This week, we continue the conversation on what the future of technology could look like at a college campus, specifically at Mohawk Valley Community College. How can colleges stay nimble and ahead of the curve when it comes to technology when the technology is changing as fast — or faster — than the plan and infrastructure can be built?
Colleges across the country are trying to figure it out.
For example, Cornell Tech — a collaboration between Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology — is working on "the creation of an institution dedicated to technological innovation,
academic experimentation, and the kind of serial flexibility those two
principles require," or "'the chameleon campus,' a space where interchangeability permeates everything." But as with any long-term building project, technology keeps advancing, and no one knows where we will be technologically when the campus is complete.
Read about the project here, keeping in mind the following questions. We appreciate your feedback in the comments below.
- What role can the employees of MVCC play in utilizing Information Technology in the most effective way possible, to benefit both students and administration?
- To what extent are our initiatives sustainable in terms of financial and human resources?
- How are our programs and practices synergistic in developing a campus culture for students and staff?
Technology is present throughout MVCC supporting our students’ Learning and Administrative needs. The processes for our faculty and staff serving our students, more often than not, also involve technology.
As we use and evaluate our processes, or perhaps build new processes, do we take the approach of “What can technology do for the process?” or do we look at it in the inverse: “How can we fit the process into the technology?”
What processes could be modified or added and how might technology play a role?
What is the role of the end-user in technology planning?
Are we involving a wide enough constituency in our planning?
This post is designed to take a look at the College’s inaugural Three-Year Information Technology Plan. Please give it a review here, keeping in mind the questions posed above, and perhaps respond with questions of your own. We’d love to hear your feedback on technology process/design and the planning process in front of it all.
So ... What comes first?
The chicken or the egg?
The technology or the process?
The Information
Technology Council at MVCC was charged with developing a three-year rolling Information Technology
Plan in order for the College to provide students, faculty, and staff with up-to-date, reliable computer- and telecommunication-based resources for effective instruction, as well as the management and reporting of data related to student service, administrative, and financial transactions.
The Plan demonstrates MVCC's commitment to long-term planning dealing with a wide range of technologies. It is important to keep MVCC moving nimbly into the future, offering students the state-of-the-art technology and information systems that are key to their education. While the plan is still considered a "draft," the Hawk Vision Council is posting it here for your input. What do you think about this plan? Do you think it will help move MVCC in the right direction now and in the future? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Draft of the MVCC Information Technology Strategic Plan
