Paula’s E-Musings

As CIOs we are first and foremost administrators, and most of our time is spent planning, coordinating, negotiating, budgeting, etc.  Sometimes we are so focused on solving problems and putting out fires that we lose sight of the core of what we’re all about: enriching the education experience.  I was able to reaffirm that purpose earlier this week.

I was invited to attend the last class of the semester where students (Adolescence Education majors) in an English Language Arts Class presented their final projects. The instructor had participated in our Institute on Teaching Strategies last summer, and redesigned her class to be truly collaborative using Web 2.0 technologies.

The class developed a wiki and blog, and their final assignment was designed for students to research a contemporary societal issue and communicate through the electronic media and social networking applications. The instructor, who herself was just learning about new media and their applications in education, took a risk. The success of her class would partially depend on robust and reliable systems and strong technical support. The class required collaboration of many kinds: among students, between faculty and students, and also among the class (both instructor and students), librarians, and technologists.

For me, that is where the proverbial rubber hit the road, and where the distinctions between information itself and technology were forever blurred. Research, writing, and technology skills became parts of a greater whole. The advantages of our blended library/IT organization were never so apparent: the librarians and the technology trainer worked together and they engaged the support of our distributed computing and enterprise technologists, who made systems work and provided centralized storage for the data-intensive final projects.

The instructor will be giving a presentation about her experience in developing and teaching this class at the upcoming SUNY Conference on Instructional Technologies (CIT). You can check out the student projects at the following links:

Liberation in the Classroom

Free Tibet  

Find Your Musical Identity

America’s Sacred Oil 

Child Abuse:  A Call to Action

Are You at Risk?

Speaking for Those Who Can’t Speak for Themselves  

Anti-Semitism in Cortland  

South Otselic Town Website  

America’s Self-Image  

One Shot to Save a Life  

ELA and Technology: A Modern Approach to ELA Learning�

Here in Central New York where outside temperatures are hovering around zero  and inside they vary from building to building, we often dress in layers. In the technology world we often think about layers: the layers in the TCP/IP and OSI models and  the overlay of various applications.  Recently we’ve been discussing the layers of software components during the process of integrating our e-Learning system (Blackboard’s WebCT) with our Student Information System (Sungard’s Banner), as part of our implemention of a campus portal (Sungard’s Luminis Platform IV).

We in Information Resources also think of our IT services in terms of layers. First we rely on the underpinning layer: the technologists who support the servers and the operating systems on which the software applications run. Those folks are part of our Administrative Computing group, responsible for enterprise systems. Next we have the software applications specialists, who install and maintain the software and are responsible for upgrades. Those technologists belong to the Academic Computing group, responsible for distributed computing. The final layer is the front-end team. The technologists in Academic Computing answer questions at the Technology Help Center. In Memorial Library the technology trainer, the instructional designer, production specialists and librarians spend their days working with faculty, staff and students. Of course staff throughout Information Resources offer direct assistance to our customers, whether or not that service is officially in their performance programs. Our success is measured not only by the work we do, but more importantly by how well our campus is able to use technology in teaching, learning and administrative work.

Where does the time go? Seems like just yesterday that I was getting on a plane to attend the 2007 EDUCAUSE Conference held in Seattle, October 23-26. For the first time ever the conference was sold out and there was no on-site registration. As always the conference was an excellent opportunity to hear terrific speakers, catch up with friends and colleagues, network with the higher ed library and IT community, and enjoy Seattle.

The conference kicked off with an inspiring presentation by renowned Pulitzer Prize winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin. She focused her remarks on the leadership style of Abraham Lincoln, as he faced challenges and dealt with adversity. She also acknowledged that her keen interest in history began as a young child when she dutifully recorded the plays of her beloved Brooklyn Dodgers by listening to their games on the radio and keeping score so she could report details of the baseball action to her father when he came home from work in the evening. I’m now eager to read both  Team of Rivals , her biography of Lincoln, and Wait Til Next Year, her memoir of growing up in Dodger-centric Brooklyn.

The conference closed with a thought-provoking session by Bruce Schneier on trends that affect security. I was particularly interested in the economic factors that impact security risks of our data and the networks. You can learn more by subscribing to his monthly Crypto-Gram newsletter that addresses issues of security technology.

It was hard to choose from the many high quality sessions that were offered. Since SUNY Cortland has an island in Second Life where courses are being taught I went to a couple of sessions on learning in the virtual world environment.  And of course I attended sessions on social networking, Web and Library 2.0, and the Millennials. EDUCAUSE was a rich and enlightening experience and I’m already looking forward to next year’s conference.

