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NEWS AND CURRENT AF FAIRS | DIARY | 05
As another academic year begins, Lenovo Worldwide Education Executive, Sam Morris, again asks the same question that fascinated him as a faculty member: “What will this year bring?”
TIME TO CON S I D ER THE BIG PICTUR E
Excitement; apprehension; resignation, mild shock: you’d be forgiven for feeling any and all of the above. And you wouldn’t be alone. The academic year always starts with a bang. The summer quiet of the campus – such a luxury and so relaxed – is ruptured by the return of crowds and courses and calls on your time. Suddenly, the university has a buzz.
Freshers nervously try it on for size. Final year students seriously consider life beyond it. The commercial guys get on with the business of running it. And the IT teams set about managing its beating heart: information communication technologies. The faculty staff ? Many might be wondering how their lectures
"IN THE BIG PICTURE, TECHNOLOGY IS A CATALYST, NOT A CONSTRAINT"
and syllabi will be aff ected by the new intake of students and kit – with some justifi cation. I well recall my own experiences of
coming back to campus after the summer break. You’re naturally inclined to review the previous year – what worked, what didn’t, and why. Just as you’re instantly forced to focus on the next: where will changes be required; when will challenges occur? As naïve as it might seem now, I once
worried what the calculator would do to the way I taught maths. Today’s university lecturers and leaders have bigger things to ponder. Digital transformation in higher
education is an ongoing debate – and in my current role, I’m closer to it than many. The common points of contention are as over-hyped as they are misleading. Believe the headlines, and you’d swear the traditional HE experience exists on borrowed time. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) will supplant the campus. Student-consumers will call the shots. Enterprise will overtake education, and technology will provide the means.
The reality is somewhat diff erent. Sure, undergrads entering universities
in 2014 will have diff erent expectations from their counterparts of as lit le as fi ve years ago. At home and at school, they’ve been using increasingly pervasive technologies from a very early age. And yes, the competitive landscape for HE establishments is intensifying, with the quality of digital infrastructure becoming an important consideration – for both students and staff . But technology is likely to have
greater implications for the learning environment off -campus. The rise of video content, asynchronous communication and online collaboration between students will transform the fl ow of ideas and information – outside time spent in class. Question is: who should lead the
change – IT, faculty or commercial staff ? The answer is all three. From data storage to information
access, from controlling costs to respecting privacy, HE is at a crossroads with IT. How will the two come together to drive up educational outcomes?
Internal silos won’t decide. Nor will any continued distinction between the technology and the institution. Far bet er to see them as one, and concentrate on the end result: innovation. Innovation has always defi ned the
leaps made by any major learning. Conservatism had no part in the process. And that can be easy to forget, especially at this time of year. You have a lot to deal with – the
urgent tasks and competing priorities. But I’ll wager there’s nothing more pressing than this: keeping sight of the big picture. In the big picture, technology
is a catalyst, not a constraint. It’s a complement to – not a replacement for – the knowledge, skills and enthusiasm of great educators. And it puts the needs of the student above those of the institution alone. So, whatever else you think about in
the coming weeks, think about the big picture – and then ask: ‘How can IT foster and support innovation across the campus?’ Because now is the right time to act. UB
LEFT: Sam Morris, Lenovo Worldwide Education Executive
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