| | January 20178People who know I came from the healthcare industry, before joining higher education, often ask me to compare the two. Even though my experience in higher education is still relatively short, I have observed evolutionary similarities that present both great challenges and opportunities for higher education IT leaders in the years ahead.Over the last sixteen years, I have watched a technology-associated evolution in healthcare that includes stages of challenge, struggle, hype, failure, rebirth, struggle, adaption...and the process continues. I see education in the early stages of such a technology revolution and think the next ten to fifteen years will be as transformational (and fun) as any time in modern history. In higher education, we use the phrase "educational technology" largely to refer to the confined context of technology in the classroom and its potential impact on pedagogy. At a time when many people critical of education want new ways to measure value, that context misses the bigger picture and larger opportunity for transformation in education.I prefer expanding "educational technology" to mean the intersection of technology and data in the innovation cycle that leads to increased value creation. That is a lot of buzz words, but the essence of what I mean is that:1) Innovation will be driven by moving toward more evidence-based decision-making;2) Data should be seen and leveraged as an asset, so logically, more data represents more assets; and3) Technology by itself is not transformative; it is merely a tool and only as good as how it is used and implemented.I also find it interesting that the new dialog in education uses the term "outcomes," which was very much part of the evolution in healthcare. Education is hungering to find credible means to quantifiably demonstrate quality outcomes for students beyond, "did they graduate on time or not?" I see the future of education being defined through the intersection of technology, data, smart devices, and intelligent software for the future engine of innovation--with a focus on better outcomes. Outcomes are another way of saying we are looking for evidence-based decisions. The focus on outcomes will drive very important industry transformations because it "begins with the end in mind" and necessarily raises questions that challenge current assumptions. Those questions might include assumptions around pedagogy, appropriate uses of The Transformation of Education: What Role Does Technology Play?IN MY OPINIONBy Tom Andriola, VP & CIO, University of California
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