Strategic Assessment of E-Learning and Information Technology

How can you make the right decisions about key programs if you don't have accurate information? If your actual costs are unknown? If there are hidden policies? The answer is - You can't without some luck. All too often, the academic culture leads to pockets of hidden information, thus key decisions are made without truly benefitting the university.  The good news is that you can get accurate information within the academic culture - and we can help you.

True value is about meeting the needs of the students, faculty and staff. You need excellent information to be presented and the appropriate information available in order for your university to serve the key groups involved in the university's mission.

We've found that one successful approach to resolving this dilemma is to increase the communication between colleges, departments and central administrative units. Our approach is to help you create a Strategic Assessment for the key programs - allowing you to develop the plan for what each department or college needs to do to benefit the teaching and research missions of your institution. This is an approach that reveals your organization's short-term and long-term insitutional needs and develops a plan for meeting those needs.

We start with an assessment of the current state of affairs: infrastructure, people, and perceptions. We then embark on a series of in-depth interviews of the academic and administrative communites involved. This starts the process of re-connecting the colleges, departments and central administrative units. In conjunction with these interviews, we review the factors that are driving technology and the factors that are driving the business of the university. Using the result of these steps, we are then in a position to help analyze where we are and where we need to go.

We have in-depth knowledge of key e-learning vendors, but we don't work for them. Blackboard, WebCT, Sakai, Desire2Learn, eCollege, etc...our exerience in evaluating the vendors for previous clients allows you to quickly gain greater insight in the technology driving many programs. Every institution has unique needs and the marketplace is changing rapidly, but we are already up-to-speed. You benefit from quicker, cheaper assessments.

The resulting Strategic Assessment leads directly to actionable plans. Plans describing the direction that your organization must take to increase the value to the students, faculty and staff. After all, that's what the university is really all about - right?