Toward the development of a strategic technology plan
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- I. General Issues
- II. Training/Support
- III. Hardware
- IV. Software/Systems
- V. Communication
- VI. Policy/Other
| BEYOND UNIVERSAL ACCESS:
INTEGRATING THE TECHNOLOGY TOWARD THE DEVELOPMENT OF A STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY PLANa discussion piece in anticipation of a faculty/administrator forum STEVEN SCHRIER VICE PRESIDENT FOR LEGAL, PLANNING & INFORMATION SERVICES The objective of the Universal Access plan was to establish a base level of access to technology at Suffolk County Community College. What constitutes a “base” level of access is certainly subjective and, even to the maker of the standard, only valid for one moment of time. In the wake of the successful implementation of the Universal Access plan, and the speed at which technology and its applications to education evolve, it is imperative that the College act promptly to plan for future activity in the technology arena. Failure to do so will again put the College in a catch-up situation. Perhaps in developing our new plan we should no longer be striving to achieve a “base” level of access; rather, our goal should be to reach and maintain an appropriate level of resources in the technology area. We need to remember where we were coming from prior to Universal Access and that “base” level now was considered nirvana for us just a short time ago. At the same time, we should not get caught up in the hype of the technology purveyors. The Internet and computers and related peripherals and software offer exciting new tools for teaching and learning, and for managing the enterprise. These can be effective at motivating students, and proficiency in using technology is certainly important for students in the workplace and in their lives. These tools are extremely useful, but they are not a substitute for other methods of pedagogy. It should remain in the forefront that the technology plan is not the entire plan driving the college. The plan should address the needs of academic support, student services and administration, and identify the outcomes desired. To support applications in these areas we will need to address training/support (help desk assistance, courses, computer based instruction), hardware (mainframe, mid-size, desktop computers, projectors, scanners, routers, hubs, etc.), software (commercially acquired standard and customized, in-house developed), communication (bandwidth, interactive video, integration of voice and electronic messaging) and policy (security, homogeneity). This document was initially drafted by Steven Schrier, Vice President for Legal, Planning and Information Services, based upon discussions held in the College Computing Council and a review of literature, and was presented to the Planning Subcommittee of the College Computing Council. That group discussed the process that should occur to lead to a Strategic Technology Plan. A technology assessment survey was administered to all employees to further inform our process. Michael Weissberg, Vice President for Student Affairs, Gary Ris, Executive Director for Computer and Information Services, and Donald R. Coscia, Associate Dean for College Instructional Technology, working with Steven Schrier, thereupon reviewed the results of the survey (prepared by Anthony Napoli, Director of Institutional Research and Assessment) and assisted in editing this document. Your reaction to the concepts presented and comments on the strengths and limitations of our computing capability, through an open forum and discussion on the listserv, will help inform the Subcommittee on the writing of the final recommendation to the Council. From there it will go to the President and, if approved, will serve as the basis for a consultant to recommend an operational direction for accomplishing the strategic objectives. In this way the plan can result in concrete budget requests. WHERE SHOULD THE COLLEGE BE GOING? The pace of change that has been experienced in technology has been so rapid that a five-year time frame may be too great. The Universal Access project involved a one and one-half year implementation period. Perhaps the best we can do is create a vision as far out into the future as reality will allow us, and then we will build an action plan around that vision. The following ideas are intended as a starting point in the development of this vision. It is meant to elicit a response to the ideas put forward and it is also meant to encourage you to share your ideas and possibly even stimulate your creativity so that new applications and strategies are brought into the discussion. I. General Issues1. How can better learning outcomes be achieved? How can students’ individual learning styles be accommodated? 2. Should the pace of change, including re-engineering of curricula, be accelerated and, if so, how? 3. How can technology enhance communication among faculty, between faculty and students, and among classmates? 4. How can technology make the college more efficient and effective? 5. What will it take to achieve acceptance and integration of the technology resources now available? 6. How can we use technology to support a learner centered environment? 7. How can we use technology to support a student-centered approach to the delivery of student services? 8. How can the needs of end users for support best be met? What format for professional development would be most accepted and utilized? 9. Does the organization of the college Web site meet the need for accessing information? 10. Should students have access to technology assistance from home? II. Training/SupportA. Recent developments in the area:
B. Issues: 1. Do the methods currently in place meet our needs? Why aren’t more faculty and administrators taking advantage of the training currently available? 2. Is the traditional method of teaching changing to such a degree that it is necessary to reconfigure the entire staffing pattern and workload? Are new types of positions needed to support the use of technology? 3. Should candidates for employment be assessed on their technological skills? Should we require, as a condition of employment, that all new employees have PCs and Internet connectivity at home? 4. Does the organizational structure need to be modified to meet the changing role of technology at the College? 5. Will the College be able to recruit and retain the personnel needed to sustain this area? Will other methods of recruiting need to be utilized? Should there be greater reliance on vendors? 6. How can faculty and administrators be encouraged to adopt, and to be creative and innovate in the use of, the resources that have been acquired? 7. How should Web sites be maintained? 8. Is there a need for a “portal” or integrated Web-based point of entry for students to access various services (grades, registration, e-mail, etc.) and/or their faculty and the course management system? 9. How will the College support course revision and development for offerings to be included on the SUNY Learning Network and using CourseInfo? The establishment of media servers (music, art, video)? Instructional design support? 10. If faculty require students to access electronic materials, what kind of support should be provided to students and what kinds of assumptions should faculty be able to make about knowledge of this learning process? 11. How can communication between end users and technical staff be facilitated to ensure integration of new systems? 12. Should the college develop a help desk support system or should there be a distributed network of support? Should an outside service be contracted to provide support? III. HardwareA. Recent developments in the area:
