What's On Your Mind?

We're here at the EDUCAUSE conference in Orlando, Fla.
Some of the sessions include "discussion sessions," which give leaders an opportunity to come together and share problems and solutions from their campuses.
Around 40 people attended the session for Community Colleges.
In the order they were called out, here are the top things on the minds of Community College IT leaders:

1. Funding IT
2. Implementing IT initiatives to support education without growing staff
3. Keeping technology current and relevant
4. Security
5. Advisory board/governance in a strategic manner
6. Who the CIO reports to
7. Staffing (finding and retaining)
8. Business continuity and disaster recovery
9. Providing services to students

Although many of the challenges community colleges face sound the same as those at four-year institutions, they also reflect the unique demographics at community colleges.
Regarding keeping technology relevant, one leader said, "Our students reach the work force before those at four-year institutions, we don't have time to catch up." There is more of a need to provide real world computing experience at a community college, especially for students looking to reenter the work force with increased skills.
Of course, many of these topics are addressed regularly in the pages of University Business.