Campus Computing
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Winter 2010 Survey of Community College Presidents (30 March 2010)

 

 

Still Doing More With Less

Community Colleges Continue to Confront

Rising Enrollments and Eroding Budgets

        

        Enrollments continue to explode as institutional budgets continue to erode according to a new national survey of community college presidents and district chancellors conducted by the League for Innovation in the Community Colleges and The Campus Computing Project.

Fully 94 percent of the 128 campus presidents and district chancellors participating in the winter 2010 survey report that headcount enrollment in their districts and on their campuses increased compared to one year ago, about the same as in the 2009 survey. However, the 2010 data show more campuses reporting larger enrollment gain: almost a third (31 percent) of the 2010 survey participants experienced total (headcount) enrollment growth of 15 percent or more from winter 2009 to winter 2010, while another third (32 percent) report enrollment gains of 10-15 percent.  In contrast, just over a fourth (28 percent) of the campuses participating in the 2009 survey reported enrollment gains of 10 percent or more. These enrollment gains came as unemployment rose from 7.7 to 10.0 percent from January to December 2009, and as Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that some 14 million Americans were unemployed at the end of the last calendar year.

Additionally the 2010 survey reveals that a growing number of community colleges reporting enrollment gains across a range of enrollment categories and curricular areas: compared to the 2009 survey, more campuses report increased enrollments among full-time students, part-time students, and transfer students; in their certificate, workforce, and career enhancement programs; and also among business, health care, and technology majors.

These enrollment gains stand in stark contrast to the budget cuts that continue to affect the nation’s community colleges.  While the number of community colleges reporting reductions in their operating budgets fell slightly this year (52 percent in 2010 vs. 57 percent in 2009), the number of campuses experiencing budget cuts that exceeded 10 percent more than doubled, from 7 percent last year to 18 percent in 2010. This pattern also appears within specific budget categories: a slight decline in the number of community colleges reporting cuts in their budgets for instruction and administrative services, technology resources, and professional development, coupled with more institutions reporting larger budget cuts in these categories for 2010 than in 2009.

The little good news about campus finances involves mid-year budget recissions, which declined from 61 percent in 2009 to 54 percent this past year. However, even as a smaller number of community colleges experienced mid-year budget cuts, the average mid-year rescission rose, from 5 percent last year to 7 percent in 2010.

       “The continuing enrollment gains over the past 12 months confirm that the nation’s community colleges are at the forefront of both individual efforts and community responses to the economic downturn,” says Kenneth C. Green founding director of The Campus Computing Project, the organization that designed survey and managed the project.   “The 2010 survey also reveals that the community colleges remain on the receiving end of the ‘do more with less and do it better’ mantra that typically accompanies budget cuts and economic upheaval.   Community colleges are doing and serving a lot more, and are doing it with much less.  This has significant consequences for instruction resources, instructional support, and for student support services.”

The combination of rising enrollments and continuing budget cuts led more community colleges to impose enrollment caps this past year.  The proportion of campuses experiencing enrollment caps rose from 9 percent in 2009 to 13 percent in 2010. Within sectors, the community colleges that were the most likely to experience enrollment caps were metropolitan campuses (19 percent), and campuses enrolling either 5-10,000 students (21 percent), or more than 10,000 students (26 percent).

The survey continues to confirm the sustained growth in online courses and enrollments in community colleges over the past year.  Almost 9 in 10 of the surveyed presidents (87 percent in 2010, compared to 92 percent in 2009) report increases in student enrollment in the online courses offered by their institution over the past year: a fifth (19 percent) report online course enrollments increased by 5-10 percent, another fourth (25 percent) cite gains of 10-15 percent, while almost a third (31 percent) saw enrollments in online courses rise by 15 percent of more compared to last year.  And although the numbers are not as dramatic, more than half the presidents (53 percent vs. 51 percent in 2009 percent) also report gains in the number online certificates offered by their campuses, while 56 percent (vs. 57 percent in 2009) indicated that online degree programs also increased in the past year.

As was the case in 2009, the survey data also confirm that student demand, not institutional efforts to contain instructional costs, is the primary catalyst for the increase in online courses in community colleges over the past year.  Almost all the presidents (91 percent vs. 56 percent last year) report that their campuses are offering more online courses in response to student interest and demand.  In contrast, only two-fifths (39 percent, compared to 34.4 percent last year) confirm that their institutions are moving to expand online programs “as a way to reduce the cost of instruction.”

Almost two-thirds of the campuses and districts participating in the survey received federal stimulus program money this past year, averaging $1.95 million per campus (range: $1.35M for rural colleges vs. $3.03M for community colleges that enroll more than 10,000 students). Presidents report that their institutions typically spent the stimulus dollars to save jobs, particularly instructional positions: more than two-fifths (42 percent) indicate that their institutions spent stimulus money to retain instruction positions; a third (32 percent) used the money to retain instructional support staff, and a fourth spent stimulus money to retain administrative and clerical jobs.    In contrast, just 16 percent used the stimulus money to create new instructional positions or to hire additional instructional support personnel, and only 6 percent used the money for new clerical or custodial jobs.   Also, a sixth (17 percent) spent stimulus dollars this past year for physical plant improvements.

While presidents are no doubt happy to have the stimulus money, the survey data suggest some tempered optimism about the benefits of the federal money to aid enrollments at their colleges and improve employment in their communities.  This year 62 percent of the survey respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the federal stimulus funds would benefit enrollments at their institutions, compared to 68 percent in 2009.  Similarly, 55 percent of the presidents participating in the 2010 survey agreed/strongly agreed that stimulus money would benefit employment in their communities, down from 77 percent a year ago.

         The League for Innovation/Campus Computing Project survey of community college presidents received financial support from Pearson and SunGard Higher Education.  A total of 128 community college presidents and district chancellors participated in the online survey, which was conducted from February 26th to March 25th, 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The 2009 Campus Computing Survey (4 Nov 2009)

 

 

2009 EDUCAUSE CONFERENCE VIDEO

CAMPUS COMPUTING 2009

IT Budgets Are Down  - Again!

For the second time in the current decade, campus IT officers are struggling to deal with the rising demand for IT resources and services even as their budgets have experienced significant cuts, often followed by mid-year budget recissions.   Almost half (48 percent) of the institutions participating in the 2009 Campus Computing Survey report budget cuts for the current academic year, compared to less than a third (30.6 percent) in 2008 and just 13.1 percent in 2007.  Concurrently, the proportion of campuses reporting increased funding for central IT services fell from 49 percent in 2008 to 21.4 percent in 2009.  Public institutions have been hardest hit by the current cuts: fully two-thirds (67.1 percent) of public universities reported budget cuts for central IT services for 2009, as did almost two-thirds (62.8 percent) of public four-year colleges.  In contrast, just over a third (36.9 percent) of community colleges experienced central IT budget cuts this year.   Among independent institutions, more than half (56.9 percent) of private research universities and two-fifths (41.9 percent) of private four-year colleges also reported reduced resources for central IT services for the current academic year.

“These budget cuts play havoc with efforts to respond to the rising demand for IT resources and services,” says Kenneth C. Green, founding director of The Campus Computing Project, the nation’s largest continuing study of computing, eLearning, and information technology. “College and university IT units were just beginning to recover from the budget cuts that came early in the decade.  No question that the current round of IT budget reductions has consequences for infrastructure, instruction, and support services for students and faculty.”

The budget challenges confronting campus IT officers are reflected in the annual polling about the “single most important IT issue confronting my campus over the next two-three years.”  In past years the polling provided a clear “leader”  - an issue that might garner the votes of a clear plurality of the respondents.  In the early part of the decade, survey respondents identified the instructional integration of information technology as the single most important issue confronting their institution over the next two-three years.  More recently, IT security concerns emerged as the leading issue among survey respondents.  However, in 2009, two issues – financing IT and the replacement/upgrade of the campus network each received about 15 percent of the votes of the survey respondents.  And five other issues – supporting online/distance education, upgrading ERP systems, IT staffing, instructional integration, and user support – each polled about 10 percent of the votes.

“The absence of a clear ‘single most important issue’ in the 2009 survey suggests that institutional IT officers are fighting lots of 'digital fires' on their campuses,” says Green. 

