key operational plans
Information Technology Plan
2007 Updates
Technology is a critical part of the day-to-day operations of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and is used to enhance student learning; support the preservation, creation and transmission of knowledge; and support campus management functions. The purpose of the Information Technology Plan is to guide the ongoing development and evolution of technology in support of the University’s mission and strategic initiatives. The Information Technology Plan should be aligned with the University’s strategic directions. When new technologies are considered, they must be evaluated relative to how they support the campus mission and strategic initiatives
Accomplishments:
- Classroom Technology: Installed two additional technology classrooms; updated five lecture halls with “white board” monitors and document cameras; upgraded both interactive video distance education classrooms with 50-inch, flat-panel monitors; created a small group videoconferencing facility in Halsey Room 259; began offering iTunes U for storage and distribution of podcasts; and achieved the highest percentage of D2L (learning management system) use in UW System.
- Community Service: Distributed 160 older PIII computers and 100 monitors to local non-profit organizations in the Oshkosh area; conducted introductory MS Word and MS Excel workshops for community participants referred by Women’s Center and Workforce Development agency; and initiated live streaming video of commencement ceremony.
- Student Services: Installed an e-refunding system for Administrative Services; created a system that allows students to view their earning statements online using the Student Administration System’s self-service feature; installed Alumni server and e-mail software, wrote custom code to automate signing up for the service and the transfer of e-mail from the UW Oshkosh mail system to the alumni system; and provided user statistics to the Alumni Office.
- Training: Created “How-To” videos and added all class materials to the training Web site as self-learning tools; developed a Skills Inventory (assessment) program to determine skill level for finalists (both current employees and all other applicants) applying for vacant administrative support Classified Staff positions; and created a mandatory Essential Skills Training (EST) program and user manual, in collaboration with Human Resources, to provide communication tools (e-mail, electronic calendar, computer security, etc.) to all newly hired staff.
- Web Presence: Implemented a new open source content management system (Plone) to improve the University’s Web presence, providing a range of features, such as simple Web pages, secure intranets, Web surveys, workflow procedures and submission of complex Web forms.
Major Issues:
- Security: Attacks on campus resources can originate from computers located anywhere on the Internet. Both the frequency and sophistication of these attacks are increasing.
- Continuity of operations: Faculty, staff and students expect technology to be accessible from anywhere at anytime. The risk of situations such as a power outage or fire in the data center must be overcome with minimal or no loss of service. In addition, the University must have the infrastructure to support the increasing demand for network bandwidth.
- University’s Web presence: People are commonly using Web sites as their first source of information about an organization. To remain competitive, the University must have a user-friendly Web site with current, accurate content that people are seeking.
- Common system integration: Major administrative systems, such as human resources (HR), payroll, shared financials, budget and student administration, are being upgraded or installed across UW System institutions to achieve improved service and better integration of these core systems.
Priorities:
- Security: IT will investigate intrusion prevention, intrusion detection and network access control technologies. IT will investigate outsourcing the analysis of logging records from firewalls and other network appliances to assist with rapid intrusion detection and prevention. There will be increased efforts to educate the campus about security threats and practices to avoid workstations becoming compromised.
- Continuity of operations: The project to upgrade the fiber optic backbone of the campus will include a second path to core academic buildings. An uninterruptible power supply and generator capable of powering the dta center will be installed. An alternate site for the data center will be established.
- University’s Web presence: IT will improve the University’s Web presence by assisting colleges and departments implementing the new content management system (Plone). IT will work closely with Integrated Marketing and Communications to develop and implement an overall Web strategy for the campus.
- Common system integration: IT will support the migration of HR data to Madison’s Integrated Appointment Data System (IADS) and the development of a new reporting infrastructure. The University’s Student Administration System will be upgraded to deliver improved services for students and an improved architecture to support current integration technologies.
Outcomes assessment process to be used:
- Standardized survey instruments will be used to assess and compare Information Technology at UW Oshkosh with other institutions. The instruments used are the Core Data Survey from the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) and the ECAR Student Survey.
