Governance

Terms of Reference

Purpose

The EdTech Steering Committee advises the Chief Information Officer, University of Waterloo Executive, and as appropriate, other University committees, on uses of educational technology to ensure alignment with the university’s strategic directions, to enable and support innovation where appropriate, and to facilitate and enable sound pedagogy by providing an exceptional digital learning environment.

The Committee has the authority to recommend Edtech expenditures and priorities within the annual budget cycle. For significant investments, this group makes recommendations to the Executive (VPFA and Provost).

Scope

Provides strategic direction for and oversight of the use of central EdTech systems, software, services and support that are primarily used for teaching and learning, including established (enterprise), emerging (pilot) and potential (innovation) EdTech tools and applications.

Objectives

• Advise Provost and Vice-President, Finance and Administration (VPFA) on matters concerning centrally supported EdTech at Waterloo. 
• Provide strategic leadership for Waterloo’s Edtech ecosystem to support institutional directions, as set out in the University’s strategic plan, digital learning strategy and the evolution of teaching and learning.
• Consultation with strategic academic groups to assess support for EdTech directions. 
• Oversight for the development of Policies regarding the deployment, use and operation of learning technologies, in collaboration with other relevant academic committees.
• Uphold the guiding principles that EdTech should meet for adoption.
• Provide directions to EdTech Advisory Committee and make decisions about / seek senior level approval for the Advisory Committee’s recommendations related to EdTech directions, projects, practices, services, adoption of new EdTech and retirement of EdTech.
• Accountable for Edtech expenditures which involve:
  • Ensuring fiscal responsibility /financial oversight over the EdTech budget and expenditures.
  • Making decisions about Edtech investments within Committee budget parameters.
  • Recommending EdTech investments to Provost and/or Vice- President, Finance & Administration (VPFA).
• Accountable for ensuring strategic and pedagogical alignment, resourcing, and funding for the EdTech 2-year plan which will provide guidance for identification, selection and adoption of university-wide learning technologies.
• Ensure appropriate and timely communications related to EdTech directions and decisions are provided to campus stakeholders.
• Publicly advocate for and support EdTech changes to campus stakeholders

Membership

Decision making

EdTech Steering is a strategic, decision-making body, in place to approve, monitor and support delivery of educational technology, projects and other initiatives that are recommended by the EdTech Advisory committee. Approvals will be based on committee consensus, and will consider

• Alignment to EdTech principles for additions/deletions/changes to EdTech ecosystem
• Alignment to applicable strategic plans (University, faculty, digital learning strategy, IT, et cetera)
• Resource capacity
• EdTech budget
• Other institutional priorities and/or dependencies

In the situation where consensus cannot be reached, the Chief Information Officer and/or Associate Vice-President, Academic may request additional information or consultation through other committees, EdTech stakeholders, or within the EdTech support units.

In the situations where the decision pertains to the addition/removal/change of centrally supported EdTech, the Chief Information Officer must approve the contract or equipment, as specified in Procedure 1.

Terms of Reference

Purpose

The EdTech Advisory Group is a body that sufficiently understands EdTech and pedagogical directions to advise where change is needed based on inputs from EdTech Steering, EdTech Operations committee(s) and stakeholder groups.  Advisory assesses potential opportunities and recommends priorities for the changes to be considered based on the principles of EdTech evolution, budget, resources, the university’s strategic directions, and appetite for change in relation to pedagogical and digital learning strategies and directions.

The committee has the authority to recommend EdTech expenditures, priorities, and changes to EdTech Steering for consideration and approval for centrally supported EdTech.

Scope

• Members provide perspective and feedback to form recommendations to proactively address emerging EdTech issues, gaps, new needs/requirements, innovations, effective practices, and market trends as requested or identified by Edtech Steering, Edtech Operations committee(s), and/or stakeholder groups.

Objectives

• Provide proactive centrally supported EdTech advice, guidance, and recommendations, while considering cost/benefit implications, strategic and innovative directions, and resourcing.
  • Consult internally with leadership and stakeholders within representative areas to ensure Advisory can make informed recommendations that will gain buy in within impacted areas
  • Recommend changes and priorities, budget requests, projects, and other matters concerning support and leadership to EdTech Steering
  • Communicate strategic directions and recommendations to EdTech Operations committee(s)
• Consider and coordinate access to specific advisory members for other teaching and learning feedback requests outside of the scope of EdTech advisory and governance.  For example, Teaching & Learning Spaces Ops may want feedback with faculty and/or student advisory members on a classroom item.
• Provide guidance towards measures and actions to achieve defined success criteria, when required.
• Serve as a collaboration hub, ensuring appropriate EdTech connections.
  • Promote information-sharing between academic support units centrally supporting EdTech, faculty, and students—not only within the group but beyond to the classroom and university community.
  • Consult with stakeholder groups to assess opportunities towards EdTech directions and innovations.
  • Contribute information about discipline-specific contexts on issues/opportunities related to pedagogical alignment with technology.
• Assist with setting criteria for selection of new learning technology components in the environment.
• Ensure appropriate change management practices and considerations are included in modifications to the EdTech ecosystem to assist stakeholders.
• Uphold the guiding principles that EdTech should meet for adoption

Membership

Decision making

EdTech Advisory is a body to monitor, support, and advise on the delivery of EdTech based on pedagogical directions and stakeholder needs that the members represent.  It is the responsibility of each member to understand and consult internally with leadership and other stakeholders on internal priorities, issues, resourcing availability, directions, and project/initiatives to provide appropriate information and perspectives towards informed Advisory recommendations.

