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What to See at Educause 2016

At this year's Educause Annual Conference, learn about strategies for cybersecurity, open educational resources, data analytics, ed tech trends and more.

• By Rhea Kelly
• 09/08/16

Next month, thousands of higher education IT professionals will come together at the 2016 Educause Annual Conference (October 25–28 in Anaheim, CA) to share ideas and learn about the latest trends and best practices in higher ed tech. There's no shortage of things to do at Educause: everything from intensive seminars, jam-packed poster sessions, a bustling exhibit hall, networking meet-ups and career coaching to keynotes that spark conversation and set a thought-provoking tone for the event.

Perhaps what Educause is most known for, though, is the huge array of content on the conference agenda. With so many overlapping sessions on so many interesting topics, it would take some sort of cloning experiment or time travel to attend everything I'd like to see. So, after much wrestling and hand-wringing, here are the highlights that made my cut:

Game of Pwns: Establishing Cyber Risk Governance
It's not often you get a large university system to open up about cybersecurity. Here, the University of California will explain how it tackled systemwide governance for cyber risk in response to a major cyberattack in 2015.

Fostering OER Adoption at Your Institution: Key Challenges and Proven Solutions
With three different institutions sharing their adoption strategies for open educational resources, you're bound to find some takeaways for your own institution.

Measuring Student Engagement Using Data Analytics
Ananda Gunawardena, faculty in computer science at Princeton, will offer practical tips for integrating video content in a course and tapping into the analytics available on video platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo.

The Educause 2017 Top 10 IT Issues
Get an exclusive preview of Educause's annual roundup of the top 10 issues impacting information technology in higher ed — the official list won't be published until January.

Coding, Gaming, IoT, and Wearables: New Student Success Technologies, or Chocolate-Covered Broccoli?
A multi-campus panel will discuss four of the latest buzzwords in education technology. Find out whether or not these tech trends can really improve student outcomes.

Higher Education, IT, and Public Policy
Learn about current and emerging federal policy issues that could have major implications for your institution, from cybersecurity and IT accessibility to online learning.

Learning from Leading: New CIOs Discuss Their Roles and Experiences
Four new chief information officers from a variety of IT organizations — a community college, public university, liberal arts college and blended library/IT group — will talk about how they've transitioned into the CIO role.

Developing an IT Service Model for Supporting Higher Ed Research: A Conversation
Bruce Maas, vice provost for IT and CIO at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Gerry McCartney, VP for IT and CIO at Purdue University, will discuss how their institutions define IT's role in supporting academic research.

Improving College Completion through Collaboration and Scale
Find out how public universities are collaborating both within and outside their institutions to make the most of big data for student success.