EQUIPMENT, RESOURCES, AND MAINTENANCE
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12. External Funding. The University should engage in development efforts
to secure additional external funding to upgrade teaching and laboratory
environments.
BENEFITS:
It will be possible to enhance some teaching and learning environments in
ways not otherwise achievable.
13. Funding for New Equipment and Maintenance. Ongoing funding needs to
be provided for the purchase of new equipment, equipment replacement, and
maintenance for discipline-specific applications. Equipment acquisitions should
take into account the rapidly increasing requirements for capacity and
functionality occasioned by recent software and multimedia advances. Academic
units must recognize that maintenance should be given a higher priority in the
budget, so that there is adequate funding of departmental lines to manage
equipment maintenance. Academic units, in consultation with the proposed
advocate for academic technology (see Recommendation #26), should
periodically review the need to upgrade or replace aging equipment. The
advocate, with the assistance of Computer Services, should investigate alternative
ways to contract for maintenance and repair, for example the use of off-campus
vendors with centralized coordination and quality control. The advocate should
review the pricing structure for service contracts offered by Computer Equipment
Services to ensure they remain competitive with outside vendors.
BENEFITS:
There will be significant improvements in equipment repair practices.
Equipment repair will be more timely.
Unit expectations for maintenance and support will be more closely met.
Equipment will be more cost effectively utilized.
Computing equipment will receive better service.
Equipment will be more reliable and downtime will be reduced.
14. Central Pool of Equipment. In cases where low departmental usage does
not justify acquisition, the department should work with Audio Visual Services
(AVS) to borrow equipment from a central pool when needed. Funds should be
made available to academic units and/or AVS to acquire and support commonly
needed hardware and software.
BENEFITS:
More specialized instructional technology will be used in the classroom.
Support for grant proposal presentations and field research will be
increased.
15. Peripherals. At least one network/LAN connected laser printer should be
provided in each academic building.
BENEFITS:
Access to quality printing will be improved.
Travel time to laser quality printing facilities will be reduced.
SUPPORT STAFF AND TRAINING
16. Central Help Desk. A central help desk with a single phone number
should be available sixteen hours a day to answer a wide variety of questions on
any computer related topic. The caller should not be referred to another person
unless they are specifically seeking the contact person in their department.
Ordinarily, the help desk staff should either be able to answer the question or pass
it on to someone who will contact the caller. A data base of frequently asked
questions should be maintained so that a student could staff this desk most of the
time. This data base would also contain the names of contact people in all units.
A bulletin-board should be available for both the help desk staff and the general
user, so that answers not available in the data base and not known to the help desk
staff could be sought. Online help should be available to reduce the level of
expertise needed locally to use available systems.
BENEFITS:
Users will get effective support for computer applications when needed.
The use of computing resources will be facilitated.
The effect of variations in levels of expertise in labs will be minimized.
The University will be perceived as having a well-run, comprehensive,
efficient, customer oriented support service for computing.
User frustration will decrease, and productivity will increase.
17. Faculty Development. The administration and the faculty share the
obligation for faculty learning about ways in which technology can be applied to
their disciplines. The administration should ensure that the faculty have the
opportunity to attain a basic level of computer and technological literacy
appropriate for their disciplines. Faculty professional development plans should
incorporate provision for time to develop skills in basic and advanced computer
usage. Basic support services needed to integrate technology into the curriculum
should be identified and provided at the University level. Academic units should
identify and provide for the specialized instructional support needs of their
faculty.
BENEFITS: SEE #18 (BELOW).
18. Faculty and Staff Training. Academic units should schedule training for
faculty. Staff should be given formal release time to take advantage of available
training. Academic units should be encouraged and supported in their efforts to
offer technological training related to their discipline.
BENEFITS:
Faculty will be more familiar with the technological tools used in their
disciplines and will be better able to remain technologically current.
Faculty will be better able to provide relevant technological education to
students.
Staff will have better opportunities to acquire the skills they need for
accomplishing their jobs.
Staff talent will be developed to its fullest potential.
More training will be available for faculty and staff who want it.
More faculty and staff will take advantage of existing training programs.
