Educause Membership

Sponsor:

Alan Moses

Project summary:

Educause is the organization that resulted from the merger of Educom and Cause, whose mission is "to help shape and enable transformational change in higher education through the introduction, use, and management of information resources and technologies in teaching, learning, scholarship, research, and institutional management." They do this through educational events (conferences, Leadership and Management Institute, Frye Institute), sponsorship of programs (Net@Edu, NLII), and publication of information (Educom Review, CAUSE/EFFECT, and an extensive online library of white papers and articles -- which are freely available with or without membership).

The direct value of membership in Educause is discounted access to Educause events and services. The cost savings by UCSB attendees at the recent conference in Long Beach amounted to a little more than 1/3 of the annual membership fee. The indirect value is in the general support of their good efforts, and in the prestige of being listed as a member, or rather the "anti-prestige" of being the only one of our various cohort institutions not to be listed as a member.

How this project supports the academic mission of UCSB:

Membership in Educause would advance UCSB's use of IT in support of its academic mission through their educational and informational services, and would indirectly promote important IT initiatives impacting all of higher education.

Funding source and how this project relates to it:

This past year's membership was funded by "pass-the-hat."  It seems unlikely that this will occur in the future. Since the benefits of membership are campus-wide, and no single unit has responsibility for the "prestige" aspect of membership, it seems that this membership should be funded by a campus-wide source.

Costs:

$6000/year

Matching opportunities (if available):

none

Staff support required:

none

Existing resources to be used:

none

Project timeline:

Next year's membership is due somewhere right around the start of the next fiscal year.