A new “point/counter point” session format was added to the mix of presentation types this year at EDUCAUSE. It turned out to be my favorite format of all sessions this year. Mostly, this is due to the presenters involved. My favorite session of EDUCAUSE 2008 was titled “The Community Source Model: Promise or Peril for Higher Ed?”. In the one-hour session, Dr. Brad Wheeler and Adrian Sannier discuss the issues facing higher education’s software sourcing options – community sourcing model vs. proprietary sourcing model.

Kelley Anderson of Carnegie Mellon University presented a session titled “Development of a Project Management Office. The presentation gave insight into the current status of project management at Carnegie Mellon by discussing the critical decisions that were made over the past year. For example, should you take a “top down” (portfolio management) approach or a “bottom up” (project management) approach when you have limited FTEs dedicated full time to project management? CMU opted for the top down approach.

Some of the EDUCAUSE 2008 presentations are now posted online. Presentations include the three general session presentations as well as an number of featured speaker presentations.

Here is a link to an index page where you can hyperlink to the presentations:

http://net.educause.edu/e08/

Check them out!