FY16 Academic Priorities for Technology Enhancements

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Illinois State University Division of Academic Affairs
College Technology Support Team
Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology
Learning Spaces & Audio/Visual Technologies
TechZone & Student Technologies
Web & Interactive Communications
16 March 2015
Office of Academic Technologies
Always Connected
Introduction..................................................................................................................1
Shared Priorities for Technology Enhancements...........................................................4
Information and Technology Services Provided by Administrative Technologies..............4
Technology Services Sought by the Office of Academic Technologies ..............................5
College Priorities for Technology Enhancements.........................................................13
College of Applied Science and Technology .....................................................................13
College of Arts and Sciences .............................................................................................16
College of Business ...........................................................................................................18
College of Education .........................................................................................................20
College of Fine Arts...........................................................................................................21
Mennonite College of Nursing ..........................................................................................22
Milner Library ...................................................................................................................24
Enrollment Management and Academic Services ............................................................26
OAT • Always Connected
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Introduction
The Office of Academic Technologies (OAT) federates the activities of eleven units working
together to provide academic technology services that support the goals of Educating Illinois and
enhance the purpose of technology for teaching, learning, research and creative activity, and
service outreach. Four units report directly to the Associate Vice President for Academic
Technologies in the Office of the Provost. The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
co-reports to the Associate Provost. The seven members of the College Technology Support
Team report to the deans of their respective colleges. These eleven units work together and with
staff in Administrative Technologies and Student Affairs IT, to achieve a fiscally sustainable
technology environment through collective research, planning, purchasing, and more. The
formation of OAT reflects the importance of identifying and developing opportunities to apply
technology innovations to the purpose of academic technologies in order enhance the academic
enterprise and to attract and retain great students and faculty.
One of the overarching Goals of OAT is to strengthen the collective voice for academic
technology needs of units in the Division of Academic Affairs. Toward that end, this Report on
the Academic Priorities for Technology Enhancements seeks to summarize and prioritize those
needs.
A description of the technology services provided by these units follows.
College Technology Support Team
The six colleges and Milner Library at Illinois State make up the academic core of the
University. Each of these colleges provides technology support for the teaching, learning,
research, and creative activity needs of faculty, staff, and students in those colleges as well as
students across the University. Support needs vary from college to college and are often
discipline-specific. The six colleges that make up the College Technology Support Team are: 1)
College of Applied Science and Technology; 2) College of Arts and Sciences; 3) College of
Business; 4) College of Education, 5) College of Fine Arts; 6) Mennonite College of Nursing;
and 7) Milner Library.
Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology
The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT) supports Illinois State
University faculty and staff in their pursuit of excellence and innovation in teaching, student
learning, and the effective use of technology. CTLT provides a wide range of programs, services
and resources, including technology short courses, support for ReggieNet, and other instructional
technology workshops. The director of CTLT reports jointly to the Associate VP for Academic
Technologies and the Associate Provost.
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Learning Spaces & Audio/Visual Technologies
Learning Spaces & Audio/Visual Technologies (LSAVT) is charged with the design,
installation, and maintenance of multimedia equipment and technology to enhance teaching in all
learning spaces. This service is also provided to any department looking to improve the audio/
visual functionality of any space, be it classroom, conference room, performance hall or office.
Up-to-date technology in learning spaces includes computer, monitor, data projector, document
camera, speakers, connections for a portable computer (video and audio), connections for a USB
devices, and a user interface to make using the equipment simple and easy.
TechZone & Student Technologies
This unit has four primary functions most closely identified with the TechZone name: Sales
Center (personal computer purchasing help and discounts, University purchasing), Service
Center (walk-in technology support and warranty hardware repair), ResNet (support of residence
hall networking), and Software Management (discounted & site licensed software). TechZone
staff manage client-vendor relationships and coordinate the student technology orientation
programs.
Web & Interactive Communications
Web & Interactive Communications (WEB) is charged with design, development and support
for university, college, department and unit websites and mobile websites. WEB customizes web
editing tools, provides basic training, and collaborates with other units to ensure the University is
able to provide strategic, thoughtful and targeted messaging via the Web. WEB is also
responsible for creating and maintaining web-based interfaces to public and authenticated
university data. Such interfaces include, but are not limited to, My Illinois State, Go Illinois
State, Campus Map, Events Calendar, Illinois State’s Stories news hub, Course Finder, and
Guidebook.
This Report is divided into two sections. The first section describes the priorities for
technology enhancements to current IT services provided by Administrative Technologies and
the priorities for new or expanded IT services shared in all units in the Division of Academic
Affairs and, in some cases, the entire campus community. These are listed in priority order. The
second section details the priorities for technology enhancements in individual colleges and
Milner Library.
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A note on Run • Grow • Transform
For the FY16 APTE Report, the priorities for technology enhancements are organized into
one of three categories that focus more on the IT service portfolio and less on IT as a cost center.
A primary goal of working together under the OAT banner is to further align IT support units
with the institutional mission of Illinois State and with one another. To help with this, we classify
whether a technology enhancement will help Run, Grow, or Transform the academic enterprise.
What does that mean?
•
Run - These are IT activities related to ongoing operations. To “keep our computers
working”…
•
Grow - These are strategic activities to accommodate incremental growth and
improvements (e.g., expanding the installation of instructional technologies into all
scheduled classrooms; upgrading an existing application, or replacing an application
without significantly redesigning the business processes).
•
Transform - These are strategic activities to plan and implement transformative change
(e.g., implementing a business intelligence environment for the first time).
These categories are not black and white, so it is difficult to classify some technology
enhancement priorities.
We are using this categorization to help prioritize the technology enhancements listed here.
Transformative IT projects, for example, while inherently riskier, have a higher priority because
of the potential to transform one or more aspects of the academic enterprise. Illinois State does
not uniformly track spending using these descriptors. Administrative Technologies has made
efforts to track their IT expenses along these lines. But it is difficult to say what portion of
spending on Academic IT services is just to keep things Run-ning or to Grow or Transform.
