Speaking Up About EdUnify

Who is interested in helping reduce the “incompatibles” across the education industry that is contributing to confusion, frustration and inefficiency for learners? I am sure if you were asked, you would voice your support to improve the connections throughout our education system and the linkages to support better advising, assessment, course planning and attention to alerts. There is a throng of people and the organizations voicing the need for shared data definitions, improved automated tools and collaborative efforts which would support more effective use of data measures inside and outside the classroom. Is it all talk? Or, are the initiatives underway that could offer promise to support learners in this internet age and the knowledge economy?

A big part of the challenge to guide learners across boundaries and policies rests on the incompatibilities between Student Information Systems, Degree Audit Systems, Course Management Systems and Advising Systems that are implemented by institutions, states and even regions trying to serve learners with good information, checklists and action plans. The education industry has billions invested in software and data systems - and spends billions annually in the care and feeding of technology to support them.

Here we are near the end of 2010, and we are struggling to convince software developers and implementers the need to publish their application programming interfaces or web services. There are many applications implemented across institutions supported by hundreds of software organizations for profit and non-profit nationwide. And, most are still not aware of the initiatives to push data and process standards along to help foster greater harmonization of electronic services. Part of the challenge many believe is that we are in a holding pattern waiting for a single thread or shift to reveal one way of achieving compatibility – by a one-size-fits all standard that everyone follows. That won’t happen.

In October, PESC launched EdUnify at the annual EDUCAUSE conference. EdUnify is up and running (https://demo.edunify.pesc.org). It is a registry of web services and web applications. It is free to use. Yet, it is not a standard. It is a repository to help the industry annotate what system interfaces and processes can be inventoried to help our communities work together voluntarily. Software developers and implementers can freely advertise their electronic services, specifications and links to documentation. Institutions can also publish their use of those services and annotate by keywords to allow for other developers to search and connect with the services respecting the authentication, security and license information posted.

As I continue to evangelize for EdUnify and the development of logical web services to bridge data systems of all forms, most of the community that should be involved continues to stay on the side line watching instead of getting into the game. What do I mean? Well, anyone who acquires or implements software applications today should be concerned with how the system provides out of the box integration support. When we buy a new LED TV or computer for example, we expect the standard connections provided will adhere to industry accepted methods. Otherwise, we have to buy additional converters, cables and hardware to transform our signals.
Some software developers are hiding behind their firewalls so to speak, waiting for their clients to pressure them to open up their data systems and begin aligning with the emerging national standards which we can debate. Some developers just are not ready. Others are engaging services wrapped in proprietary methods to bridge the integration problems and passing the costs on to their users through expensive consulting contracts or interfaces. It is a pretty nasty problem trying to remove the incompatibilities that is contributing to the lack of progress in improving the utilization of resources focused on degree completion. It is an economic problem. Scarcity of IT knowledge is desired by those that control the data systems because they make more with it than without it. What they fail to see or believe is they could make better applications and offer greater utility with open data systems than with closed ones.
Our decentralized education system conceived around institutional autonomy and academic freedom has resulted in the unintended consequences most discount as the “leaky faucet” in the supply chain or pipeline. Learners “flow” through K12, postsecondary education and into the workforce in fits of starts and stops as they manage day to day life circumstances. Many policy makers are attempting to stimulate changes in how educational organizations and government agencies work together to tighten up the joints, so to speak.

We seek collaboration in many ways. This takes real data -- measured and reported to reveal gaps and cracks invisible to the naked eye. It also takes sharing and collaboration. With varying means of defining, using and exchanging data and processes across institutions, the learner is left walking paper between stopovers complicating and duplicating the level of effort to serve them. Thus, we have billions of dollars wasted in our education system because the education industry can’t face the conceit of those in control of data. We can’t begin to improve the services to learners, if we can’t fit the pipes along the pipeline together better. It is not really a technical issue, but one of will power, leadership and direction.

No wonder the learner experience is complicated and problematic. The challenge to help learners span boundaries and policies impacting dual enrollment, transfer articulation, academic assessment, progress and factors impacting completion are actually made worse by the software data systems implemented under the guise of improving retention and navigation, when all they can really do is serve the promise with band aids and bubble gum trying to link proprietary systems together with email and web 2.0 like technologies with ‘static’ mash-ups, PDF’s or custom FLASH that are not sustainable.

The funding projections for education are gloomy as enrollment trends will continue to shift and the online world disrupts content delivery methods. If we think the flush of funds coming from government and foundations grants will continue to serve initiatives in a few years, we are fooling ourselves. The call to action is not as loud as Y2K a decade ago. Because of incompatibility with dates, we spent billions to remake one field type. Here we are ten years later, still struggling to deliver on the promise of technology, and we lack the incentives to publish API’s and web services to foster a new generation of applications and tools that will address 21st learning. New composite applications will need data and process bridges across the current landscape of student systems no doubt. Today, many are spent band-aiding the touch points with duck tape and chewing gum.

The real visionaries and leaders in our industry will see the need for open systems. They won’t give up because the externalities impede them or are ignored. We (software developers in general) created this problem. The next generation of learning tools will have to be open - with plug and play connectors such as web services that are open and extendable. Expect them. Ask for them. Don’t make them an afterthought. And, if you are in the business of developing software or implementing data systems, join EdUnify now and begin working on open data systems and solutions that will reduce the costs, improve services to learners and accelerate development. Search the registry. Link to it. Share it with others. It is time you ask your software teams to utilize EdUnify and publish their web services to enable collaboration, team work and new data partnerships that will improve interoperability through market incentives.