Open Menu Close Menu

Campus Technology Insider Podcast

Campus Technology Insider Podcast

The Campus Technology Insider podcast explores current trends and issues impacting technology leaders in higher education. Listen in as Executive Editor Rhea Kelly chats with ed tech experts and practitioners about their work, ideas and experiences.

Listen below or find us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon MusicSpotify or Stitcher.


Trends to Watch in 2022: Takeaways from the Horizon Report

One of the takeaways from this year's Educause Horizon Report is that there's likely no such thing as a return to normal: Many of the changes that higher education has undergone over the past couple of years are here to stay. At the same time, the trends, technologies and practices impacting teaching and learning have developed more depth, more nuance. For example, while hybrid learning was addressed broadly in last year's report, this year the report drilled down into important facets such as hybrid learning spaces and professional development for hybrid teaching. To delve into the details of what's on the horizon for higher ed in 2022, we spoke with Kathe Pelletier, director of Educause's Teaching and Learning Program and co-author of the report.

Resource links:

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 39 minutes

Transcript


From Instructional Design to Learning Experience Design: Understanding the Whole Student

These days, we hear a lot about the "new normal" in higher education. Remote and hybrid learning is here to stay, offering students more flexibility in their learning journeys. But what if the new normal is not enough? It's time to go beyond the new normal and consider the "new possible" — how to put together the best of face-to-face, online and hybrid to create powerful learning experiences based on a deep understanding of the whole student. We spoke to Mark Milliron, senior vice president of Western Governors University and executive dean of the Teachers College, and Kim Round, academic programs director and associate dean of the Teachers College, about their vision for reimagining education and why learning experience design is essential to student success.

Resource links:

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 36 minutes

Transcript


Bonus: Building a Culture of Innovation

Digital transformation is not just about implementing new technologies — it's also about people and the ability to embrace change. In fact, you might say that's the hardest part: Culture is often cited as one of the biggest barriers to digital transformation in higher ed. In February, our Campus Technology Leadership Summit tackled that very topic with a wonderful panel discussion on building innovation into the culture of a university. We spoke with Christine Whitney Sanchez, chief culture officer for the University Technology Office at Arizona State University, and Chris Dellarocas, associate provost of Digital Learning & Innovation at Boston University, about how they are working to transform institutional culture, incubate new ideas, support collaboration and experimentation, and more. Here's that conversation.

Resource links:

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 44 minutes

Transcript




10 Basics that Students Want from the LMS, and How to Help Faculty Implement Them

At Ohio State University, students developed a list of 10 ways that instructors can use the learning management system more effectively — common-sense guidelines that aim to make courses more consistent, predictable, easier to navigate and generally more student-friendly. We spoke with Sam Craighead, associate director of professional learning in Ohio State's Office of Technology and Digital Innovation, about understanding the student perspective, supporting faculty with research-based practices, and the impact of instructional design on student success.   

Resource links:

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 31 minutes

Transcript


Data-Informed Learning Design and the Shift to Online

The pandemic has been a testament to the progress that has been made in the use of technology to support online learning, but it has also revealed how poorly traditional course design translates to a digital experience. And that's an opportunity for institutions to become more sophisticated in leveraging digital learning environments to go beyond what's possible in a brick-and-mortar classroom. That's according to Luyen Chou, chief learning officer at 2U. Here, we talk about transforming online pedagogy, the potential of emerging technologies, the beauty of simple data, essential human skills and more.

Resource links:

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 34 minutes

Transcript


Bonus: Seizing the Opportunity for Digital Transformation

Back in November, Campus Technology hosted a virtual summit about innovation in IT: all of the ways higher education technology leaders have embraced agility and flexibility in challenging times. A highlight of the event was a panel discussion on digital transformation, and how the pandemic has accelerated digital efforts on campus. Our panelists were: Marina Aminy, dean of Online Education and Learning Resources at Saddleback College; Michael Berman, chief information officer at California State University; Shawna Dark, chief academic technology officer and executive director for Research, Teaching, and Learning at the University of California, Berkeley; and Jessica Phillips, interim director of Learning Programs and Digital Flagship at The Ohio State University. They talked about their digital transformation priorities, the need for a student-centric approach, issues of equity and access, pedagogical challenges, and more. Here's that conversation.

Resource links:

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 45 minutes

Transcript


Cutting Through Ed Tech Hype in Favor of Research-Driven Improvements

How will emerging technologies impact the future of education? While it's easy to get caught up in the hype around trends such as the metaverse and artificial intelligence, true progress comes in slow, incremental improvements in using technology to inform teaching and learning, according to Neil Heffernan, professor of computer science and director of the Learning Sciences and Technologies Graduate Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Here, we talk about augmented reality, intelligent tutoring systems and the need for better research infrastructure in ed tech.

Resource links:

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 25 minutes

Transcript


Digital Transformation in Higher Ed: What It Means and Where to Start

The digital transformation of higher ed has been going on for years, but the current pandemic has brought that process into laser focus – and accelerated digital efforts perhaps like nothing else could. Institutions are going through deep shifts in culture, workforce and technology, enabling new educational models, transforming operations, and even changing the whole value proposition of a higher education. Yet at the same time, digital transformation is so expansive it can be difficult to define, and even harder to manage. We spoke with Betsy Reinitz, director of enterprise and IT programs at Educause, about what digital transformation means, how to start a Dx journey, the biggest obstacles to Dx and more.

Resource links:

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 25 minutes

Transcript


Embracing Innovation, Technology and Culture Change for the Sake of Access

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation and the adoption of new learning models at many colleges and universities — but higher ed culture has some catching up to do. While institutions traditionally measure change in decades, we're now in a time when flexibility, innovation and risk-taking are key to student access and opportunity as well as institutional survival. We spoke with Dr. Mark Lombardi, president of Maryville University, about why the business model of higher ed is broken, the importance of lifelong learning and technology's role in moving universities toward a better future.

Resource links:

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 29 minutes

Transcript


Why AI Needs the Liberal Arts

Colby College in Maine is investing $30 million to create the Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the first cross-disciplinary institute for AI at a liberal arts institution. Among its goals: to democratize AI, moving it beyond the realm of large universities and technology companies to transform teaching, learning and research in a wide variety of disciplines. Yet it's not just about how AI can inform the liberal arts, according to Amanda Stent, inaugural director of the Davis Institute. It's also about how a liberal arts perspective can bring about a better understanding of whether, how, and in what ways the use of AI can benefit — or harm — our society. In this episode of the podcast, we talk about the most critical AI skills for students, the ethics behind AI algorithms, what you should ask yourself about the AI tools you allow into your home, and more.

Resource links:

Music: Mixkit

Duration: 27 minutes

Transcript