Is there a “right” mix of spending in these three categories? In higher education institutions,
more resources are devoted to Running than to Growing or Transforming. In 2014, the
EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey showed that 79% of IT spending was on running the institution.
The remaining 21% was divided between grow (13%) and transform (8%). When accounting for
IT spending in these categories is routinely practiced, then it is easier to follow the Balanced
Scorecard methodology for tracking the “right” portfolio mix given a fixed amount of resources.
So we start with a useful categorization, then we work out how to track expenditures in those
categories, then we can work out whether we have the “right balance” of spending for Illinois
State.
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Shared Priorities for Technology Enhancements
Information and Technology Services Provided by Administrative Technologies
LEAPForward Initiative [Transform]
The LEAPForward Initiative is a 3-5 year effort to create the next-generation academic
information infrastructure for Illinois State University. Begun in the Fall 2011, this nearly $24
million Initiative has the four primary goals: (1) re-designing administrative processes related to
the student information system (SIS); (2) replacing the aging SIS; (3) building a robust business
intelligence environment for reporting and analysis; and (4) modernizing the technology
architecture supporting all of Illinois State’s information systems. The benefits of this Initiative
will be to create simple, seamless access to information across all departments on campus and
meet all technology needs for students, faculty, staff, and parents. All this will help Illinois State
attract and retain high quality students and faculty to maintain its competitive advantage.
Expansion of Wireless Internet Access [Grow]
The use of wireless technologies on mobile devices from smart phones to tablets to laptops
continues to expand yearly among students, employees, and visitors to our campus. The need for
campus-wide wireless support for productive uses of these devices is a priority for both academic
and technology leaders across the campus. Starting from the initial installation of wireless access
points in “open-use spaces”, the campus-wide expansion of wireless access points focused on
providing a convenient way to access the network. Successful deployment in those areas proved
to be an excellent application of the adage “If you build it, [they] will come”. The devices
connecting to the network through those wireless access points did come and in greater numbers
every semester. At last count, there were over 33,000 separate devices that accessed the campus
wireless network in a single day. What was designed for convenience quickly became the
primary method for mobile devices to connect to the network. Now that wireless access to the
network and the Internet is the primary method used by the majority of the campus community
the original architecture needs to be enhanced. We are pleased with the Board of Trustees May
2014 approval of a resolution to upgrade and enhance wireless access at the University.
Upgrades to the Bone Student Center, Milner Library, and Schroeder Hall have already been
completed, with subsequent academic spaces to be addressed over the remainder of FY15 and
FY16. OAT • Always Connected
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Technology Services Sought by the Office of Academic Technologies
Hiring and Retaining Qualified Staff [Run]
While all of the previous items on this list dealt with hardware or software needs, it is
important to also list priorities related to technology staffing. After all, IT support has three
dimensions; people, process, and technology.
Every year EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association that supports the community of IT leaders
and professionals in higher education, reports on the Top Ten IT Issues confronting colleges and
universities. This year, the number 1 issue was “Hiring and Retaining Qualified Staff, and
Updating the Knowledge and Skills of Existing Technology Staff”.
While the wage gap matters at ISU as elsewhere, it is not the only reason higher ed loses IT
staff to the private sector. Research by EDUCAUSE shows that 1 in 5 IT staff are at high risk for
leaving higher education. The reasons can vary of course, but, after salary, the top two reasons
staff leave their higher ed IT jobs is due to (1) a lack of advancement opportunities; and (2) the
feeling that what they do is not important to the university mission…. Competitive salaries will
always be a challenge to Illinois State because of local private sector hiring. But hiring and
retaining qualified staff is about more than salaries. “Retaining talented staff requires a culture of
teamwork that supports and encourages the growth of the individual and the team.” (Educause
Review, Top 10 IT Issues 2015 - Inflection Point, January/February 2015, p. 17.) Investing in the
training and professional development of our IT staff can help them maintain or grow their
usable skills, or to pick up a new skill needed because of changes in the IT environment.
Systematic investment in staff development will show IT how important their role is for Illinois
State. EDUCAUSE also recommends “Establish[ing] some deliverables and accountability for
the training so that employees return to the office with the anticipated insights and skill set.”
Based on a review of the EDUCAUSE 2014 Core Data Survey results, the median annual
spending on professional development for IT staff is $584 at Illinois Publics, $716 at our IBHE
Peer schools, and $848 at all Doctoral Research Universities in the survey. Based on this data,
the Office of Academic Technologies recommends that at least $716 per year per IT FTE be
earmarked for professional development. For IT staff affiliated with OAT that sums to nearly
$54,000 per year.
They also recommend “Work[ing] with HR to develop career paths for the major divisions of
or roles in central and distributed IT units. Career paths don’t have to stay within the IT
organization; consider lateral paths that can broaden someone’s institutional or business
experience. Develop paths that reward knowledge work as well as managerial talent, and
understand that not every staff member need aspire to leadership.” (ibid. p. 18.)
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Ensure appropriate instructional technology is available in all scheduled learning
spaces [Grow]
One of the Strategies in Educating Illinois 2013-2018 is to “Enhance technology
infrastructure for classroom[s]…” as a way to support the Goal of improving institutional
effectiveness by building a modern IT infrastructure (Goal 4, Strategy 2C). Learning Spaces and
A/V Technologies (LSAVT) is in the final year of updating the instructional technology
infrastructure in what will soon become Registrar-scheduled classroom spaces. The $1.7 million
funding for this Classroom Technology Expansion Project was provided by the Office of the
Provost in FY13. When completed at the end of FY15 the equipment in 319 classrooms will
need to be on rotation for replacement in either 8 month, 4-year, 5-year intervals. Following the
strategy in Goal 2 of the IT Strategic Plan 2015-2018, the continuing task for LSAVT is to
“ensure appropriate instructional technology is available in all scheduled learning spaces” on the
ISU campus. The annualized cost of replacing the projector bulbs every 8 months plus the core
hardware every 4-5 years comes to a total of $491,260. LSAVT currently allocates about
$100,000 out of its operating budget to keep the bulbs and hardware current. The expanded
number of classrooms will require an additional $391,260 in operating funds to support. This
does not include the annual cost to replace the more long-lived special equipment that make up
the instructional technology tools (i.e., Switcher, AMX, etc.).
