technology resource center analysis

7/31/2019 Technology Resource Center Analysis

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Debra Scott

Technology Center Analysis

Georgia Southern University

FRIT 7738 Spring 2012


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Executive Summary

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) at Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) provides

information technology services and resources to support teaching, learning, and administration. The

OIT organization consists of six main units: Client Relations & Services, Educational Technology,

Enterprise Information System, Infrastructure Technology, Information Security, and Planning and

Projects. The focus of this analysis is the Instructional Design Lab (IDL) available at each campus of

the college. The Instructional Design Labs (IDLs) are a division of Academic Technologies which is

a division of the Educational Technology Unit of the college (Organizational Units, n.d.).

The Academic Technologies Unit consists of instructional technology specialists that are

trained to collaborate with faculty and staff, to integrate technology in order to implement creative

and effective instructional strategies and efficient workflow processes. The IDLs are technology

centers that provide access to state-of-the-art software and hardware for the production of innovative

multimedia resources.

Information regarding the services offered by the IDLs was accessed from informational web

pages, interviews with personnel, and observations of interactions between faculty and staff with the

instructional technology specialists.


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Organizational Chart

OfficeofInstructionalTechnology

InformationSystems

InfrastructureTechnology

EducationalTechnologies

InformationSecurity

ClientRelations&Services Projects&Planning

InstructionalTechnology

TechnologySupport

ServiceDesk

Classroom&EventTechnology

AcademicTechnologies

DirectorofAcademicTechnology

InstructionalTechnologyCoordinator

Alpharetta(DL)InstructionalTechnologist

Clarkston(DL)InstructionalTechnologist

Dunwoody(DL)InstructionalTechnologist

Decatur(DL)InstructionalTechnologist

Newton(DL)InstructionalTechnologist

OnlineDesignLab(DL)InstructionalTechnologist


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Methods

Information was obtained through an interview with an Instructional Design Lab

Instructional Technologist. My goal was to determine the key responsibilities for someone in this

position as well as visualize how what they do in their day to day activities contributes to

accomplishing the overall objective of enhancing teaching, learning, and administrative functions.

The interview questions are included in Appendix A.

Information was also obtained through observations of faculty and staff interactions with

IDL instructional technology specialists. An observation instrument was accessed from

http://litd.psch.uic.edu/research/projects/ww/tools.asp and then adapted to more closely address the

characteristics & objectives of technology resource centers. The observation instrument is included

in Appendix B.

Additional information including a personnel chart and a description of mission, and

services was accessed from the Office of Information Technology (OIT) web pages:

http://www.gpc.edu/oit/about/organizational.Overall job descriptions were obtained as a result ofinterviews with various OIT personnel.

Center Context

GPC is the largest associate degree-granting college, and the third largest institution in the

University System of Georgia. As of Fall 2011, the total enrollment was at 24,549 students enrolled

at 5 campuses, as well as online. Currently, there is an IDL on each of the 5 campuses as well as one

dedicated to online faculty & staff (Fact Sheet, 2012). The stakeholders concerned with the success

of the IDLs include faculty, staff, students, administration, as well as the local communities which

the college serves.


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Mission and Goals

Georgia Perimeter Colleges OIT supports a large number of technology tools and services.

The overall strategic goal of the OIT is to empower and enhance the academic learning process

while providing customer centered information technology services and support. The role of the

IDLs is to provide on-going support in the use of technology tools and services. Essentially their goal

is to pick up where the colleges formal training classes and workshops leave off. The Instructional

Design Labs (IDLs) are readily accessible on each campus for faculty & staff who wish to

incorporate technology in their teaching and/or administrative support activities. Each IDL provides

access to state-of-the-art software and hardware (Design Lab, n.d.). Usage of the IDLs is tracked

using help desk requests, followed up by customer satisfaction evaluations that are sent at the close

of each help desk ticket.

Key Personnel

Each instructional design lab is staffed with 1 or more instructional technology specialists.

The Instructional Technology Specialist functions include training and assisting faculty in using

technology software for course development and delivery; Assisting faculty in the integration of

technology into the classroom by training them in the use of software and hardware; Preparing,

reviewing, and evaluating training materials; Assisting with instructional design; Providing technical

support to staff; Assisting with learning management system course design.

