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IT Strategy and Leadership in Higher Education: Two Case Studies

Case 1: Roberts Wesleyan College.Presented by Pradeep (Peter) Saxena, CIO Roberts Wesleyan College.

Copyright Peter Saxena, 2007. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given

that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

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RWC

What is RWC Type, Size, location, budget, history, endowment

Technology Program in 1997 Technology Plan in 2000

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IT Goals:

1. Facilitate Evolutionary Use: Help our Faculty, Staff and Students Discover and Evolve in the

appropriate use of Technology in the educational processes.

2. Support the resulting Growth: Know that evolutionary adoption of technology will result in significant

growth in Usage over time. Actively Plan to appropriately support technology, faculty, staff and students as they expand their horizons of Technology in the educational processes.

3. How: Provide a Stable Infrastructure Provide High Touch Support Provide Adequate Technology. Allow them to discover and evolve in the use of the Technology.

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Growth Since 2000

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All Elements of TechnologyAll Service Factors at a Glance

2000-01

2006-07

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Internet Web P

ages

F/S

H drive (M

B)

Student H

drives (MB

)

G D

rives (MB

)

Total storage (G

B)

Security threats, viruses/ year

Wireless A

res

Servers

Applications

Netw

ork connection (Mbps)

Vlans

Student D

orm com

puters %

Em

ail storage (GB

)

Off cam

pus classes

IP P

hones

Internet Connection (M

B)

Netw

ork Security C

ameras

Support hours / day

% of critical docum

ents on Netw

ork

F/S

computers

Sm

art Classroom

s

Lab computers

Student w

orker computers

Laptops

Cell phones

Palm

Pilots

Netw

ork Printers

Digital C

ameras

Business A

pplications

Academ

ic applications

Hours O

pen / week

Desktop S

W program

s

Faculty O

rientations/Training

Student orientations

Staff T

raining sessions

CM

S T

raining sessions

One-on-O

ne training sessions

Purchased B

usiness Applications(A

BT

etc.)

Custom

Reports on B

usiness Apps

Apps that connect A

BT

and other systems togther

Business A

pps developed by RW

C

Users supported for B

usiness Apps

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Computer Hardware and Software support

In 2000-01, we had 520 technology units to support. In 2005-06 we have 1271 units to support, an increase of 2.5 times.

Support Hours: In 2000-01, we were primarily an 8-5 operation, 5 days a week. Now we are increasingly being asked to go to 24/7 support, extended weekends and holidays support.

F/S/St Technology Changes

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

F/S computers

Smart Classrooms

Lab computers

Student worker computers

Laptops

Cell phones

Palm Pilots

Network Printers

Digital Cameras

Business Applications

Academic applications

Hours Open / week

Desktop SW programs

2006-07

2000-01

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Business Applications

We have seen a tremendous push towards computer dependant workflows, across the institution.

Many business applications are integrating with Academic components to enable Faculty and Students to access and process information online.

Business Applications

0 50 100 150 200 250

Purchased Business Applications(ABT etc.)

Custom Reports on Business Apps

Apps that connect ABT and other systems togther

Business Apps developed by RWC

Users supported for Business Apps

2006-07

2000-01

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NetworksNetwork Growth -1

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Wireless Ares

Servers

Applications

Network connection (Mbps)

Vlans

Student Dorm computers %

Email storage (GB)

Off campus classes

IP Phones

Internet Connection (MB)

Network Security Cameras

Support hours / day

% of critical documents on Network

2005-06

2000-01

Network Growth -2

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000

Internet Web Pages

F/S H drive (MB)

Student H drives (MB)

G Drives (MB)

Total storage (GB)

Security threats, viruses/ year

2005-06

2000-01

We have moved from a total campus wide storage of approximately 500 GB to a total campus wide storage of 7 terabytes, an increase of 14 times.

Each Faculty and Staff have 2GB Network Drives to store RWC related documents.

Each student has a 1Gb network drive.

This is big enough that an average student can store every paper and assignment in their 4 year stay at RWC on the Network drive.

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Growth in Academic Support

We provide comprehensive hand holding support for Microsoft Office and Academic Applications.

