Features Education

Now the president and CEO of T. Johnson & Associates Consulting Group, Travis Johnson says his experience in technology has led him to this moment—and the many challenges and opportunities to come. “I’ve been leading technology in higher ed since 2005, and I’ve worked my way up,” Johnson says. “My IT vision for higher ed […]

Remember those days in the dorm when you fretted about how many meals were left on your meal card for the week? How about keeping spare change for the washer and dryer in the basement or fumbling for your key while trying to get inside the dorm on a winter night? Once, that was part […]

Terry Metz calls himself an accidental CIO. In 2018, after four years of serving as librarian at Hamline University, he stepped in as the interim CIO during a vacancy and chaired a committee to recruit a new CIO. When the role became vacant again last July, Metz was asked to fill it a second time. […]

Starting a new job isn’t easy. Navigating the new office, meeting the coworkers, even storing your lunch in the fridge without taking up too much space can be awkward. In 2020, COVID-19 meant many people started new jobs virtually, from interviewing to onboarding. While that made it easy to avoid an office kitchen faux pas, […]

Life on the farm has always suited Tom Jackson, even as he’s made a career of ensuring students widen their horizons by building networks and technology in higher education. Now the vice chancellor of information technology and CIO at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Jackson and the school are riding a wave of […]

Throughout his career in IT and education, Tom Benton has connected students to information, but never was the delivery of education tested as much as during the COVID-19 crisis. When Sierra College in Rocklin, California, closed its campuses during the pandemic, Benton—the school’s chief technology officer—credits three initiatives for saving the day. Microsoft Teams + […]

In March, Tye Campbell went to give a presentation at the FinalsiteU conference in Florida on data integration. No sooner had Campbell arrived when he received notice of a pandemic team meeting back at Gilman School in Maryland. With COVID-19 gaining momentum, a stay-at-home order was likely imminent, meaning the independent school where he worked […]

The idea that a school district can own a student’s data—from semester transcripts and grades to awards and recognitions, even diplomas—is one that’s garnered increased acceptance in recent years. But a school system is merely a steward of that information—students are the masters. This is Todd Borland’s philosophy. As the executive director of technology for […]

Richland School District Two may not have landed on primetime, but its own domestic version of ABC’s Shark Tank show is creating an educational frenzy of sorts. Dubbed R2 Innovates, the innovation incubator allows educators to support and fund promising new practices aimed at solving multifaceted problems. Around 28,000 students and faculty receive broad-based community […]

It was the fall semester of 2018 when Tonjia Coverdale stepped into a freshman English composition class at Central State University in Ohio. The room was bustling with activity, with students taking turns sharing the short stories that they had written with their peers using iMovie on iPads to create a video illustrating their creations. […]