Budget cuts may also be a catalyst for reorganizing IT units.  Almost two-fifths (38.8 percent) of the survey respondents report that their campus has reorganized academic computing in the past two years.  Another fourth (25.2 percent) anticipate the reorganization of academic computing in the next 24 months.  Moreover, fully a sixth (15.8 percent) of the survey respondents indicate that their campuses did reorganize academic computing in the pasty two years and expects to do it again in the next two years!   The numbers are similar for administrative computing units: 34.4 percent have reorganized,  23.6 percent expect to reorganize, and 14.8 percent have done it once and expect to do it again.

Some campuses have found a little relief from budget cuts in the federal stimulus funds.  Approximately a third of the survey respondents from public universities, public four-year colleges, and community colleges report that “federal stimulus funds will help sustain IT resources at my campus.”  However, their counterparts in the private sector are less sanguine about the benefits of stimulus money: less than a fifth (18 percent) of CIOs in private universities and just 5 percent of IT officers in private four-year colleges report any benefit from stimulus funds.  “While the relief is welcomed at many institutions, the short-lived federal stimulus money is not a long-term solution to the need to maintain IT budgets and to retain IT personnel,” says Green.

The survey indicates that campuses continue to invest in notification systems.  A new item on the 2009 questionnaire reveals that more than four-fifths (83.6 percent) of campuses participating in the survey contract with commercial firms for campus notification services, often software and services that integrate and facilitate concurrent voice, text, and email messages to students, faculty, and staff.  Yet as noted in last year’s Campus Computing Report, the effectiveness of these systems is probably limited by the fact that most campuses (73.5 percent) have an “opt-in” registration policy for the notification service, i.e., students, faculty, and staff must register for the service. 

The 2009 survey data point to small gains in the number of campuses that are in compliance with the broad terms of the P2P provisions of the Higher Education Act of 2008.  For example, 84.2 percent of public universities report that as of fall 2009, they “have developed plans to effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material,” up from 80.0 percent in 2008.  But beyond the mandate for plans, campuses may have opted to wait for the recently announced HEA regulations on P2P ahead of developing institutional policies or committing funds in response to actual or inferred federal mandates.  In this instance, just a third of private research universities (32.6 percent, up from 23.8 percent in 2008) report that “current campus plans [to stem P2P] include the use of a variety of technology-based deterrents,” as mandated by the HEA legislation.  More challenging for most campuses will be the mandate from the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) to “offer alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property” given the demise over the past year of many of the commercial music services that were targeting the campus market and offering institutional licenses.  Moreover, as noted in the 2008 Campus Computing Report, compliance with the P2P mandates cost real dollars:  for 2009, public universities estimate that they will spend, on average, more than $62,000 to address P2P compliance, compared to more than $78,000 in private universities, $28,000 in public four-year colleges, and approximately $13,000 in private four-year colleges and community colleges.

Campus IT officers seem somewhat bullish on the future of eBooks, according to the 2009 survey.  Fully three-fourths (76.3 percent) agree or strongly agree that “eBook content will be an important source for instructional resources in five years.”  Moreover, the survey numbers are fairly consistent across all sectors from community colleges to research universities.  However, the survey respondents appear slightly less confident about the role of eBook platforms: just two-thirds (66.0 percent) agree that dedicated  “eBook readers will be important platforms for instructional content in five years.”

The 2009 Campus Computing Survey is based on survey data provided by senior campus IT officials, typically, the CIO, CTO, or other senior campus IT officer, representing 500 two- and four-year public and private/non-profit colleges and universities across the United States. Survey respondents completed the questionnaire in October, 2009.   Copies of the 2009 Campus Computing Survey will be available on December 10 from the Campus Computing Project in Encino, CA (campuscomputing.net).  Price: $37, plus $2 shipping.

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LMS 3.0 (Inside Higher Education 4 Nov 2009)

Inside Higher Education commentary about the future of Learning Management Systems. "The LMS is higher ed’s version of the supermarket scanner."

IMS Interview with Kenneth C. Green (March 2010)

Ahead of the May 2010 Learning Impact Conference in Long Beach, the IMS interviewed Kenneth C. Green from The Campus Computing Project about the state of technology in higher education.

