Information Technology and the Academic Plan

by Ilee Rhimes

The Ohio State University aspires to be among the world's truly great universities - advancing the well-being of the people of Ohio and the global community through the creation and dissemination of knowledge.

This preface to the Academic Plan establishes a lofty goal for the university. Studded throughout the document are references to the critical role of technology in reaching that goal and acceptance of the basic premise of an Information Age economy as the milieu. The Plan references them as two of the factors that will influence progress.

For instance, the vision statement urges improved opportunities for students to learn through the innovative use of technology. Specifically, it says, We cannot be a great university without making major progress in...helping our students - whatever their field of study - become fully conversant with the latest available technology. The Plan concludes: We must equal or surpass our benchmark institutions in the use of technology for teaching, learning, research, and overall effectiveness.

In Setting the Stage, the Plan asks, Why does Ohio need a Truly Great University? and asserts that the nation's most dynamic economies... are connected to great research universities... shifting from ivory tower to revving economic engine. The document concludes that Ohio State must help the state transition to the Information Age economy by becoming the state's revving economic engine.

Three of the Plan's six strategies are explicit in their mandate to make OSU a player in the Information Age Economy. The mandate is implicit in the other strategies by virtue of the stated goal to be a great university.

Leading-edge learning tools are called for in the strategy to Enhance the Quality of the Teaching and Learning Environment, with a major driver being the need for technology. It goes on, We should also recognize that the development of distance learning programs can help us benefit students from around the world while reducing the need for costly physical facilities. In addition... distance learning programs have great revenue-raising potential.

Another strategy, to Enhance and Better Serve the Student Body, advises that we need to utilize instructional technology... to more quickly and effectively respond to academic program choices in emerging areas, such as Information Technology and Management.

The strategy to Develop academic programs that define Ohio State as the nation's leading public land-grant university calls for nationally prominent research centers that initiate cutting-edge research and educational opportunities that are oriented around important problems rather than disciplines. It proffers that often such world-class centers connect with the community through outreach and technology transfer.

In pursuit of Academic Excellence, the Plan embraces a state-of-the-art infrastructure, which would include technology equipment and facilities and the campus network. This goes hand in hand with one of the Plan's initiatives, to upgrade the quality of our classroom pool space with more state-of-the-art classrooms and modern equipment and another initiative, to provide faculty, staff, and students with the latest technology tools for leadership in teaching, learning, research, and career development. The latter calls for focus on distance and web-based education programs, comprehensive student support, on-campus Internet connectivity, infrastructure, remote connectivity, and a data strategy to improve coordination, quality, and accessibility of information and response times... and the creation of web-based and distance learning programs that can reduce the incidence of closed courses in high-demand areas and provide improved state-of-the-art Information Technology capabilities to improve the quality of academic advising and other student support services.

The many technology citations in the Academic Plan and the specification that a new strategic Information Technology plan... be prepared by the... Chief Information Officer gives us our clear charge. Only by staying current with the cutting edge of technology will we be able to fully implement the strategies and attract high-caliber faculty and student achievers. Our Information Technology activities must ensure that we're prepared to meet the challenges. It's incumbent on the Office of the CIO to fully understand the challenges so we can formalize an IT strategic plan to address them.

We cannot talk about the Academic Plan without acknowledging the recent action taken by President Kirwan to offset a drop in state funding with some belt-tightening measures that suspend parts of the Academic Plan. However, the Office of the CIO will continue formulating a strategic plan for Information Technology in concert with the president's declaration that this drop in our fiscal fortunes makes the [academic] plan more - not less - important. It is my belief that we must move forward with our plan utilizing whatever level of funding we're provided. We may have to move slower than we had hoped. We may have to focus most of our funds on a few priority initiatives. But, we must not let what is surely a temporary setback divert us from our aspirations.