Designing Learning Spaces for Emerging Pedagogies [Transform]
The Academic Facilities Advisory Committee produces an annual Report on the
Academic Priorities for Facilities Improvements that is the older sibling of this Report.
One of the Priorities in that Report calls for designing learning spaces for emerging
pedagogies. The Office of Academic Technologies shares in the belief that “Design and
renovation of learning spaces should reflect the trend toward utilization of more flexible,
interactive, and engaging pedagogies. Such design concerns go beyond the basic needs
to maintain infrastructure systems, to ensure an aesthetic pleasant environment, and to
update classroom technology and equipment as needed.…” OAT enthusiastically
supports the “call for consideration of current and future trends in classroom design
whenever we have an opportunity to build or renovate learning spaces, because it is
mission-critical to support twenty-first century pedagogies.…”
Support a Robust Learning Management System [Run]
Increasingly, students come to college with “significant expectations regarding the use of
technology to support learning” (Roberts, EDUCAUSE, 2015) expecting to have immediate,
24/7 access to course materials and grades, and anticipating that they may be asked to complete
some course work in online environments. Similarly, an increasing number of faculty at Illinois
State are coming to appreciate the instructional conveniences and opportunities afforded by a
robust learning management system. Since June 2013, when the University completed its
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transition from Blackboard CE 8 to Sakai — branded as ReggieNet — LMS usage has increased
steadily, with 80% of courses offered being published in ReggieNet as of Spring 2015.
That said, current resource constraints in Administrative Technologies challenge the
university’s ability to remain current through regular updates and additions to the LMS. For this
reason, we continue to encourage exploration of the option to provide ReggieNet services from a
“cloud” environment. This will improve the timing of software updates and reduce considerably
the amount of staff time needed for such updates. Such a new arrangement could conceivably
include expansion of the LMS to include frequently requested features such as iRubric and webconferencing software. Ideally, such a move will also reduce the overall cost of the LMS to the
University. Running ReggieNet in a “cloud” environment is expected to cost nearly $110,000 per
year.
One of the most requested assessment tools to use with ReggieNet is iRubric software addin. iRubric is an assessment tool that lets faculty set up and score student mastery of rubrics
created for their course or mandated as part of an accrediting body and have those scores
recorded directly into the ReggieNet grade book. Use of this software requires a setup charge of
$6,000 and an annual licensing fee of $17,000 as well as a $1,000 annual fee to have code
written and maintained to integrate iRubric into the Sakai software underlying ReggieNet. The
Associate Vice President for Academic Technologies has pledged allocation of funds for all, or
most, of the cost to purchase and maintain iRubric. Because the moratorium on nonLEAPForward Initiative projects extends to May 2015, it is not likely this project will be able to
begin until FY16.
Increase the Availability of Productivity-enhancing Software [Grow]
Several unmet academic technology software needs were discussed by the OAT Leadership
Team. Many of these software tools have been requested, some formally, but a lack of resources
keeps them on a “wish list”. Once again, Goal 2 in the IT Strategic Plan 2015-2018 encourages
the University to “Support rigorous, innovative, and high impact academic programs and
facilitate University research with state-of-the-art information assets and technologies”. These
are listed in priority order.
1) Software that facilitates synchronous delivery of instruction over the Internet is often
referred to as Web conferencing software. This software is used to support video-enabled
conversations ranging from one-to-one private to one-to-many public sessions (e.g.,
classes). Such software is particularly helpful to those teaching and learning in blended or
fully online environments and has been identified as a key “missing component” by those
at CTLT who prepare faculty to teach in these environments. Several such tools are in
use at the University right now, including Blackboard Collaborate as well as Skype and
other free web-based software. Currently the College of Education, the Mennonite
College of Nursing, and Milner Library have jointly purchased a license to Blackboard
Collaborate at a total annual cost of $15,500 (not counting COE student staff hired for
tech support). OAT • Always Connected
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An annual campus-wide license to Blackboard Collaborate would cost at least $132,250
in the first year (depending on options). A campus license to a similar product, Cisco
WebEx Training, would cost about $50,000. Because that cost covers both WebEx
Meeting and WebEx Training (as well as two other less useful applications) the cost
could be shared with the other University divisions. A third option is to use an open
source application called Big Blue Button (BBB). Asahi Net International, the firm that
provides updates and bug fixes for our Sakai learning Management System (ReggieNet),
will soon start hosting BBB and would make it available to ISU at no additional charge if
we moved from an on-campus architecture for running Sakai to one that is hosted in their
environment.
2) Not having a quick and convenient way to provide closed captioning for videos used in
online courses is increasing legal risk. On 12 February, Harvard and M.I.T. were sued
over lack of closed captions in videos on their edX online courses. The lawsuits, filed by
the National Association of the Deaf, seek an injunction requiring that closed captioning
be provided for all online materials. (Tamar Lewin, NYTimes, 13 Feb. 2015, p. A18) The accessibility of learning materials to all students, regardless of disability, is a huge
issue in online learning and an integral consideration when designing an online course.
Koemei is a $40,000 per year subscription service that provides "online tools to
transcribe, edit, caption and index the world's growing educational rich media content."
Koemei offers automatic machine-captioning with a very high degree of accuracy.
Without Koemei, CTLT staff estimate (based on experience and experimentation) that it
will take professors and/or teaching assistants about 10 minutes of transcription time per
minute of media time. Purchase of Koemei would result in a huge savings of time for
faculty and CTLT staff developing course material, regardless of the delivery mode.
