The 2016 Dean's List: EdTech’s 50 Must-Read Higher Ed IT Blogs

In the ever-changing field of education technology, it’s important to stay up-to-date on industry happenings, and it’s even more important to understand current news in context.

That’s where the Dean’s List comes in handy: It reintroduces higher ed stakeholders to a group of education technology thought leaders who share not-to-be-missed analyses of higher ed technology trends, challenges and opportunities.

While there are a few familiar names from the 2015 blogger roundup, this year’s list features plenty of new blood — bloggers who were either chosen by the EdTech editorial staff or nominated by readers.

Did your blog make our list? Be sure to grab a Must-Read IT Blog badge and give your site an award for this momentous achievement! You can also bookmark this list as a launch pad for exploring new content on these blogs as they amass even more great posts throughout the year.

 

 

                                          

 

Leading workshops and speaking at education events across the country, Bryan Alexander is a true authority on the higher ed technology landscape. He publishes his writings far and wide, but always leaves valuable insights for his blog, which covers open education, testing, higher ed staffing and more.

 

The Code Acts in Education blog began as a partnership between the University of Stirling and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to study the bond between computer code and education. With Stirling's Dr. Ben Williamson at the helm, it covers everything from the data analytics in education policy to life in innovation labs.

 

Churning out quirky digital sketches of the many ed-tech conferences he attends, Josh Murdock — or Professor Josh, as he’s known online — bills himself as a tech geek and life-long learner. His blog covers the Orlando, Fla., technology scene, device- and app-specific advice and more.

 

Dr. David Wiley believes open educational resources have the power to create measurable improvements in student learning outcomes. That's why he has not only devoted his blog to the subject but also co-founded Lumen Learning, an organization that aims to realize the potential of OER.

 

Educator and researcher Bonnie Stewart has really carved a niche for herself, writing about a topic she's spent 15 years dissecting: the intersections of knowledge and technology. Check out her posts on digital identities, MOOCs and social media.

 

Penned exclusively by Mike Richwalsky, the executive director of creative services and e-marketing at John Carroll University in Ohio, this eight-year-old blog chronicles Richwalsky’s experiences with web development, the cloud and more.

 

Ed-tech specialist Stephen Downes has spent more than 25 years in the field and currently works for the National Research Council of Canada. Earning EdTech honors for the fourth year in a row, he writes about online learning and the connectivist learning theory on his decades-old blog.

 

The Digital Bodies blog explores the ways wearables and immersive technologies will reshape education and media. It's penned by Maya Georgieva, an ed-tech strategist and author, and Emory Craig, the director of eLearning and Instructional technologies at the College of New Rochelle in New York.

 

An excellent resource for technology tips, the EmergingEdTech blog is devoted to inspiring educators and improving outcomes for students through gamification, adaptive learning technologies and more. It is written by Kelly Walsh, the CIO of the College of Westchester in New York.

 

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Educators who follow this eight-year-old blog stay in-the-know about all things education technology. The staff members at Xavier University of Louisiana keep it updated with timely blog posts and brief, informative podcasts.

 

Educator and e-learning consultant Michael Feldstein manages this blog, which is written by authors handpicked from the ed-tech field. Posts come at a regular clip on e-Literate and tackle the challenges facing the industry, often reminding readers of alternative perspectives.

 

Peer-reviewed articles and insightful podcasts both find a home in this online journal. Contributors write about the intersection of education, technology and society.

 

Guided by a belief in openness, the staff of the Duke Center for Instructional Technology uses their blog to discussion higher ed innovations such as massive open online courses, active learning techniques and Big Data.

 

Social media monitoring and metrics are hot topics on the Gross, Point-Blank blog, but higher ed researcher and marketing expert Liz Gross also posts about everything from professional development to student-faculty interactions via texting.

 

Based out of The Ohio State University College of Social Work, the members of the Educational Technology department hope to give faculty and staff the tools and guidance they need to better serve students by integrating technology into classroom instruction.

 

Another ed-tech resource born out of Ohio, the OH-TECH blog from the Ohio Technology Consortium details the innovations that are sweeping college and university campuses. Read about hot topics such as the Internet of Things, plus online courses, denial of service attacks and more.

 

The Higher Ed Growth blog takes a big-picture look at the ways technology changes education. Its focus on admissions means higher ed administrators will find this site particularly useful, but its articles on ed-tech trends should also appeal to the IT crowd.

 

Published by the Tennessee College of Applied Technology, this blog dives into the technical details of Microsoft Windows 10, HP office printers and other tools found on college campuses across the country. That means it’s one blog you won’t want to miss.

 

The bloggers over at the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) write about the policies and best practices surrounding technology-enhanced learning. Their frequent posts are a must-read for higher ed administrators.

 

Helmed by a trio of educators at York St John University in the United Kingdom, Technology Enhanced Learning tells higher ed faculty exactly what they need to know to get the most out of new classroom tools.

 

David Hopkins may work as an eLearning Consultant at Warwick Business School over in the United Kingdom, but his observations about MOOCs and the ever-changing role of learning technologists are valuable around the globe.

 

Written by members of the Information and Technology Services department at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, this three-year-old blog offers a peek at technology initiatives at the college and offers quick, easy-to-digest tech tips that higher ed faculty will just eat up.

 

A whole team of higher ed experts contribute to The Chronicle of Higher Education’s ProfHacker blog. That means readers are treated to fresh, varied content related to classroom tools, open education, social media and more.