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MANAGING ONLINE EDUCATION: The 2009 WCET-Campus Computing Project Survey of Online Education (22 Oct 2009)

Online Education Programs Marked by Rising Enrollments,

Unsure Profits, Organizational Transitions,

Higher Fees, and Tech Training for Faculty

 

Enrollments are up and rising, profits are often uncertain, and organizational arrangements are in transition according to a new national survey of senior campus officials responsible for managing online and distance education programs conducted by WCET and The Campus Computing Project. Additionally, the new survey data suggest that students enrolled in online programs may pay higher fees than their on-campus counterparts, that many campuses have mandatory training on their faculty before sending them “into the web” to teach online courses, and that quality still looms as a large question for online education programs.

Three questions about enrollments indicate that campuses participating in the survey have experienced healthy gains in good economic times and bad – and that campus officials expect enrollments in their online programs to continue to rise in the coming years. Fully 94 percent of the survey respondents – typically the senior campus officer responsible for online or distance education programs – report enrollment gains in their online programs between 2006 and 2009; almost half (48 percent) report online enrollments rose by 15 percent or more during this period.  Similarly, asked about past year numbers (fall 2008 vs. fall 2009), 95 percent report rising enrollment in their online programs; almost two-fifths (38 percent) report a one-year gain in online enrollments of 15 percent or better. Finally, when asked to project enrollments in their online programs over the next three years (2009-2011), 98 percent of the institutions participating in the survey affirm enrollment gains: almost half (47 percent) expect online enrollments grow by 15 percent or more over the next three years. 

For more information, please download the accompanying PDF copy of the executive summary and the handout from the WCET Conference presentation on October 22nd.  Also available below is the video webcast of the WCET conference presentation.

 

 

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NEW: Community Colleges and the Economy (17 March 2009)

Summary report for the winter 2009 League for Innovation/Campus Computing Project survey of 120 community college presidents about the impact of the economic downturn on enrollments, hiring, budgets, and program development.  (Three PDF documents: survey report, executive summary, and presentation graphics.)

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Campus Technology Magazine: P2P Compliance in the Wake of HEA (Jan, 2009)

Campus Technology Magazine contacted The Campus Computing Project about the new mandates for P2P compliance in the wake of the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA).

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The 2008 Campus Computing Survey (29 Oct 2008)

The 2008 National Survey of Information Technology in U.S. Higher Education

Colleges Invest in Emergency Notification


29 October 2008:  Colleges and universities across the United States have made significant efforts to expand and enhance emergency notification capacity over the past year. Data from the 2008 Campus Computing Survey reveal that the proportion of institutions reporting that they do not have an “operational emergency notification system” as of fall 2008 fell to 5.5 percent, down from 25.0 percent in fall 2007.

While the numbers show major gains in notification planning and capacity, the survey data document some important variations across sectors. For example, 13.1 percent of community colleges report that they do not have an operational notification system, compared to 5.1 percent for private four-year colleges, 2.8 percent for public four-year colleges, and 2.3 percent private universities. In contrast, all the public universities participating in this year’s survey report operational notification systems as of fall 2008.

Additionally, the operational elements of campus notification plans showed major gains between fall 2007 and 2008. For example, the proportion of campuses reporting sirens as part of their plans jumped from 23.4 percent last year to 34.8 percent in fall 2008. Similarly, the proportion of campuses reporting notification capacity utilizing email grew by almost a third, from 66.4 percent in 2007 to 86.6 percent in 2008, while voice mail to campus phones increased almost by half to 65.5 percent, up from 44.6 in 2007; text messaging rose by three-fourths, from 43.3 percent in 2007 to 75.6 percent in fall 2008. The percentage of campuses reporting voice mail notification to off-campus phones and cell phones more than doubled from 2007 to 2008, from 18.0 to 41.1 percent for “wired” phones and from 22.5 to 48.5 percent for mobile phones. 
 
 “These dramatic gains reflect significant institutional concern about notification capacity,” says Kenneth C. Green, founding director of The Campus Computing Project. “Given recent campus tragedies and natural disasters, campus officials have come to recognize that technology is an essential component of a comprehensive institutional crisis management strategy.”

Yet Green cautions that “technology is the easy part” of campus notification efforts,” noting that careful planning, campus promotion, and system testing, plus thoughtful assessment, are essential. He cites the “opt-in” issue as one example: “if only a third of students register for the system, the benefits and effectiveness are clearly limited.”  (Data from the 2008 survey indicate that three-fourths - 76.6 percent - of campuses have an “opt-in” policy.) 

