LOS ANGELES
MISSION COLLEGE
Information Technology
Master Plan
October 9, 2003
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.
I.
Introduction
II.
II.
College Philosophy, Mission
Statement & Goals
III.
III.
Strategic Technology Priorities
IV.
IV.
Technology Vision &
Strategic Outcomes
V.
V.
Information Technology Strategic
Goals, Objectives & Action Plan
A.
A.
Fostering Continued Quality Improvement in Teaching and Learning
B.
B.
Using Technology to Enhance Students Services
C.
C.
Promoting Effective and Efficient College Operations
D.
D.
Upgrading and Extending the College’s Technology Infrastructure
E.
E.
Assuring Comprehensive Electronic Communication Capability for all
College Constituents
VI. Implementation
and Evaluation Plans
APPENDICES
Situational Analysis
A. Strengths
& Weaknesses Assessment
I. Introduction
The pace of evolution, integration, and use of information technologies
within modern organizations has accelerated dramatically within the past decade
and is expected to continue unabated for the foreseeable future. This trend, while fostering significant
enhancements, as well as significant changes to the content and style of most
intellectual activities, has also introduced major challenges for many
institutions. In particular,
institutions of higher education face significant financial hurdles in
continually upgrading and expanding information technology access, services,
and support for their students, faculty and staff.
Los Angeles Mission College (LAMC) is pursuing an aggressive posture
with regard to its use of technology in achieving its chosen future. The College seeks to incorporate appropriate
technologies to transform its teaching and learning environment, to provide
high quality services to its students and the community, and to extend its
reach to new and diverse constituents.
To assist in furthering its mission, Los Angeles Mission College
engaged in the development of a Master Plan for Information Technology during
the spring semester of 2003. This
planning effort was designed to identify strengths and weaknesses within the
existing College technology infrastructure and to identify technology
improvements and initiatives consistent with the needs, objectives and outcomes
consistent with the College’s mission.
In order to achieve its mission the College has established the
following strategic technology goals.
Specifically, LAMC seeks to transform the college by:
·
Fostering Continued Quality
Improvement in Teaching and Learning
·
Using Technology to Enhance
Students Services
·
Promoting Effective and
Efficient College Operations
·
Upgrading and Extending the
College’s Technology Infrastructure
·
Assuring Comprehensive
Electronic Communication Capability for all College Constituents
The result of the strategic information technology master planning
effort contained within this document is the establishment of a series of
specific technology goals, objectives and action plans. The resultant impact of these goals,
objectives and action plans will be to enrich the quality and comprehensiveness
of the College’s academic and services offerings to its many constituencies.
Specifically, the College hopes to assure that all faculty, administrators,
students and staff possess the necessary technologies and training that will
enable them to pursue educational innovation, manage institutional resources
effectively, achieve their learning objectives, and provide quality service,
while aiding the institution to extend its reach and enhance its competitive
position.
II. LOS
ANGELES MISSION COLLEGE
College Philosophy
Los Angeles Mission College is dedicated to
providing the highest quality
education in an atmosphere that respects and assists all people in pursuit of
their educational goals. We believe
that the acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary for success in the
academic and workplace environments requires modes of instruction that match
the changing needs of students.
Furthermore, the college is committed to supporting student learning and
personal growth as lifelong processes.
Finally, we are dedicated to an inclusive decision-making process that
respects the interdependency of the college, the student body, and the
community we are privileged to serve.
Mission Statement
Los Angeles Mission College will ensure that
students master academic and workplace knowledge and skills by providing
comprehensive lower-division general education, AA and AS degree programs,
occupational education, occupational certificates, transfer education,
developmental education, counseling and guidance, and community services which
will meet the needs of people in the San Fernando Valley while protecting
academic freedom and maintaining academic standards.
College Goals
1.
1. Educational programs and services will be
developed, evaluated and improved to ensure student access, learning and
success while maintaining appropriate academic standards.
2.
2. Human, physical, technological and financial
resources will be managed effectively to enrich and expand educational programs
and maintain fiscal stability.
3.
3. Relationships with the community at large
will be enhanced to promote common development.
III.
III.
