How Education CIOs can Achieve Sustainable Transformation

Whenever technology leaps forward, it transforms how users communicate with each other, complete their tasks, & work to achieve a common goal. In today’s era, we have observed that as the capacity for digital transformation has touched upon every industry around the world and new capabilities become more prevalent in the education industry. Although there are various challenges in this case it is also setting the stage for an incredible opportunity.

Higher education CIOs have to plan for the changing new reality and it needs them to differentiate signals from noise & observe technology innovation’s deeper trajectory. While Education CIOs do the job of identifying digital skills & technologies for sustainable transformation, Education institutions understand that the power of digital is making them transform their business models according to consumer demands as well as competitive pressure.

While technology in itself drives change, CIOs should be able to convey how technology creates an impact on the operation model of the institution, business model/sustainable funding model, and finally the education ecosystem. Therefore, education’s evolution needs a shift in administrative as well as educational technologies to buttress new as well as evolving ways of conducting business.

Digital transformation in Education

Even before the pandemic, the digital transformation had started to take hold in educational institutions and back in the year 2018, an estimated 35.3% of college students said that they took at least 1 online class during their degree programs. In addition, technology had started to play an important role in the education sector and the classrooms as well. Teachers learned how to incorporate technology and teach leveraging it and for students, social media platforms became an imperative part of socialization and engaging with peers. And, when the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, it only augmented most of these trends.

Challenges of digital transformation in the educational sector

People are used to the status quo

People would want to do things the way that they have always done and therefore it can be challenging to convince users to adopt a new methodology in order to complete tasks and this specifically holds true for education.

When users are asked to adopt new and advanced technology within the education sector, they have to understand how these capabilities not only complement but also improve their existing methods. And must be shown how these technologies would help in making certain areas of their jobs easier. If not, users would often feel reluctant to take important steps towards a complete digital transformation and this remains true both for educational organization heads, that include universities & also for teachers who are faced with the question of transforming their classroom.

Therefore, this challenge can be addressed by educating users on digital transformation, teaching them the skills that are required in short timelines, and trying to help them understand the merits and advantages for themselves and their students by completing this transformation is the key to earning their buy-in.

Lack of clear strategies/direction

A lack of a strategy while adopting any new/advanced technology will definitely lead to a challenge because when schools are faced with the vague tasks that are part of completing the digital transformation, it can be a daunting to know how to achieve this goal as well as obtain the anticipated outcomes. However, this can be achieved if a stated direction, as well as desired outcomes/outputs, are outlined from the beginning.

A transformation of such a type/size can scare or be daunting for most of them within the institution however, leading the educators as well as administrators forward, will help in obtaining the best success when a solid strategy that states and makes it clear as to what the school wants exactly in order to accomplish at the same time the major points coupled with steps, they have to focus on in order to achieve this objective.

Outline for everyone at the school is a strategy that consists of the following such as:

• What exactly does the school require in order to accomplish by the end of this digital transformation & why?
• The important steps that the school will take forward in order to achieve this goal
• And lastly, support that would be provided to educators throughout the whole process in order to help them make the switch.

And this will not only help everyone to feel more comfortable with the process but also to know what is needed from them throughout the journey of transformation and can use these points to ensure the process stays on track in order to achieve the goals they have set out to achieve.