Hyperconvergence in campus IT-Why taking a software approach is best

New technologies often fundamentally change how IT procures and operates infrastructure and Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) is no exception. HCI is the combination of compute and storage into an easy-to-manage solution that doesn’t require dedicated storage experts to keep it running.  The business case for selecting HCI over traditional infrastructure has long since been made (PDF).

Just like other new technologies, customers often do not know about system upgrades or refresh cycles that will occur in the future when they initially purchase these solutions. We are now at a stage where HCI solutions from multiple vendors have been proven in the field by thousands of organizations for at least one refresh cycle. With many organizations’ first HCI refreshes behind them, we have enough information to examine what happens when upgrading or refreshing HCI solutions.

Perhaps the most important lesson to come from analyzing data center HCI refreshes and upgrades is that not all HCI solutions are created equal. Much of the promised value of HCI requires an HCI solution with the fewest restrictions possible. Unfortunately, hardware or appliance-based HCI as implemented by many vendors didn’t live up to the flexibility claims that would have allowed customers to actually capitalize on this value when it came time to upgrade or refresh their HCI solution.…Read More

The US and UK: Comparing higher education in the two top ranking nations

While the US and the UK may share dominant placement when it comes to international rankings for higher education degrees, programs and institutions, the similarity often ends there. From the cost of higher education to key performance indicators like dropout rates and employment outcomes, these two world powers have each charted their own unique paths.

Enrollment Statistics in the UK and US

Roughly 2.28 million students are enrolled in higher education any given year, representing approximately 3.5 percent of the total population. In contrast, about 20.4 million students are enrolled in US colleges and universities each year. This represents an uptick from the 5.1 million students enrolled in higher education in the year 2000.…Read More

3 big misconceptions about online learning

Berkeley College Online® has provided a global population of students with teaching and learning experiences online for nearly 20 years, and was one of the first higher education programs worldwide to be certified by the United States Distance Learning Association. So, what do we know about online learning? A lot.

And while academic online programs continue to evolve, with Berkeley College applying additional quality measures to ensure excellence in its own online curriculum, many students and higher education professionals continue to misunderstand the benefits and realities of online learning.

In honor of National Distance Learning Week, Joseph Scuralli, DPS, dean, Online, Berkeley College, shares the three biggest misconceptions still often associated with online learning:…Read More

Why students, faculty and alumni are loving this simple campus technology

As a provider of an interactive map and virtual tour platform for higher education, this is question we hear on a somewhat regular basis: “do people really use interactive campus maps?” Fortunately, our team at CampusBird can confidently answer: “absolutely!” Campus maps are used by roughly 65 percent of prospective students when selecting a school but when campus maps really do shine is when we dig into how people are using interactive campus maps.

We have access to some fun data that gives us a powerful snapshot about how people are using interactive maps and the virtual tour systems within the CampusBird platform.

Here’s What We Know…Read More

CIOs: OER will storm campuses in next 5 years, “high cloud” just isn’t happening

Eighty-two percent of institutions say open educational resources (OER) will be an important source of course content in 5 years, according to a survey of CIOs detailed in an annual report that takes a look at campus IT. [Read last year’s Campus Computing results here “CIOS: 5 campus IT priorities for 2016 and beyond.“] The results of the report were released during the recent EDUCAUSE 2017 conference held in Philadelphia, Pa.

This year saw small gains in formal institutions support for using OER in course materials, but faculty concerns remain about the quality of OER and updates surrounding the materials, according to the annual Campus Computing Project.

Video is increasingly important for hybrid, flipped and online classes, and the growing use of video lecture capture has surpassed audio in institutions. Overall, universities have much more capacity for video, according to the report.…Read More

World-renowned futurist Michio Kaku: This is what higher ed should be teaching students right now

“The jobs of the future will be those that focus on intellectual capitalism, not commodity capitalism,” said Futurist, Physicist and Bestselling Author Michio Kaku during the recent 2017 EDUCAUSE conference keynote, held in Philadelphia, Pa.

This was the big reveal to the thousands of EDUCAUSE attendees ranging from college and university faculty to CIOs, and from some of the world’s leading tech companies to some of the country’s most prominent higher ed provosts and presidents—all anxiously awaiting what the crystal ball of the postsecondary future had to say through Kaku’s educated guess.

The Good News…Read More

Courageous coaching: How one HBC turned around an enrollment shortfall

For those on the frontlines of college business and finance, enrollment math can be cruel.

Higher education institutions—of all types and sizes across the country—are struggling to attract and enroll new students. Nationally, only 34 percent of colleges and universities have met their new student enrollment goals, according to a recent Inside Higher Ed survey of enrollment management leaders. Only 22 percent of public universities met their May enrollment targets, and just only 27 percent of community colleges reported meeting their enrollment goals.

Most bedeviling for institutional leaders is that the causes of enrollment declines are complex—and difficult to attribute to a single issue. Are rising tuition rates and student debt to blame? Are students skeptical of whether an academic program is worth it? Is it simply demographics? Or are high school graduates choosing to go straight into jobs or short-duration vocational training programs?…Read More

Is innovation severely lacking in online education?

Online education programs are seeing steady growth, though lower tuition and the use of innovative technologies and tools seem to be lagging, according to the Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE).

CHLOE is a survey of chief online officers at community colleges and four-year public and private nonprofit institutions and focuses on the management of online education as it becomes more mainstream at U.S. institutions.

The emergence of the chief online officer position at many institutions is strong evidence that online education is becoming more mainstream, and the CHLOE survey draws upon feedback from 104 chief online officer responses to inform its report on current online education trends, including resource allocation, emerging tools, instructional innovations, and more.…Read More

EDUCAUSE: The top 10 IT issues in 2018

It’s that time again when almost every attendee part of the annual EDUCAUSE conference crams next to each other in a convention ballroom to hear about what their higher ed peers have to say about the IT issues and challenges they expect to face next year.

EDUCAUSE’s annual IT issues report is published in the beginning of the year, but this session provides a great preview of what’s to come. Attendees were granted an exclusive preview of ‘2018’s Top 10 IT Issues,’ and panel members discussed the issues and their importance. [Editor’s note: See the 2017 issues here.]

“I bet you can guess what the top issue of 2018 is,” said Susan Grajek, vice president of communities and research for EDUCAUSE, “because it was the same top issue for last year and the year before–security!”…Read More

Stop! Why your digital network needs more communication and less content

West Virginia University’s digital display network started a decade ago with just ten monitors that’s just ten monitors to cover an institution of more than 30,000 students.

Today, we share messaging built from centrally managed databases with more than 200 users and more than 375 pieces of content to 120-plus screens across our entire system of the main campus and three regional campuses. Those messages aren’t simple one-offs that were slapped together for our screens. They are purpose-driven communications that lift our overall university brand and add real value to the digital signage experience on campus.

Digital Signage Content Problems…Read More

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