Technology Plan

College of the Sequoias

2014-2017

Introduction

The 2014 Technology Plan is designed to inform technology planning at College of Sequoias during the 2014-2015, 2015-2016, and 2016-2017 academic years. The plan was written by members of the Technology Committee, a subcommittee of the District Governance Committee, with input from campus groups including, faculty, staff and students.

Technology Committee Members

Abigail Gutierrez
COS Student (2014-2015)

/ Beverly Feleciano
Technology Services
Administrative Assistant

(559) 730-3800
Deborah Nolan
Academic Services
Distance Education Coordinator

(559) 737-6132
/
Stephanie Collier
Student ServicesFinancial Aid
Dean, Student Services

(559) 737-5441
/ Stephen Meier
Technology Services
System Administrator

(559) 737-6210
Tim Hollabaugh
Technology Services
Dean, Technology Services

(559) 730-3843
/ Robert Hinds
Adjunct Faculty
Fine Arts

Linda Yamakawa

Librarian

(559) 737-6173

Technology Plan Development Process

The Technology Committee is charged with “Prepare and monitor implementation of the Technology Plan”. It is with this document that the first part of this charge is accomplished. In addition to this Technology Plan the committee is also charged with “develop instructional technology standards” which is part of this document in the appendices. In addition to these tasks the Technology Committee is also charged with “Prepare an annual progress report on the Technology Plan”. This will be accomplished via an end of year report submitted to the District Governance Senate.

The current iteration of the Technology Plan comes during a transition during which the college is preparing a new Master Plan and phasing out the strategic plan based on the previous Master Plan. The plan authors intend for the current technology plan to be a living document that will be modified as the new Master and Strategic plans are developed.

The three-year technology plan development process at College of Sequoias (COS) involves alignment with the COS Mission and Vision, ACCJC Accreditation Standards, District goals as set forth in the Master Plan, District objectives as outlined in the Strategic Plan, the Technology Committee’s charges, and technology needs as identified in periodic technology surveys of students, faculty, and staff, as well as those needs identified in the District-wide program review process.

COS Mission Statement

College of the Sequoiasis a comprehensive community college focused on student learning that leads to productive work, lifelong learning and community involvement.
College of the Sequoiasaffirms that our mission is to help our diverse student population achieve its transfer and/or occupational objectives and to advance the economic growth and global competitiveness of business and industry within our region.
College of the Sequoiasis committed to supporting students' mastery of basic skills and to providing programs and services that foster student success.

ACCJC Technology Standards

III C. Technology Resources

Technology resources are used to support student learning programs and services and to improve institutional effectiveness. Technology planning is integrated with institutional planning.

Technology Services provide support for communications, duplications, multi-media systems, computer systems and information management to all students, faculty, and staff in the pursuit of student learning and success. In order for students to acquire necessary basic skills, and accomplish their transfer and/or occupational objectives the District must provide current technological equipment. This Technology Plan lays the foundation for institutional planning for the acquisition and use of technology.

The District focuses on student learning, and that focus includes having current technology available to all students.This plan provides guidance for technology purchases, implementation and maintenance to meet that need. All students are served equitably through technology. Service to all students and staff is provided through on-demand access to materials, support and instruction.

1.The institution assures that any technology support it provides is designed to meet the needs of learning, teaching, college-wide communications, research, and operational systems.

Faculty, staff and students in the district use computers, telephones, printing devices, and electronic media. Technology Services maintains the District’s phone, computer and computer systems infrastructure. Audio Visual services maintain the multi-media systems throughout the District along with providing video and audio recording services. Copy and Mail services support the district US Postal shipping and some receiving along with the District’s printing and copier systems. Administrative support and coordination of services are provided by the Dean and the Administrative Assistant.