19. Instructional Workshops. University classes for basic skills such as
computer fundamentals, word processing, spreadsheets, data bases, and e-mail
should provide in-class, hands-on experience. These classes could be a part of
expanded Continuing Education offerings or given as shorter workshops.
BENEFITS:
Training will be available when needed.
Students, faculty, and staff will receive the support necessary to become
technologically literate.
20. Learning Tools. Computer Services should provide self-paced learning
aids such as online tutorials, computer assisted instruction, or videos. These aids
need to be available for the multiple platforms, operating systems, and
applications that exist in the University.
BENEFITS:
Support will be available at the most critical moment--when there is an
immediate need to know.
Users will be able to pace their learning to best fit their own styles.
21. Academic Unit Initiatives. As academic units make necessary moves
toward more sophisticated computing environments, they need to anticipate the
greater level of technical expertise needed to support LANs, multimedia software,
etc. Academic units should ensure that technical expertise is available to support
computer hardware and discipline-specific software. They may arrange for
support by employment of full time systems support staff, shared support staff
with other units, formal arrangements with their college or Computer Services, or,
when appropriate, on-load assignment to designated faculty. The names of staff
assigned support roles should be made available to the entire University
community through a centralized help desk. Academic units should have formal
backup arrangements for mutual support across a cluster of similar units.
BENEFITS:
Technical support for local computing will be more even and consistent.
Faculty will spend less time handling support tasks.
Networks and core systems will be better managed and maintained. Fewer
ad hoc demands will be placed on Computer Services. Academic units will be
more likely to acquire and maintain current technology.
Potential LAN problems will be anticipated prior to a complete failure of a
LAN application.
22. Local Staffing. The Office of the Provost, colleges, and independent
schools need to work in partnership to allocate funding to meet the growing
academic unit technical support staff needs.
BENEFITS:
The quality of support for faculty and students, especially for
discipline-specific applications, will improve.
Response time for problems and training will improve.
More one-on-one help will be available when needed.
23. Computer Lab Staffing. Academic units need to revise current staffing
policies to provide staffing on evenings and weekends. The lack of lab
availability in the evening and on weekends inhibits the use of technology by
students who are time or place bound. Student lab monitors should receive
adequate and formal training appropriate to their assigned responsibilities. This
training should begin early in each academic year. Centralized training should be
provided for software that is used across units of the University while local
training should be provided for discipline-specific software.
BENEFITS:
Labs will be available more hours for students.
Commuter students will have greatly increased access to computing
resources.
Students will spend less time queuing for high-demand resources.
Computer resources will be used in a more cost effective manner.
Lab hours will be more consistent across each campus.
Lab monitors will be better able to assist users.
Assistance available at all labs will be consistent and reliable. Students
will have more convenient access to computing resources needed to complete
assignments.
24. User Groups. Computer Services should encourage the creation of groups
of users to provide mutual education and support. A user group of academic lab
managers should be formally established as a subcommittee of the Advisory
Committee for Technology.
BENEFITS:
Quality of lab support will be more consistent.
New and experienced lab managers will have formal channels for
exchanging information and support.
Decisions concerning the management of labs will be in concert with the
overall computing and technology goals of the University.
POLICIES, PLANNING, AND ORGANIZATION
25. Importance of Academic Computing. The University should recognize that,
as a student centered organization, priority should be given to acquiring
computing equipment for the departments, colleges, and centralized facilities that
serve students and for the faculty who educate them. Future reallocation of
funding should reflect the positive role that academic computing must play in the
instruction and education of students. University policies regarding acquisition of
computer resources should appropriately recognize academic computing within
the context of other pedagogical resource needs.
BENEFITS: SEE #27 (BELOW).
26. Structure. Given the current organizational structure of the University and
the increasing role of decentralized academic computing, significant research and
instructional computing responsibilities lie within academic departments, schools,
and colleges as well as Libraries and Media Services and Computer Services. As
a result, there is a need for advocacy and overall coordination of academic
technology activities. Therefore, a director for academic technology advocacy
should be appointed, reporting to the Office of the Provost with coordinating ties
to the vice president for Business and Finance. This advocate should promote
collaboration among those responsible for academic technology within all areas of
the University.
