Rollins College
Information Technology National Peer Review
Bob Johnson, Jeff Noyes, and John O’Keefe
May 17, 2006
Executive Summary
Representatives of Rollins College invited Bob Johnson, Jeff Noyes, and John O’Keefe to conduct a peer review of the college’s information technology functions. In advance of a campus visit, the IT office provided the reviewers with the IT master plan and the results of IT assessment efforts. In addition, the reviewers conducted interviews with key constituents of the institution from Monday, April 17 through Wednesday, April 19, 2006. Areas of particular interest were:
Classroom and instructional technology
Innovation, particularly administrative applications and services added to Banner
Information Security/IT Controls (Review security plan and recommend best practices)
Help Desk and Mac support
The IT Master Plan
First, classroom and instructional technology are in need of additional resources. The staffing for the support of classroom and instructional technology is insufficient, and a search appears to be underway. The classroom facilities, for the most part, are in very bad shape, although the existing plan for their renovation appears to be insightful and adequate.
Innovation, especially that for Banner administrative processes, is a strength of the IT department, and Rollins enjoys a strong set of elaborations on the administrative software.
Information security at Rollins suffers from the same mundane weaknesses that most college IT systems suffer. The IT part of the issue is relatively strong, although employee work habits routinely compromise sensitive information. Rollins’s disaster recovery planning is exceptional.
The Help Desk is a strong part of the IT operations, although the reviewers found some ways to improve the customer service delivered as a part of the operation. Concerns over Mac support appear to be understandable but not preventable. Unless Rollins is prepared to spend a great deal more money on Mac support, the existing level of support is as good as the college could expect.
The IT Master Plan is a very fine document, and the process underlying its creation is exemplary.
The reviewers’ findings regarding the general perception of the IT department is characterized by a very high regard for the leadership of the department and its involvement across campus. The department is well respected for its responsiveness, service orientation, positive attitude, and desire to serve. In short, the reviewers found the IT department and its leadership to be organizationally healthy, self-aware with respect to weaknesses, and dedicated to improvement.
Bob Johnson
Jeff Noyes
John O’Keefe
Rollins College
Information Technology National Peer Review
Introduction
Representatives of Rollins College invited Bob Johnson, Jeff Noyes, and John O’Keefe to conduct a peer review of the college’s information technology functions. In advance of a campus visit, the IT office provided the reviewers with the IT master plan and the results of IT assessment efforts. In addition, the reviewers conducted interviews with key constituents of the institution from Monday, April 17 through Wednesday, April 19, 2006. The following report summarizes the key findings of the group.
The reviewers were honored to be invited to participate in the college’s external review process. Rollins takes continuous improvement seriously, and playing a role in that effort was rewarding. The nature of that role was to examine the evidence of Rollins’s planning and evaluation and supplement that evidence with interviews of campus consumers of IT services.
In general terms, the college requested that the reviewers assess whether the IT department’s understanding of the campus’s IT needs matched well with the department’s customers’ perceptions of the same. Similarly, the department’s leaders wished to know whether their understanding of their performance was consistent with the understanding of their consumers.
The reviewers’ findings regarding the general perception of the IT department is characterized by a very high regard for Les Lloyd. Les’s leadership of the department and his involvement as a teacher and advisor garner him a great deal of respect in the community. The department is similarly well respected for its responsiveness, service orientation, positive attitude, and desire to improve. Criticisms of Les and the department focused on aspects of the operation related to efficiency, such as standardization, referred on occasion as enforcement of a “one size fits all” approach. One community member stated that “for efficiency reasons [standardization] is defensible, but Rollins is not about efficiency.” Other criticisms of Les and the department refer to “closed door” meetings and insufficient participatory decision-making processes. However, ample evidence of campus meetings suggests that these criticisms are unfounded. Rather, the reviewers found that at all levels critics of the department had simply failed to avail themselves of their opportunities to participate. In short, the criticisms represent more of a conflict of institutional cultures than an operational or tactical weakness in the IT functions or services.
Beyond these general impressions, however, the IT department asked for feedback over specific five areas:
- Classroom and instructional technology
- Innovation, particularly administrative applications and services added to Banner
- Information Security/IT Controls (Review security plan and recommend best practices)
- Help Desk and Mac support
- The IT Master Plan
Observations over these five areas appear in the five main sections of the following report and fall into three main categories. The first category under each section is “items to celebrate,” and these observations recognize the strong work already taking place at Rollins in each area. The second category under each section is “recommendations,” and these observations reflect steps that Rollins must take to continue its strong work and improve. The third area in each section is “suggestions,” which represent the reviewers’ ideas for Rollins officials to consider in making further improvement.