- Hard data (timing and measurements) will be used to assess the performance of computer systems and the overall network where feasible.
- Customer services, such as the Help Desk, Instructional Resource Centers and the Office Productivity Training, will use continuous improvement assessment instruments.
- General IT surveys will be randomly distributed each semester in locations like the General Computer Access (GCA) labs.
Executive Summary August 4, 2006
Information Technology Planning Principles
Given the limited financial and human resources available to the University, the following principles are used when acquiring and implementing hardware, software applications, databases, academic and administrative systems:
- Adherence to standards.
- Use of integrated groupware.
- Assessment of financial and human resources.
IT Objectives, 2005-2010
Technology is a critical part of the day-to-day operations of UW-Oshkosh and is used to enhance student learning; support the preservation, creation, and transmission of knowledge; and support campus management functions. The technology objectives must be designed to service student learning and student development. The technology objectives must also support the faculty who were hired to teach and the staff hired to provide academic and business services to students.
The specific objectives outlined in this IT Operational Plan will guide technology development over the next five years. Some of the objectives are more critical than others. For example, some of the objectives are necessary to maintain services to students, while others are more discretionary. In order for UW-Oshkosh to be successful in achieving these objectives, an “action plan” has been developed for implementing the most critical objectives during 2005-2007. This “action plan” is reviewed periodically with the Academic Computing Users Group (ACUG) and the Project Prioritization Group. Major changes are reviewed and approved by the Enterprise Executive Committee.
Faculty/Staff Investment: helping people make better use of current technology.
- Provide faculty development opportunities on implementing technology in the classroom/curriculum that is adaptive to student learning styles (video, online discussion, group collaboration, text messaging, simulations and games, etc.).
- Improve availability of hi-tech classrooms and deliverable classroom technology.
- Improve reliability and usability of classroom technology.
- Assist faculty with incorporating copyrighted materials into course content.
- Provide assistance to faculty who wish to utilize electronic portfolios in the curriculum.
Technology Investment: maintaining and enhancing usability of current systems.
Learning Environment:
- Reduce data entry time for faculty by supporting transfer of final grades from D2L to PeopleSoft.
Infrastructure:
- Reinstate a multi-year computer replacement cycle for staff.
- Maintain the multi-year computer replacement cycle for general access computer labs.
- Maintain classroom equipment, including repair or replacement of outdated equipment, as well as evaluating new classroom technologies.
- Upgrade the campus and ResNet backbone.
- Maintain campus network server hardware and software.
- Implement security protocols and policies.
- Expand number of open data-jacks.
- Prevent illegal file sharing and downloading of copyrighted materials.
- Expand wireless network service.
- Provide adequate network bandwidth to support new teaching and learning technologies.
Technology Investment: possible new initiatives
Learning Environment:
- Explore repositories for faculty-developed materials and sharable content.
- Explore digitizing content (text, music, video, images) to increase access to curricular materials for students and faculty.
- Explore web surveys that can be used by students in different disciplines.
- Explore Video over IP and streaming media for instructional delivery.
- Explore a campus-wide service, such as Turnitin, to determine the originality of texts based on comparisons with their internal database and netwide searches. Such a service would assist faculty, instructional academic staff, and students in dealing with issues of plagiarism and intellectual dishonesty. COBA has licensed Turnitin for its faculty.
Work and Service Environment:
- Deploy additional e-business applications, such as e-billing and electronic signatures.
- Explore an enterprise-level portal for the campus.
- Explore developing an electronic archive for preserving the scholarly record of UW-Oshkosh faculty.
System Development Process:
- Develop a transparent, formal systems development process for the campus.
- Research needs and user environment to ensure that new system implementations fit the campus needs.
- Develop project teams composed of power users, target audience members, IT managers, and IT staff from across campus for major system development initiatives.
- Implement postmortem process for major system implementations to identify ways to improve the system development process.