The recommended duties and responsibilities of the advocate should
include:
1. Provide advocacy for advances in computing and instructional technology;
2. Develop and recommend policies, procedures, and standards for academic
computing and instructional technology;
3. Develop plans for meeting the needs of academic users in coordination
with academic and administrative units, including Computer Services;
4. Promote the migration to a distributed academic computing environment
with local and centralized consulting support;
5. Coordinate management and operation of the Moulton Hall distance
learning and instructional technology facility;
6. Monitor and update the University's computing plans on a biennial basis;
7. Identify and recommend core academic software that is to be supported by
Computer Services. This should be done on an annual basis in coordination
with the director of Information Systems and Technology;
8. Identify, recommend, and negotiate contracts for academic software in
cases where the University would benefit from university-wide site licenses;
9. Establish standing or ad hoc subcommittees as needed;
10. Advise the provost, the vice president for Business and Finance, and the
Educational Policies Council on academic and instructional technology;
11. Serve as co-chair of the Advisory Committee for Technology (see # 27).
BENEFITS: SEE #27 (BELOW).
27. Advisory Committee for Technology (ACT). In recognition of the central
role of technology in the achievement of both the University's academic and
administrative missions and because both the provost and vice president exercise
budgetary control over computer purchases, it is recommended that the charge of
the NISS-recommended Technology Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC) be
expanded to include advising the provost and the vice president for Business and
Finance. The committee should be called the Advisory Committee for
Technology (ACT). The committee's primary charge should include advising on
policies, standards, and resource allocation priorities relating to information
technology, instructional technology, network communications, and related
technological areas. ACT should also call for, rank order, and recommend
instructional technology incentive proposals from faculty for training, equipment,
or software (see Recommendation #3).
It is recommended that other ACT charges include the following:
1. Serve as advocate for constituency information systems, academic computing
and instructional technology needs, incorporating them as appropriate in
recommendations;
2. Serve as a resource and review group for implementing information systems,
instructional technology, and network communications facilities.
3. Advocate and promote advances in technology and network communications.
The membership of ACT should have seven ex officio members, who serve by
virtue of their position. These are the:
- Director for Academic Technology Advocacy (Co-chair of ACT)
- Associate Vice President for Business and Finance (Co-chair of ACT)
- Vice Provost and Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
- Dean of Libraries and Media Services
- Director of Information Systems and Technology
- Director of Network Services for Regional Campuses
- Undergraduate Student Senate Representative
- Graduate Student Senate Representative
The vice president for Business and Finance, with the approval of the provost and
the advice of the Faculty Senate, should appoint individuals representing the
following constituencies for two-year overlapping terms:
- one college dean
- one chair or director from an academic department or school
- five faculty, to represent the four colleges and one independent school
- four administrative directors, to represent Business and Finance, Human
- Resources, Student Affairs, and University Relations
- one computer support staff member from a local academic unit
In appointing members, the vice president for Business and Finance should be
mindful of the diversity of technological requirements and platforms used by the
academic and administrative constituencies of the University, as well as discipline
specific needs and the unique environments of the eight campuses.
The ACT can establish subcommittees to address specific needs it defines.
Because the lines between academic and administrative computing are blurring, it
is not advisable to have permanent standing committees related to either academic
or administrative computing; rather, all committees must realize the
mission-critical importance of academic computing and plan, organize, and
implement computing and technology to further the instruction and professional
development of undergraduate and graduate students. It is quite possible that
subcommittees might be formed around technical/applied issues as well as
academic/administrative ones.
ACT members should be proactive and seek input from their University
community constituents. ACT should establish an electronic LISTSERV for
committee communication and a Kent State University Newsgroup that allows
users to communicate quickly and easily with the ACT and each other. The
Newsgroup should be used to report back to individuals and constituencies about
recommendations made and actions taken. The ACT membership should be
publicized so that students, faculty, and staff know whom to inform about issues
that need attention. Policies, standards, priorities, and guidelines endorsed or
established by the ACT should be made available online and published in
CONNECT.
The proposed reporting structure for ACT works through the director for
Academic Technology Advocacy to the provost and through the associate vice
president for Business and Finance to the vice president for Business and Finance.
