Technology Plan Guidelines

Technology Plan Guidelines

Technology Plan Guidelines

Overview: Below are some of the College objectives that have been identified as having major IT components which the Technology Plan should address. As a group, we need to discuss these objectives and add any others that we think will be relevant to meeting the College’s overall strategic goals.

Objectives from ‘Educational Directions for 2000 and 2001’ <insert link> with major impact on our plan

  1. Distributed Learning Plan – This may have the most wide ranging impact on a technology plan. Is there a need for fewer computer labs? Will there be a need for fewer classrooms? What are the impacts on the LRC? Video conferencing will become an integral component of course delivery. See Jim’s Distributed Learning Framework and Student Support Checklist for background on distributed learning at COTR.
  2. Course Outlines – This project is underway, for admin details see the Course Outlines section of CDC Resources page or the Actual Outlines
  3. Intranet – Underway, see inCOTR

Objectives from ‘COTR Business Plan 2000+’ with major impact on our plan

Goal 5: ‘Ensure that we have and utilize effectively the appropriate technology to meet our educational needs’

  • Implement hardware and software standards – Tech plan will update
  • Identify and prioritize on an ongoing basis educational technology requirements through the annual capital request process – The process is a mixture of input from this committee, the technology plan, and departmental directions
  • Promote staff and student technology upgrading and acquisitions (ie professional development, staff and student purchase plans) – Plan should recommend staff purchase plan be continued. We should recommend that we survey our student population and see how many own PCs, own laptops, or are living in a residence with access to a computer
  • Implement new methods for technology renewal (leasing, student self purchase, corporate sponsorships, joint purchases with school district) – Gateway project developed a website for student purchase for college and K-12. Student self- purchase is a controversial subject. Attempts were made at joint purchases with the school districts, but there was little or no response.
  • Develop a way to measure the effectiveness of our investment in technology – An interesting objective, should it be part of our plan?
  • In all staff recruitment, make core technology skills a requirement of employment – This is underway with the Standards of Practice <insert link>

Objectives from the IT perspective

  • Standardize network operating systems on Windows 2000 server
  • Reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of PCs to provide better availability of student and staff computer resources
  • Work with PLNet to deliver ip based video conferencing and to expand to include ip based telephony services.
  • Rationalize budgeting of IT resources so that TCO is factored in to budgets and purchasing decisions, ie a new PC may cost $1750 to get it inside the College, but the real cost of getting it installed, software loaded, and support is 2 to 3 times that. There must be a clear understanding that the choice is less hardware but more timely installation and support, or more hardware and slower installation.
  • Supporting the regional campuses will become an increasing problem as the amount and complexity of their technology needs increases
  • Renewal of audio visual equipment will become an increasing problem as this equipment ages
  • The language lab is becoming increasingly expensive to maintain from both and instructional point of view as well as the equipment itself. It will need to be replaced within the next year or two.
  • Infrastructure renewal is an ongoing process. Unlike bricks and mortar with 20-30 year life span, most of the IT infrastructure needs renewal every 5 years.
  • The student email accounts and off campus access needs to be re-evaluated in an age of ‘hotmail’ accounts and ‘shaw@home’ internet access.
  • Through the use of the intranet and the Docushare system, move to a webcentric view of storing and sharing documents.

Objectives from an Instructional perspective

  • Multimedia in the classroom, do the rover’s fill this need?
  • Rationalizing computers and curriculum. Should every program have its own computer lab, or dedicated computers (ie ATBO in Golden).

Our Current Plan

We need to review and revise

  • Principles
  • Assumptions

Develop, using the objectives identified above

  • An updated set of recommendations relating to various areas outlined in the current plan (Cultural/Organizational, Human Resources, and Technical)
  • Specific recommendations to address issues and needs in the 2001/2002 fiscal and academic years
  • Guidelines for 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 fiscal and academic years.

What others have done

Humbolt State – clear direction and excellent content

Brown University

University of Maine – a bit dated, but useful

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