CAUSE '98 Proceedings

An EDUCAUSE Conference on Information Technology in Higher Education
December 8-11, 1998
Washington State Convention & Trade Center
Seattle, Washington

Track Sessions

Note: Many of the CAUSE98 Track Sessions are available electronically. These will be indicated by an asterisk (*) before the presentation name.

TRACK 1

Distributed Computing and Networking Technologies
The network has become a singularly important component of campus technology infrastructures. Applications of networking technologies are transforming teaching and learning, research, and institutional operation and promise to fuel continuing innovation. To fulfill that promise, networks must be ubiquitous, utterly reliable, service-rich, and ever evolving; network applications must facilitate new ways of learning and doing business; and yet both must remain institutionally cost-effective.

TRACK 2

Applications Development in the Age of the Web
In a remarkably short period of time, the World Wide Web has become an essential tool for information professionals who support the myriad of business processes involved in higher education. Web technology has made it possible to move quickly in enhancing existing services and extending services to new categories of users during a period of constrained resources.

TRACK 3

Changing Organizational Structures and Information Professional Roles
Informational professionals are finding that as we deliver information in new ways, both our formal organizations and our alliances with other information professionals are changing. This track will seek papers that describe new forms and structures of organizations for delivering information services, and collaborative relationships among divisions and departments within the institution, such as computing, telecommunications, media services, libraries, bookstores, and university presses. Alliances could also include vendors, service providers and state and national agencies, regional and other consortia; and collaborations with individuals whose interests overlap ours, such as legal counsel, data administrators, media relations, and police.

TRACK 4

Staff Development and Training to Meet the Needs of a Distributed Environment
Currently, the country is experiencing unprecedented demand for skilled information technology people and many companies are willing to offer significantly better terms than colleges and universities. This trend, combined with diminished academic benefit packages and increased job pressure, has lured many of these highly skilled people out of academia.

This raises a number of questions. What attracts dedicated information professionals to the academy? How do you develop your staff to work with diverse work styles? How are institutions using orientation programs and formal training to enhance the knowledge base of staff? Are there emerging organizational structures that support a more flexible use of time? How are we rewarding staff who expand skills to match the institution's needs? Are we effectively using technology to train our own staff?

TRACK 5

Curriculum Support in the Networked Academy
One of the aspects of an academic institution that distinguishes it from other complex institutions and organizations is teaching and learning.

Topics include the challenge colleges and universities face in capturing the power of new technical infrastructure and directing it in support of curriculum; and ways that faculty and students, often working with information technology professionals, are pursuing new kinds of teaching and learning and are leading the direction of educational change.

Also considered is how the new tools and practices of networked information environments help solve pedagogical problems and enable pedagogical innovation; the importance of evaluating technology experiments so that resources can be targeted to meet instructional needs; and balancing rapidly changing technology and the expectations of innovators with those of mainstream faculty and administrators. This track also addresses issues of distance education for students, faculty, and staff.

TRACK 6

Providing Support in a Networked Environment
The Web and networking present new challenges to user support services in colleges and universities. Our campuses are now encouraging anytime, anywhere networked computing. Course Web pages are becoming common if not required parts of undergraduate education. The age of Web-enabled courses and virtual academic programs suggests new service paradigms are in order.

This track will focus on questions such as: How has the Web affected your service and support strategies? What new service models have developed and effectively use Web technology? How are students taking courses over the Web afforded the same support available to their on-campus peers? How has the network impacted training of support service technicians? What new opportunities has the Web engendered for students to be more active participants in providing technology support? How do we prepare information technology staff to meet user expectations? What is the institution's role in standardizing software and hardware needs in the network environment?

TRACK 7

Information Architectures, Standards, and Policies
The movement from localized workstations to LANs, WANs, and the Internet has aided and necessitated the development of appropriate information architectures, standards, and policies. Networking has enabled colleges and universities to look at and plan from institution-wide information perspectives. How are our institutions addressing the institution-wide information strategies issues?

The networked environment also forces the issue of standards. What hardware or computer platforms, software applications, and special computing needs can IT divisions reasonably be expected to support? Networked computing holds the potential for us to be more accountable to our communities, but it also exposes users and our institutions to added legal liabilities and risks. The public nature of the Internet demands a fresh look at institutional policies that define appropriate use of institutional resources, access to information, ownership of intellectual property, records management and retention, and reasonable expectations of privacy.

TRACK 8

Achieving Results through Business Process Reengineering and Work Process Simplification
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) was heralded as offering a radical approach to achieving improved results. Rather than use technology to speed up various steps in a process, BPR promised elimination of steps as a means of improvement. This track reviews experiences and best practices employed by higher education in the use of BPR and workflow automation.

This track addresses issues such as institutional use of BPR in combination with technology to improve services, increase effectiveness, or increase efficiency. Also sought are ingredients for successful projects and why some projects have not delivered as expected; or a look at organizational or cultural barriers that have been experienced with such projects.

Considered are whether projects are stymied because empires might shrink if efficiencies are achieved; or if IT or user organizations should lead BPR efforts. We will also look at whether uses of vendor packages and BPR to meet institutional goals are compatible, and whether vendor systems limit one's ability to reengineer.