IT looks to streamline, update in future years

IT at IU is getting an update.

Information technology officials released a report outlining 69 specific outcomes they hope to accomplish in the coming years.

“IU begins in a really strong position,” said Brad Wheeler, vice president for information technology and a professor in the Kelley School of Business.

The plan aims to build on the success of a 1998 plan, Wheeler said. He added that the plan calls for keeping the technology structure up to date, making technology easier to use and solving big problems involving, among other things, access to information.

The plan hopes to organize and streamline technology to make it easier to use. One example is with Oncourse.

“What we envision for Oncourse itself is to evolve to meet the needs of students,” said Anastasia Morrone, associate dean for learning technology in the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology.

She said examples of what could happen are access to Google Documents and anti-plagiarism software within Oncourse. The goal is to put software together with Oncourse in a more integrated way.  

“There’s a lot that will be involved,” she said. She encouraged students and other IU community members to look at the report online at http://ovpit.iu.edu/itsp2/ and e-mail suggestions.

One directive of the report is to provide easier access to information. The plan hopes to fix problems researchers have because they can’t access electronic journals as easily as they could hard copies in the library, said Frank Acito, associate dean for academic programs at the Kelley School of Business.

The plan also hopes to create answers concerning statewide access to patients’ information for medical professionals.

The report also brings up solutions to environmental sustainability. Acito said computers use a lot of energy and are toxic waste when they become obsolete, and there is no easy solution.

The plan also calls for looking at companies that produce the technology and considering their environmental record, Wheeler said.

All 69 points will be assigned to a committee who will come up with solutions and report on how long they will take to implement and how much it will cost, Acito said. Some of the directives will take years, while some can be done quickly, he added.

“They may find that some of them are impossible,” he said.

He said, because of resources, there’s a need to prioritize. The report doesn’t address the budgetary impact, he said, which is especially important in the current economic crisis. He said there’s a need to prioritize.

Some of the money for the projects will come from grants, while the rest has to be allocated from the University as needed, Acito said. He said sometimes it’s just a matter of waiting for technology to become affordable.  

“The fortunate thing is hardware is getting cheaper and cheaper,” Acito said.