acadsupport

Academic Computing Support:
Implications for Practice and Development
by Bizhan Nasseh
Ball State University
April 2001

Advancements in computer and communication technologies, changes in the student body, changes from a data society to an information society and soon to a knowledge society, global demands for knowledge, and tough competition in the global economy and education have brought about the need for changes in the missions, cultures, structures, processes, and programs of higher education. As Ball State University moves toward a new paradigm in the 21st century, information technology can be instrumental in achieving institutional missions in teaching, learning, research, and service. Educational programs in the new paradigm have some of the following characteristics:

Educational opportunity is not just local but also national and global.
The focus of education is on learning not teaching.
Technology-based education and distance education as part of the mission for the institution.
Digital communication, collaboration, and digital resources for cognition must support on-campus and off-campus educational programs.
Faculty development and support have a high priority and commitment.

For these goals to be acheived, institutions have made extensive investments in the development of infrastructure; still, major issues to be resolved are (1) an increase in teachers’ level of competency about the contribution and capability of computer and communication technologies, and (2) the implementation of academic support system that is capable of providing the needed training, services, development, and consultation in technology-based education. It is a critical time for the development of a well designed Academic Support Unit that can contribute effectively to our institution and faculty in order to meet the requirements of education in the 21st century.

Mission
The potential of technology is extraordinary, but so are the challenges of developing a quality information technology environment for teaching, learning, and research. The main purpose of an Academic Support Unit (ASU) is to provide an entire spectrum of services and support to faculty and students by introducing, maintaining, and developing the information technology environment needed for teaching and learning. The vision for academic support is to create a teaching and learning environment where all faculty, staff, and students have access to digital communication and collaboration technology, to development tools, and to needed support, services, and resources. To accomplish the task of support for technology-based education, the interrelated branches of application development, support and helpdesk, development and general labs, training and workshops, and consultation of University Computing Services must bear more challenging roles in the 21st century. The Academic Support Unit is vital for the academic growth and changes of our institution in the 21st century for the following reasons:

Demands for access to information technology and digital resources for teaching and learning are expected to increase rapidly in the 21st century.
Teachers’ knowledge about the power and possibility of technology is crucial for the design and development of competitive and effective technology-based programs.
Teachers’ skills and contributions are essential for the better utilization of computer and communication technologies and the development of digital resources at BSU.
Teachers are expected to utilize technology and support technology-based programs.
Teachers and students both are lifelong learners in the 21st century. BSU should invest in and support on-demand services and training for teachers and students.
Distance education is becoming a mission for BSU, and online education should provide a competitive edge for our institution.
The ASU should research new technologies and develop plans for a migration path that include technology, faculty members, and support staff members.
The ASU should develop short-term and long-term strategic and operational faculty development plan for basic skills and instructional delivery.

Ball State University has made major investments in infrastructure, and the Academic Support Unit will play a crucial role in the preparation of faculty to use technology and in the development of technology-based education.

Objectives of ASU
In order to function effectively in the complicated technological environment, all faculty members and students at BSU must have access to needed computing resources and support. The main objective of the Academic Support Unit is to support BSU’s missions in teaching, learning, research, and service through effective contributions to needed training, consultation, development, support, and services. In addition to the broad definition as stated above, we need the following guiding principles as the basis for long term planning, recommendations, and development of the Academic Support Unit.

Establish a flexible base level of services and support for all faculty members and students at BSU. This base level should be flexible enough to allow for changes in technology.
Establish a set of standards and structures for academic support and development tools that will be supported by the campus. The purpose is to promote consistency, cost efficiency, and quality of support.
Establish support beyond the base level for early adopters, innovators, and members by developing ideas beyond the basic level of utilization.
Establish a three-year strategic plan of contributions to the academic needs for training, development, and consultation in information technology. The plan should be adaptable to changes in academic needs and technology.
Provide support and consultation for faculty and students in application development and in the use of technology in teaching and learning.
Establish new functions for university labs and Local Service Providers to become a part of faculty development, training programs, and application development.
Provide needed training to faculty in the use of basic technology and discipline-related technology.
Provide needed structures, resources, tools, and support for the Internet-based distance education program.
Help faculty and students with communication and instructional delivery in the on- and off-campus courses.
Direct faculty development programs with workshops, an educational fair, and UCS grant programs for innovative ideas.
Provide continually updated information about new developments and advancements in educational technology and methodology to the campus communities.
Establish an academic support committee to help in the development of shared vision, policies, and procedures for academic support and services.
Establish cooperative programs with Academic Support Units at other educational institutions in Indiana.

