Mission Critical
Vice Provost for Information Services and CIO
cio@uoregon.edu
A few years ago someone coined the term "ubiquitous computing" to describe an environment where information technology (IT) resources were everywhere at the same time. In the university environment this term seemed especially fitting when the price of computers dropped and almost every faculty member and student had their own workstation or laptop. Now many have two or three computers. Interestingly enough, the increase in ownership of computers hasn’t reduced the use of computers in public spaces. In the age of ubiquitous computing, faculty and students easily move between classrooms, labs, the library, their offices or dorm rooms, and other environments, making use of whatever IT resources are available along the way.
Even for the most ardent supporters of technology, all this ubiquitousness would be a bit depressing if computers were only being used to check email or surf the Internet for entertainment purposes. The good news is that IT resources are being used in new and exciting ways to support the academic mission of the institution.
In this issue of IT Connections, we begin a journey in exploring how these resources are being used by University of Oregon faculty and students in their academic work. Articles highlighting the work of instructors Grant Castner and Mark Blaine focus on new ways of teaching with the use of information technology. A section on international outreach describes the work of the American English Institute’s senior instructor Leslie Opp-Beckman and director Cynthia Kieffer. And in an interview on page 9, Vice Provost Chunsheng Zhang shares exciting ideas on how IT can help the university expand its reach in international programs.
The central theme to this newsletter and those to follow is that IT resources are not only everywhere at the UO, but are also "mission critical" to our success as an academic institution. In the months ahead we plan to travel throughout the campus, exploring how faculty and students are using these resources to pursue institutional goals of excellence in teaching and learning as well as research.
Of course, our not-so-hidden agenda in this exercise is to also emphasize the important work of the IT professionals across the university who support these resources. IT at the UO is very much dependent on infrastructure and services provided by the Information Services division, academic services provided by the library and other units, and IT personnel working in every school and most administrative units. While these individuals play a support role to our faculty and students, they are nonetheless part of the mission-critical element of supporting the work of the university.
If you have story ideas that might fit within our new emphasis, we would love to hear from you. Please send your ideas and suggestions to Joyce Winslow at jwins@uoregon.edu.