Technology not a Priority for Most College Administrators, Report Finds

While 98 percent of college administrators surveyed say technology skills are important for student careers, few list technology as a priority, according to the CDW-G 21st Century Campus Report.

"When you have to start worrying about where your funding comes from and where you're going to spend money, technology is potentially one of the things that might be on the chopping block," said Andy Lausch, vice president of CDW-G higher education.

The report surveyed 1,200 college students, faculty, IT staff and administrators about technology use on campus. Since last year, 12 percent more students are using personal tech tools to learn in class, bringing the total up to 31 percent.

And the majority of students say that technology played a factor in their decision of where to go to college. Some colleges don't have to have the best technology. But if they don't have the bare minimum, including a wireless infrastructure, students won't consider them, Lausch said.

Administrators should look at what they need to have on campus so they don't detract students from coming, he said.

And they should also look into using technology for recruiting.

The survey asked administrators to pick their top two priorities out of eight for this school year. Sixty percent of them listed attracting and retaining students as their top priority, while 50 percent chose addressing funding shortfalls. Only 12 percent listed improving and enhancing Information Technology.

Yet nearly all of them said technology skills were important for students to learn. To meet both of their top priorities, administrators can save money by consolidating data centers, virtualizing or moving to cloud computing. And that savings can go toward upgrading technology.

While budget is an obstacle, so is adoption of technology. Administrators have an opportunity to look at professional development programs for their faculty who may resist using technology.

And they need to keep in mind that learning objectives and outcomes come first, then leveraging technology to reach those objectives and outcomes.

The student use of personal technology and popularity of tools like digital content, e-textbooks, virtual learning and lecture capture have helped push colleges to bring in more technology.

"It's clearly something that students are asking for, so that's driving the importance of tech tools and the adoption of them."