In 2000-01, we conducted approximately 45 training sessions for faculty, staff and students. In 2005-06, we are conducting an estimated 730 such sessions for faculty, staff and students, an increase of 16 times.

We also support all our Program students that come to classes at off campus locations or Online.

Training Support Sessions / year

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

Faculty Orientations/Training

Student orientations

Staff Training sessions

CMS Training sessions

One-on-One training sessions

2005-06

2000-01

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More on Academic Growth

2006-07: 100% Classrooms are Smart Classrooms 100% Faculty are teaching with Classroom

Technology 100% of Courses are on the CMS (Hybrid

Courses) 20% of Faculty are heavy CMS users. Discipline Specific Academic Applications have

increased 10 times since 2000.

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IT Investment:

The Total IT budget has hovered around $1.2 Million for the last 6 years.

IT Investment over time

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06

Salary Dollars

Technology Dollars

Total Budget

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How did we do it?

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The Building Blocks for the Technology Plan

Students

Faculty +

Educational Support

Processes

Technology

Budget

Support Resources

Value Creation through Training

and Faculty Development

Governance

Hardware, Software & Networks

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Budget Process

IT Spending across the Institution

IT Spending across the Institution

Resources

Annual Contracts

Annual Technology Replacement Cycles

Projects

Planned growth

Protect and perpetually maintain current investment in technology. 80% to 90%

Invest in the future.10% to 20%

Budget Adjustments

Protect at all cost.

Adjust as needed.

Prioritize Investment based on current and future value

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Keys to Success:

Technology Plan that allowed to create Compounded Annual Growth

Predictability in the budgeting cycle for 95% of the IT Budget. This allowed us to plan for the current year and the future

years and execute on the plan without major roadblocks. Strict regeneration policies for all Technology. Strong Faculty Support focus. Strong Staff Support focus. High Touch Technology Staff. Squeeze the vendors through competitive pricing Continually invest in Academic Innovation @RWC.

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What did we learn?

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Plan to comprehensively address all major areas of Technology

Deployment Across all Divisions and

Departments. Maintain parity versus

preferential treatment.

Technology Network Infrastructure Deployed Hardware Academic Software Academic Hardware Administrative Software Internet Presence Intranet Potrals

IT Resources: Single CIO with a delegated

organization. Training and Faculty

Development Technical Support Help Desk Desktop Support Internet Support Application Support

Aim/Plan for Steady rise in all areas over time versus feeding some areas and starving others.

y

x

z

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What did we learn:

IT cannot be “managed from the Hip” at RWC. Road to success has to be defined, communicated, funded,

resourced, implemented, supported. All these areas need to be actively managed for success.

Plan and Use the Plan. Review the Plan annually and make minor corrections.

Stay on course to create a support infrastructure that is designed to Innovate with current and emerging technologies Sustain itself over time i.e. provide relevant technologies and support

to faculty and staff and students forever. This implies that the infrastructure will evolve itself as technology and

the needs of faculty and students change over time.

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What did we learn:

Plan to stay “slightly” behind the “cutting edge” of the Technology Curve. Take advantage of technologies after they become

stable and their viability to Higher Education has already been established by other institutions.

These technologies are more affordable at this point, we can learn from their use at other institutions and faculty support is manageable.

Plan and support continued innovation From the budget and support perspective Faculty Staff

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As we look towards the future..

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A [Changing] Developing Paradigm

2007: IT is the “medium” through which Education is being delivered to the Students.

Every institution is impacted, regardless of size or budget.

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As we look towards the future..

If we go beyond the “hype”, Academically:

The change is real but the change is not overnight. We (IT) cannot make the Faculty members change their

ways to adopt newer ways of teaching. However, we can make it easier for them to make the

change and adopt newer ways of academic delivery. If we successfully do this, we will never fall too far behind

the technology curve.

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As we look towards the future..

If we go beyond the “hype”, Technologically:

Demands of the IT Academic Delivery infrastructure are complex and will continue to get more complex.

Current Higher Education IT needs demand effective IT Leadership and planning structures.

They are essential to managing the IT delivery platform and ensuring success.

“Consequences of error” – severe!