EDUCAUSE | Think Stops

EDUCAUSE 2008 Southeast Regional Conference: Think Stops

llarsen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:56:27 -0500

EDUCAUSE Southeast Regional Conference, June 2008

Think Stops - 3 questions and responses (photos of these low-tech wikis to come)

Think Stop 1: What are the most challenging higher education IT issues facing you and your staff?

Faculty opposition to integrating IT in the Classroom - Passively resistant
Older technologies – younger staff not interested in them
Email retention policies for staff/faculty
PCI compliance
Implementing a standardized project management process that leadership and staff will stay the course on…
Keeping employee morale up
Aligning service levels and expectations – staffing, backlogs, strategic planning
Outsourcing IT administrative processes and services (eg, payroll, HR, Business and finances)
“marrying” research computing with Instructional Tech.

Think Stop 2: Staff recruitment, development, and retention Issues – innovative ideas – best practices

Continuously show/explain to staff how what they do contributes to the institution’s mission and why what they do is important.
Student workers: when they leave, have them recruit among their friends
Certification
Student workers – treat as full members of the team
Mentoring
Competitive salaries (seconded)
Remind staff that they work for the students! (seconded)
Staff work for mission of the school not a system/application

Think Stop 3: Going green? Ideas and best practices for sustainability

Reduce paper consumption! Doc imaging
Upgrade to Vista
Use Google docs for internal editing/revisions instead of printing
Use wikis/swikis for documentation, both internal and external; secure blogs and rss feeds for announcements
Power saving settings through GPOs (system sleep, etc)O
Convince folks that IT equipment does not need light at night
Sharepoint collaboration (Thank You!!)
Just turn off computer when not in use! -> but what about timely auto updates to AU/AS/OS??
Encourage the market to continue decrease energy consumption of equipment
Encourage the market to consider total environmental cost of products (inputs, processes, products, end-of life)
Automate presentations system power off
Recycle paper/plastics
No handouts – post online

EDUCAUSE 2008 Midwest Regional Conference Think Stops

llarsen — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:02:20 -0500

EDUCAUSE 2008 Midwest Regional Conference Think Stops

Think Stop #1 What are you bringing back to your campus from this conference? (photo not available)

Start with the goal, not the tool/product.
Talk about learning not teaching: its service not IT.
IT shouldn’t be a hurdle between users & a/their goal, rather a path toward that goal. Goals are collaborative processes.
Copious notes.
Lots of “little & good” ideas.
"Peditechnical.”
Software “true ups”.
A big ear & open mind.
Teach IT staff customer experience skills – mode QT, and other companies that have exceptional care@u models
Relationships between central IT and unit IT.
Front offices, lounge

Think Stop #2 What keeps YOU awake at night? (Focus on IT-related issues from your perspective.) (photo not available)

Data security/privacy.
Too many projects, not enough time, staff, funding, buy-in, [each of the previous 4 crossed out followed by] pathos.
Telling my boss, “I told you so”.
Data Loss
I take Ambien, no problems!
Did a purchase get through that should have been reviewed?
Newborn child.
Coffee.
PCI/DSS.
Internal IT culture clash.
Not being prepared for the 14 year old that is making the next security breach.
Staff Retention
Lack of resources
The next big thing.

Think Stop #3 How can we address general frustration with campus IT? [Examples, “They” don’t listen to us, “They” don’t build what we want, “They” make everything complicated, Why don’t “They” just do their job right?] (See Photo above)

Don’t begin every response to a request for assistance with “You can’t…” or “We can’t…”
Why not go to the especially frustrated user and ask what he/she really needs – make it a success!
Deliberately hire staff with adaptable skills, customer service, communications, extroverts & introverts (can be effective too!), etc. Demand these skills in all our staff including the “techies”.
Stop calling these “soft” skills; they are very difficult and very rare. Put them squarely in our performance goals and compensate for them accordingly.
Many can’t be taught, so make good smart choices (in talent not skills).
Stop calling people “users”!
Answer the phone, David! Excellent!
Deploy technology that’s transparent
Put IT under Academic Affairs in the organizational structure. [added: No! Now that’s frustration! ][added: I agree, we have part of IT under Academic Affairs and it made us talk, collaborate, and cooperate.]
Greater transparency.
Service level agreements.
Be willing to consider projects that are “not on your radar screen”.
Include the rest of campus in planning. Create shared goals that IT executes. We are all in it together.
Make use of high tech anthropology.
Ask this very question and listen to the responses.
Tailor customer service training to introverts.
Provision: What will you stop doing? Do fewer things well. Decide how to scale.
Through listening! Meeting our clients face to face more often?
Listen. Advertise successes. Confront challenges. “Humanize IT”.
Demystify. Document. Hire grownups to work with grownups.
Communicate better. Be more visible.
Comprehensive training of front line support personnel.
Talk to customers.
Marketing.
More transparency in dealing with other campus units.

