How do they do it in the United States?

It’s not about IT: the transformation that EDUCAUSE proposes is much more comprehensive than that, explains Reinitz. Technology is just one of the factors, though it is vital. 'About four years ago, we were looking at other industries, outside of higher education. Some companies, like Amazon and Uber, were really transforming their industries through their digital efforts. It looked like something we should be paying attention to. So we started to wonder what a digitally transformed higher education might be like.' In the US, competitiveness is just as important in higher education as it is in retail or transport, explains Reinitz. 'There’s a finite number of students. Studying at a college or university can be very expensive in America. You can use digital transformation – Dx, as we call it – to really focus on the question: why would a student come to your institution? It’s like the value proposition of a business.'

Trust in Data

For many colleges and universities, technology is the most straightforward shift. ‘To enable rapid changes, you need a very flexible IT infrastructure. Just look at our current pandemic situation. Dx can really help you prepare for whatever the future brings.’ The shift in culture has lots of aspects. ‘Culture can be very ingrained. That is very true in American higher education. Decisions are often based on tradition: how we’ve always done it. I think changing that can be a really hard part of Dx. It takes leadership: having a leader who can envision the future and then help others see it too.’ 

Data are another cultural issue, according to Reinitz. ‘Dx is about making decisions that move your  institution closer to its goals. You need data to inform those decisions and understand what kind of impact your decisions have had on your progress. We talk about it as a culture of trust in data. Being able to really believe that your data are good.’ That brings us to the third shift: in workforce. ‘In order to do Dx well, institutions will have to make sure that data literacy is adequate across the organisation.’

Roadmap

To get institutions started, EDUCAUSE put together a Dx Journey Roadmap. Reinitz explains that there are three phases to that journey: learning about Dx, planning your changes and then actually executing them. The roadmap includes a self-assessment tool. Reinitz: ‘You rate your institution’s readiness for Dx in the capability areas we feel are important. After you finish the tool, we send you back a report that includes recommendations for how you can advance those capabilities. So if you score low in the area of strategic initiatives, it will give you a set of examples for what to do. As well as some suggestions for further reading.’ Another tool provides a guide to designing a Dx strategy. ‘It’s a six step process, starting with the question of why you are doing this. With those two tools, people really get a handle on where to start.’ 

*The tools are only available to EDUCAUSE members as part of their membership model.

Breakthrough

So how’s Dx doing in the USA? ‘The pandemic was a wakeup call. It made colleges and universities realise that they need flexibility to survive and thrive. And a lot of the competencies that higher education had to rely on during the pandemic are the very things that are necessary for Dx.’ Another bonus of the pandemic was the breakthrough for working from home. Reinitz: ‘Part of Dx is an emphasis on a better work/life balance. That’s a big issue in the US: being able to have a real life outside of your career. I think the progress that was made is here to stay.’ Two successive EDUCAUSE surveys (survey 1 and survey 2) did show that many more institutions are engaging in digital transformation now. In 2019, just before the pandemic, 13 percent said they were. In the fall of 2021, that number had more than tripled, to 44 percent.

Cultural Barriers

Obviously, 44 is still less than 100. ‘We also asked institutions about obstacles to Dx,’ says Reinitz. ‘What we found is that the biggest barriers are cultural: resistance to change, risk aversion, lack of trust in data. But on the whole, there was a lot of progress in lowering barriers. With one exception: cross-institutional coordination, pulling people together across organisations. There we still had 52 percent saying it was an obstacle to Dx.’ 

Looking forward, when will Reinitz consider digital transformation to be a success? ‘That is a really good question. We talk about Dx as an approach, more than a destination. It’s not something you’ll ever finish, or something you check off on your to do list and say, OK, we did that. But I think success means transforming your organisation in a way that will let it deal with big challenges. Dx can really help institutions as they go forward into whatever challenging future we’ll have.’

Text: Aad van de Wijngaart

Translation: Deepl