3) Illinois State University invested in a university-wide license for Select Survey, a locallymanaged web-based survey platform, to help avoid the duplication of effort that resulted
from offering support for various software programs of varying capabilities in multiple
departments. The annual cost to campus is $550 (paid for by WEB). Having a single
platform available for web-based surveys increased familiarity among faculty and staff on
campus and helped ensure its successful adoption institution-wide, as well as its
extension to uses beyond research. Over time, expectations of the power of survey
software, especially for research, have grown and the features in Select Survey have not
grown apace. Faculty and staff are once again turning to other sources (SurveyMonkey,
Google Docs, etc.) because of the enhanced features offered. In addition, maintenance to
patch security vulnerabilities for Select Survey has become very time consuming for OAT
staff. OAT has begun a campus-wide review of the gap between the survey services offered by
Select Survey and the services desired, in order to write a Business Case to get support
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for an RfP to purchase a modern web-based survey tool to offer to faculty, staff, and
students. This RfP could be issued during the fall semester 2015. If all goes well we can
begin training on and deployment of an improved web-based survey tool during FY16.
The cost of that software service is currently unknown and will, of course, depend on the
firms that respond to the RfP.
4) Select Survey has also been used on university websites as a form for collecting static
data (e.g., seminar sign up sheet). After extensive research and collaboration with
Administrative Technologies and the Information Security Office, and with the approval
of the Stewardship Council, Formstack was identified as a solution that allows users to
create secure and mobile-friendly data collection forms & work flows, without heavy
involvement from OAT staff. An Enterprise license for Formstack is $6,000 per year for
100 users. This is a Software as a Service cloud solution that eliminates the need to have
dedicated staff doing server maintenance, database administration, and security patching
for the application. The Enterprise license for Formstack is currently paid for out of the
GR budget of the Office of Academic Technologies.
5) Adobe Creative Suite software (Photoshop, Acrobat, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After
Effects) has been a standard in multiple industries including, but not limited to, graphic
design, marketing, concept design, print layout, and video and audio production. Mastery
of these software are part of the curricula for the Colleges of Business, Fine Arts, Arts &
Sciences, and Applied Science and Technology. In May 2013 Adobe announced they
would no longer be selling Creative Suite as a stand-alone software package but instead
their creative software would only be available via their Adobe Creative Cloud
subscription service. There is no industry-recognized or feature-equivalent alternative to
the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of application. Although contract negotiations are on going, a single annual subscription could cost as
much as $480 per computer, per year. Over the last five years, TechZone has received
over 550 orders from campus colleges/departments for approximately 2,500 Create Suite
products costing about $340,000. Within this new subscription model these same
departments could expect spend approximately $192,000 annually. So over a similar
five-year period that would cost $960,000. In light of this considerable increase in cost we recommend investigating what a sitelicense may cost the University. In the past Adobe has only offered such terms based on
a count of all faculty, staff, and students. No estimate can be made of this cost without
pursuing such a negotiation with Adobe. It is our hope that a site license may offset or
decrease the cost with the added benefit of allowing all faculty, staff, and students access
to the software.
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6) There are other software tools that are already in use by one or more units or are used by
CTLT in faculty development workshops (such as Camtasia Studio). Some of these
software tools have been purchased under separate contracts and, in some cases, at
different prices. Better information on these contracts needs to be assembled and attempts
made to renegotiate the prices on those contracts at an enterprise level (where usage is
extensive) or local levels (for niche software).
7) In previous years, this Report has noted shared interest in providing “faculty, staff, and
students with Web-based IT training options available 24/7”. Toward that end, the
University could subscribe to online software training services such as those offered by
Lynda.com, Atomic Learning, Element K, and others. These hosted services present
quick Web-based text and video tutorials on a wide variety of software tools in use at
Illinois State (such as MS Office, Adobe Creative Suite software, etc.) on topics useful
for beginners and experts alike. Purchase of a subscription from Lynda.com has a list
price of around $86,000 per year. Right now the University offers no support for students
who have questions about productivity software use beyond what the Technology Support
Center can provide.
8) While this is the highest IT priority for the College of Arts and Sciences, it is a priority
shared by the College of Applied Sciences and Technology, Milner Library, the Office of
Admissions, and the ISU Foundation. That priority is to obtain a site license for ESRIArcGIS Software as well as the server and storage capacity necessary to meet campuswide needs. One may consider this a technological imperative for a university wishing to
remain relevant in the state of Illinois because all Illinois high schools have access to the
software and our ability to train their future teachers and make scholarly and
administrative applications of GIS for the university’s broad benefit. ISU is the only state
university in Illinois without a GIS site license. A business case proposing the
consolidation of licenses into one campus-wide license has been supported by the Data
Stewardship and IT Services Council. A preliminary estimate of a campus license to the
ArcGIS software is $25,000 per year.
Facilitate Research With State-Of-The-Art Information Assets And Technologies [Grow]
One of the Strategies under Goal 4 in Educating Illinois 2013-2018 is “Enhance technology
infrastructure for ... research activities” (Strategy 2.C). In support of that Strategy, Goal 2 in the
IT Strategic Plan 2015-2018 encourages the University to “…facilitate University research with
state-of-the-art information assets and technologies”. The Office of Academic Technologies
endorses these goals and pledges to work with faculty and research staff to seek out the best
means of enhancing the infrastructure in support of research activities.
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Mobile Device Management and Security [Run]
Laptop and mobile device security and encryption are a major item of interest to the colleges.
As more devices are in use with faculty and staff and their uses proliferate the likelihood of theft
and other risks increases dramatically. Per ISU internal audit recommendations and best
practices the colleges will be working together to develop a laptop and mobile device
management strategy that includes device encryption, inventory tracking, application
management, and theft prevention/recovery tools.
Efficient Fixed Asset Management [Run]
The Office of Academic Technologies has identified a need for new tools and processes
relating to inventory tracking and management. In large part this is because the limitations of the
current processes make it difficult to comply with security and auditing obligations. OAT is
interested in an inventory management tool capable of tracking items and their location over time
via data entry from devices (like bar-code scanners), communications tools (like ticketing
systems), or via automated tracking or management systems (like SCCM or Mobile Device
Management (MDM)). Using a modern inventory management tool would decrease staff hours
required, improve accuracy, and minimize liability and security risks.
