Key Takeaways
-
Interoperability standards protect institutions. Requiring vendors to adhere to shared standards reduces costly custom integrations and prevents vendor lock-in.
-
Clear, transparent requirements enable innovation. Faculty can explore new tools safely, while IT can evaluate them efficiently and consistently.
-
TAMS operationalizes standards. It centralizes information, aligns procurement with institutional strategy, and makes decision-making more transparent and collaborative.
Why Standards Matter More Than Ever
As technology evolves, so must the way it fits into our learning ecosystem. Tools that solve today’s problems may not meet tomorrow’s needs, and institutions must be able to adapt without continually rebuilding their technical foundations. That is why procurement of modern technology cannot focus solely on features; it must be grounded in standards, interoperability, and long-term sustainability.
In higher education, technology leaders are asked to strike a difficult balance: create space for innovation and experimentation, especially in an era of rapid AI adoption, while still meeting legal, security, accessibility, and financial obligations. Faculty need the freedom to explore new approaches, and institutions need assurance that those tools won’t introduce unnecessary risk, cost, or complexity.
That balance becomes far easier to achieve when tools integrate cleanly, share data responsibly, and can be evaluated using consistent, trusted criteria.
Interoperability Is About Control, Not Convenience
Interoperability is often framed as a technical nice-to-have or listed vaguely as a “preferred” item in RFPs. Functional units that write RFP requirements are more concerned about functionality. As long as the vendor supports some level of API or ETL integration, the issue is too often pushed to the side with the hope that “IT will work that out later.” In reality, we should be treating interoperability as a primary requirement and a strategic necessity.
When institutions insist that vendors support widely adopted interoperability standards, such as those developed by 1EdTech, they avoid expensive, one-off integrations and reduce long-term technical debt. More importantly, they avoid ceding control of their digital ecosystem to any single vendor.
A useful analogy comes from manufacturing. When machines are built with standardized parts—nuts, bolts, and fittings that conform to shared specifications—customers can replace components, upgrade systems, and source parts competitively over time. If those standards didn’t exist, every machine would require proprietary parts, locking customers into a single supplier indefinitely.
The same principle applies to edtech. Without interoperability standards, institutions are forced into custom integrations that are expensive to maintain and difficult to replace. With standards, institutions retain flexibility, reduce costs, and ensure that their ecosystem can evolve as needs change.
Making Innovation Practical and Scalable
Interoperability standards make it easier to say “yes” to good ideas.
When integrations are standardized, IT teams spend less time building and maintaining connections and more time evaluating whether a tool actually improves teaching and learning. Institutions can support a broader range of tools—or even build their own—without increasing complexity or risk.
This shifts the conversation from “Can we technically support this?” to “Does this meaningfully advance our educational mission?”
Integration Alone Isn’t Enough
Of course, technical compatibility is only part of the picture. Institutions must also ensure that tools meet expectations around data privacy, security, and accessibility.
The rubrics and certifications developed by the 1EdTech community provide a shared, trusted framework for evaluating these requirements. When this information is readily available, institutions can quickly determine which tools warrant deeper review and which do not. Faculty benefit as well, since no one wants to introduce a tool that creates barriers for students or exposes the institution to risk.
Standards create clarity, and clarity reduces friction. Too often, promising ideas stall because the effort required to vet or integrate a tool outweighs its potential benefit. Trusted standards help keep those ideas viable.
Turning Standards Into Action with TAMS
The TrustEd Apps Management Suite (TAMS) brings all of this together. TAMS serves as a single source of truth for application review, documentation, and compliance—making the entire process more transparent, efficient, and collaborative.
With TAMS, institutions gain:
- A clear, at-a-glance view of approved and pending tools
- Centralized access to interoperability, privacy, security, and accessibility information
- Shared notes and annotations to support informed decision-making
Instead of evaluating tools in isolation, stakeholders can compare options side-by-side and have more productive conversations, both internally and with vendors. Just as importantly, TAMS clearly signals institutional expectations: adherence to standards is not optional; it is foundational.
A Real-World Example
At the University of Michigan, technology procurement and application compliance review can take months. By using TAMS, the Information and Technology Services team seeks to:
- Reduce review time by leveraging vendor-provided compliance and interoperability information already housed in TAMS
- Increase transparency for faculty and staff by clearly showing where tools are in the review process
- Replace fragmented, homegrown tracking systems with a centralized, standards-based approach
The result is greater trust, less duplication of effort, and a clearer picture of the institution’s overall edtech ecosystem.
Creating an Ecosystem That Can Evolve
Building a healthy digital learning environment isn’t about adopting every new tool, it’s about creating the conditions where good ideas can flourish without adding unnecessary complexity or risk.
By insisting on interoperability standards and using tools like TAMS to operationalize them, institutions protect their autonomy, reduce long-term costs, and make innovation sustainable. Faculty gain space to experiment, students benefit from more seamless experiences, and technology teams can focus on meaningful work instead of constant troubleshooting.
When systems communicate and shared standards guide decisions, innovation stops feeling risky, and starts feeling like a natural part of how the institution moves forward.
Want to dive deeper? Join us as we co-present the upcoming webinar, A Streamlined Approach to Evaluating Edtech, on January 29 from 3:00–3:45 p.m. ET. Register here.
About the Authors
Sean DeMonner is the Information Systems Executive Director of Teaching & Learning at the University of Michigan. He is responsible for enterprise academic technology and directs the ITS Teaching and Learning team.
Sean has worked in the technology field for over 30 years in settings ranging from universities to commercial startups to established publicly-traded corporations. His professional experience includes instructional design, functional management, organizational development, strategic planning, product development, and project and portfolio management.
Loren Malm, JD, (CISSP) serves as Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at Ball State University, where he provides strategic leadership for the Division of Information Technology. He works closely with the President, Board of Trustees, and President’s Cabinet to advance the effective and strategic use of technology across all university divisions.
Mr. Malm’s leadership centers on leveraging technology to enhance the student journey and advance student success. He collaborates with deans and academic leadership to identify, develop, and implement personalized, high-impact learning and engagement solutions that support institutional goals.
