Cisco at EDUCAUSE: Reimagining Higher Education

Cisco Blog >Education

Digital technology is changing teaching and learning, and affecting the way entire campuses operate. As a Cisco Education Advisor, I meet every day with education institutions that are exploring and embracing innovation that is fueled, in part, by digitization and supported by a shift in culture in today's college and university environments.

Many institutions are considering how technology can truly have an impact on the learning environment. Educators and students alike are being 'trained' by consumer models that enable engagement in collaborative technologies through multiple social media channels, across a range of personal devices. Because these collaborative tools are changing the way educators and students engage, they are also influencing the design of new learning spaces, particularly as colleges and universities build new buildings or renovate existing spaces. What does today's classroom look like given the potential of blended, flipped, or hybrid learning models? Are classrooms becoming 'smarter,' where teachers are able to use technology in ways to reach students beyond classroom walls before, during, and after class?

Of course, a campus is more than just classrooms, and innovation touches everything from security to parking. For instance, new security technologies are helping protect both people and information, and smart transportation solutions make it easier and more efficient for everyone to move across campus.

Many innovative colleges and universities are using data analytics to drive decision-making. For example, data showing a student hasn't accessed campus Wi-Fi or the LMS for a certain period of time may trigger a notification to faculty or a student advisor or mentor-and even arrange a Spark space-to begin a dialogue with the student: is the subject matter a challenge, or has there been an illness or emergency? What can be done to help? Similarly, data about a lack of Wi-Fi usage in a classroom can initiate steps to turn down heating and cooling systems or turn off lighting in the space, which, if done consistently, can lower operational costs.

For educators, new teaching models and data insights mean an evolving role and an exciting opportunity for their own innovation. Colleges and universities must understand how to use technology efficiently to help educators meet students where they are and provide data analysis that moves educators to act. In the case of the absent student, an educator might have some of the information-insight from the LMS that an assignment is missing, for example-but lack the complete analysis, which shows that the student hasn't been on campus for days or weeks and points to a much greater issue. Higher education needs to continue to increase student enrollment, but we also know that retaining students and seeing them through to program completion or graduation is just as important.

Education is never stagnant, and with technology, change and innovation are swifter than ever before. New technologies like augmented and virtual reality are an exciting example. We're seeing great promise with AR/VR at the community college level where programs use the technologies to train-and in some cases, re-train-the workforce of tomorrow. How will these tools along with collaborative technologies and data-driven applications change the culture of higher education? What will learning spaces look like and what will the role of educators be as these platforms and tools are developed and implemented?