The solid lines indicate reporting relationships while the dotted lines indicate
advisory relationships.
BENEFITS
The use of computing and instructional technology in the classroom will
be enhanced with the support of an academic advocate
.
Morale of faculty members will increase as they perceive their concerns
are being recognized.
Interdisciplinary cooperation will be facilitated.
Information about computing problems will be available to all.
A Newsgroup will provide a way for currently unrecognized experts
(students, faculty, or staff) to share their knowledge to the benefit of the
University.
Information about computing purchases will be readily available.
Expanding the role of ACT will help ensure broad-based University
participation in plans, priorities, and standards for information technology,
instructional technology, network communications, and administrative
computing.
28. Campus Wide Information System. An online system that can be used to
communicate campus information to the entire University should be implemented
by Computer Services and Libraries and Media Services. Examples of
information available would be: catalog course descriptions, Schedule of Classes,
syllabi for each course/instructor, key contact faculty or staff in various offices,
current campus news, the campus bus schedule, a directory of students, faculty,
and staff, including e-mail addresses, etc. Such a system would also provide
access to external information sources, such as OhioLINK and other library
systems, other campuses, gophers, and freenets.
BENEFITS:
Important information about the University will be much more widely and
conveniently available to current and prospective students and faculty.
29. Planning. The annual planning process should include consideration of
the role and use of technology in support of the mission of the academic units. As
part of the formal planning process, faculty should be provided opportunities to
identify specialized hardware and software requirements for their academic units.
Chairs and directors should consider those needs and include them in the annual
planning reports. Operating budgets that include funding lines for academic
computing should be earmarked and safeguarded. Capital budget planning should
make provision for the installation of network connections in every office and
residence hall room, regardless of the age of the building.
BENEFITS:
University computing equipment, software, and facilities will be more
current.
30. Acquisition of Discipline-Specific Technology. A plan and strategy
should be developed and implemented to provide every faculty member with a
computer that is appropriate to his or her instructional and research activities.
Also, plans and implementation strategies need to provide for the acquisition and
support of UNIX and Macintosh platforms and evaluation of alternative PC
platforms (e.g., Windows, Windows NT, OS/2). The needs of faculty for
high-performance computer resources should be identified and the most cost
effective means of meeting these needs should be articulated.
BENEFITS:
Faculty will have the computing resources they need on campus.
Fewer faculty will be forced to rely on home computing equipment.
More faculty will be present on campus a greater number of hours each
week.
High-end users will have better access to high-performance scientific
computing.
More faculty and staff will use new high-end technology.
More faculty will be positioned to achieve complex research goals.
Faculty competitiveness in acquiring research grants will be improved.
There will be more support for the inclusion of equipment acquisitions in
grant proposals.
Students and faculty who prefer non-DOS systems will have other options
available to them.
UNIX systems will receive more central support.
There will be more self-sufficient users of high-end workstations.
31. Budget Considerations. University policy should encourage budget
carry-forward plans to ensure better acquisition decisions in support of purchases
and upgrades to new technology. In order to maximize efficiency, bureaucracy
inherent to the selection and purchasing process should be reviewed and
streamlined as much as possible. Coordination of computing hardware and
software specifications, quality standards, and service needs should be instituted
to ensure that the purchasing process adequately considers the issue of value
which is comprised of numerous elements, including cost, functionality, and
service quality. Because of the rapid rate of technological obsolescence, the
University should amortize equipment over an appropriate time frame. A funding
plan needs to be developed to ensure continuous improvement in the rapidly
changing computer related technology field. Also, this plan should take into
account the total cost of using computers, including the cost to purchase and
install hardware and software, train users, maintain, and replace or upgrade
equipment, etc.
BENEFITS:
Academic units will be positioned to make better purchasing decisions
with an added emphasis on overall suitability of the equipment to meet its
intended use.
Academic units will be able to make better use of bulk discount
opportunities and to take advantage of offers requiring a speedy response.
There will be less reliance on obsolete or otherwise inadequate equipment.
Access to computing resources will be improved.
Overall equipment costs will be lower.
Maintenance costs will be lower.
Purchases of equipment will be more timely.