In a Chronicle of Higher Education article out today, University of Hawaii interim president and former chief information officer David Lassner predicts 2014 will be a big year for openness in education:

David Lassner

LassnerInterim president and former chief information officer
University of Hawaii

Openness: Open software and content (open-source software, community-source software, open education resources) obviously save students and institutions money on licensing fees. Perhaps more important, they also promote collaboration and innovation by inviting users to improve, customize, and build on initial solutions. And the communities of interest around open software and content may well be the next hotbeds of innovation for institutions seeking new paths to address the challenges and opportunities of the new normal.

Analytics: Our opportunities for improvement are immense, and data provide a powerful lens to understand how we are doing internally and relative to our peers. This applies across all segments of what we do, from teaching and learning to administrative support. Performance metrics and dashboards are the beginning, but using data to understand deeper correlations and causality so we can shape change will be critical as we strive to advance our effectiveness.

Cloud: The original NSFNET, which provided access to national supercomputer assets, created an early higher-education cloud. And the value of the cloud for commodity services is already evidenced through our adoption of cloud-based email, calendaring, storage, communications, and similar utilities. Our next breakthrough will be in shared multitenant applications that not only reduce costs but also enable a faster pace of improvement in software quality and support analytic insights across institutions.  Read more.