EDUCAUSE Release Report on Mobile IT in Higher Education 2011

The Mobile IT in Higher Education 2011 report released just recently by EDUCAUSE, reveals that there has been slow progress in making institutional services, applications, and websites accessible on mobile devices and that the average school has allowed only a few services for mobile access.  However, the report finds that applications related to student learning and course management systems were identified by large proportions of respondents as the “killer mobile app for higher education.”    

Here are some of the Key Findings of the report:

“More than one-third of respondents said they had not spent any money on mobile-enablement in the past 12 months, while two institutions had spent more than half a million dollars.”

“Nearly 40 % of institutions did not mobile-enable any services in the last 12months.”

“Where mobile activity is taking place, services geared toward students are outpacing those for faculty or staff, both in priority and enablement.”

“General communications remains the areas for which respondents expect the heaviest demand for the 2011-2012 academic year.”

“A third of students see mobile devices as an important component of academic success, and majorities regularly use their devices for academic activities.”

“Many respondents consider integrated student services as currently the most valuable area for development of mobile services.  Specifically, applications related to student learning and course management systems were identified by large proportions of respondents as the “killer mobile app for higher education.”

“By a wide margin, central IT most often has primary responsibility for mobile-enablement of institutional services, At smaller institutions, though, and those with smaller budgets, vendor-supplied mobile apps are seen as an important part of mobile initiatives.”

“The median amount spent for each mobile app deployed in higher education is just above $5,000, though the range of per-app costs runs from less than $2,000 to more than $16,000.”

EDUCAUSE has set up Research Hub with more information on the report, including an infographic with findings: