4 Trends to Hit Higher Education at EDUCAUSE 2015

“Citrix is very invested in the education market. We know it’s very important and we love the value we can bring, especially to EDUCAUSE in particular. When people come to our booth, they’re going to see that we can provide those tools and resources to any device a student may own or may afford, and can help them have the learning experience that they want.”
– Nicole Nesrsta, Lead Vertical Marketing Manager for Citrix

Also, students are choosing more of their technology than we’ve seen in the past. It’s less of, “what specific technology can I get to my students,” and “how can I just deliver the resources that they need to make them successful” to [customizing to], “whatever [technology] they already own and whatever they are already comfortable with.” Stop displacing students and taking away what they’re comfortable with for things like testing. Why put them in a lab room they’ve never seen before on a computer that they’ve never used before? Instead, let’s bring the secure environment to them on whatever device they use on a regular basis.

I see schools making a shift towards if offering lots of different ways that students can learn. When you think about it now, when students go to select classes or they’re trying to decide what school to go to, they’re not saying, “I want to take this class because it’s live with this professor,” or, “this one’s online so I can take it at home and not have to go to campus” – that’s not how they structure their day. They would much rather sign up for all the courses that they need and not have to worry about where it is and when it is. They may want to go live sometimes, or there might be students that have part time jobs, or maybe they’re trying to juggle a lot of things at once. If those classes are on demand, or they can watch it live, having classes in different ways is more functional for their life style.

4) Preparing for the Internet of Things

I think this is going to be a big conversation and something people are going to be interested in at EDUCAUSE, but I don’t know if schools are ready to move towards it. I see a lot of schools that are testing it out and doing fun things with it, like [for example,] with an app on smartphones where students can see when the laundry is available in their dorm. It’s definitely going to be a conversation at the event. I think everyone is in that test mode, trying to figure out, “what can this do for us?”
For more information about EDUCAUSE, click here. Citrix will also be at the show, and can be visited at booth #1230.