The campus investment in notification resources comes as colleges and universities report the beginning of what appears to be a new wave of IT budget cuts. The 2008 survey data confirm that the downturn affecting financial markets and state budgets has begun to hit college and university budgets. More than two-fifths of public universities (45.4 percent) report cuts in the central IT budget for fall 2008, up from just 16.3 percent in 2007. Similarly, 44.4 percent of public four-year colleges report central IT budget cuts this fall, compared to 16.7 percent last year. Other sectors also report reduced IT funding from last year to this, but the numbers are smaller: 22.8 percent for private universities, 23.5 percent for private four-year colleges, and 24.6 for community colleges.

 “These new IT budget reductions come just as many institutions are beginning to recover from the budget cuts that marked the economic downturn during the first years of the current decade,” says Green. “The demand for technology resources and services continues to rise, even as the dollars supporting these resources, services, and IT staff are cut from institutional budgets.”

The 2008 data document continuing challenges involving IT security.  The survey reveals increases in the proportion of institutions reporting the theft of campus computers with sensitive data (22.2 percent in fall 2008, compared to 17.1 percent last year), network attacks (up slightly from 45.6 percent to 46.2 percent), and identity management issues (25.6 percent, compared to 20.2 percent in 2007). The proportion of campuses reporting employee misconduct affecting IT security rose to 8.9 percent in 2008 compared to 6.5 percent in 2007.

Although security issues pose continuing challenges for campus IT officials, the proportion who identify IT security as the “single most important IT issue confronting my institution over the next two-three years” declined in 2008 to 20.5 percent, down from 25.5 percent in 2007 and 30 percent in both 2005 and 2006. Ranked second in 2008 is “hiring/retaining IT staff” at 16.7 percent, up from 12.3 percent last year. Tied for third in 2008 are “assisting faculty with the instructional integration of IT” (11.9 percent, compared to 11.2 percent in 2007 and 40.5 percent in 2000), and “financing the replacement of aging hardware and software” (11.2 percent, compared to 10.3 percent in 2007).  Upgrading/replacing administrative IT/ERP systems, which was second in 2007 (13.0 percent) is ranked fifth in 2008 (10.0 percent).

“These data reflect the clustering of major IT priorities over the past few years,” says Green. “Rather than the one clear IT priority we saw in 2000 -instructional integration at 40 percent - the 2008 data reflect competing, yet critical priorities: IT security, retaining IT staff, and financing IT - all competing for limited budget resources.”

A new item on the 2008 survey asked respondents about the likelihood that their institutions will migrate to Software as a Service (SaaS) or Open Source administrative applications within five years, by 2013. About a fourth (24.4 percent) of the survey respondents report a high likelihood that their institution would migrate to an Open Source Learning Management System (LMS) by 2013. About one on six (15.3 percent) report likely migration to an Open Source content system and about an eighth (12.9 percent) anticipate migration to an Open Source ePortfolio application. Far fewer respondents - less than five percent - predict migration to Open Source ERP applications such as student information, financial, HR, or research/ grant management systems by 2013.

Similarly, about a fifth (18.0 percent) of the 2008 survey respondents predict that their campuses might migrate to a SaaS-based LMS, and an eighth anticipate moving to a SaaS-based content management (12.2 percent) or ePortfolio (11.1 percent) in the next five years.

Yet even as respondents seem wary of migrating to Open Source, the survey data document the rising deployment of Open Source LMS applications. For example, Blackboard remains the dominant LMS provider in higher education: 56.8 percent of the campuses in the 2008 survey identified Blackboard as the single product campus LMS standard, down from 66.3 percent in 2007. But one campus in seven (13.8 percent) that participated in the 2008 survey identified an Open Source LMS - either Moodle or Sakai – as the campus standard LMS, up from 10.3 percent in 2007 and 7.2 percent in 2006. As of fall 2008, almost a fourth (23.7 percent) of private four-year colleges identified Moodle as the campus standard LMS, compared to 17.2 percent in 2007.

