Transcript Overview

Fostering ICT Innovation in an
Innovative Way
Simone Knapp
Stephanie Frost
Rachel Heidecker
Overview
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Introduction
Goals
Developing the Fund & Process
Public Class Pages (Open CourseWare) Project
Library Mobile Services Project
Observations on the Successes
Lessons Learned
Conclusion
Introduction
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U of S Campus Environment
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17 colleges & schools; several affiliated colleges
~20,000 students
Distributed/Federated ICT Model
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Multiple ICT shops
Introduction
Foster
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1. to promote the
growth or
development of;
further; encourage: to
foster new ideas.
Innovation
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1. something new or
different introduced.
2. the act of
innovating; introduction
of new things or
methods.
Goals
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Establish ICT innovation as a strategic priority
Provide the capacity to respond to ICT
innovation opportunities in a coordinated
manner
Leverage existing resources in colleges and
administrative units
Reduce the frequency of funding requests for
ICT projects.
BUT…
We needed new money to support
innovation!
Developing the Fund & Process
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Developed a request for innovation funding
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Identified the benefits the fund would provide
Identified recent innovations that could have
benefited from this fund (e.g. iUsask app)
Identified risks of not supporting innovation
Conditional approval received very quickly
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Required further information about processes and
Terms of Reference needed to be developed
Developing the Fund & Process
Submitted a
proposal
requesting
creation of
fund
Terms of
Reference
approved
May 2010
October 2010
Call for
proposals:
- e-learning
- mobile
February – March 2011
Selection
committee
reviewed
proposals
March 2011
Developing the Fund & Process
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To help with reporting, created three forms:
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Outline
Mid-term Status Report
Final Report
Released funds in phases
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First half after receiving project outline
Second half after receiving mid-term/final report
Public Class Pages
(Open CourseWare)
Stephanie Frost
Public Class Pages (Open CourseWare)
Every course automatically has a web page that
includes course-specific data:
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Catalogue info: Instructor name,
course description, prerequisites
required, etc.
Textbook (direct link to Bookstore)
Library (course-specific and subjectspecific resources)
a pretty link (ex.
http://ocw.usask.ca
/AR/BIOL/120)
files the instructor has chosen to
share
Many departments working together!
University Learning Centre
1.
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project initiators
ICT Educational and Research Technology Services group
2.
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folks in charge of Blackboard
Student Enrolment Services Division
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data feed for course names & codes
Library
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publically accessible course-specific material
Bookstore
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links to textbooks
ICT Help Desk
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get professors to call them, not me
calls about OCW often related to other Blackboard questions anyway
Training Services
7.
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documentation consistent with other Course Tools support (e.g. How to use the Gradebook)
professional videos
ICT Innovation Funding helped to
“smooth” the collaboration…
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Felt the project had the university’s “blessing”
when approaching other units about
collaborating
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Conversation starter
Some departments need to bill you, others don’t
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ICT Innovation Fund helped cover costs
Convenient for Instructors
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Blackboard files and OCW files are in the same
location (i.e. in Blackboard)
You can do this too
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This approach will work for any Course
Management System that allows guest browsing
No custom modifications to Blackboard were
necessary
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Leverage Guest Access functionality
Basically, OCW is a fancy link-generator
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Looks
like: https://bblearn.usask.ca/?action=guest_login&ne
w_loc=%2Fwebapps%2Fuofs-courseredirectbb_bb60%3Fcourseid=87864.201109
Results
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Even instructors without local ICT support are
automatically set up with OCW
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don't have to learn a new system
Two core institutional systems (Blackboard and
Course Catalogue)
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brought together in a new way to benefit a wider
audience
Library Mobile Services
(Mobile Strategy Evolution)
Rachel Heidecker
Previous Mobile Services
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iUsask (Released for iPhone/iPod in 2009)
Previous Mobile Services
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Vendor Services
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Mobile Catalogue
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Feature Phones
(http://sundog.usask.ca/airpac)
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Smart Phones
(http://mcat.usask.ca/)
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Catalogue Search Results
(Call No, Location, Etc)
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SMS & Email Message Delivery
Previous Mobile Services
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Responsive Web Design
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Quick
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Prototype (2009)
New presentation layer
Same content as the existing website
Challenges
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Too much content
Navigation (dead-ends)
Top Tasks
What we did right
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Took advantage of opportunities as they came
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Skill development
Observed and measured usage of vendor apps
(Google Analytics)
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Knowledge and evidence for decision-making
Prototyping
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Industry & usability insights
GREAT!
BUT!
Nowother
we know
exactly
what
to doresources.
...
... we have
priorities
and
limited
ICT Innovation Fund Proposal
May 2011
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Mobile Strategy Evolution
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Start with a selection of mobile-relevant features
Not necessarily the same top tasks as the full
website.
Be ready to expand as we are able to integrate
other services that will provide the best user
experience
COLLABORATION
Identified opportunities to for collaboration with other units on campus:
Room Bookings within colleges and integration with iUsask
Implementation Timeline
Demonstration
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Library Mobile Website
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http://library.usask.ca/mobile
Group Study Room Booking
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http://www.usask.ca/learningcommons/booking/
Successes & Challenges
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Funding & Priorities
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Campus Partners
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Extended term programmer to ensure resources were
available
Flexibility required to balance existing workload
Central ICT (Mobile Templates, iUsask)
Connections with colleges
“Seamless” System Integration
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Positive user experience
Ready to expand
Observations on the Successes
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Participants all indicated the fund was valuable
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Saw as an opportunity
Provided institutional endorsement
Provided additional funds
Increased priority
Leveraging institutional services
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Minimized programming required by the unit
Easier to ramp up where lacking familiarity
Lessons Learned
(AKA Things we could have done better)
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Need to be partners and co-sponsors, not just a
source of funding
Need to know what the next steps would be if
project successful and becomes institution-wide
Making connections in a federated environment
isn’t as easy as it seems (e.g. different
programming languages, different priorities)
Lessons Learned
(AKA Things we could have done better)
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Project success may depend on type (prototype,
pilot project, advanced project)
Groups used internal funds to pay for the work
and then “invoiced” ICT after the work was done
by completing the forms
Maximum impact may come at the expense of
maximum breadth
Conclusion
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Ideas and processes that look good on paper
often stumble in the implementations
Success was had, but we could have been more
successful
Now see our challenges being addressed by
changes to our ICT governance model
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Will hopefully achieve the goals intended by this
initiative more broadly
Questions?
About the Fund:
http://www.usask.ca/avp-ict/portfolio/ict-innovation-fund/index.php
Public Class Pages (Open CourseWare):
http://ocw.usask.ca/
OCW Training Info:
http://www.usask.ca/its/courses/coursetools/ in Instructors: Help
Library Mobile Site:
http://library.usask.ca/mobile/
Mobile at the U of S:
http://mobile.usask.ca/