2008 EDUCAUSE Western Regional Conference Think Stops

llarsen — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:18:53 -0500

2008 EDUCAUSE Western Regional Conference Think Stops

Think Stop #1 How will Cloud Computing affect your campus?

Responses:

What is cloud?
It will/should coalesce large, disparate groups.
Clown Computing?
Dark Cloud = Google
Cost pressure will move us to Cloud.
Does Cloud = fog?
Does Cloud Computing only equal clusters? Or distributed thinking like Flickr?
Cloud Computing moves to the CPU after the network.
UI – CPU = Storage, memory, network
UI – Network = Storage, memory, CPU

Think Stop #2: What are your top strategies for dealing with budget cuts?

Responses:

Consensus through Large Group Intervention (LGI)
Crowd source your efforts.
Collaborate, do more with less.
Create an auxiliary and sell services. (x4)
Data Center consolidation. (x2)
Grants and private partnerships.
Ask them what they want me to stop doing.
Virtualization, centralization of commodity services, for pay services.
Virtualization – no cheap! But has already saved us 62%. XEN is open source.
Outsource and carefully analyze the costs, both one-time and ongoing of that outsourcing. Use these lessons on other outsourcing projects.
Hire work-study students and manage them well.
But how? Who will train them?
Use data to make decisions, especially cost/benefit analysis. (x2)
Oh yea, ROI!
Involve your staff in thinking of new solutions and rethinking for greater efficiency.
Virtualize PC’s, just like we have done with servers.

Think Stop # 3 What do you want to see/hear about at next year’s conference? and Think Stop #4 What should EDUCAUSE look like in 5 years? (NOTE - one photo for these two questions)

Think Stop #3 Responses

More from U of W.
Less presentations, more discussion. More taste, less filling.
Pub track.
Large Group Intervention.
Video Streaming.
Open Source lecture capture/Open Source video conference (e.g. dimdim)
Constantly available coffee. Ditto. Esp. very early
Gaming- how the next generation will learn.
Learner profiling.
Case studies in Project Management for IT. (x5)
Co-present in Second Life.
More faculty/tech collaboration presentation: theory into practice. (x2)
Distance learning.
Hi-Bi flex (hybrid + flexible + blended).
DAISY accessible books.
Decompression session – how to calm down and use what you have learned.

Think Stop #4 Responses

An Army of change-agents fully trained and equipped.
More international collaboration.
Offering active online communities of support/discussion and advocacy for policy issues affecting us all. (e.g. FERPA compliance, copyright/Fair Use)
Different, more social networking, more collaborative, less centralized, more distributive, user-driven, less presenting, and hybrid conferencing. (x2)
Digital online suggestion boards. (x2)
F2F meetings for deep dive discussions and brainstorming.
Online collaboration brainstorming space.
EDUCAUSE corps of people willing to mentor others from other campuses, spend time shadowing an expert manager or IT pro.
Partner with Nintendo

EDUCAUSE NERCOMP 2008 Think Stop #1

llarsen — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:36:17 -0500

EDUCAUSE NERCOMP 2008 Think Stop #1

What work related concern keeps you up at night?

Having to read email again
User pain
Lack of time
Privacy issues
Deadlines
Fund $
Junk postscript
Maintaining
Articulating institutional mission
Not enough time
Aligning with institutional mission
Security holes in my node and/or systems I manage
Forgotten details
Politics getting in the way of truly servicing your users
Maintaining critical but obsolete systems
Articulating the value of what we do
Lack of communication
Single points of failure in data storage
Patch Tuesday
“Watching cricket” – (comment after, what does this mean?)
Getting the AD release to Pirate Bay
Updates
Lost opportunity
George Bush
Jeb Bush
Students
Sensitive data loss
Too many good blogs to read, information overload
Higher education becoming too corporate, Mission statements pay for performance, ugh, no!
Imposter syndrome
Being the bottleneck
Sensitive data, security

EDUCAUSE NERCOMP 2008 Think Stop #2

llarsen — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:43:17 -0500

EDUCAUSE NERCOMP 2008 Think Stop #2What is the most exciting trend in higher education?

