IT Trends in Education: 2025 and Beyond

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IT Trends in Education: 2025 and Beyond

How educational IT is adapting under pressure—and evolving in the process

In the world of educational IT, the word of the year is “adapt.” Well, maybe I should say "no" is the word of the year.  

"Can we extend our licence for software x?" 
"No, we have no budget, use Microsoft"
"But that sucks"
"Sorry, we're standardizing"

"Can we buy a new machine to replace that machine not compatible with Windows 11?"
"No, we have no money, get faculty to use research money"

"Why aren't our servers updated for security in your data centre?"
"We don't have the resources.  You have to do it"

Budgets are tighter, workloads are heavier, and expectations haven’t gone down a bit.  At the same time, the tech landscape is shifting in major ways—from virtualization and online delivery to automation and threat response. 

Here are some key trends shaping (my) IT in the education sector in 2025:


DevOps for Machine Management Is Non-Negotiable

In the early days of the Business School, there were 2 people managing 60 computers.

Then there were 3 of us running 200 computers.

Now there are 3 of us running almost 1000 computers. Wait, did you say THREE?

How? Automation, or DevOps (Developer style Operations).  

For servers, we deploy (create and update servers), monitor, and scale services (like a website handling more load) semi-automatically now.

For staff and faculty, we update machines for security and update all registered software automatically, saving us days of effort.


Virtualization Is the New Standard


Physical servers are now gone in favor of virtualized environments. This shift allows:

  • Rapid reallocation of resources across departments or courses

  • Easier failover and backups

  • Cost savings on hardware and power

  • Faculty can do research more easily as servers are easier to create and use


Online Course Delivery Is Now Core

What used to be “just” the LMS (Learning Management System) is now a broad suite of systems—from Zoom and Teams to asynchronous video platforms and AI-driven proctoring tools. 

  • Load balancing and uptime monitoring are more critical than ever.

  • Centrally managed authentication (ids and passwords) is essential

  • User support must now include multimedia, mobile, and accessibility concerns

Teaching support for online delivery is technically challenging, and with just 3 people... we can't do much hand-holding.

"Can we hire a tech to help with all the new online courses as we literally change our business model?"
"No, we have no money."

[sigh]


Cybersecurity: The Threat Landscape Keeps Expanding

With more digital delivery comes more "surface area" for bad guys to attack. Institutions are struggling to keep up with:

  • Constant phishing attempts (evil emails)

  • Growing needs for endpoint (anti-virus and "bad guy" protection) on BYOD (bring your own devices to work) devices

  • Complication: zero trust models (makes things harder to do), 2FA/MFA (more codes to type to login), and data loss prevention (DLP) policies are becoming daily conversations.  THere is no net operational value here, other than safety and risk reduced (which is good but... it's work)

  • Ransomware targeting insecure servers.
    Remember the conversation above?
    "Why aren't our servers updated for security in your data centre?"
    "We don't have the resources.  You have to do it"


Budget Cuts Are Driving “Do More With Less” Culture

Canadian colleges are especially hard hit by federal international student caps and strained Canada–India relations. This means:

  • Fewer new hires or replacements

  • Delayed upgrades

  • More cross-functional responsibilities (more work!) for existing IT staff

We are in an environment where automation, consolidation, and creativity are not just helpful—they’re survival strategies.


AI is Here To Stay -  We Have To Catch Up

Educators are experimenting with AI for grading, tutoring, and content generation. Content and interactions need to change.  And especially how we assess (exams, quizzes, papers, essays, presentations)

IT have to be on the cutting edge to be able to support this insane technology change.  Everything is changing, and IT is in the middle of it!

A Final Thought

IT in education is no longer a support function.  No longer in ANY company is IT related to the nerds in the basement.  IT is a key part of all operations, literally WOVEN into every business process.

The trendlines are clear: more automation, fewer resources, and growing complexity. 

I'm told this is an opportunity to modernize and rethink how we deliver value (that's my MBA talking now).  

But in education, we are challenged in our growth by a lack of resources (mostly money) as a result of other decisions made in education across all institutions.  It's going to be a rough ride.

But quite a learning journey.  And that's why I'm still here.  

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