1. Classify
technology goals in a proper domain (technology, management, funding).
At McLennan Community College we would
need to add the “funding” domain to the current technology plan and the
departmental strategic plan for Information Systems and Services. It’s obvious that we would need to update the
overall goals and objectives to meet the additional needs of focusing on these
sections (i.e. technology, management, and funding). Community Colleges generally receive
direction and recommendations from their accreditation agencies (i.e. SACS & THECB) (SACS, 2006 & THECB, 2009). The Texas Community College Teacher
Association also provides forums and best practices to help institutions
improve instructional technology (TCCTA, 2011).
Goals:
McLennan Community College has an
integrated state-of-the-art information technology environment to:
Technology:
·
Improve Student Learning with technology
resources
Improve
student learning through instructional technology.
·
Improve Instructional and Administrative
technology access
Improve
access to software, hardware, and network resources.
·
Improve technology customer support systems
Provide
24/7 technology support for the McLennan Community College user community.
Develop online support and professional development resources for student,
faculty, and staff.
Management:
·
Improve institutional decision-making
Improve
decision making by increasing access to valid and reliable institutional data.
2. Identify the major steps required to
accomplish technological goals.
·
Improve Student Learning with technology
resources
Improve
student learning through instructional technology.
Steps:
1.
Increase the number of smart classrooms that are controlled by
Crestron.
2.
Increase the number of lecture capture classrooms that are
controlled by Crestron (HD Recording).
3.
Enhance and increase the bandwidth for on campus and off campus
access.
4.
Keep student computers on a four year replacement cycle.
5.
Offer 24/7 access to technology support and technology training.
6.
Encourage and enhance mobile computing at MCC.
7.
Enhance Library and research systems to support the various
curricula at MCC.
8.
Develop a personnel plan to support the needs of our students.
·
Improve Instructional and Administrative
technology access
Improve
access to software, hardware, and network resources.
Steps:
1.
Strive to keep student, faculty and staff
computers on a four year replacement cycle.
2.
Continue to enhance and add to the various
student, faculty and staff areas that need additional technology to support
growth (i.e. computers, notebooks, printers, wireless, etc.).
3.
Continue to stay current with software
licensing for the various instructional and administrative areas.
4.
Research the latest and greatest trends
related to the various instructional and administrative software applications.
5.
Continue to enhance infrastructure systems
that support the wired and wireless networks at MCC.
6.
Develop a strategic plan to make sure the
campus data center stay current with the latest trends.
7.
Develop a personnel plan to support the
software, hardware, and network resources.
·
Improve technology customer support systems
Provide 24/7 technology support for the
McLennan Community College user community. Develop online support and
professional development resources for student, faculty, and staff.
Steps:
1.
Develop a personnel plan that will staff the various areas that
need instructional and administrative support personnel.
2.
Develop a strategic plan to keep online and offline knowledgebase
systems current at all times.
3.
Develop a professional development plan to enhance technology
training for students, faculty and staff at MCC.
·
Improve institutional decision-making
Improve decision making by increasing access
to valid and reliable institutional data.
Steps:
1.
Develop processes and guidelines to support
data integrity efforts at MCC.
2.
Develop a personnel plan to enhance the
statistical database systems that house institutional information.
3.
Develop a professional development plan to
train personnel on the various systems that support the college.
3. Develop assessment instruments to
test the goals for the technology plan. Describe
the
desired instrument/s under each goal.
·
Improve Student Learning with technology
resources
Improve student learning through instructional
technology.
o
Develop strategies to evaluate student
performance within courses that utilize instructional technology (i.e. online
courses, courses that adopt video streaming, etc.). Utilize the institutional “data warehouse”
system to generate reports for the administration.
o
Utilize assessment and evaluation mechanisms
within our CMS and integrate the data within the campus data warehouse
solution.
o
Survey faculty and students to get additional
feedback on the various instructional technologies.
·
Improve Instructional and Administrative
technology access
Improve access to software, hardware, and
network resources.
o
Develop instructional and administrative
surveys to measure user satisfaction with the various software, hardware, and
network resources.
o
Review and monitor inventory and asset
management systems to maintain an appropriate replacement cycle of outdated
technology.
·
Improve technology customer support systems
Provide 24/7 technology support for the
McLennan Community College user community. Develop online support and
professional development resources for student, faculty, and staff.
o
Develop instructional and administrative
surveys to measure user (students, faculty and staff) satisfaction with the
technology support systems at MCC.
o
Reports related to the knowledge bases and the
professional development plans associated within technology support and
training.
·
Improve institutional decision-making
Improve decision making by increasing access
to valid and reliable institutional data.
o
The MCC data warehouse solution can generate
yearly reports to give our institution statistics related to growth, retention,
budget, etc., etc…
o
Embed the Coordinator of Institutional
Effectiveness within major committee to guarantee that processes are being
measured and tracked.
References:
SACS. (2006). Southern
association of colleges and schools. Retrieved from
http://www.sacs.org/
THECB. (2009). Strategic plan
for texas public community colleges 2009 - 2013. Retrieved from
http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1581.PDF
TCCTA, (2011). Texas Community College Teachers Association.
Retrieved from http://www.tccta.edu
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in your plan to survey the staff, students, and faculty to measure technology use and their support that it is coming from the computer services office. But how do you see helping the faculty to see the effective use of technology with the students? Do you see any road blocks from faculty who do not want to approach the use of technology?
Deborah
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI'm also interested in knowing your plan to use surveys to measure client satisfaction. How do you plan on making sure that you get a good response rate from the surveys? As we all know people are always hesitate in doing surveys unless there is some benefit to them (what's in it for me mindset).
We've seen an increase in survey responses compared to last fiscal year. However, we're not sure what has caused a 50% increase in response rates. Last year we implemented Service Teams in order to help build a stronger relationship with our clients by having the same technicians go out to provide desktop support. We feel this is probably the cause and supported by the information provided on the Instructional Assessment Resources page from the University of Texas website which states that "respondents who you know by name or have regular contact with will be more likely to respond to your survey than respondents you do not know" (2001).
IAR. Assess Teaching. (2011). Retrieved on March 7, 2012 from the University of Texas website at http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ctl/assessment/iar/teaching/gather/method/survey-Response.php
Deborah,
ReplyDeleteOur college is extremely driven by statistics, surveys, and strategic planning. Therefore, we submit student, faculty and staff satisfaction surveys on a regular basis. These surveys will measure parking, technology, facilities, registration, etc., etc. satisfaction results from the entire campus community. Therefore, we are already doing this on a yearly basis. It’s really an eye-opener! I try not to overreact when results are negative. However, it’s a good thing to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly!
I’ve always taken the “build it and they will come approach” when dealing with innovations. You definitely have to get teacher input and listen to their needs. Also, there will always be road blocks but it’s important to design and implement the best possible solutions for our learners.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI currently teach at a very private preschool so I read your blog purely out of curiosity of yours being a Community College. Great reading and very informative! It's interesting how many things at this level are the same struggles as public school districts :)