What is the most exciting trend in higher education?

Free, quick, easy web presence
Increasing IT worker salaries
Fully engaged and interactive distance learning
Virtualization
Shift of focus from retaining information to developing skills that allow for application and creativity
Distance Learning
Video games
Removing barriers to publication
Offsite data protection
Leveraging technology for better student-teacher relationships centered around inclusive educational practices
Active Learning
Reflective practice
Reflection and workplace learning
Preventing the Abilene paradox – (Amen!)
Peer coaching
Universal adult literacy
Data mining
Cyberinfrastructure
On-line collaboration
Collaboration/Social networking
Collaborative support (space & tools) for teaching and learning
Cross-disciplinary learning
Globalization
Web 2.0, cheap, easy, flexible, do it yourself communication tools
Distance Learning

EDUCAUSE NERCOMP 2008 Think Stop #3

llarsen — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:46:43 -0500

EDUCAUSE NERCOMP 2008 Think Stop #3

What is the most important characteristic of a leader?

Honesty
Ability to listen and hear
Low blood pressure
Thick skin
Having a vision
Taking calculated risks
Ability to prioritize
Having followers
Ability to delegate/empower
Ability to gather followers and bring the best out of everyone
Empowering your staff
Knowing the context and the people and able to apply the appropriate behaviors to achieve optimum effectiveness
Not being the leader, not micromanaging, not too many meetings
Vision and follow-through
Ability to simplify/clarify, mission into action
Energy
Heart
Socialization skills (they know your name)
Patience
Empathy
Skating to the puck
Trusting your staff
Mentoring
Chin up/ear to ground
Building relationship of trust
Decision-making skills
Self-learning
Integrity
Motivator
Optimism
Shake people out of their comfort zones
Communicated vision

EDUCAUSE Southwest Regional Conference Think Stop #2

llarsen — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:50:00 -0600

EDUCAUSE Southwest Regional Conference Think Stop #2

Question: How do we move from working in reactive mode and into proactive mode?

Responses:

Moving from reactive to proactive requires a cultural shift that needs to be deliberately planned and executed over time - change management is critical.
Proactive behaviors are rewarded - reactive behaviors are discouraged.
By planning?!
Step back...to see the bigger picture & talk.
Encourage reflection with periodic retreats, whether departmental or by workgroup.
Try to involve people who are open minded and forward thinking in your planning/decision making process.
Focus on what's good about what's not and then strive to make it better.
Allow well intentioned mistakes to occur w/o punishment.
Schedule time for planning & execution - work on important but not urgent things.

EDUCAUSE Southwest Regional Conference Think Stop #3

llarsen — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:52:17 -0600

EDUCAUSE Southwest Regional Conference Think Stop #3

Question: Green initiatives: Who's doing what to move towards sustainability?

Responses:

Turning equipment OFF when not in use!
But we use it for heat!
Duplexers on printers in stu.labs - default to print both sides.
Copy machines that only output to .PDF & e-mail the .PDF.
Require all institutional computers to power-off after hours.
Large (administrative mainframe) jobs "printed" to disk storage (we use Xythos webdav).
Go green campaign.

2008 EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference Think Stops

llarsen — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:51:34 -0600

Think Stops available at the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference each asked a different question to which attendees wrote responses, adding ideas, or building on the ideas of others. Here are photos of the white boards used for the Think Stops along with the ideas and thoughts generated. Thanks to Ellen Borkowski of the University of Maryland for providing the photos.

Think Stop #1 Taking Risks

Think Stop #1: Taking Risks – what risks did you take and how did they work out?

Created a mandatory Cell phone program with value add in applications
Developed an on-line application for ERP system proposals from vendors.
Closed a help desk & instituted roving support
Result – more time to help w/complex questions
Launch an ERP implementations without back-filling staff
Developing an enterprise wiki for collaboration between fac/staff/studnents
Adopting Google web toolkit -hard at first – (a new ‘programming paradigm’) – but saving us thousands of lines of code/effort/hours now (2 months later)
I took responsible of a large system – researches – and ended up resolving certain issues that had plagued it for years
I cross California Avenue every morning – and I’ve learned to look both ways

==========================================================

Think Stop #2 What's consuming your time?

