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Information Technology Strategic Plan

Related Links Background Communications Current State Future State Gap Analysis Annual Achievement Report Academic Plan Leadership Agenda

Contents  IT Strategic Plan (pdf)  Overview  Message from the CIO  Executive Summary  Ohio State's Information Technology Vision  What Ohio State Needs: Critical Success Factors  Strategic Initiative: Information Literacy  Implementation  Conclusion  Appendix A: Project Participants  Appendix B: The Planning Process  Appendix C: Current State Analysis Details  Appendix D: Current State and Academic Plan  Appendix E: Technology Days Details  Appendix F: Focus Group Discussion Details  Appendix G: Future State Emerging Themes  Appendix H: Gap Analysis Details  Appendix I: Strategic Initiatives Details  Appendix J: Strategic Initiatives Funding

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Information Literacy  Strategic Initiative

 Summary
 Full Description
 Benefits
 Proposed Leadership
 Metrics
 Estimated Investments/Potential Funding
 Recent Actions
 List of Strategic Initiatives

Summary
The university needs to develop an information technology education, training and computer literacy program to improve the skills of students, faculty and staff in the use of computers, software, databases, and other technologies, help them meet a wide variety of academic, work-related, and personal goals and create a basis for lifetime learning. Development of this program would entail adapting a tool for assessing student technology skills to faculty and staff use; creating a technology literacy development program based on net.TUTOR to bring students, faculty and staff to a basic skill level; and building awareness of net.TUTOR on campus. An information technology training program, extending to discipline-specific training, should support faculty development efforts, enabling them to incorporate technology tools in their teaching and research. The goal of student training is to give them a living and learning environment that ensures their attainment of “technology literacy” upon graduation from Ohio State. A program that continually helps the faculty to combine premium instruction with state of the art technology contributes both to building a world-class faculty and better serving the student body, two of the strategies of the Academic Plan.

Full Description

Part 1 - Build on the information technology skills assessment tool for students used by Undergraduate Studies and expand its use for the assessment of faculty and staff skills as well.

Part 2 - Create a technology literacy development program to bring students, faculty and staff to a basic skill level. Use the data gathered by the assessment tool to streamline a training program to meet the needs of Ohio State University students, faculty and staff. This program can be based on net.TUTOR with additional materials to address the skills identified in the assessment tool and to expand its applicability to faculty and staff as well. Additionally, build awareness of the availability of net.TUTOR within the campus community.

Assessing skill level is the first step in developing any training program. The Undergraduate Studies department employed a skill assessment tool for the freshman class of 2001 that can be broadened to include faculty and staff. While the Undergraduate Studies tool was used for a one-time event, this initiative calls for periodic assessment of IT skill levels.

Once skills are assessed, the gaps need to be filled. The university needs to create an information technology training program to raise the skill level of students, faculty and staff in the use of computers, software applications, databases, and other technologies, help them meet a wide variety of academic, work-related, and personal goals and create a basis for lifetime learning. The training program should also support faculty development efforts, empowering them to incorporate technology tools in their teaching and research.

Faculty competencies for web-based distance education need to include the use of course authoring software; communication technology such as e-mail, chat rooms, and mailing lists; Internet browsing; and accessing electronic resources.

Students' IT literacy education and training should encompass communication technology (e-mail and sending files); information management (moving, sorting and protecting information, security, privacy, rights and responsibilities); research and discovery (browsers and evaluating information); and software applications (word processing, spreadsheets, graphics software) according to their discipline of study. The goal of student training is to give them a living and learning environment that ensures their attainment of “technology literacy” upon graduation from Ohio State.

A program that continually helps the faculty to combine premium instruction with state of the art technology contributes both to building a world-class faculty and better serving the student body, two of the strategies of the Academic Plan. With an IT Education, training and literacy program in place, faculty and staff are better prepared, more productive and better able to work with students on equal footing; faculty and class spend less time spent on remedial technology training; IT-savvy students are more efficient, more confident they will perform better academically, and feel they are better prepared and more competitive for careers and advanced educational opportunities; and individual students, faculty and staff gain improved security.

Benefits

• Faculty and staff are better prepared, more productive and better able to work with students on equal footing
• Faculty and class spend less time on remedial technology training
• Students familiar with information technology are more efficient, more confident they will perform better academically, and feel better prepared and more competitive for careers and advanced educational opportunities
• Individual students, faculty and staff gain improved security

Proposed Leadership

• Office of Undergraduate Studies
• Office of Human Resources
• Chief Information Officer
• - Office of Information Technology
• - Office of Technology Enhanced Learning and Research
• University Libraries

Metrics

• Creation of the assessment tool
• Creation of the "boot strap" class
• Creation of the "update" class
• Success stories
• Ability to meet our new students expectations for a higher education experience

Estimated Investments/Potential Funding

• $530,000 cash
• $175,000 annual funding
• Existing central funds and new fund requests

Recent Actions
TBA

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