Institutions are struggling to keep up with rapid technological changes, particularly generative AI, which poses risks of exposing confidential data and introducing compliance issues. The challenge is compounded by the ineffectiveness of traditional hierarchical management controls in many education organizations.
AI has the potential to significantly impact pedagogy, administration, and community engagement. However, without proper governance, the uncontrolled use of AI can lead to compliance and legal risks. Establishing responsible AI practices is crucial to build trust and confidence in the technology and to avoid future challenges.
Develop a strong understanding of what generative AI can do. This involves recognizing the right use cases, experimenting with AI applications, and identifying potential risks.
In response to the impact of generative AI, work to develop appropriate policy mechanisms. This involves creating governance policies and processes to implement AI consistently within the organization.
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Adapt Governance to Align Educational Technology With Faculty Needs
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Prioritize AI Use Cases for Education
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Understand the Implications of Generative AI in Education
The sudden rise and widespread use of generative AI has caught educational institutions by surprise. Institutions are struggling to understand its pedagogical impacts and how to adapt to an autonomized administrative structure.
AI has the potential to transform classrooms just as calculators and the internet did in the past. Educators must embrace generative AI to enhance learning and development, despite concerns about its effects on education and student learning.
Provide meaningful solutions to limit risks rather than relying on bans or ineffective plagiarism detection tools.
Strategically embed generative AI in educational processes so students, teachers, and administrative staff can benefit from these technological advancements.
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Prioritize AI Use Cases for Education
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Understand the Implications of Generative AI in Education
ChatGPT reached one million users in just five days, showcasing the unprecedented speed and reach of new technology distribution. Generative AI, quantum computing, and other technologies are driving exponential IT changes, leaving education IT organizations scrambling to respond.
Exponential IT is a framework designed to help IT leaders elevate their maturity and value-creation capabilities. It aims to close the gap between the rapid progression of technological change and the linear progression of IT's ability to manage that change, enabling IT to remain relevant.
Justify IT as an investment, focusing on delivering new functionality and pursuing a zero-trust security journey, ultimately positioning IT as permeating every process.
Emphasize the capabilities that applications deliver by focusing on data independently of applications, moving infrastructure to cloud providers when valid, and building a well-governed model for resource prioritization.
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Tech Trends 2024
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Identify a Resilient Approach to the Future of Your Higher Education ERP
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Higher Education Industry Reference Architecture
Elevate the Role of the CIO in Higher Education
Institutional transformation is becoming an imperative in higher education.The enrollment cliff refers to the projected significant decrease in enrollment in higher education institutions expected after 2025 or 2026, driven by factors like declining birth rates, increasing tuition costs, a strong job market, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Institutional mergers and closures are becoming common due to increased competition, with more prestigious universities attracting students away from less prestigious ones. Governments are encouraging consolidation to save costs and support a changing demographic.
Plan for cost reductions both internally through centralization efforts and externally through partnerships with other institutions. This allows IT to align itself with institutional efforts to increase competitive advantage.
Interview key stakeholders on their top priorities to understand how IT can support the competitive advantage of the institution through an external context assessment.
Create a Transparent and Defensible IT Budget
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Understand the IT Implications for the Enrollment Cliff
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Higher Education Industry Reference Architecture
The education sector is facing a significant crisis due to cyberattacks. Criminals and nation-state attackers have a higher success rate in this sector compared to others. The recovery rate after attacks is the slowest, and the cost of remediation is higher than the global average for all sectors (Sophos, 2022).
The profitability of ransomware is driving criminal organizations to invest in new technology, including AI, to target education systems. Meanwhile, IT departments are under pressure to reduce costs. New attack surfaces are emerging as educational institutions become prime targets for nation-states aiming to influence or corrupt teaching and learning and assault contrarian ideologies.
Education organizations must adopt a zero-trust security approach, creating a default deny environment for all services. This will increase friction and may lead to a perceived decline in service quality that the organization should be prepared for.
Institutions need to integrate security and privacy processes from the start of all new technology projects to comply with growing legislation, as expectations continue to expand.
Address Security and Privacy Risks for Generative AI
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Build Business-Aligned Privacy Programs for Higher Education Institutions
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Develop a Business Continuity Plan for Higher Education
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Higher Education Industry Reference Architecture
Educational organizations face unproductive isolation due to history, politics, matrixed accountability, multiple funding sources, and tradition. With pressures from declining enrollment, increasing digital expectations, competition, reduced government commitment, and talent shortages, IT investments must be deployed and sustained more effectively.
Eliminating inefficient processes and structures while improving effectiveness is challenging across the industry. Duplication of services in local, enterprise, and shared IT groups becomes a natural target for change. Successful IT unification is about delivering services under a unified vision, not centralizing IT around a single authority.
Ensure everyone is on the same page and committed to the process by establishing the mandate and gaining buy-in from key stakeholders to unify the departments.
Using the overarching strategy, evaluate IT services and capabilities to determine the current state. Identify the future state by considering economies of scope and scale, and plan the roadmap accordingly.
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Higher Education Industry Reference Architecture
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Assess the Strategic Context for ERP Modernization in Higher Education
Applications such as ERPs are frequently replaced despite their high costs, but the data they manage remains constant and valuable. This enduring nature of data necessitates a new focus, as data outlives the applications that manage it.
Institutions are questioning the value of large administrative systems that do not directly contribute to their core missions. They are shifting their focus to data quality improvements, which enhance decision-making. Some are even reallocating ERP funds to strategic data investments.
Start by creating effective data governance processes and policies. This foundation ensures that data is managed consistently and reliably, improving data quality.
Relentlessly improve data quality through better processes and procedures. High-quality data serves as the basis for reliable business intelligence and better decision-making.
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Support a Data-Driven Student Retention Program
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Align IT With Institutional Priorities for Student Experience
"The real value that Info-Tech provides is the outsider opinion that people listen to and the best practice research that makes implementation of a project easier."
Isaac Abbs, CIO, Pima Community College
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“In education, we’ve got to do more with less. Our IT department is helping to innovate and bring novel ideas to some of those traditional problems.”
Dr. NeeCee Cornish, AVP of IT and Deputy COO, Western University of Health Sciences
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“We try to innovate and push the boundaries. We want to develop processes that can be picked up and used anywhere."
Erin Morgan, Assistant Vice President, Office of the CIO, University of Texas at Arlington
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