  • Computer Services
  • Network design, implementation and maintenance is essential for providing access to information to the end user. The network infrastructureis designed with a sense towards the user experience. Having the correct network equipment in place and a robust connection between the end user equipment and the server or other devices is fundamental in providing the data and information.
  • Server farm design, implementation and maintenance is as important as the design and maintenance of the equipment and cabling that connects the server and its data to the end user. The servers storing and providing services must be designed and maintained in such a way as not to detract from the user experience in accessing information.
  • Telephone system design, implementation and maintenance. The telephone system is another communication tool that is expected to be continuously available. The design and maintenance of the equipment and the cabling is essential to a successful user experience.
  • Web site design, implementation and maintenance.The way people interact with the District has changed in recent history, so the District has put increasing reliance on information being current and available on the Districts website as well as social media.
  • District business software system implementation and maintenance. The district uses an Enterprise Reporting Program (ERP) system to capture transactions for payroll, human resources, Finance, Financial Aid, Student Information and Student Accounting. This software has updates and patches from time to time and must be maintained by applying them.Updates and patches must be applied to the system periodically. In addition there are new modules that are added to the ERP system as necessary to assist in the operation of the District.
  • Computer Systems and Reporting tools design, implementation and maintenance. Systems such as the Extended Information system assist users in accessing information from a variety of sources. These sources include the ERP data that has been captured. These reporting systems are designed and maintained with needs of the end usersin mind.
  • Desktop computer system installation and maintenance for employees and student labs. To ensure that the end user experience is maximized, end user desktop computers are replaced regularly (see app **). In addition to these replacements one needs to troubleshoot and repair equipment failures.are the troubleshooting and fixing of equipment that fails.
  • Desktop Software. Installed software on District equipment is primarily driven by curriculum needs. Technology Services responds to these needs by making the software that is needed to support the curriculum available in the classrooms as well as staff/faculty workstations. Media Services:
  • Multi-Media system installation and maintenance –The District has carts with TV’s DVD/VHS players, carts with projectors, computers, DVD/VHS players.Media Services is tasked with the installation of the carts, the addition of the carts to the check-out system as well as to ensure that the equipment on the carts are in proper working order.be put together (installed) added to checkout system and (maintenance) made sure to be in good working order every semester.
  • Smart Classroom equipment installation and maintenance - Same with Thetask of installing the smart classroom equipment, projectors, speakers, amplifiers, video distribution equipment, DVD/VHS players and document camera is delegated to Media Services.These itemsare replaced by Media Services as they expire.
  • Distance education equipment installation and maintenance - Distance education equipment includes Computers, Video Codecs, DVD/VHS players, Document cameras, projectors and PTZ cameras for 2 way video communication. All of this equipment needs to be installed and maintained to ensure the equipment works together properly.
  • Audio and Video recording services – Events such as monthly Board of Trustees meetings, district wide forums and others are recorded as well as streamed for live viewing on the internet. Media Services also records District announcements and classroom lectures.

Copy & Mail Services:

  • Installation and maintenance of print devices – The District maintains over 200 printing devices.
  • Operation of the district Copy Center – The District provides printing and copying services for both instruction and administrative needs.
  • US Mail distribution – US mail as well as inter-departmental mail is distributed on a regular basis.

Administrative Support

  • Overall coordination of staff assignments and projects are accomplished by the use of project management methods; utilizing district priorities as the driver of tasks and actions assigned.
  • Help Desk staffing and work assignment are done by student workers monitored by the Administrative Assistant.
  • Attendance accounting monitoring and reporting is accomplished bythe Administrative Assistant with COS Extended Information Systems (CEIS) reports and state Full Time Equivalent Student (FTES) reports.
  • District Technology Committee technical and clerical support is providedby the Dean and the Administrative Assistant.
  • District wide communication on technology is accomplished through the use of the help web site, weekly “bytes” best practices reminders and frequent notifications via email blasts.
The institution provides quality training in the effective application of its information technology to students and personnel.

The District provides training through several avenues including the following:

  1. Professional Association of Classified Employees (PACE)
  2. COS Curriculum
  3. Faculty Enrichment Committee
  4. Student Orientation Workshops
  5. Web-Based Self help
The institution systematically plans, acquires, maintains, and upgrades or replaces technology infrastructure and equipment to meet institutional needs.

Program-specific processes

In developing processes for the individual departments of Technology Services attention is given to the issue at hand and the available resources. A three step approach is used. First the issue is defined by the affected parties, in the case of a system that will be used by an external department an overview of the problem is studied with the external department. In the case of a system that is internal in nature the employees closest to the issue are consulted to determine the overall issue. Second the available resources are identified by the Dean, Technology Services and the Application Manager. Finally a draft of the process is developed and reviewed with staff for implementation.

Technology Resource requests

Technology resource requests follow a set procedure; first the request is compared to overall operating requirements.If the request fits into normal practices, the resource is allocated. Coordination between the Dean, Technology Services and the Technology Applications Manager ensure that all operational needs are met. Second, if the technology request is outside the scope of normal operations of the department, a comparison is made to Program Review requests and overall district strategic goals. If a fit is determined, the resource is made available. Finally, if a resource request does not fall into either of the above mentioned categories, the Dean, Technology Services and the Technology Applications Manager discuss the efficacy of the request and if it fits into the mission of the department. If there is a fit,the resource is allocated.

