For colleges and universities to successfully unlock the value technology can provide in achieving their vision and goals, IT leaders must unlock the time necessary to think strategically and innovate. Learn how to partner with a managed technology services provider to pave the way forward.
It’s that time of year again – predictions time! These prediction posts are fun to pull together because we can take a step back and think about the future and play pundit for a bit. My colleague Matt Loecke and I made 10 predictions for higher ed last year, and we were grinning when we saw that we got 8 of them right, or, er, almost right. Read on and take a wager now on whether we nailed our predictions for 2022.
To help you navigate and respond to the myriad challenges affecting higher ed IT teams today, we invite you to take just one hour this month and spend it with Apogee in our new free online short course, Unlock Time to Drive Higher Ed IT Innovation. December is a great time to take stock, focus on thinking about the future, and align your professional and personal goals for 2022.
Our guest blogger today is Jonathan Alford, Director of Managed Campus at Apogee and a veteran. With the help of the amazing Apogee HR team, Jon embarked on creating a strong veteran community at Apogee through our First Annual Veterans Workshop and Retreat at our headquarters in Austin, TX last week. If you’re a veteran seeking an opportunity to serve higher education, please read on to learn more about the supportive community the company offers.
The EDUCAUSE 2021 Annual Conference agenda is very different this year. The last two conferences – 2019 in Chicago, 2020 online only – had more of an emphasis on discovery, data, and change management. This year’s conference feels more “immediate” in nature, with an emphasis on technology topics that need to be acted on now to set up higher ed for future success. Read on to learn more about how to spend your time at this year’s conference whether you’re participating in person or online.
In an essay published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, co-authors Arthur Levine and Scott Van Pelt outline five “profound and jarring new realities” shaping the future of higher education. While each of these trends – the result of conversations with college presidents, higher ed associations, and policymakers – are broadly relevant for school administrators, one trend stands out.
Soon after the implementation of the new ResNet at Saint Augustine’s University, the HBCU had to implement an online-only week as a pandemic precautionary measure to safeguard students, faculty, and staff. Read on to learn how this partnership is enabling an improved campus experience in a blended learning environment and the bridging of the Digital Divide.
For colleges and universities to successfully unlock the value technology can provide in achieving their vision and goals, IT leaders must unlock the time necessary to think strategically and innovate. Learn how to partner with a managed technology services provider to pave the way forward.
Apogee is hard at work planning to ensure that every interaction you have with us at the EDUCAUSE 2021 Annual Conference will be delightful. It’s been a long time since we were able to gather with the higher ed IT community, and we are so looking forward to seeing you at the conference in Philadelphia or online. Read on to learn about our top 7 recommended conference sessions and the Apogee booth experience. See you in Philly!
The Great Resignation is real. Americans, especially skilled tech workers, are leaving their jobs by the thousands. Many who haven’t done so are thinking about it. Your best moves right now? Start by benchmarking your IT organization against other colleges and universities and then break the status quo to consider how outsourcing can help.
Higher education and helping customers transform with technology have always been my passions. I see that same passion reflected in Apogee with our mantra ‘higher ed is our higher purpose.’ Apogee’s commitment to higher education success is not only remarkable but truly inspiring. I’m excited to be here and share some thoughts with you. -Scott Drossos, Apogee CEO
We often get asked: “Why does Apogee care so much about blended learning? You’re an MSP, not an LMS or other learning tech company.” Great question! For two reasons: Apogee loves students and customers. Apogee knows how to unlock time. For real.
Virtual conference season is going strong and housing and residence life officers from around the globe just met for the ACUHO-i annual conference to discuss critical higher ed issues. Main takeaways included an investigation of how our campuses can thrive with the knowledge gained from the COVID-19 pandemic and how to ensure retention is staying top of mind.
Modern society often portrays rest as an indulgence lacking value and, at worst, a distraction from more important things. But this perspective is erroneous. Rest is work’s ally, not its enemy. Higher ed leaders have toiled tirelessly for the last fifteen months, and Summer 2021 is an opportunity to take a step back and let your mind imagine future possibilities for your campus.
To honor Mental Health Awareness Month, Teresa de Onis, Apogee VP of Marketing, and her daughter open up about her daughter’s mental health disorders and how they were exacerbated during her freshman year at college during the pandemic. Read on to be inspired to #breakthestigma.
Our nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have a rich history but few of us know much about their contributions and influence. Apogee client and inaugural guest Martin Lemelle, EVP and COO, Grambling State University (one of 101 HBCUs) talks about what HBCUs mean to all of us – and their role today in advancing equality and equity and in eliminating systemic racism.
In this guest post, Apogee Director of Business Development Jeanne Frawley draws on her more than 20 years of higher ed and sales experience to advise college enrollment professionals on how to avoid post-pandemic pitfalls during the 2021 recruiting season.
Meet our guest blogger, Brandon Joachim, a man of color, student at Pace University, and Apogee Student Ambassador for Apogee Campus Engagement initiatives. Read on to learn how Brandon led his classmates to act when the Black Lives Matter movement swept the nation in 2020 and how he continues to use his ambassadorship to uplift the underrepresented.
