Current Issues Sessions

"Realizing the Potential of Information Resources: Information, Technology, & Services"
New Orleans, Lousiana
November 28 - December 1, 1995

Thursday, 4:30 -- 6:00 pm

• Integrating Planning for Information Resources with Institution-wide Strategic Planning, Barbara Horgan, Seattle University; Sue Stager, Indiana University
  Emerging and converging information technologies enable programs that can change the academy. It is now critical that planning for the information resources infrastructure be aligned with the strategic goals of the institution and implemented within the context of cross-functional and cross-program processes. This cooperation and focus can be accomplished when institutional executive officers share a full commitment to strategic planning by their involvement in the process and their assignment of responsibility, authority, and resources.
  • How do issues related to information resources information, technology, and services get raised to the "board room" level?
  • As institutions plan to pilot or adopt new programs to meet dramatically changing needs, how should they involve their information resources units in the strategic planning process?
  • How can the institution appropriately assess information resources investments that are needed to support these programs?
  • What are the emerging challenges to the development of a cohesive information resources infrastructure across the campus?
  • Is creating a CIO position a solution, or does that create expectations that simply can't be met?
• Business Process Reengineering, Ken Blythe, Penn State University; Peggy Plympton, Yale University
  Much has been written about the need for higher education to become more efficient and productive, providing increasing opportunities to re-examine how the business operations of the institution can be streamlined, creating new roles for information technology (IT) on campus. Information resources managers can take a leadership role in the restructuring of administrative activities of the institution by facilitating innovation and articulating realistic visions of how IT can cost-effectively support and enhance these new processes.
  • What are some of the effective strategies being employed to build the campus vision for administration, guide and support innovation, and develop an action plan?
  • What are some approaches that seem to be effective in building (and sustaining) new applications and supporting infrastructure for these evolving (and often distributed) program efforts?
  • What are proven ways to initiate and implement successful "business process reengineering"?
• Change Management, Susy Chan, DePaul University; Mark Luker, University of Wisconsin/Madison
  We are increasingly aware of the accelerated pace of change and the need for people to understand what is happening and deal with this pace in constructive ways. Another aspect of this challenge is to realize that not all changes, regardless of how technically eloquent they may be, are for the good.
  • What are some of the processes that are useful in assessing the impact of technological innovations on the academy and engaging people in effectively managing change?
  • How does the process balance the enthusiasm with the potential reengineering of people, policy, and practice that may be necessary to sustain positive change?
  • How can we ensure that our organizations and the personnel within them become more "nimble" so that we can respond to the rapidly changing needs of our customers?
• Distributed Computing Support Challenges, Norma Holland, Indiana University
  Dramatic changes taking place in the computing and communications industries have created a powerful form of distributed information systems on our campuses. As the number and capacity of desktop computers increase, so does the need to support the growing number of faculty, staff, and students using distributed systems and services, along with the need to effectively manage software assets and costs. Still another major challenge of the distributed computing environment is the need for "interoperability" among connected workstations to ensure that networked resources can be shared, that collaboration among users is enhanced, that training and support costs can be minimized, and that new tools can be deployed rapidly when needed.
  • When is it appropriate to adopt a distributed architecture, and what are viable transition strategies that allow campuses to introduce these systems into their operations?
  • What are effective approaches in managing life-cycle costs of software over enterprise networks?
  • What are the challenges to support faculty, staff, and students in this environment of multiple desktop applications, some of which are communicating with legacy systems?
  • What role can central IT organizations play in facilitating greater self-support on the part of faculty, student, and staff who use distributed computing?
  • What is the potential of a World Wide Web client "front end" for some applications to minimize support issues?
• Policy Issues Arising from a Networked Information Environment, Clair Goldsmith, University of Texas/Austin; Anne Parker, University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill
  Many issues are emerging related to the proliferation of campuswide networks and connectivity to the Internet: free speech and academic freedom, censorship, student records privacy, e-mail privacy, ethical standards, copyright and intellectual property in a networked information environment, defining and managing "institutional information" on the WWW, and so forth. Some states are considering legislative action that would prevent the use of the Internet by minors, and Congressional concerns with pornography may well create difficult management situations for our campuses. Many institutions are moving toward establishing policies to deal with these issues.
  • Who are the key players who need to be involved in such policy making?
  • When is it best NOT to create a policy?
  • How can we best share those policies so that we can learn from the work of our peers?
  • Is it possible to create a model set of policies based on work that has already been done in this area?
• Network Access and Security, Ted Hanss, University of Michigan; Kathy Kimball, Penn State
  The increasingly critical role that desktop computers and networked applications play in our institutions has increased the level of concern about information access and security. Access and security can no longer be thought of as simply technical challenges. These are issues that must be dealt with as important contributors to the mission critical processes of the institution. Although access and security may seem like opposing concepts, it is in fact the case that a well developed security program facilitates authorized access by eliminating unauthorized access.
  • What approaches have proved successful in developing policy statements, guidelines, procedures, or standards regarding network access and security?
  • Do authorization services, authentication services, encryption, one-time passwords, and so forth provide good technical solutions?
  • How can a campus balance a strategy of providing access to information against the constraints of FERPA regulations?
  • What are cost-effective ways to provide remote access to faculty,staff and students?
• Diversity in Information Resources Management, Al LeDuc, Miami-Dade Community College; Marlene Gomez, Miami-Dade Community College
  Inclusive organizations strive to create an environment that is welcoming to all people--regardless of sex, race, creed, disability, or other areas of difference. Many universities and colleges are steadily improving their ability to be inclusive and to meet the needs of the increasingly diverse workforce of the future. As the demographics of our nation and world change, organizations that do not change key characteristics of the work environment to address those changes could face a bleak future. Information resources areas in higher education have not always been at the forefront of this basic change. Hence, CAUSE has identified working toward fostering diversity in our workplace as one of the association's goals for the coming year.
  • What are some of the barriers to achieving inclusiveness in our professions and how can we work to overcome them?
  • What can CAUSE do to raise awareness about this issue in our profession?
  • What are you doing at your institution to ensure that your organization is "inclusive," and what are some of the results to date?
• Achieving Widespread Integration of IT in Teaching and Learning: What Can IT Professionals Do?, Mark Resmer, Sonoma State University; Betty LeCompagnon, Duke University
  The adoption of information technology by faculty into the teaching and learning process is not occuring as readily as the advances in new, appropriate technologies. Jane Marcus of Stanford University has proposed that a faculty member's decision to adopt such innovation is a function of available resources, perceived value, and whether or not s/he engages in communication with other adopters (see Change Magazine, March/April 1995, pp. 43-44). In light of that analysis, what can central IT staff do to more effectively support faculty needs? How can we partner with faculty to identify the most appropriate technologies to enable their visions? Is there a model "electronic classroom" that we need to provide? Are interactive two-way video technologies critical to the delivery of courses? What are the issues of faculty multimedia courseware development that we need to address to smooth the way for this activity?
• Rising Expectations, Falling Budgets: How Can Information Resources Managers Respond?, Paul Morris, Tufts University
  There is a significant mismatch at many institutions between user demands and expectations on one hand, and the budget central IT organizations are given to work with on the other. The fact that we cannot meet demand causes high user disatisfaction, which is leading to a distrust of any type of central computing support, and a belief that everyone can do better on their own. The demand/resources imbalance also leads to stress on the computing staff, faced with an un-doable job.
  • How can we as IT managers deal with this conflict?
  • What can we do to help our users use IT resources in a cost-effective way (particularly when people are often used to thinking of computer services and support as free)?
  • How can we convince campus executives that there is REALLY an explosion of demand (after years of crying wolf) and that we are TRULY underfunded?
  • What should we as IT leaders be saying to help our institution to strike the right balance between IT needs, financial aid, faculty salaries, etc?