Timeline—Higher Ed Technology
Early 90s – It all started with SIS
Overwhelmed with process of managing a student from admission through every fine detail leading to graduation, schools looked to model how businesses manage customer information. The answer came in the form of a Student Information System (SIS), the educational equivalent of an Enterprise Resource Plan (ERP). The introduction of the SIS began when SAP, a German-based ERP developer, made a bold and lucrative move to partner with higher education in the early ‘90s. Soon after the partnership every school implemented an SIS to manage student prospecting, inquiry, admission, schedules, billing, registration, financial aid, grading, and many other student-related data needs. It’s almost impossible to imagine a school like Harvard managing a student population of 27,000 with hard copies and filing cabinets. As a result Jenzabar, SunGard, and Datatel have become household names for managing student information in education.
Late 90s – LMS, a monstrous system
Approaching the late ‘90s, the dawn of the internet brought about an entirely new movement in higher ed technology. Institutions started to seek better ways to manage and gain insight into classroom activities and online events. There was a growing need to track and deliver e‑learning programs and training content, and empower students with self‑service and self‑paced options for learning. Almost overnight virtually every college deployed an LMS, and companies like WebCT, Blackboard, and Angel grew into the now $850M market.
Mid-2000 – Course Evaluations
In mid-2000 schools started to place a greater emphasis on managing learning and ensuring academic excellence. They looked to technology to help them in the areas of assessment, accreditation, and teaching effectiveness. Previously they completed the loop in the learning process through the collection and evaluation of paper questionnaires, but this proved to be inconsistent and cumbersome. It seemed natural for colleges to want to centralize and automate this process; after all, they were just surveys. Soon after, companies like Academic Management Solutions and Digital Measures, who grew from 200 to 1,500 clients in two years time, led the charge that rocketed electronic course evaluations.
Late 2000 – ePortfolios hit higher ed
Around the same time course evaluations took off, electronic portfolio software became an essential part of student-faculty interaction, particularly important for the online course community and institutional assessment. Companies like Digication and TaskStream brought ePortfolios into the light. This software gave students, teachers, alumni, and professionals a platform to showcase their ideas and work. ePortfolios have become a critical part of assessment because they provide a central location for administrators and accreditors to view and determine whether learning objectives and outcomes are being accomplished and more importantly how.
2010 – Textbooks are the hot topic
Today the national controversy and conversation surrounds textbooks. The recipe for success for the textbook rental company Chegg and the free online books and authoring company Flat World Knowledge, came from the perfect storm of pressures:
- Political: Government mandates including the HEOA requirements to post textbook information prior to registration
- Market: More channels than ever to access content and purchase or rent textbooks new and used online
- Financial: Tighter budgets and rising total cost of attendance
- Technological: Users expect content to be new, relevant, mobile, social, and accessible anytime, anywhere
These pressures further demonstrate why schools continue to seek technology to replace manual processes. Textbooks are not the final chapter in pioneering new technology; technology improving administrative processes will continue to evolve.
