Issue 34 / Contents / Page 9 of 17: Summer priorities for IT managers

What's on your technology to-do list

With the summer holidays approaching, now could be a good time to revisit some of those ‘not urgent but important’ tasks. JISC Inform takes a look at six ways for IT managers to spend the summer.

1. Think ahead

It’s often difficult, if not impossible, to predict which technologies will stand the test of time. JISC’s Technology trends infoKit provides some pointers to help you manage your technology more strategically while JISC Observatory releases reports to keep you ahead of this year’s fad.

2. Upskill your staff

Now could be a good time to train your people to deliver even better in the next academic year. JISC Netskills has training that runs year-round, and is free or low-cost for education organisations. This summer, you could select your next workshop, browse online resources or invite an expert trainer into your organisation.

3. Get creative

Developers need space and time to create software solutions. Why not arrange for your developers to go on a hack day over the summer and see what they can come up with? The results might surprise you. The Developer Community Supporting Innovation, or DevCSI, run plenty of events to get their creative juices flowing.

4. Get to grips with your data

Information about which students are logging into computers and when, or what books are borrowed most often, can be illuminating. JISC’s advice on interrogating your activity data can help you think about what’s worked well this year and where to invest your services in the future.

5. Picture your 2013-14 intake

Marketing your courses for next year begins now. You already know prospective students are more likely to find out about your courses via a laptop than in a printed prospectus, so now’s a good time to explore opening up course data to make it even easier for people to find those opportunities.

6. Work smarter

The summer gives you room to reflect on how to get more out of your budget. JISC’s advice on making the most of your current systems and services suggests how you could squeeze more out of an existing system to avoid having to purchase a new application, or decommission legacy systems that eat up your resource with limited value.

What are you prioritising this summer?

We invite you to share your essential reading, task list and predictions for 2012-13. Please leave your comments below.

A version of this article also appears in this summer’s Education Technology magazine.

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Read JISC’s advice on procuring efficient new IT systems.

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Listen to our June 2012 podcast about cookie law with up-to-date analysis from JISC Legal and a view from Edge Hill University.

Read a JISC Inform article about linked data and how it is benefiting universities and colleges.

Read Sarah Porter’s top seven predictions for tech-enabled universities in a previous edition of JISC Inform.