Strategic Technology Priorities
In preparation for the development of the Los
Angeles Mission College Information Technology Master Plan several key
activities were conducted. The first
was the evaluation of the quality and comprehensiveness
of the technology environment as reported through a
Technology Survey administered to a random sampling of students, faculty and
staff. Second, an off-site planning
retreat was held on May 15 and 16, 2003 with representation from all major
constituent bodies of the College.
Third, an assessment of the technology infrastructure and capabilities
of the College was conducted by members of the consulting firm supporting the
planning effort.
In conducting the previous assessments several
key deficiencies were identified. In
seeking to plan for the future improvement of the LAMC technology environment
the following four deficiencies represent strategic impediments to the
achievement of overall plan objectives.
It is crucial to future success, as well as present stable operations,
that these deficiencies receive the highest priority attention during the first
year of the plan.
Technology
Governance – The
lack of a formal College structure to
coordinate campus-wide technology progress contributes to a lack of effective
use of resources, limited technology planning focus, and no mechanism to set College technology priorities. It is strongly recommended that the
President appoint and charge a
representative technology advisory body (Information Technology Advisory
Council (ITAC), which will recommend College-wide policies and procedures
governing technology priorities, access, and appropriate use of instructional
technology, data and information technology.
Director of
Information Technology – The College does not have a full-time position responsible for
College-wide technology activities. As
a result, support is fragmented, leadership is absent, and it is very difficult
to focus project and implementation accountability for technology initiatives. It is strongly recommended that the College
create the position of “Director of Information Technology” or its
equivalent. Given the institution’s technology agenda,
overall size (approximately 8,000 enrolled students), projected growth in
physical size and enrollment, and technology investments it is crucial that there
be one individual charged with the overall responsibility to coordinate, set
direction and manage College-wide technology activities. It is fair to say that a position of
Director of Information Technology for LAMC is not only consistent with higher education
industry standards but an absolute necessity in today’s information intensive
environment.
E-Mail – The absence of a reliable,
quality e-mail system contributes to the loss of significant opportunities for
improved service delivery and basic campus communications. In particular, the opportunity to
effectively provide routine communication to students, and between students and
faculty, is severely restricted. It is strongly
recommended that the District/College E-mail strategy be resolved to enable
LAMC to properly implement this fundamental technology building block.
Learning Resource Center (LRC)
Commons – The LRC Commons is
a vital facility for the delivery of numerous College teaching and learning
activities. However, while it currently
houses a large number of open access student computers, these devices are
severely dated in their capability. It
is strongly recommended that the College re-evaluate its needs for publicly
available student devices and develop a utilization plan for the LRC that
combines needs for special purpose laboratory facilities as well as public student stations.
IV. Technology Vision
& Strategic Outcomes
Los Angeles Mission College’s vision for the use of Information
Technology is to use it as a tool for learning, for management support, and for
process simplification and innovation.
In order to achieve the College’s mission, we must be creative and
vigilant in seeking technology solutions that contribute to the accomplishment
of the College’s mission.
Our Vision for Action:
We will employ Information Technology innovations to assist the College
in achieving its strategic agenda by:
·
Fostering Continued Quality
Improvement in Teaching and Learning - Faculty, students and academic support personnel will be provided
consistent, reliable access to information technologies. By continuing to support the inclusion of
information technologies in the teaching and learning process we will empower
faculty and students to participate fully in the academic environment:
teaching, learning, collaborating, fostering and achieving their potential in
an ever-increasingly information intensive society.
·
Using Technology to Enhance Student Services
- Provide current and prospective students with a comprehensive offering of
conventional and emerging technology tools that facilitate easy access to
student information, contributes to
their full participation in the College community, develops their information
literacy, minimizes unnecessary student interaction with administrative
functions, and which facilitates and enhances students’ educational, career and
personal development.
·
Promoting Effective and
Efficient College Operations
– We will assure that all faculty, administrators, students and staff possess
the necessary information technologies and training that will enable them to
pursue educational innovation, manage institutional resources effectively,
achieve their learning objectives and provide quality service. Administrative
and management staff will have access to modern management information systems
and tools that facilitate efficient and effective access to the data and information
necessary to support sound institutional decision-making.
