Educause 09 Roundup: Day 1

I had a full day yesterday going to speeches and learning more about how the educational setting will need to adjust for the technology to come. Here is my round up:

Good to Great and the Social Sector: If you haven't heard of Jim Collins (http://www.jimcollins.com/) then you need to. The information and ideas he comes up with isn't just his opinion but his opinion with evidence to back him up. He shows how businesses over 70 years of data have the makeup to be great and others that failed to survive. Great way to start off the conference and move to the rest of my sessions.

SunGuard Higher Ed Talk: This session for for my CIO to look over what SunGuard was coming out with and maybe explore this as another web application to use. I found its a collabration of a portal like instance mixed with an ERP system for users to registar for classes, collect work hours, etc. SunGuard also talked about their move to a more 'community' stance with their products and giving developers easier accessability to create forms with a lot less stress.

Mile High Twitter Debat: This was a debate between a professor who was for Twitter use in the class room and the CIO of Wisconsin who was against it. It brought up some interesting thoughts on the subject of twitter and how it can insure effective learn for his students. The opposite argument gave interesting facts with the basic concern that most people have about twitter; how much time is wasted with this communication medium. The Q and A was very informative and brought out some great responses. I tried to ask a question, forgot was I was trying to explain it, wrote it down and was able to complete a thought. It was embarrassing but I got through it.

Managing a Student Helpdesk: The talk was ok but the thoughts on how to run a helpdesk could be used at majority of university helpdesks. Things that were changed for the helpdesk Manager from Ohio Dominican University were:

• Have leaving reviews/interviews
• Change the work atmosphere if it 'sucks'
• Doesn't use the title 'student technician' with his workers
• Provide room for growth with other job opportunities (web designer, graphic designer, etc...)
• Help the seniors with goals, resume building and mock interview

 Those are just some of many ideas from this session.

Career Choices: Making the Decision that is Right for You: Being a CIO is something I am interested in and I was able to listen to four CIO's at major universities. There were some statistics that were presented on who are CIO's and how it has changed over the years. We then listened to the trials and tribulations they went through getting to where they are today. I don't know if I am totally set with that career choice in my life but I do want to aspire to something big. If the CIO position is in my life, I will do my best to make it work.

The Final Verdict: I have a lot to absorb from this conference but I know I have taken a lot from it. Just from the above is a small part of what I will learn Thursday and Friday morning. Glad to be a part of this learning proses.