The NOSE

Are we in Trouble?

On average only 60% of American students graduate from high school in the South. The national average is 70%.  Astounding.

In her keynote at Eli Conference 2008 Belle Wheelan, President of the Commission on Colleges, cited  this statistic as one of the challenges facing higher education.

ELI Conference 2008

I am at the Educause Learning Initiative Conference this week in San Antonio.

Higher Education CIO Characteristics: Does 'CIO' Mean 'Career Is Over?'

"Today's and tomorrow's CIO must lead like a CEO, analyze like a CFO and execute like a COO. It's the hardest job in a large organization." --Gartner EXP Vice President Jose Ruggero.

Gartner recently completed a global survey of higher education CIOs and their bosses. The full report  "Higher Education CIO Characteristics: Does 'CIO' Mean 'Career Is Over?' by Jan-Martin Lowendahl, Michael Zastrocky, and Marti Harris is now available to Gartner subscribers (25 January, 2008: ID Number: G0015380).

With a few exceptions most of the key findings are not a surprise. A common misconception, namely that CIOs have a short tenure, is apparently refuted by the study. "Our data (see Figure 1) shows that the great majority, more than 65%, of CIOs have been in their positions for more than five years." The report goes on to note that there is no difference in the CIO's longevity compared with other executive-level positions. "On the contrary, the data even suggests that CIOs seem more senior than their bosses."

The report's key recommendation is that higher education CIOs must continue to strive to expand their role from being a professional technology provider to becoming a full business partner.

 

Blackboard Acquires Xythos

Blackboard Inc. has made another acquisition. I haven't seen a press release but according to trusted sources Blackboard has gobbled up Xythos, a solid enterprise document management with an extensive customer base in higher education.

This has to be a very strong and smart move by Blackboard as it seeks to diversify its portfolio of software assets and become the dominant provider of software-based services in the higher education space.

Why Use a Desktop RSS Reader?

I have rediscovered RSS. The past few months I have been inundated at work and accessing my news feeds through the klunky Google reader just wasn't making the cut as a priority.

Last night I went to the NewsGator web site to purchase NetNewsWire (NNW), which I had used previously and liked. To my pleasant surprise NNW is now free and synchronizes nicely with NewsGator. I was also able to get the NewsGator feed working quickly on my iPhone, a nice bonus.

I whole-heartedly agree with Nick Bradbury's post "Why Use a Desktop RSS Reader". I would add one more item to the list of why use a desktop RSS reader: a cleaner user interface.