Across all sectors the percentage of college classrooms that have access to wireless networks continues to rise.  Overall, about two-thirds (67.6 percent) of classrooms have access to wireless, up from 60.1 percent in 2007 and 31.0 percent in 2004). Classroom wireless access is highest in private universities (76.0 percent, up from 68.9 percent in 2007) and lowest in community colleges (56.1 percent, up from 44.1 percent in 2007.  The survey data reveal that many colleges and universities are carefully assessing options to outsource student email and other IT services.

Fully two-fifths (42.4 percent) of institutions participating in this year’s survey report that they have migrated or are about to migrate to an outsourced student email service; three in ten (28.3 percent) are reviewing institutional options for outsourcing student email during the current academic year. In contrast, just 14.8 percent of institutions have migrated to outsourced email services for faculty. The majority of campuses outsourcing student email have opted for Google (56.5 percent), while two-fifths (38.4 percent) are using Microsoft and 4.8 percent are using Zimbra.

A new item on the 2008 survey reveals the wide deployment of antiplagiarism software. More than half (54.7 percent) of institutions report a site license for an antiplagiarism product.  Licensing agreements are highest in public four-year colleges (66.7 percent), followed by private universities (64.3 percent), public universities (62.2 percent), private four-year colleges (43.2 percent), and community colleges (54.1 percent).

“The wide deployment of antiplagiarism software reflects the growing concern about both intentional and ‘accidental’ plagiarism among undergraduates,” says Green. “Some students simply don’t know or don’t attend to the established rules for citing sources in their papers, while others intentionally clip and copy material from the Internet and other sources. Unfortunately, campus licenses for anti-plagiarism products are an additional institutional expense in times of stressed campus budgets.”

The survey data document the rising use of classroom clickers across all sectors. Although the overall numbers are generally low – about seven percent in public and private universities and public four-year colleges, five percent in private four-year colleges, and four percent in community colleges - the proportion of classes using clickers has almost doubled since the 2005 survey. Moreover, because clickers are almost exclusively found in (often large) lower-division undergraduate classes, the gains reflected in the survey data may actually understate the significance of the rising deployment of clickers and classroom response systems as a technology resource to support instruction.

 

The 2008 Campus Computing Survey is based on data provided by senior campus IT officials, typically the CIO, CTO, or other ranking campus IT officer, representing 531 two-and four-year public and private colleges and universities across the United States. Survey respondents completed the online questionnaire during September and October, 2008.

Copies of the 2008 Campus Computing Survey will be available on December 10th, as either print documents ($37.00 plus $2.00 shipping and handling) or as PDF site license files.  Order from Campus Computing  - www.campuscomputing.net.

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The Campus Costs of P2P Compliance (Oct. 2008)

This paper reports the results of a summer 2008 survey designed to address the campus costs of compliance with the new P2P filesharing mandates in reauthorized Higher Education Act (HEA) that was signed into law on August 14, 2008.  The report is based data from 321 colleges and universities and focuses on P2P compliance costs as reflected in expenditures (e.g., content and software licenses)  and also the time that campus personnel spend on P2P filesharing issues.

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The IT "Revolution" in Higher Education (October 2008)

Campus presentation at Fresno State University (1 Oct 2008).  The presentation focuses on six issues that will define the future of IT for higher education.

Technology and the Six C's of Professional Education

Plenary presentation  prepared for the May 2008 SENAC/MG Conference in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
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Collaboration Technology - What's Next: Bold Predictions, Cautionary Notes and Take Away Lessons (May 2008)

Closing Plenarty Panel from the 2008 Collaborative Technology Conference at Case Western Reserve University (May 2008).  Panel participants include: Anne Helmreich (Case Western Reserve University), Phillip Long (MIT), Cory Ondrejka (USC & Co-Founder of SecondLife), Michael Schoop (Cuyahoga Community College), Mano Singham (Case Western Reserve University), and Casey Green (moderator, The Campus Computing Project).

Learning 2.0: Making Sense of the explosion of Web 2.0 tools and their relevance and consequence in Higher Educ. (May 2008)

Plenary panel session from the Collaborative Techology Conference at Case Western Reserve University (May, 2008). Panel participants include:
Edward Lee Lamoureux (Bradley University), Doug McDavid (IBM Corporation), Susan Metros (University of Southern California), Michael Scharf, (Case Western Reserve University, School of Law) and Casey Green, moderator (The Campus Computing Project).