·
Upgrading and Extending the
College’s Technology Infrastructure – The basic building block for enhanced technology services is the
quality and comprehensiveness of the College’s technology infrastructure. A scalable, reliable, flexible and
comprehensive network, desktop, communications and web services environment is
crucial to the continued improvement of College technology services.
·
Assuring Comprehensive
Electronic Communication Capability for all College Constituents – We will use information technology to
extend the reach of the College and to promote its image within the
community. We will use modern network
and communications technologies whenever and wherever possible to reach
prospective students and alumni as well as academic and business partners. At the same time, we will use information as
a valuable tool to strengthen our ability to enhance and maintain a sense of
community and to improve communication between and among all members of the
College community.
Our Expected Outcomes:
We will realize our vision if the following outcomes are achieved
through the judicious use of technology investments:
·
All College graduates have
acquired information competency and the technological skills appropriate to
their academic discipline and career preparations;
·
All College students have
acquired the confidence to embrace new technologies and to see the creative
opportunities in their use; (Needs to be reworded to be measurable or should be
deleted)
·
The College has improved
communications among faculty, students, staff and administration;
·
The College has an environment
that supports and encourages innovation, exploration, risk taking and
resourceful uses of technology throughout all aspects of College life;
·
The College has enhanced student
relationships with our faculty, with our institution, and with other students;
·
The College has extended
interaction and enhanced relationships with the community, other educational
institutions, business and industry, our alumni, and professional
organizations;
·
The College has effective,
efficient, quality delivery of student learning programs and services and the
ability to make and implement institutional decisions in support of student
learning;
·
The College has adequate support
and training for faculty, administrators and staff to enable the success of our
vision; and
·
The College supports analysis
and decision-making at all levels which is information driven and knowledge
based.
V. Technology
Goals, Objectives & Action Plans
A. A.
GOAL: Fostering Continued Quality Improvement in Teaching and
Learning
Objectives & Action Plans:
1. Establish
minimum competencies that all students will demonstrate in the use of computers
and information technologies, and assure that students have the training and
developmental support necessary to guarantee their success.
· The Vice President for Academic Affairs will
request the Academic Senate to charge the Curriculum Committee with
recommending minimum competencies, be they for entry, graduation or both, that
all LAMC students will demonstrate in the use of computers and information
technologies.
2.
2. Provide
an environment, plan, and assessment strategy for faculty to integrate
technology into existing curricula, as well as their research and non-teaching
duties.
·
The Vice President for Academic Affairs will charge Academic
Department Chairs with recommending a strategy for the best method to integrate
technology within the College’s teaching and learning functions.
·
Implement an enterprise course
management system (Etudes) and promote its use as an aggregator of all class
content for distance, hybrid, and face-to-face courses.
·
Identify and recommend
collaboration tools such as secure instant messaging, group messaging and
synchronous web-conferencing.
·
Review the benefits and
possibilities of the use of video-conferencing technology as a tool for
extending learning opportunities at regional locations where students may be
limited by time and place.
·
Develop a portable computing
strategy to include an approach for student, staff and faculty computer
acquisition as well as wireless connectivity.
·
The Vice President for Academic Affairs, in consultation with the Information Technology Advisory
Council (see Goal C, Item #1) will recommend a comprehensive, coordinated,
instructional technology professional development program as well as other
appropriate strategies that assure that faculty and professional staff
with teaching and learning responsibilities are competent in the use of
appropriate instructional technology tools to facilitate the integration of
technology into the teaching and learning processes. Such a professional development program will address, at a
minimum, the following needs:
o
To promote and communicate the value of accessible
technology integration within the curriculum to all faculty.
o
To identify gaps in curriculum, training, facilities, and
any other areas that will impede the objective of accessible technology
integration within the curriculum.
o
To set priorities for faculty development and recommend
creative programs to energize all LAMC faculty.
o
To identify and organize internal and external resources to
facilitate faculty development.
o
To create a faculty “mentors” program to provide ongoing
support for faculty integration of accessible technology into their courses.
o
To recommend a reward program for faculty creativity and
skill in integrating accessible technology within their courses.
