Today's higher education environment is marked by heightened accountability and decreased budgets. In such an environment, no higher education institution can afford to ignore alternative approaches that could result in more effective and less costly solutions. Open-source software (OSS) can serve as a viable alternative to traditional proprietary…

A few years ago, an interesting debate on the employment of students in university IT departments appeared in this journal. In his article, John Mrazek spelled out the risks involved when tech departments addicted to using student workers treat students as a cheap alternative to permanent staff: reduced quality and reliability of services, and a…

During the past year, EDUCAUSE has published two articles addressing the use of student employment--the author of one supported student employment, whereas the other expressed concerns over dependence on a student workforce. While both have valid points, the author believes there are additional issues to be brought forth. In this article, the…

Recently, these authors had the opportunity to present "IT and Educational Technology: What's Pedagogy Got to Do With IT?" at the 2006 EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference. The presentation addressed IT staff as teachers of pedagogy--not just trainers of how to use a tool--and how this change came about. The authors thought that the…

Budget pressures compel everyone in higher education to demonstrate value in IT investments, using both quantitative and qualitative information. Like many institutions, however, both Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found themselves forced to rely more on anecdotes than on management information to guide decisions. In…

Central IT organizations under stress often cannot offer a high level of service to groups with above-average support needs. An example of such a group would be a well-funded, research-oriented computer science department. Several factors contribute to the increased demand on IT organizations. Given the availability of relatively…

To succeed professionally, a technology manager in higher education must align institutional goals with the skill set of campus technologists and the resources available for information technology (IT) support. Getting a firm grasp on any of these parameters is not easy. Resources are often committed to multiyear projects or hidden by opaque…

Most professionals interested in the use of technology in education understand the importance of an e-learning course site, whether the course is taught totally online or in a hybrid environment where the instructor has some face-to-face contact with students. However, many instructors have not thoroughly considered the importance of posting…