Provide Access to Information Resources on Mobile Devices [Transform]
Mobile devices continue to transform how students engage with the institution, as well as to
influence their learning preferences, both within and outside the classroom. Access to
information and personal data via mobile platforms has rapidly become the norm rather than the
exception for user interaction and communication. Gartner research predicts that more than 50%
of all web traffic will originate from mobile devices in 2015. Web analytics on Admissions and
several Student Affairs websites report that 40% of the traffic to those pages come from smart
phones. In the past year we have seen an 85% increase in mobile traffic at Illinois State with
more than 5 million mobile phone sessions and 1.4 million sessions from tablets. The
EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research, summarizing their report on Higher Education’s
Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2015 note that “The year 2015 is all about mobile. Seven of
the 2015 top 10 strategic technologies are directly or indirectly related to mobile computing”.
These numbers reveal an increasing demand from the University community for information
to be mobile ready, and for communications and input to occur on whatever device one may be
using at the time. Dedicating additional resources to our mobility related efforts will promote and
advance the University's reputation and brand (Educating Illinois Goal 3, Strategy 4). Support
for mobile access to University data also presents an opportunity to help instructors learn and
integrate mobile technologies into the curriculum, while providing the opportunity to increase
recruitment and retention for the university as a whole. To the extent possible, key institutional
web resources and applications should be fully accessible in a suitable mobile format. As a
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result, the first Strategy in Goal 1 of the new IT Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 is “Provide access
to information resources anytime, anywhere, and on multiple devices”.
To be able to increase the number of institutional web resources and applications that are
fully accessible in a suitable mobile format, WEB will fill two current staff vacancies with
personnel experienced with building modern, mobile accessible website.
Server-hosted Virtual Desktop Infrastructure [Transform]
Desktop virtualization has multiple deployment models. In all of these models one can use a
variety of computing devices to access as little as a single application running in a hosted server
environment (application virtualization) or as much as an entire computing experience —
operating system, applications, and storage — (remote desktop virtualization) running on those
servers. Desktop virtualization can provide significant improvements in computer manageability
and cost savings by consolidating the services offered by a number of supported computers onto
a centralized service in a hosted server environment. Many departmental lab computers provide
students access to specialized and limited-license software. Some of this software is no longer
compatible with the latest operating systems. A virtualized environment allows these applications
to be delivered outside of the boundaries of a specific lab, and it allows those applications to be
administered more efficiently. Also, desktop computers require regularly scheduled
recapitalization. The cost of recapitalizing a zero client, thin client, or bare-bones desktop
computer is minimized as the cost of that equipment is less than that of a normal desktop
computer and the useful life-span of the client equipment is likely to be longer.
The Office of Academic Technologies supports the deployment of a server-hosted virtual
desktop infrastructure on campus to improve the computing experience of faculty and students,
and to reduce the cost to colleges of providing computing services from desktop and lab
environments. At a minimum we would encourage the move to application sharing so that more
students can have access to full-featured academic applications from their own computer.
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College Priorities for Technology Enhancements
College of Applied Science and Technology
The College of Applied Science and Technology (CAST) provides technology support and
services to faculty, staff, and students in order to meet the needs of its eight Departments and
Schools, most of which have unique and challenging requirements that serve to promote faculty
and student fluency in the use of technology. Our efforts with technology are driven by the
Departmental, School, and College Strategic Plans which have a direct “line of sight” to
Educating Illinois.
From the College Strategic Plan:
CAST provides state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure that is sensitive to a healthy,
safe, and environmentally sustainable campus.
Strategy A: Promote student technology fluency, as well as relevant faculty and staff
development, in the use of technology for teaching and scholarship.
Strategy B: Establish up-to-date technology and infrastructure to support teaching and
research activities.
Strategy C: Collaborate with university technology units (e.g., CTLT, AT, and OAT) to more
efficiently deploy resources.
Strategy D: Explore permanent funding for additional support staff in areas of demonstrated
need.
Strategy E: Promote initiatives and activities which incorporate sustainable practices in
support of Education Illinois (Goal 4; Strategy 5).
Run
1. Continue to implement a sustainable faculty office computer replacement model with the
goal of being able to replace/upgrade faculty computer on a 3 year cycle.
2. Support equipment/software in the Physiology Assessment Lab, Biomechanics lab, and
Sport Psychology lab.
3. Support the Caterpillar Integrated Manufacturing Laboratory where students learn how to
write programs for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and ABB Industrial robot
arms.
4. Support Visual Retailing software for the Apparel, Merchandising, and Design sequence.
5. Support Past Perfect – museum management software – in order to provide a system for
managing the Lois Jett Historic Costume Collection.
16 March 2015
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6. Support Superior Observation software for video analysis by KNR faculty and students.
7. Investigate solutions for central Macintosh computer management.
Grow
1. Explore the use of tablets in a variety of programs (i.e. – teacher education, parks and
recreation) both as a learning tool for students and as a classroom/teaching tool for
faculty.
2. Expand the use/knowledge of ARC GIS in AGR, CJS, HSC, IT.
3. Install a lighting laboratory for the IED program.
4. Explore the use of PigCHAMP software (the leader in swine farm management software)
for use by AGR students and faculty.
5. Develop a media lab for student use where video podcasting and similar projects are
supported.
6. Explore the application of social media as a curricular instrument in the classroom.
7. Explore the installation of a dedicated Research & Innovation space in Turner Hall to
support faculty, student, and community member ideas and product prototyping.
8. Explore the development of a shared learning space located adjacent to a CAST School
or Department that will accommodate a variety of teaching and learning technologies.
9. Continue to develop and supply specialized computing labs for students (i.e. - ADM
Convergence lab, Enterprise Computing Systems lab, Internet 2 lab, Data Security/
Wireless lab, Human-Computer Interface lab).
10. Provide opportunities for students to be involved in the design and construction of the
ISU Solar Car. (With the use of modeling software and plotters, plastic parts are designed
on computers and panels are printed to scale on plotters for cut out.)
11. Provide faculty and students access to open-source Micro CNC Mill to enable the
making of circuit boards. These machines have played a crucial role in the development
of the new Renewable Energy Lab by creating custom electronic housings and electrical
circuit boards for the new Solar PV Lab Stations.
