The importance of information technology in higher education will continue
to grow
It will be increasingly difficult to draw a clear line of division between
information technology that supports higher education institutions and information
technology that broadly affects other aspects of modern life
The demand for skilled information technology professionals will increase,
and ITC will have to compete more aggresively to hire top quality employees
The overall numbers of users who are comfortable maneuvering through
the information environment -- and who will expect to be able to do so without
deep technical knowledge -- will grow, and support for them will require
greater technical sophistication from its designers in order to allow less
technical sophistication from the users themselves
Faculty and students will arrive with more computer experience than
now, many will have higher expectations for technical support for their
particular academic interests, and many will be more willing to look elsewhere
for it than today.
Staff and administrators will be asked to do more with less, and will
need more training to learn how to do so with the aid of information technology.
ITC will need new models for training -- developed in cooperation with
departments and units -- that are more directly tied to user needs and better
oriented to their jobs or their roles as students.
A major challenge for ITC will be to effectively leverage rapid developments
in information technology for the benefit of the University and its primary
mission and goals
The need to develop an effective long-term strategy for funding information
technology at the departmental level will intensify
Unless availability of resources in all forms changes, ITC will not
be able to provide the breadth and depth of services it does today as demand
continues to grow
Uneven diffusion of information technology through the University, with
pockets of obsolete technology and inadequately trained staff, will continue
to challenge the department's capacity to be effective
The department will continue to occupy space that does not match well
with its various functions
Interest in creation of standards in all areas, ranging from desktop
environments to minimum skill levels for University employees, will continue
to grow
Interest in changing business practices will add greater emphasis to
information technology in the University environment (e.g., electronic financial
transactions, including payroll; digital signatures for forms processing)
The academic and administrative political environments will change as
new information technology tools become available (for example, perceptions
of "power" within the University may change as administrative
information becomes more accessible)
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