Instructional/Classroom Technology
The peer review team was asked to evaluate the state of Rollins’s Instructional and Classroom Technology support. We found there to be an interest among faculty to find new ways to incorporate technology in the classroom, but they seemed unclear or uncertain of IT’s role in helping them in this regard. They weren’t sure who to call or, in some cases, if they could call. Some technology mentioned in discussions was the use of videoconferencing (currently being done independently using Skype, which should be watched due to its potential security and network utilization problems), blogs, web design, and the creation of learning objects for modeling concepts. Also, some faculty discussed the desire to use more video in class, but were concerned about the investment of time. Most agreed that the technology in the classrooms needed to be more reliable, uniform, and easier to use, except those in Crummer, who were quite pleased with the systems they had in place. The Art faculty also liked their one current technology-enhanced classroom, but mentioned that it was suitable only for lectures and that they needed to integrate similar technology into studio art classroom facilities (which requires more flexibility). Most faculty members were excited about the prospects of the new technology-enhanced classroom being installed in Bush, and hoped to see more initiative in developing spaces such as that. It should be noted that once classroom technology becomes more user friendly and reliable, IT will likely see increased demand from faculty to create technology-related content for their classes.
Items to celebrate in Instructional and Classroom Technology
- The new classroom initiative seems to be popular. It also shows IT recognizes a need for more and better technology-enhanced classrooms, and that the department is aware of faculty needs in the teaching spaces.
- Faculty development classes were popular with the faculty we interviewed. Although it is inevitable that some might take these classes for the stipend, the majority seemed genuinely engaged in the material and concepts presented in these workshops
- The IFT/Tech classes for students are popular and a great way to help increase technology fluency amongst students. This program should be commended and continued, strengthening it as needed.
Recommendations for Instructional and Classroom Technology
- Fill the open Instructional Technology position as soon as possible. This will need to be a very strong, dynamic candidate who can motivate and energize the faculty, while quickly earning their respect and trust. Although some institutions hire a tenured faculty for such a position, a qualified technical person who has understanding of the higher education landscape and pedagogical issues would be able to succeed.
- Create a strong link with Rollins’s Center for Teaching and Learning. Any collaboration between IT and the Johnson Institute will strengthen Instructional Technology’s profile among faculty, increasing credibility and trust.
- With a strong alignment to the Johnson Institute, Instructional Technology can and should keep its current reporting line in the central IT organization.
Standardize equipment and user interface for control in classrooms. The standardization of equipment will lead to more effective support and more cost-efficiency, while the standard user interface will help faculty quickly learn and gain confidence in the system
- Push new programs aimed at training faculty, students and staff. All seemed interested in learning more, but not all were taking advantage of current offerings. Think of different ways to reach out: podcasts for on-demand learning, different types of training opportunities at different times of day, etc.
Suggestions Regarding Instructional and Classroom Technology
- Explore providing more videoconferencing opportunities for faculty. Increased investment in videoconferencing facilities will help support the college’s significant investment in internationalizing the curriculum by allowing more interaction with foreign faculty, students, experts and speakers.
Innovation in Administrative Processes
Items to Celebrate in Innovation in Administrative Processes
- Rollins has added much value to the Banner and other administrative systems through IT-developed functionality; in general, this value is very appreciated by the administrative and faculty user community.
Recommendations for Innovation in Administrative Processes
- The reviewers have no recommendations for Rollins with regard to innovation in administrative processes.
Suggestions Regarding Innovation in Administrative Processes
- IT should be more involved early on in process improvement planning with functional departments. This will allow for more exploration of the systems’ capabilities during process design.
- Higher IT priority was requested for international student visa issues.
Security
Items to Celebrate in Security
- Both IT and the Rollins community in general have a high degree of awareness regarding information technology security.
- The overall IT environment is well-protected and relatively secure.
- The recent installation of an email spam filter is working well and is greatly appreciated throughout the campus.
Recommendations for Security
- To decrease the possibility unintended access to Banner and other secure administrative systems, Rollins should:
- Implement a relatively short (10-minute) session time-out limit;
- Require (by policy) all users to implement on their desktop computers a password protected screen saver with a relatively short (2-minute) time-out; and
- Establish policies that clearly define each user’s personal responsibility for both the computer at their desk and the data contained on that computer.
- Rollins should continue in the implementation of its “single sign on” project to provide greater password protection and reduce the burden – and potential security risks – of users having to remember multiple login IDs and passwords.
- The traffic on the Rollins Internet connection is reaching maximum levels on a frequent basis. It is recommended that the bandwidth of this connection be increased fairly soon.
Suggestions Regarding Security
- IT should implement network identification security measures in addition to the current practice of registering computer MAC addresses. MAC addresses can be transferred, or “spoofed,” to another computer (or X-Box).
- IT should automate the registration of a new computer on the Rollins network and should include verification of the currency of the operating system, virus detection definitions and anti-spyware software.
- Rollins should consider allowing students to connect gaming devices such as X-Box and PlayStations to the residential network. This is being done in many colleges and reflects acceptance of the students’ residential experience to include recreation. In addition, faculty members are beginning to develop instructional course materials that are based on gaming as a teaching tool.