Ready2Net: Anticipating The Unexpected: Campus Security, Emergency Response & Crisis Management (Apr 2008)

Natural disasters and campus tragedies - September 11th, Katrina, Virginia Tech, and Northern Illinois - highlight the need for higher education to improve its capacity during emergencies. Many institutions now utilize technology as part of a campus response program. New technologies provide new forms of communication and notification services to aid and assist business continuity and campus security. In this Ready2Net program,campus presidents, campus technology and telecommunications officials, and technology providers discuss the changing landscape of emergency response, crisis management, and campus security.

The Movie Industry's 200 Percent Error (29 Jan 08)

Inside Higher Education commentary about the MPAA's acknowledgement that entertainment industry executives used flawed data from an aggressively publicized consultant's report to push for federal action on illegal file sharing by college students.

Swiftboating Higher Education on P2P: Why Higher Education Is Not the Real Problem, and Technology Is Not the Real Solution

EDUCAUSE LIVE WebCast (7 Dec 2007): This presentation focuses on how Big Music and Big Hollywood have targeted colleges and universities via press releases and Congressional lobbying initiatives while largely ignoring the much larger amount of unauthorized P2P file sharing taking place on commercial networks.

Assessment and Quality Issues in Distance Learning (Brazil, 2007)

Keynote presentation prepared for the National Day of Distance Learning sponsored by the Brazilian Ministry of Education, the Association for Distance Education in Brazil (ABED), and CIEE (Sao Paulo, Brazil: 27 Nov 2007)
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Swiftboating Higher Education on P2P

Inside Higher Education commentary about the PR efforts to portray colleges and universities as ambivalent and unengaged in efforts to stem P2P piracy on campus networks (15 Nov 2007)

Prodding the ERP Turtle

EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 42, no. 6 (November/December 2007): 148–149

Winter 2010 Survey of Community College Presidents (30 March 2010)

 

 

Still Doing More With Less

Community Colleges Continue to Confront

Rising Enrollments and Eroding Budgets


         Enrollments continue to explode as institutional budgets continue to erode according to a new national survey of community college presidents and district chancellors conducted by the League for Innovation in the Community Colleges and The Campus Computing Project.

Fully 94 percent of the 128 campus presidents and district chancellors participating in the winter 2010 survey report that headcount enrollment in their districts and on their campuses increased compared to one year ago, about the same as in the 2009 survey. However, the 2010 data show more campuses reporting larger enrollment gain: almost a third (31 percent) of the 2010 survey participants experienced total (headcount) enrollment growth of 15 percent or more from winter 2009 to winter 2010, while another third (32 percent) report enrollment gains of 10-15 percent.  In contrast, just over a fourth (28 percent) of the campuses participating in the 2009 survey reported enrollment gains of 10 percent or more. These enrollment gains came as unemployment rose from 7.7 to 10.0 percent from January to December 2009, and as Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that some 14 million Americans were unemployed at the end of the last calendar year.

Additionally the 2010 survey reveals that a growing number of community colleges reporting enrollment gains across a range of enrollment categories and curricular areas: compared to the 2009 survey, more campuses report increased enrollments among full-time students, part-time students, and transfer students; in their certificate, workforce, and career enhancement programs; and also among business, health care, and technology majors.

These enrollment gains stand in stark contrast to the budget cuts that continue to affect the nation’s community colleges.  While the number of community colleges reporting reductions in their operating budgets fell slightly this year (52 percent in 2010 vs. 57 percent in 2009), the number of campuses experiencing budget cuts that exceeded 10 percent more than doubled, from 7 percent last year to 18 percent in 2010. This pattern also appears within specific budget categories: a slight decline in the number of community colleges reporting cuts in their budgets for instruction and administrative services, technology resources, and professional development, coupled with more institutions reporting larger budget cuts in these categories for 2010 than in 2009.

The little good news about campus finances involves mid-year budget recissions, which declined from 61 percent in 2009 to 54 percent this past year. However, even as a smaller number of community colleges experienced mid-year budget cuts, the average mid-year rescission rose, from 5 percent last year to 7 percent in 2010.

