Breaking Down the 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 with Unizin Alumnus Helen Norris
2026 promises to be another year of challenge and opportunity for higher ed as administrators, faculty, students and staff seek to navigate an increasingly complex landscape in which technology and humans intertwine. Digital learning, data, and analytics hold immense promise as tools to enhance learning experiences and boost student success. But in a human-centric environment, technology can only do so much and take us only so far.
Each year, EDUCAUSE brings together technology and thought leaders representing an array of learning institutions from around the world to discuss, debate and determine 10 areas of focus that represent the current state of technology in higher ed. These leaders then work together to offer a roadmap to help the academy address the challenges and opportunities ahead.
The 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 focuses on the importance of human connection at a time of unprecedented turbulence and uncertainty. What’s more, EDUCAUSE articulates the importance of connection through two concepts that at first blush can seem at odds but are in fact deeply connected: collective will and individual capabilities.
“The 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 tells a decidedly human story about what higher education technology leaders will be focused on in the year ahead. Alongside their ongoing nurturing of institutions’ technologies and data, technology leaders will also be nurturing connections among and between the people at their institutions—their senior leaders, staff, faculty, and students…it won’t be a silver-bullet solution—or even artificial intelligence (AI)—that will get our institutions to the other side of our present moment. Instead, it will be our institutions themselves joining their many different people and disparate parts together, finding common purpose, and agreeing on what matters most and how best to move forward…More than anything else, connections among and between our people hold promise for carrying higher education through 2026.”
The notion of collective will underpins Unizin, as noted by 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 Panelist and Unizin alumnus, Helen Norris, former Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Chapman University. “To me, collective will is collaboration amplified through shared purpose,” Helen explains. “The Unizin consortium may be the ultimate example of collective will. We are collaboration on steroids. Sixteen institutions, not working on the same projects, but working together to learn from each other, accelerate ideas and share knowledge that can help us make an impact on our own campuses faster and with more force than we could ever do working alone. Our collective will benefits thousands of students across the country every day.”
The concept of collective will not only drives collaboration within and between Unizin members, it is the catalyst that accelerates research, development and deployment of new data-driven tools and platforms within each member institution.
“When I was CIO at Chapman, we joined Unizin to better leverage data from our LMS to support student retention efforts. It’s that simple,” says Helen. “We had data from our student registration systems and built dashboards based on that. Those dashboards were naturally historically focused, and didn’t address retention, and as a result, were under-utilized. What we didn’t have was access to learner data nor the resources to do the heavy lifting integration ourselves. Gaining access to the Unizin Data Platform solved that issue and enabled us to move quickly at a time when we already had buy-in from our Provost.”
The Chapman experience echoes similar efforts with other Unizin members. Helen and her team were able to use student retention initiatives at other member sites, namely Indiana University and Penn State, as reference points for their own efforts. This applied not only to the technology built, but also to the process of introducing new tools to the wider Chapman community.
“While we were busy building the technology foundation for our student retention program, we also had to work internally to bring our advisor partners along to make sure they understood how this new tool could benefit them and the students they support. Working with the Unizin data team helped us accelerate our development, and learning from other members’ experiences helped us navigate the process of introducing the concept to our stakeholders. By the time we had the platform built, our partners in the advising group were ready to use it.”
Helen notes another benefit of Unizin and the UDP beyond accelerating the development of new tools and platforms. “The UDP unlocked learner data that was held in the LMS for years but we simply couldn’t get to it. With learner data now accessible, we have a single source of truth that can be applied across the entire University to help administrators, faculty, advisors and our students.
“The collective will of Unizin that built the UDP empowers the collective will of our colleagues and partners at Chapman. Having the confidence in our data lets us constantly question assumptions and change the way we work. Having other members to support us lets us present new ideas with proof-of-concept from peers we admire and want to emulate.
“As a member of the consortium ideas become actionable, insights lead to better decisions and every effort to contribute to student success is enhanced by the collective will of the group.”
We couldn’t agree more.