Diana G. Oblinger Innovation Forum

Diana G. Oblinger

Powering Academic Transformation and Student Success Through Leadership and Data

The inaugural Diana G. Oblinger Innovation Forum will take place on Wednesday, October 26 at the 2016 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference in Anaheim, California. This year's forum will examine the complex intersection of academic transformation and student success technologies—where leadership and data can power institutional change.

CIOs and academic affairs leaders charged with driving innovation to advance student success will:

  • Have the opportunity to reflect on their student success initiatives and experience how technology and data play a key role in advancing academic transformation.
  • Develop and enrich their student success initiatives by conducting a data-based assessment of their institution’s related capabilities and reviewing recommendations for progress.

Program

The forum is dedicated to exploring technology's ever-evolving role in higher education as reflected in emerging trends, innovations, leadership practices, and business models. True innovations rise above any particular application, process, technology, or program, serving as cornerstones in those institutional strategic partnerships that are ultimately transformative.

The program is a blend of morning sessions open to all conference participants and an invitation-only afternoon workshop for institutional teams. The workshop, How To Develop Your Institution's Student Success Strategy, is designed for two-person institutional teams composed of CIOs and their academic affairs leadership partners* in the institution's student success initiative. Each team must apply for the workshop. Upon selection, teams will receive information on required preconference preparation.

Morning Program

Three sessions exploring the cutting edge technologies and change leadership perspectives related to student success initiatives. (open to all EDUCAUSE 2016 participants)

  • Transforming Learning at the Intersection of Cognitive Computing and Cognitive Neuroscience, Satya Nitta, Program Director and Master Inventor at the IBM Cognitive Computing and Learning Sciences Department.
  • Continue the Conversation with Satya Nitta
  • Your Legacy: An Organization That Delivers Strategic Value, Again and Again, N. Dean Meyer, Author and Executive Coach.

Learning Theater Session with Ellucian

Join Ellucian for a conversation about how technologists and academics learn to speak the same language in support of advancing the academic mission of the campus, while not losing sight of student success.

  • Living in Harmony: Technology and Academic Objectives, Michael Alstrom, CIO, Muskegon Community College; Tim Coley, Senior Strategic Consultant; Kelly Doney, Vice President, Management Consulting; Katie Lynch-Holmes, Senior Strategic Consultant, Ellucian; and Christy Riddle, Executive Director of Student Success, Delta State University

Afternoon Workshop

Institutional teams of two will develop their institutional capacity for student success by applying models for organizational innovation, institutional readiness self-assessments, discussion, and peer feedback. The forum workshop requires a separate application after registering for the conference.

  • How to Develop Your Institution's Student Success Strategy, N. Dean Meyer, Author and Executive Coach, and Susan Grajek, Vice President, EDUCAUSE Data, Research, and Analysis. Diana G. Oblinger will join the session.

Themes: Academic Transformation, Student Success, and the Strategic Use of Technology

Academic transformation has the potential to restore higher education's sustainability and bring renewed levels of excellence and student achievement (Niel Nickolaisen, Aligning to Purpose and ELI Key Issues in Teaching in Learning). Transformative initiatives like student success are deserving of our innovation and creativity because they support an institution's competitive advantage and sustainability (ELI 7 Things You Should Know About Leading Academic Transformation).

The prominence of student success technologies in the 2016 EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues reflects higher education's use of information technology for institutional differentiation. "Information technology can help change institutional culture and achieve campus priorities. One important way this is achieved is through the effective use of technology to help build the campus culture for evidence-based decision-making and management." (Freeman Hrabowski and Jack Suess, and John Fritz, Assessment and Analytics in Institutional Transformation).