Helpdesk and Mac Support
The peer review team was asked to review the effectiveness of the Helpdesk, with particular attention given to Mac support and the 24/7 coverage. The regularly staffed helpdesk was generally held in high regard, as most said they had very good help and interaction with the helpdesk. There seemed, however, a different story for the after hours support. Many were unaware there was an outsourced 24x7 helpdesk, and those who had experience with it generally did not get the quality of help they get during the day. In terms of Mac support, the faculty we spoke with said there was a noticeable improvement in this area during the last year or two. The most notable comment was from Crummer faculty, who were concerned that the hours of support, particularly for the laptop shop, were not conducive to the schedule of most Crummer students.
Items to celebrate in the Helpdesk
- The Mac support has been much improved.
- The helpdesk has a high profile and is well regarded in the campus community
Recommendations for the Help Desk
- Address the 24/7 helpdesk issue. It seems that Rollins has not made a full commitment to outsourcing the after hours support, so the current level of 24/7 support from the outsourced helpdesk is probably not representative of what they might be able to achieve. It seems that it would be best to focus on a more robust after-hours, outsourced solution, or examine other ways to provide the coverage and drop the outsourced solution. This would likely mean hiring additional in-house staff to allow for the expanded coverage to avoid thinning out current coverage.
Suggestions Regarding the Help Desk
- Appoint one student employee coordinator. Many of the students we met with expressed a concern that their reporting line to IT changed frequently. It might be good to have a stronger mentoring relationship with the students, and consistency in the management of the students may serve to help.
- Create a student phone chain for communication. With residence hall contacts in every dorm, it might be possible to use them to help spread the word to students about IT-related emergencies and information that needs to be communicated to the student body.
- It seems that many of Rollins’s helpdesk calls are password resets. Although the institution already has password-reset automation, it might be beneficial to re-examine that process to see if there are any improvements that may help reduce the number of password-related help calls.
Master Plan
Items to Celebrate in the Master Plan
The Rollins IT strategic plan is well organized and realistic. The plan is based on reasonable assessment of the institution’s competitive position and readiness to meet college ambitions. The documentation of the process, especially the opportunities for broad-based participation, demonstrates a participatory management approach that is well-suited and appropriate for the institution.
Recommendations for the Master Plan
None
Suggestions Regarding the Master Plan
Rollins should continue to promote the cohesiveness of its information and instructional technology by retaining instructional technology as a report to the AVP for IT.
Conclusions
The IT department at Rollins is well organized, efficient, and effective. The structure of the department lends itself to quick response to requests for help. The processes and services represented in the department are adequate to meet the institution’s needs.
The biggest challenge for IT at Rollins is the collision of organizational cultures, and this collision is not reparable through a different reporting relationship. While some interviewees raised the concern that IT should report to the academic side of the college, we found no compelling evidence that the academic program was disadvantaged by the department’s current relationship to the organization. The cultural conflicts are not precipitated by unilateral decision making; rather, the department offers many opportunities for members of the academic division to participate in decision making. Neither is it the case that these conflicts are based in some fundamental disagreement over the services or facilities. In fact, all parties agree in their assessment of the terrible shape of the technology in the classrooms, and only a minor proportion of those interviewed felt that the services were unevenly administered. Instead, the culture issues are common to most institutions and are fueled at Rollins by both high and low consensus values.
The high consensus values or support for innovation rather than cost control, quality of service over the speed of service, security over convenience, and centralization over decentralization. The low consensus values are whether IT should be a “visible” presence or a service running invisibly in the background, a value that is related to the other low-consensus value—whether IT services should be a high-touch or highly efficient operation. Interestingly, there is conflict over whether IT should be invisible and yet high-touch. The struggle over values is worked out in terms of funding for facilities and for staffing. Those who favor a personal touch and visible IT services are dissatisfied by the current state of affair, which represent cost-efficiency and are geared to deliver a quick response. If the ethos favors “all the inefficiencies we can afford,” then the campus will continue to skirmish over the prioritization of its inefficiencies in IT. This skirmishing is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does demand energy from the staff and the rest of the campus.
Rollins has a very good IT operation delivering top-drawer services. The leadership is strong and dedicated. The areas for improvement are well-recognized. The college has many reasons for pride in this area of its administration.
Resources
These are additional resources for framing the observations in this report and the conclusions the team reached.
A Framework for the CIO Position (2004-10-15)
Author(s): Brian L. Hawkins (EDUCAUSE)
Preview : ... Title: A Framework for the CIO Position (ID: ERM0465). Category: EDUCAUSE
Review Articles (2004). Author: Brian L. Hawkins . Organization: EDUCAUSE. ...
Subject (s): CIO (Chief Information Officer ) | Leadership | Presidents and Senior Executives
Type : Content EDUCAUSE Review Articles
Resources for Presidents and Senior Executives
http://www.educause.edu/executiveresources/
Information Technology Alignment in Higher Education Roadmap
This roadmap reports the results of a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews of 464 U.S. and 19 Canadian universities to discover how information technology priorities, plans, resources, intentions, and actions are aligned with the broad vision of higher education institutions. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ecar_so/ers/ers0403/ECM0403.pdf
The Myth about CIOs
The authors state that "although it is important for a campus to have a good CIO, the CIO alone is not responsible for how well IT is used on Campus." It is the executive team as a whole who is responsible for effective IT use on campus. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0518.pdf
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