Intersections of People and Technology

Not unlike years past, the EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues for 2015 represent an intersection of technology and people challenges – or more specifically, people making the technology work and helping people with technology.

But this intersection can be messy at times – when people resist the changes or are unprepared to manage the changes brought about by technology and when the technology is used as a bandaid rather than a strategic enabler.

There are two issues in EDUCAUSE’s Top 10 Issues list that highlight this specifically:

1. How technology can be leveraged through an institutional approach to student outcomes (Issue #4)
2. How an IT organization’s ability to manage change can influence its role as strategic partners to achieving institutional goals (Issue #6)

Technology is an enabler to improve student outcomes…but strategy comes first

Technology is a powerful tool – if harnessed in the right way. There are many applications in the marketplace that offer solutions to “student success.” But the first question an institution needs to ask is: How do we define student success? What metrics or measurements are important? What problems do we need to solve? What goals are we trying to accomplish?

The answers to those questions begin to form a strategy…and as the EDUCAUSE Review aptly points out: The first task for any institution is to assess both the institutional needs and the most current remedies for the pain points that are identified. Institutions must define their strategy before taking actions – including the implementation of technology solutions – to achieve improved outcomes.

An institutional, or holistic, approach to student success will examine the areas of need and take into account the use of technology as an enabler to improve student outcomes.

IT organizations can be strategic partners…if ready to manage change

We all know that change events on campus that involve technology have little to do with the technology itself – it’s about managing the people side of change.

This is true for the faculty, students or staff who are the recipients of new technology tools – as well as for the technical staff “tasked with implementing and maintaining the technology itself,” as EDUCAUSE summarizes.

But adapting to a changing institutional environment and evolving campus needs requires the IT organization to be ready to manage change effectively.

Instilling a readiness for change culture in IT requires two characteristics of leadership and the organization:

1. Change is easily accepted
2. Change can emerge from anywhere

Change is easily accepted when an IT shop understands what motivates resistance to change (like loss of control or a staff with a vested interest in the current state) AND what conditions must be present to inspire staff to embrace change (like sufficient skills and knowledge training, trust in the ‘change agent’).

Change can emerge from anywhere if leadership supports four specific cultural elements: institutional literacy (how IT staff can impact goals), empowerment (IT staff with autonomy to initiate change), willingness to change the status quo (organizational openness to new ideas) and aligned leadership (IT leaders who reinforce institutional literacy, empowerment and willingness to change).

As IT is being asked to support and champion technology change to support the institution, IT needs support to develop a readiness for change culture within the organization.

And as EDUCAUSE continues to monitor the issues that are most important to technology executives in higher education, institutions need to be focused on managing the intersection of people and technology to support student success and other institutional strategies.

 

 

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