IT as a Strategic Institutional Resource

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IT as a Strategic Institutional Resource

• Presented by Tom Skill
• CIO, University of Dayton
• For the
• Widener University
• Technology Strategic Planning Conference
• February 3, 2006

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Learning in the Year 2000(from an 1880
illustration)
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In the beginning(about 1994)

• There was no IT vision or strategy
• There was no voice among senior leaders to speak
  for IT
• The campus data network was built and
  administered by our telephone technicians.
• Servers of all kinds were most often located
  under the desk of faculty or staff
• IT was muddling through with many hardworking
  staff
• Morale was low
• IT Leadership was mostly focused on
  firefighting the problems of the day
• Administrative system support was the primary
  emphasis
• Academic IT was characterized by small pockets of
  interest
• There were a few self-supporting innovators

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And then someone said We need a plan

• Classroom uses of technology began to push change
  among some faculty
• Students were bringing technology to campus and
  we were unprepared to support them
• Influential Alumni were asking questions about
  where we were going with IT and learning
• Academic Programs saw a need for expanded
  computer use in their courses

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Incentives, Champions and the emergence of a
vision1995-1996

• Provost and President provide incentive funds for
  faculty to innovate using technology
• Emphasis on IT and faculty development begins
• Large-scale funding for IT required a compelling
  vision that was mission-focused
• The UD Learning Village concept is proposed
• Connecting learning and living with leadership
  and service
• Technology is positioned to help achieve this.

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UDs Vision for a Technology-Enhanced Learning
Initiative (1997 1999)

• Organizing for Change
• University-wide Leadership
• Build and sustain collaboration among campus
  opinion leaders
• Create, share and promote a compelling vision
• Student-centered learning
• Learning in and beyond the classroom
• Collaboration, connectivity, community
• The Learning Village vision resulted in
• Infrastructure investment Wired Neighborhoods
• Student Computer Requirement
• Learning-Teaching Center
• ArtStreet Complex

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Wired Neighborhoods
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Student Computer Requirement
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Learning-Teaching Center
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artStreet
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Pulling Together Moving the Strategic Agenda

• Leadership
• From senior administration, from IT, from the
  faculty
• Collaboration Cooperation
• Campus Culture (and politics) require reaching
  out and balancing patience with persistence
• Communicate with Energy Enthusiasm
• Most people like rides that are fun
• Develop and share a Compelling Vision paired with
  an engaging story
• Hit the Campaign Trail
• Take your vision and story door to door (if
  thats what it requires)
• Faculty are your toughest critics and strongest
  supporters

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Linking IT Planning to the Institutional
Strategic Plan

• UDit Mission Strategic Enabler Collaborator in
  Achieving the Vision for Excellence
• UDit creatively, efficiently, and rapidly
  identifies, builds, and sustains the information
  infrastructure, knowledge systems, and support
  processes that make possible the Vision for
  Excellence at the University of Dayton.
• We specifically call out the Universitys
  vision for excellence (which is the foundation of
  the institutional strategic plan)
• UDit Vision
• To build and sustain a nationally-recognized,
  high performance, standards-based computing
  environment, supported by an organization that is
  highly proficient in its ability to rapidly,
  accurately, and cost-effectively facilitate
  information sharing in support of learning,
  planning, decision-making, research, and
  scholarship at the University of Dayton.
• Our vision is performance driven around core
  functions that drive the Univerisitys strategic
  initiatives.

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Change Agents, Opinion Leaders Innovators

• Momentum for the cause can be sustained with the
  help of outsiders
• Expert Alumni and those who hire our graduates
  can help shape our message about the importance
  of the initiative (credible opinion leaders)
• Recognition by credible external reviewers helps
  validate and reinforce the strategy.
• Media coverage, national rankings, corporate
  endorsements
• Nurture the creative energies of those around us
• We need to encourage and support experimentation
  at all levels faculty, staff and students
• Leads to new innovations that capture public
  attention
• Keeps us current in fields that are changing too
  fast

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The Burden of Success

• Sustainable Implementation of IT Strategy
  requires logistical and tactical skills
• Turning innovation into routine process is hard
• Training and support are always front and center
• Uptime and responsiveness is very different from
  vision and strategy
• Prove yourself in numbers and words
• Performance measures (quantitative)
• Success stories (narrative)
• Confirmation develop tools to communicate the
  value
• Share them across and beyond the campus

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The Next New Challenge

• With each successful implementation, expectations
  grow
• Refining processes
• Growing Services
• Addressing new challenges
• Security
• Disaster Recovery
• Data Modeling and Reporting
• Faster, More Efficient and Less Expensive
  Everything
• IT management team growth and development
• Staff socialization and mentoring
• Staff Training and Development

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In Summary

• Aligning IT with Institution Mission requires
• Leadership within and above IT
• - Resources and Advocacy
• Collaboration and Cooperation
• Compelling Vision tied to Mission
• Focused and Consistent Execution (Tactics)
• - Achieve a big win early on
• Confirmation via stories and measurable outcomes

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Institutional Readiness The Enabling
Environment

• Universal Student Access
• Reliable Available Facilities, Networks
  Infrastructure
• Multiple Opportunities for Training Consulting
• Faculty Ethos which Values Experimentation and
  Toleration of Falters

Source Hagner, Paul R (2000). Faculty
engagement support in the new learning
environment. Educause Review. 355
(September-October) pp 26-37.
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Connecting People Purposes with Facilities
Resources

• Space Resource Allocation
• Focus on Champions, Change Agents Opinion
  Leaders
• Emphasize desired behaviors and outcomes
• Collaboration Partnerships
• Course Curricular Innovations
• Sustainable Integration (mainstreaming)
• Student Performance
• Sense of Ownership
• Tied to accountability and performance

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Encouraging Innovation Cultivating
Mainstreaming

• Strategically select "showcase" technologies as a
  way to attract users
• Create "spaces" for exploration of new methods
  and models.
• Encourage and reward innovations that "reinvent"
  approaches to learning
• Invest in departments that integrate new
  innovations into the core curricula
• Create opportunities for department-wide
  initiatives
• Move beyond the champions model

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From Vision to Implementation

• What changes in learning and teaching are
  anticipated?
• Who will "champion" these efforts for change
  among faculty?
• Will these changes involve both individual
  faculty-designed courses and entire curricula?
• How can you leverage your strengths to achieve
  the Vision?

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Questions and Comments?