PS Some of my favorite Seattle experiences included Pike Place Market, Experience Music Project, Pioneer Square with its galleries, shops and restaurants,and the innovative architecture of the Seattle Public Library.

I often feel like the pilot in this video clip who’s building his plane as he’s flying. Is it a coincidence that the video is an ad for a technology services company? I think not. A few weeks ago Warren Arbogast used the same metaphor in his Chronicle Tech Therapy Podcast where he spoke about the challenges of finding time to plan, work strategically,  and think globally while we all seem to be so busy putting out fires.  How do we remain proactive when we so often must react to many last minute requests from our constituents whose lack of IT planning becomes our 11th hour crisis?

I could especially relate to this podcast that addressed the need to plan and build “info”structure as important as building infrastructure. The podcast addressed the critical importance of effective PR and timely communications. Just recently I facilitated a meeting of IR leaders where we discussed these challenges that are affecting our organization. We’ve got so many great new initiatives and we’re offering innovative new services,  but how do we get the message out to faculty and students so they know what we’re doing?

 We all agreed that everyone gets bombarded with too many e-mails and is over-scheduled with meetings. Consequently our messages are unread and our open forums are unattended. Meawhile, the campus is surprised to learn that we have updated our classrooms and labs to Office 07 and they are unaware that we are webcasting campus lectures. We’re speaking but who is listening?

 There’s got to be more effective ways of communicating. Yes, less is more and images often speak louder than text. We know that just in time communication is needed and that we must use a variety of media to reach our diverse audiences.  We’ve agreed that we need to build our infostructure as carefully and strategically as we’ve built our infrastructure. Conversations have begun. So stay tuned as we develop a process to effectively convey just who we are and what we’re doing.

 PS The Tech Therapy podcasts are broadcast every other week and cover a wide array of timely and relevant topics. I highly recommend listening to them.

We have different titles, we report to different administrators, and our responsibilities vary from institution to institution, but as CIOs we all have responsibility for enterprise and distributed technology systems and we work with faculty, staff and senior administration to realize institutional goals through information and technology. In a 2004 EDUCAUSE Review article “Framework for the CIO Position” Brian Hawkins tells us that the first CIOs appeared in the late 1970’s when computing went beyond centralized mainframe applications and the advent of microcomputers began to give fuller control of computing applications to faculty and other end-users.

Not long ago there was a flurry of discussion on the EDUCAUSE Chief Information Constituent Group listserv about important CIO traits.  There was wide discussion about how important or not it is for CIOs to have a background in technology. There was clear consensus that the CIO does not need to be a technology practitioner,  but rather must be able to clearly understand technology and how it is used, and communicate about the major strategic issues related to information and technology. Vision, strong leadership and the ability to speak cogently to many constituencies about technology and its role in higher education were some of the characteristics that were identified as important in a successful CIO.

For me, with a background in libraries, my CIO position is an extension of my earlier roles in library administration. I must fully understand the technologies and be able to speak with and understand the technologists who are part of my organization.  It is critical that I recognize how technology can be used to realize the educational and administrative mission. I need to have the skills to work with others to develop strategic plans which must then be operationalized.

In some ways the role of the CIO has changed dramatically as technology has become so completely integrated into the educational experience and the use of a variety of new media is almost commonplace in the classroom. In other ways, it is very much the same: to provide leadership and manage and coordinate information and technology to meet the needs of the institution.

What can I do when I’m not planning and implementing, talking, meeting? Well, why not start a blog that reflects on the constantly evolving online environment my team of librarians and technologists and I are always running so fast to stay ahead of? 

Students and faculty are interacting today in ways never considered when I went to college and attended lectures with the occasional 16mm film presentation . . .  or used labs where the latest technologies were analog, and the mainframe computers around were rarely available to non-computer science majors. There was no blogging, class wikis, podcasting, or digital imaging  – not even in the far reaches of the technologists’ minds. But they are here now, and we are looking at how to use them as our students – the Millennials who came of age with a variety of technologies – fill our classrooms, libraries and labs.

Like most of us I’m overscheduled and have too many to-do lists and leave meetings with even more to dos. I spend my days working with others to build and maintain robust technological infrastructures that never are supposed to fail and to develop and deliver programs to meet the information and technology of everyone. Read more about who I am and what I do on my website.

I’m always trying to stay abreast of new developments and best practices.  I read books, journals and online postings. I go to conferences and participate in webinars. But there doesn’t seem to be much time to reflect on the evolving online environment, with its many challenges and rewards. E-Musings is my attempt to take the time to think and write about my world, the people with whom I interact, the learning environments I help to create, the students and faculty who interact with each other and with me. Let the exploration begin!