Educause has just released an extensive study on messaging and communications: Spread the Word: Messaging and Communications in Higher Education. The study focuses on three key questions: outsourcing of student email systems, the role of mobile devices in the communications plans, and the mix of emergency notification services. The study included a literature review, a survey, interviews and case studies. And out of this the core recommendations are to outsource your student email system, that mobile will become essential over the next 3 years, and crisis communication needs to be an enterprise level service.
In the area of mobile devices, the study found interest amoung higher ed respondants, and a widespread recognition that these devices will become ubiquitious on campus over the next 3 years. But at the same time only half of respondants had adapted existing services to mobile devices and only 40% are developing new applications or have identified mobile devices as an area of importance. And only 10% have a documented mobile strategy in place. Basically we know these devices will grow in importance, but we’re not doing much about it.
So what’s the problem? In part a reliance on email, although it is increasingly clear that this is diminshing as an effetive communcations stream for students. The mobile space is an area that is rapidly evolving in a way that is chaotic when constrasted against typical instutional development cycles. But the risk is an area where central IT watches “constituents develop dependencies on external products over which the IT organizations has no control.” And it is difficult to get people back in the fold once they have built up relationships and resources through external services. For instance a person with an extensive mix of professional and personal facebook friends won’t see much benefit to adding participation on the university’s new social network to their to-do list.
“…the institutional role in supporting messaging and communications is transforming from that of provider to one of integrator. Providers build, ration, protect and control, while intergators expose, mediate and enable.”
Leaders need to communicate openly with their communities. And they need to keep abreast of trends, be willing to experiment, and develop a good sense of what users need. Roll things out in quick, iterative deployments, which allow quick course changes as technologies, user expectations, and understanding of implications evolve.
www.educause.edu/ECAR/SpreadingtheWordMessagingandCo/168953
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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