Strategic Directions

University Committee on Information Systems & Technology (UCIST) has identified five strategic directions.

  1. Provide an environment that enables students to optimise their use of technology in life long learning.
  2. Close the e-learning gap: Deepen our use of technology in support of learning & teaching.
  3. Support increased use of IT in research and scholarship.
  4. Increase connectedness.
  5. Promote the effective and strategic use of information systems & technology, balancing sustainability and innovation.

This document is complemented by the 2002 Directions Statement, which provides more detail, the IT Architecture Directions, and a summary of progress since the 1998 Direction Statement.

For each direction, we point to recent achievements, provide a refinement of the direction into a number of objectives, and suggest what might be required to achieve the objectives.

1. Provide an environment that enables students to optimise their use of technology in life-long learning

Achievements

Site licensing and home-use CD, University of Waterloo Online Environment prototype (UWonE), and general and Nexus/Polaris student computing environments.

Objectives

  • Create an integrated online learning & information environment.
  • Provide students with positive experiences using effective electronic learning modules in several courses.
  • Provide students with experience in exploiting best-of-breed tools for electronic communication and collaboration.
  • Encourage and facilitate the use of student-owned equipment.

Requirements

  • Better preparation of students to exploit the electronic infrastructure available to them.
  • Better support infrastructure for student-owned equipment.
  • Implementation and support of collaborative applications university-wide.
  • More e-learning opportunities present in all programs.

2. Close the e-learning gap: Deepen our use of technology in support of learning & teaching

Achievements

Creation and operation of the Centre for Teaching and Learning Through Technology, multimedia labs in most faculties, Distance Education renewal with e-learning courses and UWonE, support for using technology to address learning bottlenecks in IS 303a, increasing the number of e-classrooms, e-learning computing courses for staff and faculty, and use of Internet-based video conferencing.

Objectives

  • Scale up the use of effective, existing e-learning modules.
  • Promote and develop a culture of acceptance of the use of technology for learning & teaching,through emphasis on pedagogically-driven initiatives.
  • Increase the support infrastructure for e-learning, by reallocating faculty and staff time to closing the gap.
  • Deepen and expand the set of information resources supporting e-learning, through more electronic repositories, acquisition of electronic information, and appropriate management of intellectual property rights.

Requirements

  • Identify opportunities.
  • Identify pedagogical needs.
  • Identify obstacles and provide resources to overcome them.
  • Identify specific Information Systems & Technology support needs.

3. Support increased use of IT in research and scholarship

Achievements

TRELLIS library system, electronic library materials, participation in Canadian National Site Licensing project, IBM Scalable POWERparallel (SP) and SGI high-performance computing installations, Canadian Foundation for Inovation (CFI) supported campus networking project, Skills for the Academic electronic Workplace (SAW) courses, site licensing, and Microsoft software for teaching and research Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance (MSDN-AA).

Objectives

  • Balance University of Waterloo support for research and scholarship with the ability of researchers to acquire full-cost external funding for research.
  • Provide an appropriate electronic workplace for all faculty and academic staff.
  • Ensure timely evolution of the Skills for the Academic electronic Workplace (SAW) program.
  • Deepen staff support for common research software.

Requirements

  • Increased funds for renewal of the electronic workplace in academic areas.
  • Increased IT support staff for researchers.

4. Increase connectedness

Achievements

Initial deployment of wireless networks on campus, docking stations with laptop network-authentication ports, ResNet, preferential pricing for Bell's Sympatico High-Speed Edition, off-campus internet connection via ONet, and University of Waterloo Identity and Access Management (WatIAM) for identification and authentication to many campus computing facilities

Objectives

  • Pervasive wireless network, many work areas with docking stations, rich access to off-campus electronic resources.
  • Successful deployment of Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION) provincial optical backbone network.
  • Become known as "Canada's connected campus."

Requirements

  • Deeper infrastructure for identification, authentication, and access to electronic resources, based on emerging Nexus and active-directory environments.
  • Diversion of financial resources from computer lab equipment to support of student-owned equipment.

5. Promote the effective and strategic use of Information Systems & Technology, balancing sustainability and innovation

Achievements

Quest student information system, PeopleSoft Human Resources Management System (HRMS), Oracle Government Financials system, Windows 2000/Active Directory prototype, Nexus computing environment, TRELLIS library system

Objectives

  • Remain within vendors' support windows.
  • Deepen and improve use of existing systems wherever possible.
  • Move deliberately to evaluate and implement new systems as required by functional demands and permitted by available resources.

Requirements

  • Provide appropriate human resources as support needs increase.
  • Provide career progression opportunities for IT support staff within departments across campus.
  • Nurture a culture of change and improvement to all academic-support processes.