The hallmark of the academic support system is the utilization of talents, skills, and knowledge of interrelated group members for the purpose of providing an optimal information technology environment for technology-based education at Ball State University. Because of the complexity of technology and the variety of needs, the Matrix organizational model is a very common and practical model of service in today’s higher educational institutions.

Definition of Services
According to the 1999 Campus Computing Survey, “assisting faculty efforts to integrate information technology into instruction remains the single most important information technology issue confronting American colleges and universities,” while “providing adequate user support” ranks second. The core responsibility of the Academic Support Unit is to involve and support the majority of BSU faculty in activities, which will establish the technology-based delivery of instruction for on-campus and distance education students at Ball State University. The foundation of technology-based education is digital communication, collaboration, and quality digital materials and resources for cognition. Therefore it takes the effort of multiple interrelated specialized areas to prepare and support faculty for digital communication and collaboration, and to arrange and develop needed digital resources for cognition. Many of the current services and support consist of contributions from different branches at UCS. Many interrelated groups will provide on-demand training and consultation that will, overall, support the commitment of UCS. For example, Local Service Providers in colleges are providing many one-on-one, hands-on, on-demand training and consultation meetings for faculty members in numerous subjects and situations at the colleges; helpdesk members are providing many different types of consultation and learning opportunities for faculty, staff, and students as they investigate problems and provide needed solutions; and lab management group members provide daily one-on-one and hands-on training sessions for faculty, students, and staff in the utilization of labs’ equipment (hardware and software).
These isolated services and support are valuable contributions to the campus communities, but these services must be structured and organized to be more productive. In addition, these groups’ members must have the opportunity to share their experience, skills, and knowledge with each other and with others. For further efficiency, some of the technology support and service, and application development activities of the Teleplex and Center for Teaching Technology, should be harmonized and combined with UCS support and services. The following is an example of the matrix model of support and service. In this model, the Academic Support Unit provides better organized and higher quality support and services by utilizing the skills and talents of many inter-related group members in training, service, support, and development. The following are brief descriptions of the inter-related groups, which are essential to support the academic needs of Ball State University.

Application Development
Designing, developing, and implementing dynamic and interactive digital educational resources requires major effort as well as knowledge of and experience with digital technology, application development techniques, and methodologies. Traditionally, UCS has successfully developed educational software that has been recognized nationally and has supported teaching and learning of teachers and students for years. The School of Nursing, the Natural Resources Department, and the Art Gallery and Department are a few examples of areas that have benefited from UCS contributions and advanced the quality of their programs. In order to promote further advancements campus-wide an application development group is essential for consultation and development of the high quality Internet-based resources for teaching and learning. In the development of educational resources, the development team includes, in addition to the application developers, an instructional designer, the teacher (content provider), and in some cases, a multimedia programmer and a librarian. The next major goal of higher educational institutions is to provide opportunities for students to gain practical knowledge in addition to theoretical knowledge. Our current expectation is that Internet-based resources must benefit from the potential of CGI programming, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and object-oriented databases. Fortunately, every discipline has rich events, concepts, examples, models, and knowledge bases. The conversion of theories to computer applications, events to case studies, models to simulations, concepts to demonstrations, and knowledge bases to intelligent systems are the hallmark of the next revolution of technology in higher educational institutions. The application development team, with adequate knowledge in different development methodologies, technologies, and databases, can help institutions to benefit from the revolutionary potential of technology in teaching and learning.

