Fostering ICT Innovation in an Innovative Way

Simone KnappStephanie Frost

Rachel Heidecker

Overview Introduction Goals Developing the Fund & Process Public Class Pages (Open CourseWare) Project Library Mobile Services Project Observations on the Successes Lessons Learned Conclusion

Introduction U of S Campus Environment

17 colleges & schools; several affiliated colleges ~20,000 students

Distributed/Federated ICT Model Multiple ICT shops

Foster 1. to promote the

growth or development of; further; encourage: to foster new ideas.

Innovation 1. something new or

different introduced. 2. the act of innovating;

introduction of new things or methods.

Introduction

Goals Establish ICT innovation as a strategic priority Provide the capacity to respond to ICT innovation

opportunities in a coordinated manner Leverage existing resources in colleges and

administrative units Reduce the frequency of funding requests for ICT

projects.

BUT…

We needed new money to support innovation!

Developing the Fund & Process Developed a request for innovation funding

Identified the benefits the fund would provide Identified recent innovations that could have

benefited from this fund (e.g. iUsask app) Identified risks of not supporting innovation

Conditional approval received very quickly Required further information about processes and

Terms of Reference needed to be developed

Submitted a proposal

requesting creation of

fund

Terms of Reference approved

Call for proposals:- e-learning

- mobile

Selection committee reviewed proposals

May 2010 October 2010 February – March 2011 March 2011

Developing the Fund & Process

Developing the Fund & Process To help with reporting, created three forms:

Outline Mid-term Status Report Final Report

Released funds in phases First half after receiving project outline Second half after receiving mid-term/final report

Public Class Pages (Open CourseWare)

Stephanie Frost

Catalogue info: Instructor name, course description, prerequisites required, etc.

Textbook (direct link to Bookstore) Library (course-specific and subject-

specific resources) a pretty link (ex.

http://ocw.usask.ca/AR/BIOL/120)

files the instructor has chosen to share

Every course automatically has a web page that includes course-specific data:

Public Class Pages (Open CourseWare)

Many departments working together!1. University Learning Centre

• project initiators

2. ICT Educational and Research Technology Services group • folks in charge of Blackboard

3. Student Enrolment Services Division• data feed for course names & codes

4. Library• publically accessible course-specific material

5. Bookstore• links to textbooks

6. ICT Help Desk• get professors to call them, not me• calls about OCW often related to other Blackboard questions anyway

7. Training Services• documentation consistent with other Course Tools support (e.g. How to use the Gradebook)• professional videos

ICT Innovation Funding helped to “smooth” the collaboration…

Felt the project had the university’s “blessing” when approaching other units about collaborating

Conversation starter Some departments need to bill you, others don’t

ICT Innovation Fund helped cover costs

Convenient for Instructors Blackboard files and OCW files are in the same

location (i.e. in Blackboard)

You can do this too This approach will work for any Course

Management System that allows guest browsing No custom modifications to Blackboard were

necessary Leverage Guest Access functionality Basically, OCW is a fancy link-generator• Looks like:

https://bblearn.usask.ca/?action=guest_login&new_loc=%2Fwebapps%2Fuofs-courseredirect-bb_bb60%3Fcourseid=87864.201109

Results Even instructors without local ICT support are

automatically set up with OCW don't have to learn a new system

Two core institutional systems (Blackboard and Course Catalogue)

brought together in a new way to benefit a wider audience

Library Mobile Services(Mobile Strategy Evolution)

Rachel Heidecker

Previous Mobile Services iUsask (Released for iPhone/iPod in 2009)

Previous Mobile Services Vendor Services

Mobile Catalogue• Feature Phones

(http://sundog.usask.ca/airpac)

• Smart Phones(http://mcat.usask.ca/)

Catalogue Search Results(Call No, Location, Etc)

• SMS & Email Message Delivery

Previous Mobile Services Responsive Web Design

Prototype (2009) Quick

New presentation layer Same content as the existing website

Challenges Too much content Navigation (dead-ends) Top Tasks

BUT!... we have other priorities and limited resources.

What we did right Took advantage of opportunities as they came

Skill development Observed and measured usage of vendor apps (Google Analytics)

Knowledge and evidence for decision-making Prototyping

Industry & usability insights

GREAT!Now we know exactly what to do ...

ICT Innovation Fund ProposalMay 2011

Mobile Strategy Evolution• Start with a selection of mobile-relevant features• Not necessarily the same top tasks as the full

website. • Be ready to expand as we are able to integrate

other services that will provide the best user experience

COLLABORATIONIdentified opportunities to for collaboration with other units on campus:

Room Bookings within colleges and integration with iUsask

Implementation Timeline

Demonstration

Library Mobile Website• http://library.usask.ca/mobile

• Group Study Room Booking• http://www.usask.ca/learningcommons/booking/

Successes & Challenges Funding & Priorities

• Extended term programmer to ensure resources were available

• Flexibility required to balance existing workload Campus Partners

• Central ICT (Mobile Templates, iUsask)• Connections with colleges

• “Seamless” System Integration• Positive user experience• Ready to expand

Observations on the Successes Participants all indicated the fund was valuable

Saw as an opportunity Provided institutional endorsement Provided additional funds Increased priority

Leveraging institutional services Minimized programming required by the unit Easier to ramp up where lacking familiarity

Lessons Learned(AKA Things we could have done better)

Need to be partners and co-sponsors, not just a source of funding

Need to know what the next steps would be if project successful and becomes institution-wide

Making connections in a federated environment isn’t as easy as it seems (e.g. different programming languages, different priorities)

Lessons Learned(AKA Things we could have done better) Project success may depend on type (prototype,

pilot project, advanced project) Groups used internal funds to pay for the work

and then “invoiced” ICT after the work was done by completing the forms

Maximum impact may come at the expense of maximum breadth

Conclusion Ideas and processes that look good on paper

often stumble in the implementations Success was had, but we could have been more

successful Now see our challenges being addressed by

changes to our ICT governance model Will hopefully achieve the goals intended by this

initiative more broadly

Questions?About the Fund: http://www.usask.ca/avp-ict/portfolio/ict-innovation-fund/index.php Public Class Pages (Open CourseWare): http://ocw.usask.ca/ OCW Training Info:http://www.usask.ca/its/courses/coursetools/ in Instructors: HelpLibrary Mobile Site: http://library.usask.ca/mobile/ Mobile at the U of S:http://mobile.usask.ca/