B. Issues: 1. Should students be required to purchase their own computer? Should they be required to bring it to class, ensuring that computers are always state-of-the-art and avoiding considerable college expense? Should these computers allow for wireless computing? 2. Will the college be able to implement the current PC replacement policy? Should the College reconsider the computer replacement policy? Should there be different policies for different areas? What should be done with used computers? 3. Are there other desktop computing environments that should be considered, such as thin server clients, wireless computers or zero administration clients, where the users desktop is locked and software installation is restricted to a specific college standard? 4. Will all faculty need their own PC, rather than sharing units within their office? Will it be necessary to access work product from home, office and classroom? 5. Will it be necessary to create a wireless environment to permit anywhere computing? 6. How should classrooms be equipped? Should proximas or proximas and smart boards (or the equivalent) be installed in each classroom? Should each classroom be equipped with a computer? Is it necessary for more classrooms to be equipped with student computer workstations? 7. Is there a need for scanners and color printers and, if so, where would they ideally be located? IV. Software/SystemsA. Recent developments in the area:
B. Issues: 1. Should the college move towards accessing software on the Web or in a shared environment rather than in each machine? 2. What kinds of software and/or access to data would free faculty from routine tasks or improve their ability to know and serve student needs? 3. The college now has standards selected for Web viewing and office applications. Are there other types of software for which a standard should be selected for acquisition and support? 4. What kinds of applications for bulletin boards and chat rooms, etc. do faculty want to have available? 5. What student applications would make SCCC more customer friendly? What systems need to be reengineered to make SCCC more accessible? 6. Are there devices that can be put into place to reduce attrition, such as early intervention systems, tutorials? 7. What will textbooks of the future look like and how do our faculty want to make textbooks (or some new form) available? 8. What new or expanded systems will facilitate the efficient administration of the college? Clearly, a human resources information system is necessary and will have the benefits of improving data availability and giving employees greater access to information. Are there other applications that should migrate to commercially developed software, like the entire student records, billing and registration system? 9. Should forms be available on-line for completion and transmission? 10. Should software be installed to permit voice recognition and speech synthesization? 11. What licensing arrangements will be most economical and appropriate? V. CommunicationA. Recent developments in the area:
B. Issues: 1. Are there areas (other than offices and classrooms) that need to have network ports or wireless hubs, such as dining and lounge areas? 2. Should the college network be set up so that any member of the college community can plug in and log on? 3. Is the speed of the network acceptable for the applications anticipated? 4. How do we end the use of paper? Can the Web provide an alternative to hard copy communication? 5. Should the telephone system be abandoned and merged with the computer network for voice communication? 6. Should the College prepare to become part of the Internet2 network? 7. Should the college continue to upgrade its dial-in connectivity or recommend that individuals use an ISP? Should the college provide Internet dial-in services to students? Should the College partner with local cable and communication companies in order to offer students "fast" connectivity to the College for the purpose of taking classes, accessing library resources, etc.? 8. Should we expect that a single on-line universal access point will be available for the college community, to obtain college information, request services, check personal information, and work with colleagues? VI. Policy/OtherA. Recent developments in the area:
B. Issues: 1. How can security issues be addressed to assure the integrity of the system? Should users be expected or required to be authenticated prior to using a college computer, accessing the college network, and accessing college services over the Internet? 2. Should the college enforce a more strict user desktop (restricting the software that can be installed on college computers) thereby creating a more homogenous environment, allowing for easier deployment of services, more rapid responses to problems and service issues, and a less expensive support model? 3. Are back-up issues being properly addressed to maintain the operation of the College in the face of a disaster? 4. Can the College use the technology to improve its relationship with the community, e.g. Web site, services for H.S. students and teachers, providing recycled computers to disadvantaged students? 5. Should all departments, organizations and committees be expected or required to use an on-line approach to delivering information and providing services? Should "on-line" become the primary method? Should the college mandate the set up of Web pages and require that certain standards be met? 6. Should the college be providing the same access to its information systems on and off campus? 7. Should we be building our own systems or contracting/partnering with outside firms? 8. Should we allow/use advertising supported services for email, Web publishing, on-line courses, etc. to generate revenue or offset costs? 9. Who is to be responsible for the contents of electronic communication? Please respond to this document by posting your comments in the area indicated in the discussion forum on the governance Web site (http://www.sunysuffolk.edu/Governance/). In addition, a forum (intended for faculty) will be held in the distance learning room on each campus on May 9, 2000 from 2-3:30 P.M. A forum (intended for administrators) will be held in the same location on May 23, 2000 from 11-12:30 P.M. Attendance is encouraged at either forum. At these forums and on the Web site it would be helpful if you could also address the strengths and limitations of the state of technology at Suffolk County Community College, and express your vision of the features that would enhance our effectiveness. Indicate the priority to be given to the needs identified, being mindful of the benefit to be achieved and the cost of the proposal. Thank you for your participation. Directory: Administration Administration -> Town of Nags Head Annual Report Administration -> Ieee/iee electronic Library (iel) Administration -> General information Administration -> Honorary Degree Recipients December 2015 Graduation Administration -> Division I women’s College Cup (soccer) Administration -> Cacc director’s council may 24-25 2010 12 noon caesar’s, Atlantic City, nj Administration -> Action Items dc meeting – 14 – Dominican College Download 32.74 Kb. Share with your friends:
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