While the purpose of Advisory is to provide directional EdTech recommendations, there may be instances where Advisory is requested to provide input that will be used towards operational decisions.

Recommendations passed by Advisory will be based on consensus where at least 60% of the members are present for the discussion.  In the case where agreement is with the majority but not all of the committee, strong objections will be noted and taken forward to steering with the recommendation.

Meeting frequency

• Monthly

Purpose

The Learning Environment Operations (LEO) Committee is a working group that takes direction from and provides advice to EdTech Advisory. It is focused on operational and evolving topics related to educational technologies (EdTech) primarily in support of the learning management system (LMS), and other associated tools that integrate with and complement the LMS. It receives input from EdTech Steering, EdTech Advisory and interested/affected user groups and other committees. It coordinates with Operations Committees for other EdTech tools.  

LEO has the authority to make operational decisions regarding ongoing settings and functionality of the LMS and associated tools, particularly for continuous delivery updates from the vendor (e.g. if new features or updates to current features are on/off/opt-in, etc). LEO may provide input and recommendations about policy, guidelines or direction of EdTech to EdTech Advisory.

Scope

• Members provide perspective and feedback to inform decisions and recommendations to proactively address day to day support, policies and guidelines regarding use of the LMS and associated tools, and plans for the evolution of the learning environment within guiding principles for educational technologies. LEO is not responsible for EdTech tools that have their own Operations Committee or that are not centrally supported.

Objectives

• Uphold the Guiding principles for use/adoption of EdTech in day-to-day processes and services.
• Provide recommendations and escalate issues to the EdTech Advisory committee on matters concerning centrally supported EdTech, in particular, providing oversight and guidance regarding the use and support of the LMS and associated tools.
• Provide recommendations to EdTech Advisory about how to implement, deploy and retire specific EdTech tools.
• Assist investigation of intake requests for new EdTech tools, particularly requests for integration with the LMS.
• Seek input and direction from various sources (e.g., EdTech Advisory, students/faculty/staff representatives, teaching and learning committees or groups, etc.).
• Recommend directions for and execute EdTech 2-year plan pertaining to the LMS and other associated tools to EdTech Advisory.
• Initiate and monitor progress on projects/initiatives, pilots, and investigation activity pertaining to the LMS and other associated tools.
• Monitor risks, quality, and progress of EdTech operations, particularly with respect to the LMS and associated tools.
• Support Instructional Technologies & Media Services (ITMS) with ensuring that documentation for users is kept up to date (e.g., Knowledge Base articles, information on the EdTech Hub site, etc.)
• Support ITMS with timely and proactive communication to users of upcoming changes.

Membership

Members are from key academic support units involved in the use and support of educational technologies (the LMS and associated tools in particular) and they aim to fairly represent the needs of all user groups:

• Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) (3 voting members)
• Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) (3 voting members; 1 non-voting member)
• Information Systems and Technology - Instructional Technologies and Media Services (IST-ITMS) (4 voting members; 1 non-voting member)
• Library (1 voting member)
• Centre for Work Integrated Learning (WIL) (2 non-voting members)
• WatSPEED (1 non-voting member)
• AccessAbility Services (1 non-voting member)
• Human Resources (Accessibility) (1 non-voting member)
• Information Systems and Technology - Information Systems (IST-IS) (1 non-voting member) 
   

Decision making

Decisions and recommendations passed by LEO require quorum of at least 66.6% of voting members. Items requiring a vote must have quorum and 50% +1 votes from voting members to pass the item. Voting on items typically occurs synchronously at the scheduled monthly meeting but may take place asynchronously when the need arises and will be ratified at the following meeting.

In the event of a voting member being away from UW for an extended period of time (2 or more consecutive LEO meetings) the member’s unit will be able to temporarily appoint a new ‘VOTING’ member to the committee or assign the voting right by proxy to an existing member. This new member or proxy vote via an existing member will be removed when the person on leave returns.

In the case where agreement is with the majority but not all of the committee, strong objections will be noted and taken forward to EdTech Advisory with the recommendation.

Decisions are enacted by the administrators of the EdTech tool (typically ITMS, but there may be other units involved). Non-operational recommendations are sent to the EdTech Advisory committee for approval.

Meeting frequency

Meetings occur monthly on the third Thursday of the month.

The mandate of the Teaching and Learning Spaces Operations group is enacted through the lens of continuous improvement to teaching and learning spaces at Waterloo.