Your residence halls are where most online learning is taking place now and where students will enhance their in-class experience after the pandemic is over, both in their rooms and in newly created learning and collaboration spaces. Modern Wi-Fi is key to delivering the new academic experiences, and there may be an opportunity to apply American Rescue Plan Act funds to this effort due to the changes in instructions your school has and will continue to implement.
March is Women’s History Month and at Apogee there have been some great conversations in our Teams feed this month as we’ve amplified the theme with challenging topics and ideas. Teresa de Onis, VP of Marketing at Apogee and a Gen Xer, and Sophie White, Campus Solutions Strategist, a Millennial, sat down to talk about our experiences as women in tech and the degree of progress that’s been made.
It’s conference season in higher ed, and one of the most important annual meetings for our industry just wrapped. ACE2021 was well worth the investment of time and money. I couldn’t attend all the sessions, but I want to recap the Top 5 I attended for those who didn’t have a conference pass or who may have missed these sessions. Links to recordings are included. Spoiler alert! The Apogee session is in the Top 5! And there’s a bonus #6 for us over-achievers.
The door has opened for higher ed to use this time to let go of the status quo, time-and resource-hogging operational headaches, and outdated and expensive technology buying models to usher in a new era to create change for good. During these times of uncertainty, universities often focus on downsizing and forgo or don’t see the opportunity to rightsize. Downsizing alone is brutal. Rightsizing implies growth and freedom.
What makes a higher ed institution an Innovator? At Apogee, we believe our analysis of 491 college and university strategic plans shows that schools that had strong online learning initiatives prior to the pandemic are Innovators that are more resilient to the turmoil caused by the pandemic and more prepared for the blended learning future. Check out our new infographic on these Innovators and learn how you can register for a limited time to receive a personalized walk-through of our interactive report, The State of Higher Ed Strategic Planning.
Winter Storm Uri left Apogee’s VP of Marketing (and more than half of Texas) without power for four days. What did she do to weather the storm? And what does that have to do with higher ed? Read on to learn about liminality and how higher ed inhabits this tense and chaotic space between what was and what will be.
As drops in student enrollment and retention due to the pandemic continue to cause financial challenges for higher ed, it’s time to address some root causes of these beyond the pandemic. As institutions seek to diversify the student body – ethnically, geographically, socioeconomically – we must find the gaps and align resources to provide solutions. Socioeconomically vulnerable students are unable to fund one of these gaps – the technology gap – and we need to respond.
In 2019, the World Health Organization upgraded burnout from a stress syndrome to a syndrome resulting from “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” The evidence for compounding stress and burnout in higher ed is everywhere. Dive in to see what research from The Chronicle of Education, Educause, and our own analysis at Apogee reveals on this topic and how managed services can make all the difference in providing relief for IT, Student Affairs, and other higher ed departments.
In a webinar we recently conducted for CFOs with our partner AICCU (Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities), I made a passing comment to the audience that hindsight is 20/20 when considering the rapid shift to online learning modalities spurred by the pandemic and the need to drive innovation to advance blended learning. A clever attendee chatted back, “Hindsight is 2020.” What can we learn from the past?
Around Apogee hallways – I mean Zoom or Teams meetings nowadays – nothing gets us as excited or generates more buzz than the launch of a new service or capability that will improve the customer experience. While we prefer to use our blog to provide you with insights, ideas, and inspiration, we are so excited about the new capabilities available that we had to share now. Learn more about the new next-gen capabilities for both Apogee ResNet and Apogee Managed Campus.
Nationwide, millions of college students struggle with food and shelter insecurity, which negatively impacts their health and dims their chances of graduating. This January, as we observe Poverty in America Awareness Month, this blog spotlights these problems and shares what higher ed is doing and can do to help students in need. Let’s work together to ensure the college dreams of a generation of young people come to fruition.
At Apogee, we say that higher education is our higher purpose. In partnering with institutions across the country, we see our role as enablers of an engaging, high-quality education accessible and affordable to anyone who seeks it, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, or background. 2020 forced us all to examine our progress and failures. Learn how we are redoubling our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
We’re all glad to put 2020 behind us. While there are hefty challenges ahead of us for the next months, there’s a bright light on the horizon. Highly effective vaccines are rolling out, in no small part from the contributions of higher education. And an incredible transformation of higher education has begun. If there’s been a silver lining to emerge from the disruption, it’s that colleges and universities everywhere have started to rethink the way education is delivered. Let’s dig into some predictions. Apogee has an exciting year ahead!
At Apogee, we’ve read and studied nearly 500 higher ed institutional strategic plans. Early this year, we put our data scientist to work analyzing them all to find common themes and actionable insights. The goal: to better understand what schools, both big and small, reflected as strategic priorities in a pre-pandemic world. We’re thrilled to announce the launch of an interactive report detailing the findings of this one-of-a-kind research.
