NCCU Information Technology Strategic Plan

Introduction

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) Information Technology Services (ITS), is committed to providing technological solutions and services for students, faculty, staff, and constituents in support of the NCCU mission and strategic plan. Specifically, Information Technology Services as the centralized technology unit on NCCU campus provides:

PLANNING AND SERVICES FOR CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING INFRASTRUCTURE, SECURITY, CAMPUS ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) SYSTEMS, COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, WEBSITE SERVICES, TRAINING, CONSULTING, AND IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT.

STRATEGIC DIRECTION FOR ACADEMIC SUPPORT, CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO/COLLABORATION AND EVENT SUPPORT THROUGH AUDIOVISUAL AND VIDEO STREAMING TECHNOLOGIES.

SUPPORT THE CAMPUS AND STUDENTS’ LIVING-LEARNING ENVIRONMENT WITH TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, AND COLLABORATION TOOLS THAT PROMOTE SUCCESSFUL STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES.

ONGOING STRATEGIC PLANNING AND OPERATIONAL SUPPORT FOR SECURE AND RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES

Over the past two years, ITS has expanded the technologies to support the everchanging needs of our students, faculty and staff. These changes include enhancing a variety of technologies including adding hardware and software solutions that support classroom, hybrid/hyflex and virtual teaching and learning. These solutions also provide the opportunity to create efficiencies in administrative functions leading to improved and streamlined administrative tasks.

The development and implementation of a strong IT Strategic Plan is a key factor as Higher Education today looks to IT to provide campus with Digital Transformation. The plan was developed in collaboration and consultation with students, faculty and staff from across

campus and approved by the Chancellor. ITS will continue to work with campus partners in delivering the outlined objectives and serve as the facilitator on many projects.

This strategic plan comes at an opportune time for NCCU. It provides focus on next steps and priorities for ITS and other units that support technology and digital transformation. Through this plan, NCCU will see focus on training to support our teaching and learning, increased communication and change management, additional support for research and finally continued development of business process efficiencies.

Remarkable improvement in the university website and other IT functions

Planning

The IT Strategic Planning process started Fall 2019 with a cross campus committee focused on aligning IT with the NCCU Strategic Plan: “Charting a New Landscape for Student-Centered Success.” The committee included administrators, faculty, staff and students from various departments, colleges, schools and units. In Spring 2021, the committee formalized draft goals and objectives and conducted ten focus group sessions. Those sessions included the following groups: two groups of researchers, two groups of faculty, academic affairs department chairs, staff, administrators, Student Government Association, University Planning Council, IT staff outside ITS and IT leadership inside ITS.

Focus group notes were collected and analyzed from questions aligned to four goals. Several themes emerged from the analysis. These themes were reviewed by the committee and adjustments were made to the goals and objectives. These updates were sent back to the IT Strategic Planning Committee for review. As a final vetting process the plan was circulated to the Chancellor’s Executive Leadership Team and University Planning Council. The following plan is the finalized and approved version of the NCCU IT Strategic Plan.

Classroom technology support has been greatly appreciated.

Vision

The Information Technology Services Division will become a leader in implementing and maintaining the highest quality and innovative information technology infrastructure and services through a secure, stable and reliable environment.

Mission

The mission of the NCCU Information Technology Services is to serve the university community by applying and integrating information resources to: enhance and support instruction, teaching, and learning; participate in, support, and enhance research; develop partnerships with various surrounding communities, foster outreach, and promote the capabilities of advanced communications and innovative networking; and provide, install, operate, maintain, and secure technological systems necessary to enable the university to accomplish its mission

I want you to know how much I appreciate your team. Throughout the entire summer, Joel, Joe and I sat in meetings, talked on the phone and sent emails to discuss the new School of Business building, the Cybersecurity lab, distant education and online capability, etc. Somedays we talked multiple times on different topics. We started to even joke about how much we talked to each other this summer.

1.1 ENHANCE STUDENT LEARNING THROUGH TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT.

+ Validate software compatibility with personal devices.

+ Ensure technical support for learning resources.

1.2 DEVELOP COLLABORATIONS IN SUPPORT OF THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE TEACHING PROCESS.

+ Guide the development of technology guidelines for online teaching.

+ Collaborate with Academic Affairs in the identification and availability of hybrid teaching technologies.

+ Collaborate with Academic Affairs in the development of faculty training opportunities.

1.3 PROMOTE INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY PRACTICES APPLIED TO TEACHING AND LEARNING.

+ Identify funding models to support sustainability for faculty technologies.

+ Create review process for new and existing academic technologies.

+ Establish an Academic Technology council that will define classroom and academic technology standards.

+ Collaborate with the Office of eLearning in the review of Learning Management Systems and ancillaries.

