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STRATEGIC PLAN FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON

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ELEMENTS OF VISION FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON

The University of Mary Washington intends that the following statements will describe aspects of the information technologies environment in the future here:

  1. Technology does not replace but rather expands the benefits of personal interaction and serendipitous discovery characteristic of a liberal arts education at the University.
  2. Technology helps stimulate creative thinking.
  3. Technology removes limitations that inhibit scholarly activity, providing faculty with more time to concentrate on doing actual scholarly work rather than working through the processes associated with it.
  4. Technology enables collaboration with colleagues without geographic limitations. As the worldwide body of knowledge grows, the ease with which members of the University community can access and interact with it does too.
  5. Wireless networks make academic life more flexible. Students, faculty, and staff move easily among academic and administrative resources, no longer limited by the length of network cables.
  6. Technology allows students to view, learn, assemble, and personalize information and resources from diverse sources (those internal to the University and those external to it), combining across areas of interest and disciplines in new ways that are more relevant to them and their particular learning styles and ways of integrating knowledge. They can review, manipulate and collaborate with this information without the limitations of physical information "objects."
  7. In every discipline, courses make use of technology to help actively engage students in the learning process.
  8. Nearly all University faculty use technology regularly to enrich the learning experience, to provide additional opportunities for interaction, and to expand access to their courses.
  9. Faculty have in hand the technological tools necessary to keep delivery to students relevant, up-to-date, and interesting with less effort than previously. Students are remembering -- and integrating into lasting knowledge -- what's delivered through these new mechanisms better than in the past.
  10. Technology helps faculty have access to more immediate feedback on student comprehension of subject matter. Evaluation of knowledge transfer can more easily take place in progress (formative), rather than being limited to after the transfer was assumed to take place (summative).
  11. The careful integration of the data systems supporting the teaching and learning environment and the environment itself makes management of teaching and learning easier and effectively coordinated with the process of teaching and learning.
  12. The world of higher education recognizes the University as a national model in the use of technology in teaching and learning. This reputation enhances the University's overall stature.
  13. The University has eliminated the use of paper forms. Those who interact with the University provide required information on-line only once, even when it is to be used for more than one purpose. Standing in line to accomplish an administrative process with the University is a thing of the past, and many problems can be solved on-line because automated processes provide personalized information that helps the user identify and resolve whatever is not correct.
  14. In-person interactions with staff are efficient and personal, thanks to the ability of staff to easily get necessary information and thanks to the broad-based training that allows them to address a wider array of issues than in the past.
  15. Ad hoc groups form and dissolve as needed because a well-integrated data environment and intuitive communication tools enable persons of common interests or concerns to easily create virtual communities.
  16. Decision making at the University has improved in timeliness and quality because of better access to the information necessary for decisions.
  17. Users no longer need to duplicate databases of institutional data and house them in varying (and often insecure) environments. Users trust the institution to maintain and provide accurate and clearly defined institutional data.
  18. Although it still collects a Social Security Number to comply with certain governmental regulations, in no interaction does the University rely on Social Security Number as a primary identifier. Instead, the University uses an identifier that it issues only for use in interaction with the institution.
  19. The flow of administrative information is electronic, not on paper. Wasted time between steps of a process previously devoted to the movement and handling of paper has been eliminated.
  20. The University appears to its constituents as a single, coordinated, integrated, user-friendly institution by providing a common set of on-line services available anytime, anywhere via customized and personalized interfaces.
  21. On-line business processes are efficient and easy to complete, providing services that are high in quality while allowing users to concentrate their energies on their primary pursuits.
  22. Stakeholders understand the role of technology and actively seek partnerships with technology providers to achieve their goals.