Today’s college students are true digital natives. They’d rather lose an arm than lose their internet connection. How will you innovate to meet their demands and the demands of a blended learning environment when your budget, time, and staff are constrained, and you’re on the brink of burnout from months of pandemic overwork and fatigue? Read on to learn about rightsizing.
The disruption created by the COVID-19 pandemic compels us to too often focus on the shortcomings of our response. But there’s also a lot to celebrate for IT leaders and their teams now. Higher education has long thirsted for meaningful innovation, and we can see it on the horizon. The hard work isn’t over. You had 99 jobs even before the pandemic started, but now the leadership mantle has fallen to you. How will you take advantage of your new seat at the cabinet table?
In the months since the pandemic started, in your personal life, how many times have you caught yourself saying, “this is one change I hope sticks around”? We already see the massive potential for synchronous and asynchronous modalities to improve the traditional in-class experience. These changes are here to stay. In this blog post, we’ll explore how you, as an IT leader, can lead your institution’s differentiation strategy with blended learning.
It’s too easy to accept that online learning is ineffective or produces poor levels of student engagement. We must innovate and improve online learning so it can contribute to an exceptional blended learning experience. In this blog post, we explore how the extent to which IT leaders collaborate and brainstorm with housing officers, provosts, and faculty will decide just how much progress can be made.
For small and medium colleges and universities, whose differentiation is centered on providing an intimate and highly collaborative experience, the current pandemic-driven environment feels especially dire. At Apogee, we believe blended learning is here to stay, and in our latest blog we explore why finding creative ways to move closer to a face-to-face dynamic online is an imperative.
In the more than 20 years Apogee has served higher ed, we’ve come to know that our most successful partnerships with schools are those closely aligned culturally, operationally, technologically, and financially. We’ll take a look at these four variables to break down the challenges of online learning.
Our analysis reveals that 83% of campuses prioritize pedagogical initiatives, yet only 64% prioritize technology initiatives, suggesting much work needs to be done to close the gap to prepare for the rapid shift to blended learning and deliver a multi-modal educational experience.
Play a leadership role in transforming the educational experience with blended learning modalities and transition from simple cost center to critical contributor in the fight for enrollment, retention, persistence, and outcomes.
Tara shares insights into leading a small, rural college’s IT strategy and innovation plans. Listen in to how leadership and people are critical to the universities success.
Heath discusses Kentucky’s initiatives, his role as Associate Chief Information Officer, and where he sees higher education heading into the near future.
Higher ed will now be forever seen through the eyes of “before COVID-19 and after.” Some schools will fail. Others will win. Students-first leaders must face this crisis with unflinching agility and resolve. There is no accidental success. This e-book dives into the actions you can take now.
The State of ResNet report utilizes quantitative insights from three significant ResNet stakeholders: higher-education IT leaders, housing officers, and business officers. The outcome is a big picture view from leaders with unique, but collaborative, roles in residential networking.
This whitepaper examines the enduring principles of Dr. Collins’ work as they relate to higher education and how leaders can confront the challenge of leveraging technology to enable institutional greatness – not to disrupt the institution’s mission.
University of Mary Washington (UMW) through a partnership with Apogee initiated a series of innovative and multi-faceted approaches directly addressing and meeting students’ needs, all with the goal of boosting student retention rates.
Four generations are now navigating the university experience together. Today's freshman are the most digitally advanced and interacting with older generations working well into their 70s. Each generation has their own preferred communication style. This video identifies new ways to bring a multi-generational campus together.
David Hinson, CIO at Drury University, and Rajiv Shenoy, CTO at Apogee, offer their perspective in this EDUCAUSE article how to evaluate and inventory in-house resources and define success for your institution.
This white paper addresses the considerations leaders must evaluate when balancing strategic change with optimizing operationally essential technology.
Generation Z is the most digitally capable group of students ever. Recruiting and retaining these students on college campuses with aging infrastructure and limited connectivity is a challenge. This video uncovers the key Gen Z traits to better engage these students.
Technology is developing at a rapid pace. Higher education institutions need to scale quickly to keep up with technology. This video highlights the steps to improving IT funding for future innovation.
This article from Business Officer magazine looks into the differences between traditional IT systems and IoT systems and what strategies institutions can use to adapt their network infrastructure and operations.
To combat hazing during National Hazing Prevention Week, 14 schools used the Campus Life Channel (CLC), a digital platform that collects, curates, and broadcasts social media posts, videos, and flyers, for sharing content.
If capital expenditures are generally meant for static investments and operating expenses are intended for variable, ongoing costs, it only makes sense that rapidly changing technology would be better shifted to predictable operational expenses.
This white paper highlights our insights, and looks at how Wi-Fi is a complex utility that serves as a foundation to campus technology, and how tech-savvy leaders can empower their campuses for the future.
In EDUCAUSE Review, Thomas Hennessey Jr., PhD, chief of staff emeritus at George Mason University, writes about the development of George Mason's digital engagement and communications strategy and the benefits of partnering with a managed services technology provider like Apogee.
