Mike Kubit, COO Case Western Reserve University, Information Technology Services Shares his Perspectives at our Active Learning Conference

IT_Services

They are often the “unsung heroes” who get the blame when technology does not work, but rarely get full credit when it performs as expected.

About whom are we talking? Why campus information technology services of course!

From networks and laptops, websites and landing pages, Intranets and Extranets, enterprise systems for finance and accounting, to in-class projectors and lecture capture systems and more, campus IT services sees and touches it all. It’s a pretty daunting task given today’s ever-changing technology landscape.

Mike Kubit, COO for Information Technology Services, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), kicked off our recent Active Learning Conference with his perspectives on the changing role of the campus IT organization. His 120-person group supports more than 10,000 students and 6000 full and part-time faculty and staff at CWRU. In his view, campus IT must focus less on technology and more on delivering solutions.  One of the major challenges at CWRU and campuses everywhere is improving student outcomes through an institutional approach that strategically leverages technology.

One of the ways Kubit’s organization is leveraging to improve the teaching and learning experience  through the Echo360 active learning platform.  The school initially chose Echo360 to replace a homegrown lecture capture solution as the demand for lecture capture grew across campus. The system and implementation at CWRU is totally in line with the “service delivery orientation” of their IT organization. Over the years, that system has moved beyond simple lecture capture and now supports greater student interactivity and engagement including flipped classrooms in diverse curricula such as chemistry, law, accounting, dentistry and more.

Take a look at the result of the visionary work by leaders like Kubit and CWRU CIO Mark Henderson in the video below.  It highlights how the Echo360 system is used to improve student outcomes by transforming a large lecture class into an interactive learning experience.

Want to hear additional insights from Michael Kubit? View his presentation from our Active Learning Conference.

And join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag, #2014ALC.