Dive Brief:
- Ed Tech Magazine reports on the growing impact of student demographic changes on campus technology initiatives and service delivery, thanks in part to the increasing average age of students and the aging of faculty and staff members.
- Campus tech culture is divided among baby boomer faculty, staff and students who are more comfortable allowing IT professionals to address problems, and millennials who are more likely to try and address issues independently.
- IT departments must build communication strategy to meet the needs and expectations of campus clients, and to better understand tech tendencies in order to provide better customer service.
Dive Insight:
This changing culture creates a unique demand upon IT professionals at campuses, because the expectation from all stakeholders is that tech support can come in to fix any problem at any stage, regardless of how new or old the technology may be. And this tech profile determines hiring practices, training, and implementation of campus-wide programs and software for learning and work productivity.
These issues underscore the need for CIOs to carefully examine the needs of their campuses, versus securing new technology for the sake of being competitive with peer institutions. Community colleges with an older customer and worker profile may overwhelmingly be fine with software versions introduced 2-3 years ago, if updates have dramatically changed, and could frustrate faculty, staff and students on the back end.