Think Stop # 2: What’s consuming your time – and keeping you up at night?

Rising energy expenses
Governance – or lack thereof – or lack of effective
Documentation, community development, learning community management
How do I account for contact hours in fully online courses?
IT Security requirement – NIST/FISMA Etc. Every new federal contract requires an IT security plan….
Lack of user security awareness; Lack of internal controls and processes
How to return teaching & learning to “core mission”. Status within the universe of priorities competing for resources.
Motivating 40+ student employees towards better levels of technical expertise and customer service.
Trying to become proactive consultants instead of reactive troubleshooters
HACNERS & BOTNETS
Electrical and cooling capacity
Disaster recovery
People who turn off DNS servers and move them unapproved on Friday mornings.
24 & 7 support w/ 40 hr. staff
How to not get lost in tech issues vs. teaching
Application of these technologies in the classroom

===========================================================

Think Stop #3

Think Stop # 3: What would you like to see-hear-do at next year’s conf. in Philadelphia?

IT involvement/integration with physical security*
Identity management, IT as a tool for physical security and whatever happened to SCORM
-Powering/cooling schools technology infrastructure.
Authoring Tools for online courseware
Learning management Systems – caomparison, low-cost options
- -and the status of open source ones (SAKAI, Moodle, etc (seconded)
NFC applications and use of mobile devices to access academic, student life, and admin info (such as grades, room assignment)
IT Governance – examples – also governance/management distinctions
Sustainability
Workshop on determining costs for IT services
Web 2.0 practical applications to education
Developing collaboration and consensus to Pay for new technology
Privacy issues re: using google apps and hosted email services
More teaching practices using technology, esp. virtual worlds, wikis, blogs.

EDUCAUSE Southeast Regional: Think Stops

llarsen — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:17:31 -0500

Think Stops available at the Southeast Regional Conference each asked a different question to which attendees wrote responses, adding ideas, or building on the ideas of others. Here are photos of the white boards used for the Think Stops along with the ideas and thoughts generated. Thanks to Gerry Bayne, EDUCAUSE, for providing the photos.

Think Stop #1
What are the most pressing issues on your campus?
- Identity Management
- PCI compliance
- Digital Asset Management
- Centralized storage demands - ditto
- Emergency notification systems
- Communication
- Even support among distributed constituencies
- IT & Instructional support
- Disaster Recovery & Business continuity and emergency response planning
- Single sign-on for multiple platforms and applications - YES - ditto - look @Yale's central authority service works with everything
- SACS
- Affording qualified IT staff - (related) Lack of collaboration across decentralized units - why must we each create the wheel - amen - ditto
- "no vision or architecture for campus IS/IT
- Balancing teaching and research demands on faculty in a time of constant change in teaching technologies - ditto
- Faculty apathy in IT elearning initiatives
- IT domination of teaching practices
- Motivation techniques for faculty

Think Stop #2
What have you heard/seen at this conference that you intend to share with others?
- Podcastings tips
- LANcope
- Testing process
- Askaninja.com
- Innovative "incentive packages' to encourage faculty to better engage students (pedagogy and tech.)
- Podcast uses
- Faculty boot camp/laptop incentives
- Blackboard cage
- Use LEGO to explain project management

Think Stop #3
What would you like to see/hear at next year's conference?
- Bill Gates chained to a MS Exchange server and he must play a "SawII" game to get free (using Vista.)
- Mac OS X integration and use on campus - how are you implementing?
- How to establish a vision, plan, and architecture for campus IT/IS. - (talk to LSU), (talk to Charleston Southern), (talk to Elon)
- More ways to engage "line-level" technology professionals (we discussed at SERC07 committee meeting today)
- How to incorporate ADA compliance into new teaching technology initiatives - and web portal design
- More programming dealing with the common issues between IT pros, librarians, & faculty
- How to establish "grass roots/ground up "technical user groups on campus where none have traditionally existed.
- How about Orlando for conference (pic of mickey)
- Concept of graceful degradation in branding
- More on eportfolios
- PDA friendly session evaluations (online)