Transform
1. Establish a dedicated space for the 32 channel cognitive biofeedback system for
collaborative use by CAST units to examine consumers’ cognitive and affective response
to stimuli by measuring physiological states such as brainwaves, muscle tension, heart
rate variability, eye movement, and respiration rate.
2. Integrate teaching & learning technology in the renovated FCS Culinary Arts Laboratory
scheduled to open in August 2015.
16 March 2015
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3. Implement desktop virtualization technology (HVD) and application virtualization with
the intent of utilizing virtualization to increase availability of software to students and
faculty both on and off campus.
16 March 2015
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College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) has focused on continuing and enhancing services
provided to faculty, staff, and students while cooperating with central IT units to reduce the
amount of redundancy throughout the university. Our efforts with technology are driven by the
college's mission and vision statements which are influenced by those of the university.
Run
1. As changes in IT personnel have illustrated over the last few years, a lack of salary
standardization threatens the stability of IT staffing across ISU. Within and across IT
units personnel have been lured out of existing duties for "greener pastures" to be found
in another unit, often times with a lateral or even lower levels of responsibility. Indeed,
the inconsistency of pay between colleges leaves us with fundamentally unfair situations
which make retention of key employees unlikely. We have seen the same dynamic in play
between employees of Administrative Technologies and those in the colleges. We urge
central administration to take steps to address these inequities.
2. Multiple levels of end-point support
3. A Training and Advanced Projects office focused on services for CAS departments,
faculty, or researcher needs not offered at a university level or offered at a level that does
not meet their specific needs
4. Select Survey until the university implements a new campus wide solution
5. Enterprise level services such as personal file services or collaboration file services until
the university provides a superior service (like OneDrive with Office 365)
6. Faculty and staff consultation on use of CAS or university provided services and
equipment purchasing
7. Point and Click software for CSD Clinic medical billing (hosted by AT)
8. Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
9. Server infrastructure for files, licenses, database, etc.
10. Continue involvement with university-wide projects as subject matter experts or partners
in combined service
11. Work with Research and Sponsored Programs on a University Research Grant submission
system
12. In-house developed budget request system
13. Continue to migrate CAS departments from a CAS-IT hosted news system (built on
WordPress) to the university hosted “Stories” system
14. Continue to consolidate equipment in our server room and reduce duplication of services
within CAS-IT and campus wide
16 March 2015
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Grow
1. The College of Arts and Sciences highest IT priority is to work in consultation with the
other ISU colleges, Milner Library, Office of Admissions, and ISU Foundation to obtain a
site license for ESRI-ArcGIS Software as well as the server and storage capacity
necessary to meet campus-wide needs. We consider this a technological imperative for
any university wishing to remain relevant in the state of Illinois as all Illinois high
schools have access to the software and our ability to train their future teachers and make
scholarly and administrative applications of GIS for the university’s broad benefit. ISU is
the only state university in Illinois without a GIS site license.
2. Use of Digital Measures as a productivity tool and syllabus repository
3. Use of About.IllinoisState.edu website CMS system for faculty reputation and small
campus organizations
4. Process efficiency utilizing asynchronous communication technologies and automated
work flows (SharePoint, Formstack)
5. Self-help options for faculty and staff training and knowledge of CAS provided services
6. Continue to improve proactive alerting and monitoring of CAS-IT hosted services and
their dependencies
7. Consistencies within CAS-IT related to general processes and services
8. Value of the newly formed CAS Technology Advisory Board comprised of faculty and
staff from across CAS as a guide to new or changing services
Transform
1. Implement a MDM or EMM suite to increase staff efficiency/reduce response time, data
security, minimize service disruptions
2. Formalize a sustainable faculty and staff equipment recapitalization plan
3. Utilize the Student Information System (SIS) as a single data warehouse and tool for use
of that data
4. Inception™ software & hardware support: This hardware and software provides a
platform for managing and disseminating news and other information packets across all
media (print, broadcast, digital, etc.), including blogs and social media, and provides a
physical location for “converging” all of our information packets (classroom, WGLT,
WZND, the Daily Vidette, TV-10) for access across all of our communication methods,
from interpersonal to mass media. Students, staff, and faculty will operate this system
which is integral to producing the modern journalism, mass media, public relations, and
communication professional.
16 March 2015
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College of Business
Run
1. The COB is currently engaged in a small-scale desktop virtualization effort that supports
specialized business applications (like Morningstar Direct for instance) and provides a
secure development environment for the Accounting Department’s Business Information
Systems curriculum. Despite users needing additional permissions for accessing
databases and debugging code the virtual machines return to a “zero state” at log-off,
minimizing security risks. This desktop virtualization effort has also been utilized to
support components of the MBA program that require access to particular software
packages. This solution has proven to be both effective and popular with both faculty
and students.
2. The COB completed the first phase of a major reworking of the wiring in all State Farm
Hall of Business Computer Lab spaces in the late summer of 2014. This has resulted in
fewer technical issues reported in the computer labs and has minimized damage to,
computers, cables, and devices.
3. The COB began leveraging SCCM nearly two years ago for production applications and
on November 6th, 2014 was the first non-AT division to fully implement the SCCM
production environment. COB staff have participated in the SCCM user group and are
now helping other academic areas launch and configure their own SCCM
implementations.
4. In the spring of 2014 the COB began to improve many security practices by simplifying
security access group structures and creating systematic naming conventions for
accounts, groups, and resources. Some of these naming conventions have since been
referenced by other colleges and the COB intends to continue this effort into FY16.
5. Also starting in the spring of 2014 the COB began a long-term effort to improve system
performance, stability, reliability, and survivability. This has already resulted in far fewer
outages of critical services than was typical in the past. Additional changes underway
will continue to improve on these gains and should continue to improve the COB’s up
time and general service reliability.
6. Laptop and mobile device security and encryption are a major item of interest to the
COB. As more devices are in use with faculty and staff and their uses proliferate the
likelihood of theft and other risks increases dramatically. Per auditor recommendations
and best practices the COB will be working with our campus partners to develop a laptop
and mobile device management strategy that includes device encryption, inventory
tracking, application management, and theft prevention/recovery tools. Mobile Device
Management (MDM) should be a key part of this effort.