Distance Education
The global demands for knowledge are growing rapidly. Every five years, about 75% of the work force in the United States needs retraining, and lifelong learning is for all members of our society. Distance education learners are creating a mass market for the business of learning, and distance education is becoming a strategic direction for all higher educational institutions in the 21st century. Distance learners are more selective about which institutions have quality programs that foster measurable improvement in their skills. Over 1,600 corporate universities are offering competency-based education programs and aggressively compete with higher educational institutions in attracting distance education learners. In addition, over 800 higher educational institutions are investing in and offering Internet-based distance education programs with hopes of sharing this vast and demanding market. BSU must participate aggressively in Internet-based distance education and offer innovative, proactive, and quality online programs not only for off-campus students, but also for on-campus students. Distance education now involves a high degree of interactivity between teacher and students, among students, and between students and learning resources. Several units are supporting distance education activities at BSU, but the contribution of UCS in the form of support, service, training, and development of high quality resources is essential for the success of distance education programs in the future. Some of the main contributions of the Academic Support Unit to distance education at BSU are the following:

Prepare faculty to utilize digital communication and collaboration tools in distance education programs.
Support development of web-based teaching and learning resources and materials that support online learning-while-doing.
Provide training in distance education concepts, methodologies, technologies, and network associated with distance education.
Help faculty to integrate technology and resources that provide pedagogical advantages to online teaching and learning.
Help BSU to select tools and technologies most appropriate to the instructional goals and objectives of distance education programs.
Develop the understanding of immediate and future needs of distance education programs and plan to support the needed activities and services.
Research effective courses and resource development methodologies and technology, and evaluate the effectiveness of online learning resources.

It is essential to have a distance education support team in the Academic Support Unit that can take advantage of the matrix model for training, services, and development. In addition to individual faculty, departments, and colleges, the distance education team should also work closely with the College of Continuing Education, Teleplex, Library, and Office of Teaching and Learning.

Training and Workshops
Training of faculty, staff, and students is a critical issue in today’s higher educational institutions. Many different units are working in isolation to advance training programs at BSU. It is important that UCS, with its vast technical expertise and knowledge, direct and harmonize these isolated activities. Faculty members are highly autonomous and have different levels of skills, styles, needs, and talents. The wide variety of academic disciplines is also a major problem for quick solutions. Simply, one size does not fit all. The training group should provide adaptive, on-demand, and package-based training for faculty without limitation of time, place, skills, and disciplines. The training group should also develop proactive short- and long-term training plans based on the institution’s mission in teaching and learning. An accepted fact is that faculty must have adequate computer and communication skills in order to envision and plan the utilization of computer applications in teaching and learning activities, and effectively participate as a member in the development of needed resources. The following steps have the potential to enhance our training programs:

Create a structure that enhances the diversity of discipline-based and subject-based needs, and supports different levels of skills and styles.
When training, try to be proactive with the needs of departments and colleges by understanding their future plans, directions, and programs.
Develop infrastructure (both technical and organizational) that supports the development of resources for learning-on-demand and package-based training.
Utilize collective knowledge and skills of the institution by arranging cross-functional teams of experts from information technology branches and academic units.
Plan short term for skilled faculty, faculty with immediate needs, and selected departments. Plan long term for the entire campus and for selected colleges.
React fast to unexpected training needs of BSU’s communities.
Define the needed basic skills level and the instructional development/delivery skills level in order to plan training that supports development of both skills.
Utilize a variety of methods such as minicourses, one-on-one tutorials, workshops, and indirect development (grant, GA and intern programs, and reward systems).
Define training subjects and methods based on results of needs assessments, as well as input from faculty and departments.
Develop online, multimedia, web-based, and interactive learning materials for subjects, which are needed by the whole campus and have the potential for conversion to online training.

In the next few years, on-demand and package training without reservation of time, place, and skills will be crucial for the preparation of faculty at BSU. The training division of UCS should be ready to support training needs of faculty and departments as they offer new programs and services. No matter which branches of UCS we are working with, each member of UCS has opportunity for one-on-one training of clients in software, hardware, and methodology. It is appropriate that each member of UCS have some level of knowledge about training processes and methodology in order to contribute effectively when opportunities exist.

