Dive Brief:
- According to "The 2015 Inside Higher Ed Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology," 75% of higher ed faculty believe student learning has increased via ed tech, and another 63% see that making the related expenses worthwhile.
- Ed Tech Magazine reports that instructors are particularly fond of their LMS platforms and classroom computer and projection systems, additionally noting findings from the 2015 "ECAR Study of Faculty and Information Technology."
- Overall, the results show faculty and IT professionals in higher ed share concerns over a product's potential usefulness and the amount of support available for it.
Dive Insight:
Ultimately, products that ease workflow for all parties involved are a win. The LMS has largely found favor among instructors because of its versatility as a platform capable of delivering syllabi, e-textbooks, and other class documents; serving as a gradebook; and facilitating communication and collabortion between students and faculty, among other functions.
Ed Tech Magazine reports that cloud computing, IT consolidation, and BYOD policies are among the top tech efforts higher ed IT professionals are dealing with from an adoption and challenge standpoint. The cost-savings and standardization across all three are likely to make life easier for those in campus IT departments and faculty alike, though potentially complex migrations, careful change management, and policies around security and acceptable use will present potential hurdles in the near-term.