16 March 2015
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Grow
1. Beginning in the fall of 2014 the COB partnered with IT and Milner Library to bring a
simulated SAP environment to campus. The Department of Accounting is now utilizing
SAP as their primary simulated (and cloud-based) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
tool. This replaced the existing Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains installations that had
become difficult to maintain. As part of this effort the COB sent two faculty and one
technical staff member for training. This agreement also allows Milner, IT, and the COB
to leverage other cloud applications available under the SAP umbrella.
4. The COB continues to invest in Camtasia Studio as it has become a very popular
application with faculty. Many faculty utilize Camtasia in support of online teaching
(this has proven true with COB faculty as well). Considering the current push for online
summer courses (and the application’s prevalence/utility) it is recommended that the
University consider purchasing a campus license for Camtasia Studio.
5. COB-IT reiterates it would like to be an early adopter of the new ITSM tool when it
becomes available and would like to partner with Technology Support Center in the tool’s
configuration, testing, and roll-out.
16 March 2015
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College of Education
Run
1. An updated inventory management system
a. Location changes are not recorded in a timely manner (or at all)
b. Reports from Property Control are often inaccurate
c. Historical records for item locations cannot be retrieved
d. Hand-recording of records are too easily affected by transcription error
2. A Mac Management platform
a. Macs require much more support time than Windows machines because we do not
have remote management tools
3. A more robust survey/data collection tool
a. Current tools lack the functionality that is needed by our faculty
4. A virtualized solution, that allows ISU students to access expensive/course specific
software on their personal machines
5. A room/resource scheduling service that requires less manual intervention from tech staff.
6. A faculty/staff on-boarding tool, that would advise ISU employees of technology
procedures as they begin employment
a. Ideally, the tool would also enroll them in services, such as Exchange without manual
intervention from the tech team.
Grow
1. More space and technology for Studio TEaCH
2. Shared printing
16 March 2015
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College of Fine Arts
As we work with our faculty advisory group to develop our strategic plan for technology, we
will be focused on how to deliver IT services in the most efficient manner as we plan for our new
and renovated facilities, and the displacements during the construction process. We do not
anticipate receiving enhancement funding for technology in this next year, but we are conscious
of these needs.
Run
1. Our IT audit urges us to upgrade faculty computers more frequently. To be able to meet
the suggested 3 year rotation, we will need an additional $50,000 annually. This
presumes we continue our current course of keeping faculty laptops to a minimum. There
is increasing demand on us to provide laptops rather than desktops, and we will address
this in our strategic plan. Laptop cost, maintenance, and refresh times (generally laptops
need replacing more frequently than desktops) would add to this annual cost.
2. We will be replacing one staff position in spring of 2015, and we need an additional
position to manage the support needs of our College.
3. We need to expand the inroads in Mac management we have made with Munki and
Deploy Studio by investing in an MDM solution such as Airwatch or JAMF. We will
work with others academic technology areas to bring a solution to campus within the next
8 months. We are committed to partnering with other units in Academic Technologies to
provide services to each other where a cost and effort savings can be achieved. We hope
investment in a MDM can be a model for this kind of collaboration.
4. We are invested heavily in Adobe products for teaching and for faculty work. An
affordable agreement with Adobe must be reached and financed. It is not clear to what
degree our contract with Adobe will need to be managed centrally; if the cost of Adobe
products from local budgets exceeds current levels, we will need additional permanent
funding to continue to offer a quality education to our students.
Grow
1. We desperately need more ergonomic furnishings for our labs, both our present spaces
and our planned spaces in the new Fine Arts Complex. Any investment we make before
construction is complete must be mobile and adaptable to new configurations.
16 March 2015
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Mennonite College of Nursing
The Mennonite College of nursing provides technology services and support for faculty
students and staff in Edwards Hall and the Nursing Simulation Lab. Many of the current
technology priorities below focus on determining how to best use our existing technology
resources to reduce costs associated with providing IT services, while maintaining our current
level of service.
Run
1. Replace Simulation Manikin
MCN is currently working towards the purchase of a new SimBaby simulation manikin
for the nursing simulation laboratory. This manikin will replace an existing obsolete
manikin used in the Nursing Care of Children course. The new SimBaby will play the
role of a middle aged infant in simulations and will have the capacity to present a large
variety of diagnostic cues including abnormal heart and lung sounds, cyanosis, and a
bulging fontanel. This allows for new and complex training scenarios to which students
would otherwise not have access.
These capabilities are integral to the Nursing Care of Children course. MCN relies on
simulation technology to provide clinical experience in a safe environment which would
not otherwise be available to our students. Ultimately, this will allow MCN graduates to
better serve our communities most vulnerable members. The purchase of a new
simulation manikin will also provide valuable training to new MCN staff which will
allow them to support and take full advantage of simulation technology.
2. Replace Web Conferencing Tool
MCN currently uses Blackboard Collaborate to provide Web Conferencing capabilities
to our faculty. Faculty us this service to host lectures online, to record lectures, to make
pre-recorded lectures available to students, and to host online office hours. Licensing for
this software is shared with the College of Education and Milner Library. The College
of Education, which caries the majority of the licensing expense, has decided to abandon
this product and is currently looking for a less expensive vendor. While this is
understandable, the resulting uncertainty represents a significant risk to MCN's online
programs.
This capability is critical to MCN's online programs because it provides online students
with access to their instructors comparable to that which traditional students enjoy.
Furthermore, this capability is critical if MCN is maintain parity with competing
institutions. The ability to provide interactive access to faculty in an online format has
become a standard for online education. Without this capability it will become more
difficult for MCN to recruit and retain students in its online programs. Ideally this
capability would be provided by a single campus wide solution. This would have the
advantage of providing a uniformed experience to students and would also reduce
the overall cost to the university.
