Towards Envisioning the Future of Instructional Technology at Virginia Tech:

Organizational Systems Perspectives

Based on Input from the Organizational Systems Subcommitteeof the Task Force on Instructional Technology

Scott Midkiff (convener)Debbie Fulton (convener)

Jack DavisSherry FontaineJohn Harwood

John MoorePeter Macedo

Todd Ogle

March 4, 2011

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Focus of the Subcommittee’s Report (1)

• Organizational systems are broadly defined and encompass, at the least …– Academic support organizations– Infrastructure support organizations– Organizations that support training and use of technology– Academic units

• Horizon is from today to 10+ years

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Focus is on broad, high-level requirements, leading to opportunities, for organizational systems that will be driven in some form by instructional technology

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Focus of the Subcommittee’s Report (2)• Two general themes

– Organizational systems will need to respond, adapt or change to remove barriers, provide incentives, or better support teaching and learning that more fully leverages current technology or leverages future technology

– Crrent and future instructional technologies can enable new ways to realize and improve organizational functions

• Tried to identify potential opportunities, but have not considered costs versus benefits

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Status• A collection of inputs from the subcommittee (30 items),

complete with redundancy and varying levels of detail• Evolution and refinement are tasks for the next few weeks

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Broad Categories• Administrative Functions – Removing Barriers• Training and Technical Support – Enabling Effective Use of

Technology for Teaching and Learning• Infrastructure – Technology Support for Teaching and Learning• Learning Analytics – Leveraging Infrastructure and Data• Educational and Instructional Technology Research – Inventing

the Future

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Many points span multiple categories

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Administrative Functions – Removing Barriers• Course scheduling

– Flexibility in timing– Flexibility in institution offering and using– Alerts and planning data

• Registration– Who is a VT student?– When are they a VT student?

• Courses– Hybrid courses– More information about courses

• Content repositories– Student access– Integrating content– Sharing and selling/buying content– IP issues

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Training and Technical Support – Enabling Effective Use of Technology for Teaching and Learning

• Seamless technology support for all faculty and students• Coordinated, collaborative and comprehensive instructional

development and support resources– Flexible modules– Web based

• New models of peer evaluation and mentoring

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Infrastructure – Technology Supportfor Teaching and Learning (1)

• Network connectivity– Ubiquitous access to high-bandwidth networking in the classroom– Support to stay “one-step ahead”

• Mobility support– Platforms and applications– Connectivity

• Mechanisms that support and leverage innovative technology in the classroom– Technology infrastructure– Activity monitoring and capture

• Unified identity management– Within VT, for multiple functions, and across institutions

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Infrastructure – Technology Supportfor Teaching and Learning (2)

• Moving to “the cloud”– Infrastructure– Repositories (cloud and not) and management

• Connecting the “physical” and the “cyber”– In classrooms and other learning spaces– For physical artifacts

• New simulation models, especially for the humanities and social sciences

• Exploring and transitioning to new technology– Instrumentation– Assessment– Support

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Learning Analytics – LeveragingInfrastructure and Data

• Student and faculty support through learning analytics systems to identify at-risk students at the course level

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Educational and Instructional Technology Research – Inventing the Future

• Nurture and develop transdisciplinary educational research that integrates educational research with technology innovation, and the practice of faculty teaching and student learning

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