Helpdesk/Consulting /Support
For centuries, teachers were expected to be experts in their subject matter. Today, in addition to subject mater, teachers are expected to be experts in the utilization of information technology in their teaching and learning processes and activities. Simply, in the complex environment of information technology, teachers and students need support, services, and consultation in many areas such as multimedia tools and development, network access, Internet-based activities, web development, PC hardware and software, computer server utilization for programing and data storage, data analysis, lab equipment, and distance education. Hassle-free and on-demand consultation and off-hours support are the major issues in making technology-based education successful. There is universal agreement that the success of technology-based education is related to the quality of support teams. The UCS helpdesk handles questions, problems, reports, service requests about computer hardware and software, digital communication and collaboration, Internet connection, development tools, and other related topics. Some other groups such as Local Service Providers and lab management have opportunities to contribute to user support and services directly, and some others such as systems technology make contributions to the user support indirectly through the helpdesk. In other words, all of us in UCS are members of the helpdesk in the support of users at BSU.
Having talented and skilled members of Local Service Providers in each college provides a great opportunity for UCS to utilize LSP members’ skills and knowledge beyond hardware and software installation and Internet connection to more branches of services, training, and consultations at the college level. For greater accomplishments, the LSP members should work closely with helpdesk and training teams.
The helpdesk is the gateway to what UCS can do for faculty, staff, and students in the development and utilization of technology. Members of the BSU communities measure the contributions of UCS. It is important that UCS advances helpdesk services with qualified helpdesk staff members, and with fast and quality contributions by all other UCS staff. In the case of distance education, evening and weekend support is crucial for both teachers and students.

Computer Labs
The computer labs at BSU provide computing resources to support the
academic research and instructional activities of the university, and are intended for use by university faculty, staff, and students. As the instructional activities are changing rapidly beyond utilization of equipment, the labs at Ball State University should adjust to their new role as a learning and development environment with needed hardware, software, and human resources. Expectations and needs of anytime, anywhere support are crucial for effective utilization of information technology. Lab staff can no longer be considered apart from uses of computer and communication technologies and equipment in the labs. They are the needed first line service providers, trainers, and consultants for faculty, staff, and students. The computer labs’ contributions are crucial for technology-based education at Ball State University. In the new environment, computer labs’ contributions include the following:

Arranging class meetings in the labs.
Providing on-site training opportunities for faculty and students on hardware, software, and special equipment.
Providing consultation and problem solving in the utilization of computer and communication technologies.
Assisting faculty and students in integrating technology into their teaching and learning activities and resources.
Offering hands-on training and consultation anytime.
Evaluating the learning, developing, and accessing needs of faculty and students.
Providing cross-sectional team participation and contributions for technology-based teaching and learning activities in the UCS.

The lab managers, with their rich experience and knowledge, are valuable resources for training and development of faculty and students. Each lab at BSU offers diverse levels of support for numerous applications on various equipment and platforms, which makes contributions of lab management very difficult and sensitive to the information technology mission of the institution. Sharing knowledge and skills through training, consultation, and support is even more crucial in special labs such as GIS, CAD, and multimedia labs. With constant changes in needs, demands, and technology, BSU lab management should endure new responsibilities and roles in the area of service, supports, development, and training at BSU.

Conclusion
The anticipated outcomes of the Academic Support Unit are 1) institutional—enhancing faculty support, on-demand training, resources development and utilization, and access to needed tools and resources; 2) pedagogical--changing the process of teaching/learning, developing on-demand learning and support, supporting appropriate technology for effective pedagogical practice, and satisfying instructional goals; and 3) organizational—encouraging better teacher and student communication, group interaction, proactive short-term and long-term plans, and preparation of support staff. Additionally, advancements in and infusion of computer and communication technologies in teaching and learning, a rapid increase in the demands for knowledge, and tough global competition in the market of education have brought about the need for the development of a support unit that can help institutions develop a competitive edge by using information technology in teaching and learning effectively.
Finally, computer and communication technologies have reached a degree of utilization, innovation, and sophistication, which make their contribution in teaching and learning a must for higher educational institutions. Faculty members’ roles in this new paradigm is crucial for the institution, learners, and society. Faculty should understand the potential and impact of technologies before they can envision its utilization and roles in teaching and learning. In addition, support, consultation, training, and development are other factors, which can truly help faculty and the institution implement technology-based education. Investment in the Academic Support Unit is vital to the strategic direction of Ball State in the utilization of technology in teaching, learning, and research.

Last update 5/23/2001