Higher Education Institutions are generating more data and adopting more technology than ever, and the opportunity now lies in connecting those investments to deliver measurable value. At EDUCAUSE 2026, campus leaders, IT practitioners and technology partners shared practical frameworks for doing exactly that.
As Doreen Richards, Learning Design Consultant with Boston College’s (BC) Center for Digital Innovation and Learning (CDIL), observed, “Most institutions aren’t short on data, they’re short on evidence that’s organized well enough to use.” That theme echoed throughout the conference sessions on Artificial Intelligence (AI), data governance, IT asset management and cloud transformation.
Five insights emerged that define how higher education institutions can modernize with purpose.
Learning Management Systems Can Become Evidence Engines for Accreditation
Faculty already assess students’ work every term, either through course activity, manual spreadsheets, local rubrics or narrative reports. Aligning that activity with program outcomes lets evidence flow directly into program review and accreditation. Richards emphasized, “The pieces are all there; they’re just not talking with each other.” Richards and other BC presenters outlined a five-step, repeatable framework:
- Clarify program learning outcomes
- Identify signature assignments
- Align rubrics with learning management system (LMS) outcomes
- Organize modules and assignment groups intentionally
- Pull results into simple reporting
Because shared outcomes are embedded in signature assignment rubrics that do not affect grades, faculty grade as usual while the LMS autonomously compile outcome scores across courses. One BC graduate leadership program put this to the test. Across eight core courses, five program learning outcomes (PLOs), one shared rubric and roughly 124 students, 85% to 93% of students met or exceeded mastery in three of five PLOs. The configuration takes about 20 minutes, and pulling accreditation data takes less than a day. This framework does not just serve to ease the accreditation and review process; faculty, students and academic leaders all benefit when classroom activity and program outcomes align.
Purpose-Built AI Starts with a Clearly Defined Use Case
New York University (NYU) Undergraduate Admissions leaders emphasized defining the operational need before selecting a tool. As Kellie Fitzgerald, Senior Director of Operations for Undergraduate Admissions, explained, “AI can’t fix a broken business process, so technology must be purpose-built, solving clearly defined friction points.”
When the NYU admissions office received more than 30,000 applications in a single 24-hour period, its AI-powered chatbot achieved a 96% resolution rate, sparing staff more than 1,500 identical deadline questions. Answers to a range of questions differ for first-year, transfer and non-degree applicants, so the team segmented the chatbot into context-specific knowledge areas grounded in curated sources. Fitzgerald emphasized, “predictability beats creativity” when accuracy matters. The office now measures return on investment (ROI) through an 83% increase in peak-period chat interactions, reduced staff fatigue and 24/7 access for international students in their own time zones.
These are not “one size fits all” solutions. Higher education institutions looking to implement similar AI solutions into their admissions workflow should target their own specific pain points by asking three key questions:
- What specific bottleneck are we solving?
- Why is AI superior to non-AI solutions?
- What audience does this serve?
Data Governance Becomes Actionable When Policy Meets Everyday Workflows
Many institutions already have strong data governance frameworks, but these policies do not always translate into consistent, real-world practice. There are many opportunities for institutions to make those policies easy for their staff to apply to daily processes.
Valerie Jung, Information Integration Manager at the University of Southern California (USC), described how custom AI assistants can interpret policies conversationally, helping employees classify data and submit access requests based on approved university resources.
Clear controls over what an assistant can access, combined with human oversight and training, keep these tools aligned with institutional requirements. NYU applies similar guardrails by keeping protected student data out of open AI tools, requiring multi-factor authentication (MFA) or single sign-on (SSO) and maintaining human-first application evaluations.
Additionally, a single, structured intake process ensures security, architecture and governance reviews happen before implementation.
Visibility into IT Assets Drives Control, Savings and Strategic Influence
Michael Plocher, Director of Operations at RefTab, framed IT asset management around a simple progression: “Visibility leads to control, control leads to savings and savings earn IT a seat at the table.”
A unified system of record links hardware, software, people and spending, so questions such as which license seats belong to departed staff become simple lookups. His guiding principle, “connect before you consolidate,” encourages teams to integrate existing mobile device management (MDM), identity and HR systems without changing how staff work. For example, Braintree Public Schools reduced the time needed to rename 1,000 Chromebooks from days to minutes once its asset record and Google Admin updated simultaneously.
Plocher recommended starting with the most pressing need and reporting quarterly metrics such as seats purchased versus seats in use.
Explicit Ownership Sustains Cloud Transformation Beyond Go-Live
Carrie Rachal, Solution Specialist at Ellucian, explained that ownership in cloud transformation works best when it is designed rather than assumed.
Panelists discussed how a shared-ownership model guided Brooklyn Law School’s move to software as a service (SaaS) across five stages: governance, readiness, go-live, hyper-care and reinforcement.
Colette Rodgers, Vice President (VP) of Operations at Brooklyn Law School, emphasized that executive sponsors must remain visible so staff can see how the initiative connects to their roles.
Stephanie Galo, IT Project Manager and Business Analyst, noted that defining escalation paths in advance meant most support issues moved only once before resolution.
After the partner steps back, sustained internal change management helps users fully adopt new workflows.
Building Connected, Evidence-Driven Campuses
EDUCAUSE 2026 reinforced that some of the greatest gains come from maximizing the platforms institutions already have. Aligned LMS data, purpose-built AI, actionable governance, connected asset records and explicit ownership share a common thread: intentional design that turns existing investments into measurable outcomes. By starting small and scaling what works, colleges and universities can strengthen operations while keeping students, faculty and staff at the center. As Carahsoft, The Trusted Education IT Solutions Provider™, continues supporting education modernization, these insights inform how technology partners can help institutions build more connected learning environments.
Explore Carahsoft’s Education Technology Solutions portfolio to discover solutions that support AI, data analytics, IT asset management and cloud modernization across higher education.
Contact the Education Team at EDUmarketing@carahsoft.com or call (571) 591-6070 to discuss how Carahsoft’s technology partners can support your institution’s goals.
