Decentralization in a Centralized IT Environment Co-Presenters: Todd Cunningham Lloyd Onyett
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About IUP 14,310 students; 1,700 employees Largest Member of Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) 1 Main campus; 3 Branches Degree Programs offered: 145 undergraduate programs 61 master’s programs 10 doctoral programs http://www.iup.edu/about/
Discussion Items Technology Background at IUP Technology Questions to be answered Planning the IT Environment Creating the IT Environment College Technology Managers Division Technology personnel Committee Structure How We Encourage Emerging Technologies Examples of the Process Summary Q & A
Technology Background Innovative Faculty “Grass Roots” efforts Emerging Technologies
Technology Questions How do we address and/or support “grass roots” technology efforts? When is it determined if the “grass root” technology ideas are appropriate to pursue? How do we as technologists encourage faculty to be innovative?
Planning the IT Environment Must maintain Core Technology Network Infrastructure, Enterprise Services (E-mail, Web, Storage, ID Management, Security, etc.), Administrative Information Systems (ERP, Student System), Academic Services, Personal Computing Support, etc., etc. Encourage Faculty Innovation Keep “on top” of Emerging Technologies (grass roots efforts)
Creating the IT Environment Centralized Computing Environment Chief Information Officer Information Technology Services IT Support Center (User Services) – front door to Central Organization Instructional and Research Technologies (IRT) Technical Services Application Development IT Administration
Creating the IT Environment (cont) Decentralized Computing Environment College Technology Managers one in each of the six colleges and the Library Additional support staff and student tech workers in each college Division technology personnel Student Affairs, University Relations, and Administrative Finance
Creating the IT Environment (cont) Committee Structure to “tie it all together” Academic Computing Policy Advisory Committee (ACPAC) Consists mainly of faculty; recommends policy related to technology in support of the academic mission Technology Operations Team (TOT) Senior members of Central IT Services, seven CTMs and Division Technology Personnel
College Technology Managers (CTMs) Encourage “grass roots” efforts Support “college specific” technology Support all college systems “to the network jack” Provide first/second level computing support Receive some escalations from IT Support Center Provide additional support for some core centralized technology services.
Division Technology Personnel Serve as escalation for technology related to functional processes Lead Division Technology Teams to assist in prioritizing projects for IT Services Assist users within the Division with Ad-hoc reporting Liaison between Division and IT Services related to technology
Committee Structure ACPAC is the technology voice of the faculty Encourages “grass roots” services becoming core centralized services Creates “action teams” to research ideas/directions/concerns (Ex. Emerging Technologies Committee) TOT brings all the technology personnel together fosters “shared decisions” on university wide technology matters Above groups make recommendations to Deans Council (including CIO) Deans Council prioritizes technology projects accordingly for IT Services
How we Encourage Emerging Technologies Innovative faculty create an idea or identify a need Idea MAY go to ACPAC Emerging Technologies Committee CTM encourages the idea by providing “college specific support” The idea becomes more wide spread including faculty across colleges CTM/Faculty/Emerging Technology Committee via TOT/ACPAC makes recommendation that the “idea” become a centralized service to benefit all faculty Idea becomes prioritized project for Central IT Services Idea becomes an Enterprise Service
Emerging Technologies Central IT Support/Resolution Dean’s Council ACPAC Idea/need from Faculty TOT Idea/need from CTM Emerging Technologies subcommittee of ACPAC (or other subcommittee)
Examples of Results from this Process Initial LMS (WebCT) many years ago Blogging Streaming Service Personal Response Systems (“clickers”) Second Life online course “testing” system Next Generation LMS at IUP
Summary Innovative Faculty Technology Environment to encourage Faculty and/or Emerging Technologies Must continue to maintain Core Centralized Technology Must still be a process in order to have a centralized enterprise service Priority
Question & Answer Session
Decentralization in a Centralized IT Environment Co-Presenters: Todd Cunningham; Executive Director, IT Services Email: Todd.Cunningham@iup.edu Lloyd Onyett; Assistant Dean for Technology, College of Education and Educational Technology Email: lonyett@iup.edu