Edupunk stalks the institution...

There has been much rhetoric over how academics are increasingly disenchanted with institutional VLE provision and are subscribing to a 'doing it yourself' approach. Students are also voting with their feet, with many preferring to use social networking tools such as Facebook to communicate in place of the institutional e-mail system. The adoption of free social software tools has raised questions over corporate branding, security and privacy issues, and legal requirements. The storm is just beginning, and people are now getting worried, for according to this press release from JISC earlier today:

As learners increasingly adopt free third party email providers over their institutional email, further and higher education institutions are faced with whether to follow the crowd by outsourcing their email and data services.

JISC, UCISA and Universities UK recognise this challenge and are today launching two new briefing papers to help institutions understand the implications and opportunities involved in no longer hosting their own email service.

Steve Bailey, Senior Advisor at JISC infoNet, said: "Outsourcing email and data storage facilities is being viewed as an increasingly attractive proposition by many institutions faced with growing user demand for increased storage and functionality.

"However, it is important that institutions enter into such arrangement with their eyes wide open and fully appreciate that outsourcing these services does not also outsource their management responsibilities, liabilities and obligations.

"These papers highlight the experiences of four institutions, the University of Westminster, the University of Oxford, Leeds Metropolitan University and Glasgow Caledonian University on how they considered outsourcing and what solutions worked for them," added Steve.

The opportunities include:

* Enhanced and enriched student learner experience
* Email account with an ac.uk address
* Retain email account beyond leaving education
* Storage of emails in GB rather than MB - greater capacity
* Access calendar and file storage services
* Information sharing.

The implications are:

* Hidden setup costs
* Legal, contractual and procurement processes
* Whether to outsource email services for learners, or learners and staff
* Privacy and confidentiality of data storage
* Compliance with Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts
* Beta status of services - which are constantly changing.

David Harrison, Chair of UCISA, said, "There are many aspects an institution should consider before opting to outsource. These papers highlight the issues and encourage institutions to take a holistic view when considering outsourcing."

So Edupunk is stalking the institution, and has begun to undermine previously secure and structured provision. Where will it all end? Your views and experiences will be welcomed on this blog - post your comments here.