As information technology has moved to the forefront of universities' academic missions, institutions are becoming more adept at buying technology and services. But the task remains difficult, and many technology administrators are hungry for information on what their peers elsewhere are doing. For example, she says, the survey has helped her analyze maintenance expenses at Colgate. She noticed that other institutions were paying less for some network maintenance contracts, and was able to pinpoint ways to reduce costs. Ms. Leach says she also uses data shared by members of the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges, an organization of 58 institutions.
Similar efforts exist among other colleges and universities.
Mr. Green's Campus Computing Survey, which uses data from more than 500 institutions, provides a detailed picture of what technologies colleges and universities use. It also shows larger trends in campus-technology efforts and among students and professors. Training programs, pilot grants, and other efforts aimed at getting professors to use technology in their classrooms have worked. And I think that's the way it goes.