“The continuing enrollment gains over the past 12 months confirm that the nation’s community colleges are at the forefront of both individual efforts and community responses to the economic downturn,” says Kenneth C. Green founding director of The Campus Computing Project, the organization that designed survey and managed the project.   “The 2010 survey also reveals that the community colleges remain on the receiving end of the ‘do more with less and do it better’ mantra that typically accompanies budget cuts and economic upheaval.   Community colleges are doing and serving a lot more, and are doing it with much less.  This has significant consequences for instruction resources, instructional support, and for student support services.”

The combination of rising enrollments and continuing budget cuts led more community colleges to impose enrollment caps this past year.  The proportion of campuses experiencing enrollment caps rose from 9 percent in 2009 to 13 percent in 2010. Within sectors, the community colleges that were the most likely to experience enrollment caps were metropolitan campuses (19 percent), and campuses enrolling either 5-10,000 students (21 percent), or more than 10,000 students (26 percent).

The survey continues to confirm the sustained growth in online courses and enrollments in community colleges over the past year.  Almost 9 in 10 of the surveyed presidents (87 percent in 2010, compared to 92 percent in 2009) report increases in student enrollment in the online courses offered by their institution over the past year: a fifth (19 percent) report online course enrollments increased by 5-10 percent, another fourth (25 percent) cite gains of 10-15 percent, while almost a third (31 percent) saw enrollments in online courses rise by 15 percent of more compared to last year.  And although the numbers are not as dramatic, more than half the presidents (53 percent vs. 51 percent in 2009 percent) also report gains in the number online certificates offered by their campuses, while 56 percent (vs. 57 percent in 2009) indicated that online degree programs also increased in the past year.

As was the case in 2009, the survey data also confirm that student demand, not institutional efforts to contain instructional costs, is the primary catalyst for the increase in online courses in community colleges over the past year.  Almost all the presidents (91 percent vs. 56 percent last year) report that their campuses are offering more online courses in response to student interest and demand.  In contrast, only two-fifths (39 percent, compared to 34.4 percent last year) confirm that their institutions are moving to expand online programs “as a way to reduce the cost of instruction.”

Almost two-thirds of the campuses and districts participating in the survey received federal stimulus program money this past year, averaging $1.95 million per campus (range: $1.35M for rural colleges vs. $3.03M for community colleges that enroll more than 10,000 students). Presidents report that their institutions typically spent the stimulus dollars to save jobs, particularly instructional positions: more than two-fifths (42 percent) indicate that their institutions spent stimulus money to retain instruction positions; a third (32 percent) used the money to retain instructional support staff, and a fourth spent stimulus money to retain administrative and clerical jobs.    In contrast, just 16 percent used the stimulus money to create new instructional positions or to hire additional instructional support personnel, and only 6 percent used the money for new clerical or custodial jobs.   Also, a sixth (17 percent) spent stimulus dollars this past year for physical plant improvements.

While presidents are no doubt happy to have the stimulus money, the survey data suggest some tempered optimism about the benefits of the federal money to aid enrollments at their colleges and improve employment in their communities.  This year 62 percent of the survey respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the federal stimulus funds would benefit enrollments at their institutions, compared to 68 percent in 2009.  Similarly, 55 percent of the presidents participating in the 2010 survey agreed/strongly agreed that stimulus money would benefit employment in their communities, down from 77 percent a year ago.

         The League for Innovation/Campus Computing Project survey of community college presidents received financial support from Pearson and SunGard Higher Education.  A total of 128 community college presidents and district chancellors participated in the online survey, which was conducted from February 26 to March 25, 2010.

 


 

 

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The Music Industry’s Spring Offensive (March, 2007)

Inside Higher Education VIEW article about the recent initiatives by the RIAA and the MPAA to hold colleges and universities responsible for the broader, consumer-market problems of illegal P2P downloading of music and movies. (Also of interest: The Morning After Grokster, Digital Tweed, August 2005.)

The Changing Role of Enterprise Systems: From EDI to Internet Icons (May 2007)

Keynote presentation, 2007 EDUCAUSE Enterprise Conference (podcast and PDF file).

Bring Data: A New Role for Information Technology After the Spellings Commission (Nov, 2006)

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The Most Innovative College in America? (Oct, 2006)

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