Day 2 @ Educause – Preconference Session

I registered for two preconference sessions …

Aligning IT Leadership with Institutional Missions: The Reality of Being a CIO

The session was lead by 4 CIOs.  The session had about 60 attendees. Each of the 4 presenters took turns talking about various factors that a CIO needs to align with in order to be successful. Some key points:

• have a prepared short message about several key topics so your are ready to communicate when you get a chance
• Culture is important – build your team with people who have a customer service approach ( also refer to Jim Collins “Good to Great”)
• Identity Management will drive the creation of a service team made up of IT, HR and Registrar Office staff
• as a CIO book regular meetings with your key stakeholders – proactive communication
• when making architecture decisions; it is not just yes or no – try “whoa” so a discussion can occur

I found the discussion and Q and A sessions with the attendees to be very valuable on various levels.

Let’s Get Visual! Integrating Concept Maps, Rich Media, Social Software, and the LMS into Teaching and Learning

This was a fun and innovative session with presenters from the University of British Columbia and InHolland from the Netherlands.  We explored concept mapping and the integration of rich media.  Take a look at this open source tool called VUE