·
The Vice President for Academic Affairs, in consultation
with the Information Technology Advisory Council, will oversee the development
of a robust course development support environment for faculty who wish to
integrate technology into their teaching.
Such an environment will coordinate appropriate academic and
technological resources to minimally accomplish the following:
o
Provide a supportive environment for faculty experimentation
with a wide range of technology capabilities and innovations.
o
Provide faculty with the instructional course design support
necessary to effectively integrate technology into the curriculum.
o
Provide support for faculty who wish to exploit the full
capabilities of the Etudes course management system.
o
Provide an organized approach and access to a range of
internal and external information resources.
3.
Provide learning programs and
services and classrooms and laboratory environments with technologies that
support the teaching, learning and research objectives of the College.
·
Ensure that adequate IT
personnel are available to research, test, and recommend tools and software to
support the teaching and learning process.
·
Incorporate computing and
information technology requirements of academic programs into IT planning
·
Provide students with
disabilities with the latest advances in adaptive technology.
·
Expand open lab (LRC Commons)
facilities to provide student lap-top docking stations and other technological
enhancements in support of student learning.
·
Develop a strategy to assure
that adjunct faculty have appropriate physical space and access to technology
to support their teaching and administrative responsibilities by having the
Council on Academic Affairs survey adjunct faculty technology needs.
·
Provide access to electronic
training rooms when needed to support student learning
B. GOAL: Using
Technology to Enhance Student Services
Objectives
& Action Plan:
1. Provide students with
efficient, comprehensive, accessible student services and self-service options.
·
Implement a holistic student
services approach which utilizes available technologies to establish an
equivalent electronic one-stop student support environment including such areas
as program of study, academic advising, counseling, registration, financial aid
and bill payment, etc.
·
Map processes, review workflows,
design and implement an accessible electronic student services center which
fully exploits the functionality of the District Student System.
·
From the results of the process
and workflow review, identify applications gaps which contribute to service
deficiencies and evaluate the feasibility and cost of developing local
automated solutions to improve service delivery.
·
Building upon the current
capabilities of the District Student Services System, design and implement a
cross-training program that establishes professional academic advisors as
Student Services (SA) generalists who can effectively communicate basic information
about all student service and academic areas.
·
Assess and implement the steps
needed to ensure all students have ready access to electronic resources and
their own electronic records.
·
Ensure that adequate IT
personnel are available to research, test and implement tools and software to
support enhancements to student services.
2. Encourage and support faculty use of College
accessible online student information resources to bolster services to
students.
·
Provide ongoing professional
development for faculty and staff on electronic access to student records and
other information that supports academic functions.
3. Develop a strategy to enable the College to
provide all communications to students electronically.
·
Evaluate and design the most
efficient method of implementing student use of College provided e-mail.
·
Require students to use their
College assigned student email accounts to communicate with the College.
C. GOAL: Promoting Effective and Efficient College Operations
Objectives & Action Plan
1.
The President will establish a permanent oversight structure, the
Information Technology Advisory Council (ITAC), to provide guidance to, as well
as monitor the progress of, College-wide information technology initiatives.
· The ITAC will be a standing shared governance
committee of the College, will focus upon all College technology functions, and
will have membership representing the interests of faculty, students, including
disabled students, staff and administration.
The ITAC will be structured with subcommittees representing key College
constituent groups which will minimally include subcommittees representing
instructional and administrative uses of technology.
· The ITAC will have representation
from Academic, Student and Administrative areas charged with taking an
institutional view in making recommendations to the President and cabinet to:
o
Oversee the progress toward
achievement of Information Technology Master Plan objectives.
o
Develop and recommend the duties
and responsibilities of the position of Director of Information Technology.
o
Provide information, and when
necessary, educate members of the College community regarding all aspects of
the College’s information technology plans, policies and objectives.
o
Provide special focus upon
issues of access, connectivity and communication for all members of the LAMC
community.
o
Ensure adherence to, and when
necessary, recommend modifications to, information technology priorities.
o
Review, recommend and mediate
operational policy and procedures.
o
Function as an executive and
constituent sounding board for College-wide information technology issues.
o Maintain a planning focus; being watchful for the need to adjust and initiate priorities and new planning activities when circu