campus information services

Campus Information Services

UCR Information Technology and Communication Services – A Vision for the Future

March 2010

Campus Information ServicesA Vision for the Future

Background

Changing Technologies – Impacts on Teaching, Research, & Public Service

Provisioning of Information Technology Services and Systems – Impacts of Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing – Ensuring Appropriate UCR Technical Infrastructures are Available

Current Governance and Observations

IT Visioning Committee - Primary Recommendations

Selected Additional Recommendations

Committee Membership

Overview


BackgroundInformation technology is tightly woven throughout the rich tapestry of UCR campus life, from scholarly, intellectual, and teaching and learning activities to virtually all aspects of campus administrative operations.

As UCR creates a vision to guide its journey toward increased preeminence and enhanced service to the region, state, and nation, UCR should further utilize information technology as a core, transformative resource facilitating the achievement of campus aspirations as well as the realization of effective and efficient operations.


E-Textbooke-Textbooks will be created from a variety of online sources using an iTunes-like interface

Faculty will make courses available for inter-campus enrollment via self-service web pages.

Inter-campus Courses

Data captured via various instrumentation devices located throughout California, the U.S. or the world are made available to the PI’s desktop via distributed networks.

E-Science & E-Research

Software modified by PIs and graduate students will be immediately made available for processing and visualization on supercomputers located throughout the UC.

Shared Processing

Virtual outreach to students, colleagues, industry partners, government officials, and parents is enabled via office tele-presence systems.

Collaboration – Any Time, Any Where

Changing Technologies – Impacts on Teaching, Research, & Public Service


UCR is becoming part of a matrix of technology service providers, both private and public, that engage in a federated provisioning of technology services. This emerging mix of matrixed services is often referred to as Cloud Computing; campuses operating within the “cloud” become both sources and consumers of technology systems and services, and these services are often provided at costs far below what any one campus might be able to realize.

Importantly, when UCR faculty, staff, and students request Cloud Computing services, they are unaware that the systems being utilized may be provisioned from on campus resources, from resources within the university system, or indeed from providers anywhere within the United States or beyond.

Provisioning of Information Technology Services and Systems – Impacts of Cloud Computing


Technology Services – Provisioned in Part from Cloud Computing


Current Information Technology Governance at UC Riverside

CIS (Campus Information Services formally known as Computing and Communications) currently receives oversight and input from a wide variety of steering committees, advisory groups, Academic Senate, Deans, Vice Chancellors, faculty, staff, and students at large.

These groups and individuals assist CIS prioritize projects, allocate existing resources, and partner on visioning and proposing of new systems, initiatives, and projects.

Given the reality of Cloud Computing Services and the need to leverage IT as a transformative resource, the IT Visioning Committee has made three recommendations relating to information technology governance.


The Enterprise Information Technology Governance Group will ensure that UCR’s various information technology resources, initiatives, and projects, when considered in the aggregate, are aligned with the campus’ overall strategic vision, are meeting the most pressing institutional objectives, and represent an optimized utilization of these important campus resources.

IT Visioning Committee - Primary RecommendationsForm an Enterprise Information Technology Governance Group


IT Visioning Committee - Primary RecommendationsForm an Information Technology Interoperability / Integration Committee

The IT Interoperability / Integration Committee will review all information technology projects that exceed a certain budget threshold, whether or not these projects flow through the budget process. The Committee will determine if the proposed technological approach is the most efficient and effective and will best match the campus’ long term information technology architectural vision, especially given the increasing number of IT services that will be provisioned from Cloud Computing service providers.


IT Visioning Committee - Primary RecommendationsIT Communications and Transparency – create formal

opportunities for information technology dialog and discussion

To better enable IT Communications and Transparency, it is proposed that UCR create formal interactions with the campus Deans Council, Operations Council, and Chancellor’s Cabinet that will enable dialog and discussions on information technology and services, specific projects and priorities, and challenges and successes experienced by the campus over time.


