to see the IT Industry back with new product and technology innovations. For the first time, we are beginning to see consumer electronics emerge at #EDUCAUSE10. Consumerization is the biggest challenge and opportunity for higher education. Harnessing consumerization is a new competency for CIOs to master.
  • Mobile learning devices
  • Posted by Lisa , Assistant Director, Academic Programs at University of Washington on October 13, 2010 at 6:15pm EDT
  • A few questions for you regarding the conference: Are mobile phone companies in attendance touting their wares? Is there a trend to a certain brand/type of phone for mobile learning? Who is leading the charge in this area?

    With the release of MS Phone 7, my guess is that curriculum development is speeding up for mobile learning.

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