TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: HOW DO WE DO IT?

CAUSE94 Current Issues Session
Thursday, December 1, 1994, 4:30 to 6:00 pm
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Australia Room 3

Moderators: Bruce Longo, University of Rochester and 
            Thomas Klein, Indiana University Southeast

CURRENT ISSUES SESSION ABSTRACT

The proliferation of technology throughout all areas of the
university, and the need for advocacy of its proliferation in 
areas not practicing effective utilization, prompts an 
investigation of campus needs and innovative, less 
traditional support structures. The campus community must make 
adjustments in its support and promotion of technology 
utilization because solutions that once worked are no longer 
adequate, and, in may cases, foster redundancy and hinder 
synergy in supporting emerging technologies. Only new
and imaginative solutions which focus on the needs of the 
campus and develop effective partnerships will allow those 
needs to be adequately served. What can we do to engourage 
technology utilization on campus and to make sure we are 
maximizing on the effectiveness of our investments in new and 
existing technologies? 

CURRENT ISSUES SESSION SUMMARY

The session was opened by Bruce Longo, University of 
Rochester, offering a brief overview of technology transfer 
understanding. Handouts were provided to enhance the 
discussion by Bruce. 

The first set provided an overview of IT departments 
responsibility to the institution:

1) need to understand the institutions current status of 
   technology awareness;
2) need to understand each offices level of expertise and use 
   of technology now, and future expectations;
3) need to understand users viewpoints and business 
   processes;
4) provide "all" the information needed to perform 
   institutions mission;
5) make available the technology tools necessary to complete 
   the work;
6) provide the information when the users want it, not when 
   it is convenient for IT;
7) be proactive not reactive;
8) raise Customer Service to a top priority.

The second set of handouts defined a methodology for making 
technology transfer happen at the University of Rochester and 
Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY.  We did not review 
all the material; merely referred to sections to enhance the 
discussion.

Slide #:
   1) Objectives:
      * review technology initiatives
      * prioritize needs
      * discuss potential solutions
      * develop contacts
      * summarize your institutions issues and concerns

   2) Steps to meet your technology needs:
          
   3) Our strengths and resources as IT departments to learn 
      about new and emerging technologies:
      * research
      * CAUSE/EDUCOM
      * other institution contacts
      * vendors

   4) Key initiatives we can take to help implement 
      technology transfer on our campuses

   5) What's the next step recommendations

Also handed out was:

A worksheet summarizing 36 technology concerns for colleges 
and universities as a discussion spark.  From this list, 
participants were asked to select major concern issues for 
discussion (or identify others).

The participant's discussion centered around these issues:

  *  Use of campus steering committees to assist IT 
     departments with assessing external and internal uses 
     for technology. Participants identified their campus 
     experiences.
  *  Use of  E-mail to disseminate information quickly to 
     the widest groups of staff, faculty and administrators 
     (e.g. bulletin boards and gopher).
  *  Use of, and expertise with Help Desks. All participants 
     suggested that this is a necessary evil that allows 
     tracking and resolving problems more expeditiously; 
     tracks training needs; highlights the IT departments 
     achievements.
  *  Techniques to entice faculty to utilize the 
     technologies more was a major concern to several schools. 
     Some suggestions were to enhance access to E-mail, 
     printing services, bulletin boards, and other tools to 
     assist in the processing of grades; Mosaic/Gopher.
  *  'Technology discrimination' this phrase was a new term 
     to define the fact that some groups of people on every 
     campus will always have outdated equipment.
  *  The design and implementation of a talking phone book 
     was discussed.  This has been implemented in some schools 
     to allow faculty and staff to call a specific number and 
     receive instructions for and directions to 'How to do 
     Something'.
  *  Personnel Issues: What do we do with staff supporting 
     the older systems (anchor systems on the mainframe) who 
     want to learn new skills?  This issue was a theme (topic) 
     in several sessions at CAUSE '94. We discussed a number of 
     ways to deal with it and still keep providing quality support 
     services.

Scribe: Dr. Bruce Longo, University of Rochester
for CAUSE '94
Orlando, Florida

Date Revised: 01/30/95 (rlr)