The Internet is creating new models for collaboration, research and discovery. My goal in inviting you was to plant the seeds in the mind of system admins about what is possible and what faculty and students are doing at the leading edge. I hope some seeds took root and we will see a blossoming of things in the expanding catalog of building blocks.

I think what I learned is that I need to so more to help my community understand how they can be change agents on campus. I know that people with a passion for technology can make a big difference. When you are spending your days reviewing run books and checking backups or writing a minute by minute plan for the next maintenance window one can lose sight of the big picture. I will be taking up this challengee iin coming months.

“provosts and deans and chairs etc., should be asking the CIOs and the academic technology directors about how we can increase productivity”

Speaking from my perspective, I don’t think the audience was comprised of technological decision-makers, rather the implementers of decisions. As a software developer, or a system administrator, your typical DevCon attendee does not have the power or influence to make changes.

Don’t get me wrong, I agree with your premise about the current state of higher education – when you spoke of crushing debt for recent graduates, you could have been talking about me in particular.

I just don’t think that people in technological leadership roles (managers, CIOs, department heads) were present in the audience, and it seems that they were your target.