Stable, reliable and adaptable. Those are the key descriptors for a successful learning management system. When the current LMS doesn't provide a needed functionality, schools can often add new features or configurations to achieve the desired outcome. But in some cases, it's time to scrap the old system. "Universities change on a dime; they're constantly […]
The concept of campus-as-merchant is a hard one to grasp. Sure, there's the campus store, but the college or university itself? For those involved in securing credit card data used in higher ed transactions, that merchant status is not only a good-to-know fact, but one that must be acted on. Banks are beginning to exercise […]
The temperature around higher education unionizing efforts often runs hot. Officials are reluctant to have outside labor groups on campus or to relinquish control over important personnel decisions—including pay, benefits and other sensitive employee issues. But should higher ed leaders fear unionization efforts? One primary area of worry for institutions whose employees are beginning to […]
The United University Professions (UUP), SUNY's labor union, has defended funding for public higher education—which has decreased nationwide by about 25 percent since the Great Recession. (Only two states, Alaska and North Dakota, have increased funding.) "Funding impacts classroom sizes, ability for students to afford college—it means that because states aren't investing, there is less […]
Dealing with covering financial shortfalls in student packages, managing tuition refunds and providing excellent customer support with small staffs are common problems business offices face. This web seminar, originally broadcast on May 8, 2014, featured a financial leader who explained how her institution adapted department policies as enrollment continued to rise. She also discussed the […]
The University System of Georgia has worked to combine several more of its higher education institutions this year in what is likely the nation's most aggressive and high-profile campus consolidation program. Around the country, institutions are merging at a slower pace, with some proposed consolidations collapsing under backlash from students and other community members. "I […]
In the 1990s, Al Gore warned the public about the consequences of global warming. Though Gore may not have been the father of campus recycling nor the Internet, he and other like minded politicians placed the environmental public policy ball in play within the executive and legislative branches of Federal and State governments. At first, some […]
People often go to college for the wrong reasons, with assumptions about how it's going to benefit them, says Donald Farish. "When it doesn't come out the way they imagined it would be, then, of course, it's everybody else's fault." Farish, president of Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, will be the inaugural speaker at […]
As institution leaders plan out campus-wide AV projects, what are the top strategies for successful implementation of maintainable systems? At my institution, we strive to meet three design principles when completing all AV projects: Simplicity: We want a user interface that is easy for faculty and end users to operate with little to no learning […]
College ranking systems are typically viewed as unreliable metrics, often accused of practicing favoritism based on questionable criteria that varies by publisher. In an attempt to provide an unbiased and informed resource for prospective students and their families, the Obama administration has formulated its own version of a college ranking system. Based on three areas—access, […]