Program plans

The primary method of creating program plans is through the Program Review process. Both the comprehensive and annual update procedures are used to evaluate and alter the direction of any plans that are in place. Sometimes however plans are changed based on external pressures. The Chancellor’s office is one of many external forces that cause plan deviations. For example, when the State Chancellor’soffice Management Information System (MIS)institutes changes, the Technology Services department must adjust plans and processes for collecting and reporting data.

District departments may have mandates requiring new software implementations or restructure of existing systems. Supporting these mandates and restructures, begins with discussions between the affected department and Technology Services. These discussions usually lead to an altering of program plans for software development and maintenance. One particular system for example, is the electronic Student Education Plan (SEP) system. This system was initially designed to assist student services counseling department in creating education plans for students. Once the initial design was approved and the system put in place for testing, it was discovered that the data collected could be used for other purposes including enrollment management. This realization altered the overall design of the SEP and ultimately would assist students in getting the classes that they needed.

The distribution and utilization of technology resources support the development, maintenance, and enhancement of its programs and services.

Currently the services offered by the Computer Services department are numerous but not completely documented. The Technology Services mission statement clearly identifies that they are “client oriented”. It is difficult for District staff to fully understand and/or utilize the services offered when there is insufficient documentation of procedures and processes that are available. By creating a service catalog and the associated service level agreements, District staff will be better able to request services and plan on expected timelines of completion. This single addition will enhance the ability of the Technology Services department to be truly “client oriented”.

The service catalog will enumerate all services and functions of the technology services department in a manner that is understandable by District employees. The Service Level agreements will define how services are requested and the expected timeline of response.

In order to fully document services offered by the Technology Services department, all work accomplished and attempted must be documented in a manner which will feed the Service Catalog as well as the Service Level agreements. To this end ahelp desk system will be utilized to document and monitor all tasks, projects and service requests. The current help desk system is limited in its capability of direct input from users by virtue of the fact that all work orders are inputted by Technology Services staff. A review of the current help desk system as well as alternative systems will be conducted within the next year.

The EIS reporting system has a rich set of reports available to users but those reports are not well known throughout the district. To attempt to be truly “client oriented”, users need to be made aware of the services that the technology services department provides. In order to fully utilize the reports the department will begin a campaign to educate users on the existence and use of EIS reports. Along with this education will be a feedback loop as to those reports that are needed and those that are no longer needed. In this manner effort can be put to those reports that support the district in its data driven decision model.

2.Technology planning is integrated with institutional planning. The institution systematically assesses the effective use of technology resources and uses the results of evaluation as the basis for improvement.

The COS Planning Model (below) requires that the College complete an annual planning cycle involving the use of data and regular evaluation to improve results. Technology planning is incorporated into the planning cycle by virtue of its reliance on the College Mission, Master Plan, Strategic Plan, Institutional Program Review, and Resource Allocation.

COS Master Plan Goals

Technology planning focuses on supporting the achievement of College goals.

  1. The College of the Sequoias Community College District will increase student enrollment relative to population growth and educational and workforce development needs.
  2. The College of the Sequoias Community College District will improve the rate at which its students complete degrees, certificates, and transfer objectives.
  3. The College of the Sequoias Community College District will strategically tailor and implement academic programs and student services that match the needs of its unique student population and the demands of ongoing changes in workforce development.
  4. The College of the Sequoias Community College District Board of Trustees, administration, faculty and staff will engage in best practices and staff development to sustain and improve operational structures and systems for institutional assessment and continuous improvement.

COS Strategic Plan Objectives

  1. Provide effective academic support services as measured by an increase in the rate at which students successfully complete courses.
  2. Increase the percentage of faculty who use the Early Alert System to provide feedback on student progress.
  3. Provide a level of counseling and library services for all district students that is equitable across the sites and instructional delivery modalities.
  4. Pilot a program of deliberate counseling in which counselors and basic skills faculty collaborate to: individually contact all first-time students who declare an intent to complete the requirements for an associate degree, certificate, or transfer and who also placed into basic skills English or mathematics for the purpose of ensuring that this cohort of students complete their SEP in the first semester.
  5. 2015 Pilot a program of deliberate counseling in which counselors and English faculty collaborate on the following: counselors visit English classes for the purpose of encouraging and scheduling counseling appointments.
  6. Accelerate the schedule for offering the basic skills sequence in English or mathematics.
  7. Allocate resources based on an accountable and systematic District-wide planning and budget development process that links this allocation to Institutional Program Reviews and the Strategic Plan.
  8. Assess the effectiveness of the pilot program of requiring successful completion of English 251 as a prerequisite for social science transfer courses.

Technology Committee Guiding Principles