The instructional Technology Specialist is supported by the Training Coordinator. The

Training Coordinator functions includeimplementing a training initiative that will increase the

overall technical skill base of the college; Identifying training needs and developing formal and

ongoing training that addresses the needs; Scheduling training and maintaining attendance records

and customer satisfaction survey data; Supervising Training Specialists; Creating training course

materials; Collaborating with Instructional Technology Specialists to develop training content for


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faculty.

The Training Coordinator is supported by the Director of Instructional Technologies. The

Director of Instructional Technologies functions include managing and leading a professional and

technical staff in meeting the colleges training and instructional technology needs for both academic

and administrative personnel; Identifies and provides adequate planning, support, and training for

applications that support instruction; Works with others within OIT to define and plan new programs,

projects, and initiatives for the implementation of new technologies; Oversees the administration of

the Learning Management System, Web Conferencing System, and other content delivery systems;

Oversees the purchase and maintenance of instructional design hardware and software.

Technology Center Activities

The Instructional Technology Specialist provides the following services:

Assist faculty development of instructional materials, web pages, and instructional videos

Purpose: Increase student engagement through the use of innovative technologies

Audience: faculty

Conducted: In the IDLs as well as in faculty offices and classrooms

Consulting on face-to-face, online, and hybrid course design and best practices


Audience: faculty

Conducted: In the IDLs as well as in faculty offices (including virtual office spaces)

Assist faculty with the design of student media projects. Brainstorm instructional strategies.

Purpose: Increase student engagement through the use of innovative technology

Audience: faculty, staff, and students

Conducted: In the IDLs as well as in faculty offices (including virtual office spaces), and

classrooms.


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Assist faculty with the implementation of pilot programs.


Audience: faculty, staff, and students

Conducted: In the IDLs as well as in faculty offices (including virtual office spaces), and

classrooms.

Learning Management System administration, support, and training

Purpose: Assist with instructional design

Audience: faculty

Conducted: In the IDLs as well as in faculty (including virtual office spaces)

Echo 360 lecture capture administration, support, and training

Purpose: Allow instructors to archive their lectures for reference

Audience: faculty

Conducted: In the IDLs as well as in classrooms

Assist faculty & staff with the use of a Sympodium

Purpose: Facilitate presentation and increase engagement

Audience: faculty & staff

Conducted: In the IDLs as well as in classrooms and meeting rooms

Assist faculty and staff with the coordination of Wimba meetings

Purpose: Facilitate virtual collaboration

Audience: faculty & staff

Conducted: In the IDLs as well as in faculty & staff offices, and meeting rooms

Mimio Whiteboard Capture Tool administration, support, and training

Purpose: Allow instructors to save whiteboard notes & drawings to computer

Audience: faculty


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Conducted: In the IDLs as well as in classrooms

Accessibility

The IDLs are open and accessible to faculty and staff on weekdays between the hours of 8am

and 4:30 pm. Requests for assistance are submitted to the OIT service desk. A help desk ticket is

created which is then promptly forwarded to the proper technical support team member. Depending

upon the nature of the request, the instructional technology specialist will either provide phone

support; arrange a meeting in the IDL, an office, a meeting room, or classroom. At the close of the

help-desk ticket, a customer service satisfaction survey is immediately sent to the client in order to

provide OIT immediate feedback regarding the promptness and usefulness of the service call.

Available Resources

Each IDL is equipped with 1 or more workstations. Instructional software included can be

used for desktop publishing (creating PowerPoint presentations and Word documents), designing web

pages, and practicing skills with presentation tools such as the Sympodium and the Echo 360 Lecture

capture software. Multimedia software allows faculty and staff to create a variety of multimedia

products such as instructional videos, audio podcasts, and multimedia presentations. Additional

hardware includes: a scanner, digital still and video cameras, graphic tablets, and headphone

microphones.

Each workstation in the IDL is equipped with the following software: Microsoft Office 2010,

Adobe Creative Suite 5, SMART Notebook, Adobe Acrobat, Canoscan, Camtasia, Captivate,

Quicktime Pro, Windows Media Encoder, MOVkit, iMovie, Audacity, GarageBand, Respondus,

Wimba Create, Wimba Voice, Wimba Classroom (Design Lab, n.d.).

