Copyright 1996 CAUSE. From CAUSE/EFFECT Volume 19, Number 3, Fall 1996, p. 2. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, the CAUSE copyright and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. To disseminate otherwise, or to republish, requires written permission. For further information, contact Julia Rudy at CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301 USA; 303-939-0308; e-mail: [email protected]
Several articles in this issue of CAUSE/EFFECT relate to different aspects of this complicated set of questions. One suggests some potential solutions for reducing the role of central technology support units, another offers a faculty perspective on technology as an enabler of a new teaching and learning model and the role of faculty in bringing about that change, and a third describes a boundary-spanning collaboration that resulted in a very effective campuswide faculty training program for use of technology in teaching and learning.
In author Michael Yohe's optimistic view, the support crisis presents an opportunity for central information resources organizations to effect a better future--one that will emerge as a result of a careful and realistic analysis of the present challenges, along with some changes that will be necessary to address them. Within each of six directives for change, Yohe identifies specific, practical, and doable actions that can be taken to help change what he calls a "paternalistic" support model to one that fosters more self- sufficiency.
Such a model would likely have great appeal to John Chizmar and David Williams, professors at Illinois State University who have taken the initiative to create learning strategies that make use of technologies to enhance communication and access in their classes. Recognizing that their mission as faculty is not instructing but producing learning, they have systematically leveraged networking and Internet connectivity in their fine arts and economics courses, based on a matrix of time and place variables. Their article also makes a convincing argument for the potential of technology applications to reduce the cost of instruction--assuming that learning, not exposure to instruction, is the appropriate metric--and suggests that faculty training is a critical element in this equation.
When it comes to such faculty training, the University of Delaware found that collaboration was among the key success factors in developing their week-long Faculty Institute on Teaching, Learning, and Technology. Four units on campus, each with significant experiences in offering faculty development and service programs, came together to pool those experiences and leverage a number of mature training activities. The result was a new program that was designed and implemented in just eight weeks, and that was recently repeated with even more successful results.
While much of the "support crisis" discussion focuses on the people who need to be supported in their use of technology, as well as the service mechanisms for delivering that support, there is a related area that is as critical but less talked about. The infrastructure or "back-room" support crisis is arising from the increasing complexity of the multi-vendor, distributed technological infrastructure that campus technology professionals are expected to build and maintain. That structure's reliability, manageability, serviceability, and sustainability2 are becoming serious concerns that also must be addressed in McClure's proposed campus "dialog." Author Leonard Mignerey raises some compelling questions along these lines for institutions to consider in any future administrative systems acquisition or development projects.
Once again, the Fall Task Force Meeting of the Coalition for Networked Information will be held in conjunction with the CAUSE annual conference; this year the meeting will immediately follow CAUSE96 in San Francisco. The theme of CNI's meeting--"Enterprise-Wide Information Management Strategies"-should be of special interest to campus information systems professionals. If you are a member of the CNI Task Force planning to attend CAUSE96 (December 3-6) consider extending your stay through the weekend to attend the CNI meeting as well--and save on airfare. See Gerry Bernbom's article (pages 4-5) for a good overview of the issues that will be explored there.
Julia A. Rudy, Editor
2 A Current Issues informal discussion session on this topic will be offered at CAUSE96 in San Francisco, December 3-6; additional such sessions will address other aspects of IT support challenges.