1.4 IMPLEMENT COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES TO ATTAIN A HIGH LEVEL OF TECHNOLOGY SATISFACTION FROM FACULTY.

+ Launch a faculty and student feedback loop for technology implementation and review.

+ Inform campus of existing and upcoming technology solutions through a variety of strategies

Goal 1: Enhance teaching and learning through the implementation and ongoing support of best practice technologies.

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the assistance with the machines. They are perfect and I will be walking through a break down today in preparation for my live class on the 26th. The tech took the extra step of providing some spare components like RAM, which is a huge help. Look forward to the future conversations as well. I appreciate your work and your insight.

2.1 COLLABORATE WITH RESEARCHERS TO UNDERSTAND TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS FOR RESEARCH GROWTH.

+ Collaborate with research faculty to develop cyberinfrastructure for key research areas.

+ Determine network requirement to meet needs of expanded campus research.

+ Guide the development of improved business processes for researchers.

+ Develop sustainable funding models for campus technology infrastructure.

+ Collaborate with the Office of Sponsored Research Programs in the promotion of research and researchers on the web.

2.2 IDENTIFY STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS.

+ Implement collaboration tools for researchers and students.

+ Provide technology support to the campus innovation hub.

+ Increase access to technology to support innovation.

2.3

COLLABORATE WITH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PARTNERS TO SUPPORT ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITIES.

+ Collaborate with the Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development to provide resources for innovation and entrepreneuship.

+ Partner with Fab Lab to support entrepreneurship

2.4 COLLABORATE WITH KEY STAKEHOLDERS TO ENHANCE TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE CAMPUS WEBSITE.

+ Implement technologies to increase activity on key NCCU webpages.

+ Partner with Executive Leadership Team and other key stakeholders on new website elements.

Goal 2: Provide campus wide technology infrastructure and resources to increase research, innovation, entrepreneurship and brand awareness.

I would like to reiterate my sincere gratitude for your outstanding support in resolving the issues around the installation of the R software.

I also appreciate your going the extra mile with your research and follow up.

Thanks to you, I was able to install packages properly at the office laptop.

3.1 DEVELOP TECHNOLOGY TRAINING TO SUPPORT CAMPUS INITIATIVES.

+ Deliver training on new and existing technology for students, faculty and staff.

+ Provide specific training for faculty for student success branded technologies.

+ Increase student access to technology training.

+ Partner with Administration and Finance to deliver training on administrative systems.

3.2 COLLABORATE WITH CAMPUS PARTNERS TO INCREASE FEEDBACK FROM STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF.

+ Develop a comprehensive communication strategy for information technology.

+ Participate in departmental meetings to gain insight regarding IT services.

+ Identify new approaches for communication between students, faculty and staff.

3.3 PARTNER WITH ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS TO IDENTIFY BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS.

+ Explore current business processes to maximize functionality.

+ Collaborate with enrollment management to create more efficent admissions processes for students

+ Work with Human Resources to identify technologies that may improve student hiring processes.

+ Implement a campus-wide technology review process.

3.4 ALIGN TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT WITH INDUSTRY BEST PRACTICES.

+ Assess current technology support structures across all IT functions to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.

+ Develop Service Level Agreements for IT services.

+ Increase transparency and governance for IT project management.

Goal 3: Increase productivity and technology transparency through training, communication, business process improvement and support.

Goal 4: Ensure a strong cyberinfrastructure through campus IT infrastructure management, security awareness training, hardware and software standards, IT Risk management and IT Security framework.

4.1 DEVELOP A CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE PLAN.

+ Address current and anticipated IT requirements.

+ Develop processes to assess and address potential vulnerabilities.

+ Update plan on a yearly basis.

+ Complete testing of plan components.

4.2 ENSURE A RELIABLE AND SECURE CAMPUS NETWORK.

+ Assess network capacity to support current and anticipated needs.

+ Perform assessments for network security and resiliency.

4.3 PROVIDE CAMPUS MEMBERS WITH APPROPRIATE IT SECURITY TRAINING.

+ Distribute timely information to campus concerning IT Security threats and opportunities.

+ Implement campus wide Cyber Security Awareness training.

+ Provide IT Security training to centralized and decentralized IT professionals.

4.4 FACILITATE COMPLIANCE OF THE IT SECURITY FRAMEWORK.

+ Review policies, regulations, and rules for consistency with IT security standards on at least a yearly interval.

+ Create appropriate frameworks to respond to security incidents.

+ Distribute Cyber Security Awareness information in a timely manner.

+ Enhance IT Risk Management processes.

On behalf of Dr. Audrey Beard, Dean of the School of Education, I send to you a message of sincere “Thanks” for ALL of your support during the School of Education 2021 Faculty Retreat. Your patience, willingness to help, and technical expertise, made our program a big success.