More than half of public and private universities are starting to use mobile apps. But only 4.4 percent have been moving their enterprise resource planning services to cloud computing, according to the 2011 Campus Computing Survey from The Campus Computing Project.
For the last two years, the Horizon Report has listed mobile as a technology to watch and suggested it would be adopted within a year or less. And the Campus Computing Survey of 496 senior IT officials shows that more colleges and universities are moving to mobile apps.
| Campuses that deploy mobile apps | |||
| Fall 2011 | Fall 2010 | % Increase | |
| Public universities | 55.3% | 32.5% | 22.8% |
| Public four-year colleges | 43.6% | 17.8% | 25.8% |
| Community colleges | 40.9% | 12.4% | 28.5% |
| Private universities | 50% | 42.2% | 7.8% |
| Private four-year colleges | 35.6% | 25.2% | 10.4% |
Community colleges saw the biggest increase over last year in mobile app deployments, jumping 28.5 percent. Colleges like Tompkins Cortland Community College are developing mobile apps and other services to reach students on devices they use every day.
Because students who bring devices to campus want to use mobile services, "Colleges and universities are playing catch-up with the consumer experience," said Kenneth C. Green, director of the Campus Computing Project, in an analysis of the survey results. And more companies, including those that provide enterprise resource planning and learning management systems, are adding mobile choices.
While community colleges showed the most gains, public universities have the highest percentage this year at 55.3. Private universities follow close behind at 50 percent, and public four-year colleges come in third at 43.6 percent. Last year, private universities showed significantly higher use of mobile apps than the other groups.
Throughout the country, universities are refining their mobile strategies and figuring out how their portals, mobile sites and apps fit together.
On the cloud adoption front, colleges and universities have been cautious about moving critical data, resources and services to the cloud, particularly in the public sector. Just 1.3 percent of public universities are moving their enterprise resource planning services into the cloud, while 7.1 percent of private universities are doing the same.
Green attributes these low numbers to a lack of trust in cloud companies to protect important information and few cloud offerings from enterprise resource providers.
The numbers are similar for storage, archiving and business continuity in the cloud. But campus officials are much more comfortable with outsourcing email.
Two-thirds of survey participants outsource student email, while a fifth outsource faculty email. Fifteen percent of campuses are moving to cloud-based office apps, including the California State University System.
And they're not shy about changing to cloud-based learning management systems. Of the colleges and universities surveyed, 27.8 percent are making this switch.
What is your college or university doing in these areas?
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.centerdigitaled.com/policy/Mobile-Apps-Cloud-Adoption-Higher-Education.html
Tanya Roscorla covers education technology in the classroom, behind the scenes and on the legislative agenda. Likes: Experimenting in the kitchen, cooking up cool crafts, reading good books.
E-mail: troscorla@centerdigitaled.com
2013 Q2 Special Report: Big Data, Big Expectations
Learn how to transform big data into powerful and actionable educational insights to improve student outcomes on your campus in this Special Report.
The Road to Transformative Learning in Higher Education Cloud Computing in Education: Read about how education is moving to the cloud Minnesota State Universities and Colleges Implements New Online Management System The Daytona State College Success Story: Improving Student Retention, Student Success and Accreditation Austin Peay University Deploys Online Personalized Course Recommendation System