Recommendations

The IDLs operate efficiently but currently many of the IDLs can only be accessed during the

office hours of the instructional technology specialist. By installing card key lock access to each lab,


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faculty and staff would have greater more flexible access to the labs in order to independently

complete projects. This would also provide more accurate tracking data for lab usage reports.

Development of a mobile tracking device for use outside of the lab to record details (i.e.

length of time, general type of technology support provided) regarding consultations and training that

take place in offices, classrooms, and meeting rooms throughout the campus would also be useful.

This would provide more accurate documentation of the types of services most frequently provided as

well as the average time span of various spontaneous consultations. This data could then be used to

generate a monthly report which would provide a more accurate snapshot view of the typical services

provided and an approximate idea of how much time is generally invested in each type of technical

support activity.

Enlarging the IDLs to provide a place for colleagues to come and brainstorm in a setting that

encourages collaboration and interaction would be useful. Currently, the IDLs consist of no more

than 2 workstations and the relatively small room environment is not conducive to promoting project

collaboration.


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Part B: Summary Report

Evaluation

Based upon my research, interviews, and observations, the instructional design labs appear to

be accomplishing their goals. Faculty and staff sporadically need support in their day to day work

processes and currently the one instructional technology specialist per campus seems to be sufficient

to support those needs. In cases where the instructional technology specialist is unavailable, they have

the support of the OIT staff to supplement their services. The automatic satisfaction surveys provide

immediate feedback with an assessment of the quality of service provided.

The Instructional Design Labs (IDLs) provide an invaluable service on each of the Georgia

Perimeter College campuses. The lab is equipped with state-of-the-art software and hardware. The

instructional technology specialists are highly skilled and provide just in time instruction to help

faculty and staff optimally utilize technology to accomplish their goals & objectives. Customers

receive prompt responses to their help desk requests and immediate follow-up to clarify the details of

the technical support required. The instructional technologists are adept at communicating with

clients, which include both faculty and staff, possessing various levels of technical ability. They are

highly skilled at providing technical support while recognizing and respecting their clients

professional role.

Visitors to the lab have a variety of support needs but typical requests from both faculty and

staff include assistance building & editing web pages, creating & editing videos, and support

coordinating virtual meetings. Faculty frequently receives support in developing instructional

strategies utilizing innovative technologies, support in using the Learning Management System, and

support in building templates for online courses.


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References

Fact Sheet. (2012). Retrieved April 5, 2012, from

http://www.gpc.edu/News_and_Information/fact.php3#data

Organizational Units. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2012, from

http://www.gpc.edu/oit/about/organizational

Technology Resources Checklist. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2012, from

http://litd.psch.uic.edu/research/projects/ww/tools.aspThe Instructional Design Lab. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://www.gpc.edu/oit/idl


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Appendix A

Final Interview Questions:

1. How long have you been in your current position?

2. What former position(s) best prepared you for your current position?

3. What is your personal mission statement as it relates to your job?

4. Please describe 5 key responsibilities of your position?

5. What type of support (administrative, technology, or project coordination) have you found isessential for you to be most productive at your job?

6. What is one of the greatest challenges related to transforming the current culture to get themto embrace the changes that accompany new technology?

7. What is your favorite part of this job, the part you would do even if you didnt get paid for it?

8. Have you read any books, articles or attended any conferences recently that you would highlyrecommend to a person entering this field?

9. If you were to get promoted and leave this position, what words of wisdom would you have tooffer the person following in your footsteps?


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Appendix B

Observation Visit Questions/Checklist

Technology Resource Center Name:

Grade Level:

Approximate Number of Students:Location:

How does a faculty or staff member gain access to the resource center or request technical support

services?How accessible is the resource center?What types of software resources are available?What types of hardware resources are available?What types of requests for support does the instructional technology specialist most frequentlyreceive?What percentage of the requests comes from faculty?What percentage of the requests comes from staff?

Observations

Instructional Technology Specialists Behavior Modeling / demonstrating Coaching / scaffolding Listening / watching

Other

Faculty or Staff Behavior Listening/ Note taking

Question/Response Hands-on learning Other

Resources Required

Software

Hardware

Technology Utilized

For presentation For communication For graphic design

For web design For course template design For instructional design

For administrative support

Other

Notes:

technology resource center analysis

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