16 March 2015
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Grow
1. Replace Customized Items with Configurable Items
The MCN currently relies on customized scripts to provide core services such as
printing, shared drives and workstation configuration. These items are inherently
difficult to maintain because they are often poorly documented and rely on proprietary
knowledge. The capability exists to replace these customized items with configurable
item, such as Group Policy. This will simplify the process of supporting these services
and free up staff time for other activities.
Transform
1. Reflective Portfolio
The function of the reflective portfolio for the MCN traditional undergraduate program
is multifaceted. It serves to assess students' progress of their professional development
over the course of the nursing program through critical reflection of our desired program
outcomes. Through critical reflection, students learn to think on a metacognitive level,
integrating theory and scholarly research with their own personal experiences. While
completing their portfolio, students will gain a greater understanding of what they have
learned, how they have learned, and why they have learned. The reflective portfolio also
provides faculty with invaluable feedback which augments traditional assessment and
informs program evaluation by identifying gaps as well as strengths in the program.
This will help to improve the program overall, as well as contribute to the reaccreditation
process.
We seek to provide students with the capabilities to create and maintain a reflective
portfolio electronically, ideally with a service which would integrate ISU’s existing
learning management services. This service will provide a central location where
students will curate content on an ongoing basis though out their undergraduate
program. Students will be able to share their portfolios with faculty for feedback and
assessment purposes. We anticipate that this will have the benefit of enhancing students’
ability to meet program objectives and enhancing the ability of faculty to respond to the
needs of their students.
16 March 2015
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Milner Library
Milner Library developed its annual technology plan through conversations coordinated
through the Library Operations Council. Milner utilizes its Strategic Map, 2014-2019 to help
guide the development of its annual technology goals and projects for each of its six strategic
priorities.
Optimize access to information
1. Work with Web staff in the Office of Academic Technologies to accelerate Milner website
redesign process – Implement plan for redesigning library web site by utilizing campus
and library resources and user feedback. - Grow
2. Improve campus-wide streaming options for videos – Participate in discussions to
improve reliability of campus-provided streaming options for faculty and explore options
for students. - Grow
Advance transformative teaching and learning
3. Work with networking staff in Administrative Technologies and audio/visual staff in the
Office of Academic Technologies to explore wireless environments for Milner’s
collaborative workstations – Lessen patron frustration and library service demands by
replacing current, cabled collaborative workstations. - Grow
4. Expand discussion of Milner learning spaces – Explore active learning classrooms
pedagogy and principles to help guide Milner development of library learning spaces. Transform
Enhance strategic partnerships
5. Initiate discussion on gaming needs – Identify faculty and student needs related to a
gaming collection and space in Milner. - Transform
6. Engage faculty in discussions about emerging technologies, pedagogies and research
tools – Milner Library, in collaboration with CTLT and other campus partners, will
survey faculty to identify their needs to better inform development of collaborative
partnerships and future space planning. - Grow
Design a facility that enhances learning and research
7. Investigate group study room scheduler – Explore options for an online and easy-to-use
scheduler that allows patrons to check status and easily reserve Milner’s group study
rooms. – Grow
16 March 2015
Page 24 of 27
8. Analyze wireless usage – Work with networking staff in Administrative Technologies to
continue to monitor wireless capacity and usage in the library to ensure patrons’ need are
continually met and explore options that allow users to identify areas with greater
capacity. – Run
9. Investigate new kiosk – Improve patron way finding and access to essential library
services with new kiosks that utilize touchscreen technologies, as seen in the Bone
Student Center. – Grow
Encourage library faculty and staff excellence
10. Expand Library Intranet – Utilize campus and library resources to further improve
Milner’s SharePoint instance to enhance staff communication, information sharing and
planning. - Grow
11. Implement campus’ new System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) – Improve
internal end user experience through successful implementation of campus solution. Run
Align library resources with strategic priorities
12. Implement campus Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) application –
Improve Milner’s information technology support through investigation and appropriate
integration of ITSM applications. - Run
16 March 2015
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Enrollment Management and Academic Services
The Office of Enrollment Management and Academic Services (EMAS) oversees various
university policies, procedures, and requirements related to university and program enrollment
management in addition to initiatives which promote the academic success of prospective and
current students. The Office of Admissions, Financial Aid Office, the Office the University
Registrar, and University College are included as EMAS units. EMAS Technical Support Staff
provides technology support to staff and students in Admissions, Financial Aid, University
Registrar and University College.
Run
1. We currently support over 150 full time staff members, as well as additional extra help,
student workers, graduate assistants, and part time employees. We provide technology
support and services to over 250 users. Our priority is to have all computers used by full
time staff on a 4 year rotation. We are also heavily invested in laptops and various
mobile devices to support the recruiting, registration/orientation, and retention efforts.
2. We continue to significantly reduce the number of personal printers and networked
LaserJet printers, as printing to networked copy machines has proven to be much more
cost effective.
3. We continue to virtualize servers as time/workload allows.
4. Continue to assist AT in supporting Imagenow across campus.
Grow
1. Once settled in our new student information system (Campus Solutions) we will research
the technology involved in sending and receiving electronic transcripts. This will provide
a much greater service to prospective, current, and graduating students. Although we do
currently receive some electronic transcripts, they are in .pdf format and require manual
work to enter the data into the mainframe. In the future we plan to accept .xml files
which could be directly uploaded into our SIS, eliminating staff time to enter data
manually.
2. Upgrade SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2012 within the next 2 years.
Transform
1. Significant efforts have been and will continue to be put into the redesign and
development of a multitude of existing systems to interface with Campus Solutions. This
will only continue to grow as the new system comes online.
2. We are beginning to use SCCM to push software out to users. We recently sent one staff
member to Administering System Center 2012 Configuration Manager training. He will
serve on the SCCM Steering Committee and be a resource to campus as they implement
SCCM in their departments. Using SCCM to push software out to users will save
16 March 2015
Page 26 of 27
technical staff members a considerable amount of time when installing or upgrading
software.
3. Migrate EMAS Pro functionality to RightNow CRM when new CRM comes online.
Rewrite Admissions’ websites to integrate with RightNow.
16 March 2015
Page 27 of 27

FY16 Academic Priorities for Technology Enhancements

Transcription

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