Selected Additional Recommendations UCR Business Systems (Appencix F)

Smarter / More Intelligent Business Systems

Increased Faculty / Graduate Student / Staff Self Service Functionality

Develop additional Academic Business Systems

Availability of Online Training and Business Process Expertise


Academic Information Systems / SIS (Appedix G)Banner Financial Aid system now integrated with Legacy campus SIS – a successful UCR major systems implementation.Upgrade of the campus Student Information System (SIS) on a module-by-module basis is now a possibility. Campus should consider the development of a web-based tool for managing course planning including the provisioning and management of Learning Communities.

UC E-Mail & Desktop Collaboration Tools (Appendix J)All UC campuses have begun to review how e-mail, calendaring, and collaboration tools should be provided to campus faculty and staff.

Google mail for students (Cloud service in pilot now)

Google mail for faculty & staff (risk analysis under development)

Premium Microsoft Outlook/Exchange Service (technical infrastructure under development)


Transparent Access to Data / Culture of Evidence (Appendix H)UCR has deployed a variety of data warehouses containing hundreds of millions rows of data used for analysis and planning.

Additionally, UCR should consider creating a series of web based systems that present information in standard, pre-formatted templates.

UCR should create a Decision Support System governing body that will review the development of campus wide decision support systems.


Distance/Blended Learning & Instructional Technology (Appendix K)

"...student engagement helps all learners, [but] those who come to college less well prepared academically or are from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds tend to benefit even more... [engagement] has positive effects on grades and increases the odds that students will return to college for a second year.”

Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research, School of Education

Increase Engagement - Evaluate Blended and Online Learning Environments and their impacts on student engagement and success.

Assess Progress - Deploy ePortfolios and Learning Assessment Systems.

Formalize Approach - Center for Innovative Pedagogy and Technology Facilitated Instruction.

Partnerships – Continue strong partnership with the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education


Research Technology Infrastructures & Support (Appendix L)Continue to deploy and support “utility-like” research cyberinfrastructures that are Cloud or campus-based to enable E-Science and E-Research.These utilities include a sophisticated data network, physical co-location facilities for computer and storage systems, & computational, analytical, visualization, and data management tools.

Distributed IT Management and Interactions (Appendix P)Increase shared core infrastructure offerings including centrally managed virtualized windows servers & storage environments so that distributed IT units need not maintain these servers/services.

Formalize a rationale/criteria that UCR might follow when determining whether a particular IT project or initiative should be undertaken centrally or by a distributed technology organization.


Sharing UCR’s Vision, Aspirations, & Contributions (Appendix R)It is important that UCR leverage emerging technologies and methods of communications to share not only its successes, but the aspirations and hopes of the campus as well.

UCR must build on its recent successes and create a group that will consider how the campus might creatively avail itself of new communications technologies as they emerge in the years ahead.


Information Technology Funding (Appendix B)Given the realities of the CA state budget and the fact that the use of technology to facilitate UCR’s mission will increase as never before, UCR must diversify its information technology funding base. Possible funding alternatives include the following:

Student tech fee (60% of doctoral granting institutions in the United States have some sort of technology fee; UCLA and UCSB (new in the last year) have such fees)

Increased fee-for-service support

Research technology shared services support

Extramural funding

Innovative funding of enterprise systems

Other partnerships


Len Mueller, Senate Committee on Academic Computing & Information TechnologyCharles Louis, Vice Chancellor of ResearchBobbi McCracken, Associate Vice Chancellor Financial ServicesSean Dillingham, Director, Student Affairs TechnologyDiane Bisom, Associate University Librarian, Information Technology & SystemsLaxmi Bhuyan, Professor and Chair, Computer ScienceAnil Deolalikar, Associate Dean CHASS and Professor of EconomicsCharles Rowley, Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Information Services

Support provided by:Shelley Gupta, CFAO, Campus Information ServicesLarry McGrath, Director of Computing Support Services, Campus Information ServicesBob Grant, Director of Technology, Campus Information Services

Committee Membership


UCR has a long history of utilizing technology as a resource enabling achievement of its goals and objectives, and the

campus must continue to leverage technology in support of operational excellence; additionally, by acting on the

recommendations contained in the recently completed IT Visioning Document, UCR will ensure its technology resources

increasingly become a fundamental component of achieving Association of American Universities (AAU) status in the years

ahead.

Thank you!!!

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