COE Technology Goals - 1995

Table of Contents

TECHNOLOGY GOALS RELATED TO THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

The mission of the university involves teaching, research, and service. The technological environment should assist faculty, staff and students in the completion of this mission. In addition, technology should aid university professionals in the administrative functions of the university. Goals related to the work environment are purposely placed first in this document because access to technology within our work place is a prerequisite to applying technology in the teaching, research, and service arenas.

1. Basic Office Hardware

Rationale:

A number of basic technologies have unambiguous usefulness for research, teaching, service, and administration. Easy access to these technologies can improve the quality and efficiency of our work.

Environment Goal 1:

All faculty and staff will have access to a range of basic technologies. These technologies include:

1.2 copiers, advanced telephone systems with voice mail, fax machines, and devices for scanning documents.

1.3 data acquisition, storage and viewing devices such as video cameras, optical disk drives, CD-ROMs, VCRs and monitors as well as associated hardware for using this equipment.

2. Instructional Hardware

Rationale:

All learning environments should promote the active construction of knowledge by providing teachers and students with the ability to use a range of effective learning technologies. Technology per se should not drive instruction, but appropriate technologies should be available for use in enriching the instructional process.

Environment Goal #2:

All learning environments will be equipped with, or have easy access to, contemporary instructional hardware. These technologies include:

2.2 networked computer workstations.

2.3 hardware for projection from computer output, including liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and video projection devices.

2.4 interactive teleconferencing and other distance education technologies as well as direct reception of film and video via cable.

2.5 physical arrangements that allow for the proper use of instructional technology (e.g., adequate control over lighting, placement of desks and computers).

2.6 computer laboratories with fully equipped workstations and printers within each building that houses an academic department of the college as well as interface boards and associated software for connecting laboratory equipment with computers.

2.7 adaptive equipment as necessary for faculty or students with disability including sensory- enhanced hardware for computers, Braille printers, and equipment to translate written text into spoken voice.

3. Portable Hardware

Rationale:

The service mission of the university requires that we bring our knowledge to schools and other entities throughout the state. Moreover, working at off-campus locations is frequently required for a variety of instructional and research purposes.

Environment Goal #3:

Faculty, staff and students will have access to portable technologies that will be used off-campus in fulfilling the missions of teaching, research and service. These technologies include:

3.2 projection capabilities for presentations.

3.3 video cameras and associated equipment.

4. Software

Rationale:

Hardware is essentially useless if appropriate software and other forms of prepared media are unavailable.

Environment Goal #4:

The legal requirement of one package or license per machine will be followed in providing for software needs. Faculty, staff, and students will have access to a range of basic software programs, including the following:

Operating system software.
Word processing software.
Spreadsheet software.
Database software.
Statistical analysis software.
Presentation software.
Project management software.
Graphics software.
Optical character recognition (OCR) and image scanning software.
Multimedia, hypermedia, and authoring software.
Expert systems & knowledge-base management software.
Telecommunications software.
Local area network (LAN) and connectivity management software.
Utility software (virus protection, disk repair, memory management, etc.).
World wide web browsing software.
Data acquisition software.

5. Program-Specific Hardware and Software

Rationale:

Technology in most professions continues to undergo rapid technological change. College of Education graduates should be exposed to the most advanced technology specific to their profession to ensure their ability to secure employment, function competently, and provide leadership.

Environment Goal #5:.

Faculty and students will have access to profession-specific advanced technologies, such as the following:

Computer-assisted design (CAD) software
Virtual reality and telepresence software
Computer-based laboratory instrumentation
Advanced symbol-manipulation and modeling software
Laser and fiber optics communications equipment
File server and Novell Netware for instructional use
Scientific visualization software
Scoring and interpretation software for psychometric measures
Motion analysis systems
Biomedical imaging technology

6. Updating the Environment

Rationale:

New technology is developed and existing technologies are being improved at a rapid pace. Even dominant technologies can become obsolete in as little as 5 to 7 years.

Environment Goal #6:

Hardware and software used for teaching, research and service will be updated in a regular basis, and at a minimum every five years. Updating will be more frequent in program areas where state-of-the-art technology is critical to effectiveness.

7. Security

Rationale:

Given the high costs associated with the purchase and maintenance of many technologies as well as the necessity of maintaining continuous operational usage, ensuring the security of technology is critically important.

Environment Goal #7:

The College will provide state-of-the-art security to prevent the loss of, and ensure uninterrupted access to, all technologies, including reliable, effective protection against the following:

physical theft of equipment
damage to equipment by electrical surges
infection by computer viruses
intentional or unintentional erasure or corruption of
storage media
remote electronic theft of software and/or files

8. Technical Support

Rationale:

Increased use of advanced technology throughout the College necessitates an increased number of support personnel to install, maintain, repair and provide assistance with such technology.

Environment Goal #8:

Each school will be provided with an adequate number of support personnel trained to install, maintain, repair and provide technical support for the technology used by the school. Each facility that houses units within the College will have trained support personnel on site, and systems will be implemented to assure a prompt response when failure of hardware or software interrupts the work of faculty, staff, or students.

9. Professional Development Opportunities

Rationale:

As a result of rapid advances and changes in technology, frequent continuing education opportunities are needed if we are to maintain a leadership role in our sponsoring society.

Environment Goal #9:

Faculty, staff and students will be provided with an adequate opportunity to update or gain new technology skills and knowledge. Opportunities will be specified at the school and department level, and will include:

9.2 release time, re-assigned work loads and/or the provision of summer salary to compensate faculty and staff for their efforts to enhance technology-related skills.

10. Distribution of Resources

Rationale:

We live in a world of limited resources. Therefore, decisions continually must be made about how to allocate finite resources. Written policies regarding the distribution of resources help to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of resources.

Environment Goal #10:

All units of the college will share in the funding and distribution of technology resources. Decisions about allocation of resources will be made in an objective, fair, inclusive, and equitable manner. Requests will be negotiated and decisions will be made in dialogue with program and department heads, school directors, the dean of the college, and other designated decision-makers. This process will provide optimal use of technological resources within the college.