 

A resource for both higher ed students and faculty, the UW Bothell Learning Technologies Blog is all about technology integration and education innovations. Check here for the blogging team’s thoughts on open education resources, competency-based courses, gamification and more.

 

The blogging team over at the Rutgers University Office of Instructional & Research Technology dishes campus tech news, as well as insights into ed-tech trends and tips aimed at helping IT managers at large universities.

 

All part of the technology team at Falmouth University in the United Kingdom, these passionate bloggers offer lessons learned from the many IT projects they've attempted at Falmouth. They also widen the scope to discuss higher ed IT initiatives at large.

 

Tips and how-to articles compose the bulk of the content found on TechDecisions, which means this multi-contributor blog is a great resource for higher ed IT professionals looking for guidance on digital signage, 3D printing, automation and more.

 

Published by Loyola University Chicago, the Academic Tech Tips blog explores the capabilities of emerging technologies, walks readers through how-to explanations for today’s teaching tools and offers recommendations for classroom implementation.

 

Want behind-the-scenes glimpses of campus tech initiatives? Then the Ole Miss blog is for you. The members of the IT team at this Mississippi institution offer a model for how their peers can better handle web accessibility, Big Data and other challenges.

 

The recent rise of coding bootcamps brought with it plenty of new programming resources for educators, but researcher Neil Brown has been writing about the topic for years. His Academic Computing blog is a go-to destination for learning about how coding is taught today.

 

George Siemens, of Athabasca University in Canada, writes about the successes and challenges experienced by today’s digital universities. He particularly focuses on online and blended learning and advocates for the development of an open platform for data and analytics in education.

 

When you’re curious about Google’s role in the classroom, turn to Jessica Brogley. As both a lecturer and Google Certified Teacher and Trainer at the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, she knows the ins and outs of technology integration and is happy to share her tips with the higher ed crowd.

 

Top Hat may be a branded blog, but its coverage extends well beyond the company’s offerings: It offers ed-tech trend pieces and how-to articles designed to help educators improve student engagement in both K-12 and higher ed.

 

When he’s not busy working as a senior instructional designer at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., Daniel Christian offers his own spin on the latest technology and education news. Page through Learning Ecosystems to get your fill of artificial intelligence, education reform, cognitive computing and more.

 

Professor and author Rey Junco sees first-hand how technology impacts today’s college students, but his in-depth research into subjects such as predictive learning outcomes and social media makes his blog an even more penetrating resource for educators.

 

Blogger Susan Smith Nash has been involved in ed tech since the 1990s. She’s an excellent resource for higher ed administrators interested in distance learning and instructional design. Check out her frequent in-depth interviews with e-learning thought leaders.

 

Openness, openness, openness: That’s the focus of The Ed Techie, a ten-year-old blog penned by author and professor of educational technology Martin Weller. Head here to learn about research questions related to open education resources, the types of OER users, challenges to openness and more..

 

Wondering how to design sticky MOOCs or how artificial intelligence will impact student outcomes? Head to Donald Clark’s Plan B blog for tips and insights from this ed tech entrepreneur, advisor and investor.

 

Training and professional development are essential to higher ed technology initiatives, and few people knows that better than Laura A. Pasquini. She worked in academia for nearly a decade before arriving at the University of North Texas College of Information..

 

An associate professor of information and communication technologies at the University of Regina in Canada, Dr. Alec Couros writes about developing a framework for teaching open courses, building blended course environments, securing digital identities and more.

 

As the name suggests, the NspireD2 blog aims to inspire higher ed faculty, staff and students to better integrate technology into everyday teaching and learning. It’s written by Chris Clark, the assistant director and learning technology lab coordinator at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

 

Blogger Andrew Rush works as the coordinator of online course media development for the Center for Instruction and Research Technology (CIRT) at the University of North Florida. So what does that mean for readers? That this expert knows a lot about using video as a teaching tool.

 

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ADMIN-ALL STARS 

As both the vice president for Information technology and CIO of Michigan State University, Joanna Young offers an important perspective on education technology. Her blog is chock-full of advice for IT professionals navigating the challenges of the higher ed landscape.

 

Technology leaders like Ravi Ravishanker bring an important perspective to the table. This Wellesley College CIO blogs about IT management within higher ed, as well as the trends impacting the space.

 

A student affairs educator, Dr. Josie Ahlquist devotees her blog to what she knows best: developing digital leaders among college students and administrators. She injects posts with plenty of her own insights and research into social media trends in higher ed.

 

As a prolific blogger and frequent participant in #LTHEchat discussions, Chris Rowell shares his thoughts on technology-enhanced learning, drawing from his experience as the deputy learning technology manager at Regent’s University London.

 

The faculty and staff of Massachusetts’s Bridgewater State University know Dr. Ed Cabellon as the assistant to the vice president of Student Affairs, but the rest of the internet? They know him as a thought leader on the intersection between social media and education.

 

Blogger Joe Sabado turns the spotlight on IT leadership, student affairs and the many positive ways that technology impacts higher ed. His posts are influenced heavily by his role as acting executive director for Student Information Systems & Technology at the University of California–Santa Barbara.

 

On her Insider Higher Ed blog, Tracy Mitrano drills down into the details of IT accessibility standards, information privacy and cybersecurity -- all topics she's intimately familiar with as academic dean of University of Massachusetts Amherst cybersecurity certificate programs.

 

This eight-year-old blog, once rooted in Derek Bruff’s interest in classroom response systems, or clickers, now covers everything from professional development to ed-tech innovations — whatever intrigues its author, who serves as the director of the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching.

 

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