Many of us are engaged in the start of the 2026 Spring term—the recent Holiday Break is now in our rearview mirror, and we are hitting the proverbial “gas pedal” into the first weeks of classes. It may not surprise you—but an article in this week’s ITC eNews confirms that college staff feel overworked—and Technology Departments are the standouts for an exhausting workload.
I’ve opined in the past regarding how under-staffed our Distance Learning programs are—and our kindred colleagues from IT are equally buried with too much work/not enough staff as well. There are a variety of reasons to explain this, including:
- Budgets and staffing—community colleges have been struggling to return to a strong pattern of annual student enrollment growth since the pandemic. Most campuses don’t get more funding unless they do increase the number of students they serve. And every department on campus argues it needs more funding. Our administrators best understand the traditional department needs—but find IT and DL as “new-fangled” – neither actually has the enrollments—they reside in academic departments and divisions. We are defined as “support,” and again, there is limited understanding about what we do
- Unlike other areas of our campus, we are technology-driven—and technology is changing very rapidly these days. The money that we get is more likely to support the expansion or updating of our technological solutions we represent—rather than increasing the staffing to support the technologies. We are now dealing with the introduction of AI, increased cybersecurity risks, the Internet of Things (demands for larger/more responsive wi-fi networks), AR/VR exploration, etc. Too many needs/not enough funding. And a failure to implement the extent of professional development training needed to keep faculty and staff up to date with the changes as well.
- The “elephant in the room.” Higher education is conservative by its nature. It has been forecast that up to half of all institutions of higher learning will merge or close—mainly because they have failed to adapt and change.
At any rate, how do we learn to manage the insane workload? Logically, we need to step back and think through our pressure points in a given term. The first week is always crazy—at least or the first 2-3 days. And there may be other flare-points during the term before the workload surge at the end of the term. Our programs/staff need to work smarter to manage this—and as the article this week suggests, find ways to collaborate with others on campus. It’s worth a conversation, at least—once the dust settles from the start of the term.
I also suggest that as a leader, you find ways to maintain morale during the pressure points of work demands. Perhaps ordering in some food—or personally giving a staff member a break by covering for them. Your thoughtfulness during these stressful periods can redefine the morale and productivity of your team. Hopefully something to ponder…
Recommended Reading
An Ancient Answer To AI-Generated Writing, Inside Higher Ed
Ancient teachers of higher education would find our present way of teaching—the very one that has given rise to our present writing crisis—altogether bizarre.
2026 Prediction: AI May Unleash The Most Entrepreneurial Generation We’ve Ever Seen, eCampus News
Today's students are future innovators in a landscape where powerful new tools of creation are sitting right in front of them.
Higher Ed Prepares For A New Era Of Accessibility, Inside Higher Ed
Looming federal regulations update the ADA to make web content and mobile apps more accessible to people, including college students, with disabilities.
College Staff Feel Overworked: Better Collaboration And AI May Help, EdTech Magazine
Technology departments are especially overburdened; AI is part of the problem, but it also has potential to be part of the solution.
Will College Exist in 2050?, The Evolllution
…the impact of AI will forever transform industries and the nature of work. In turn, higher education must evolve to produce graduates to meet the massive opportunities that AI represents.
The Higher Ed Talent Reckoning: Retirements, AI And Retention, Educause
Higher education faces a workforce crisis driven by converging forces: retirements, role changes driven by artificial intelligence, and shifting employee expectations. This discussion brings together insights from workforce data and executive search experience
Video Of The Week
How To Talk To AI In 2026: Prompt Engineering, YouTube
This video explores how to master the next generation of AI interaction, moving beyond 2025 basics into the high-level strategies required for 1-million-token contexts and autonomous reasoning.
