"Loyola University Chicago is a Jesuit Catholic university dedicated to knowledge in the service of humanity. . . The university endeavors to develop in the lives of students, faculty and staff the spirit of searching for truth and living for others which characterized Ignatius of Loyola."

In support of our mission, we propose to create an environment for living and learning that enables Loyola students, faculty, staff, and administrators to use technology in an ethical manner for teaching, learning and research. The purpose of this plan is to support the current desires and future needs of Loyola and its community regarding technology.

In this proposed environment, Loyola is a model for appropriate and effective application of information technology in service of its academic mission. We envision a university in which technology transforms teaching in our classrooms, research opportunities, communication among us and with others, learning in our residence halls, homes, offices, and libraries, and the use of distance education for the exploration of the emerging global community. Faculty, students and staff have easy access to the technology, electronic resources and support they need to be effective teac regularly reviewing action items and linking them to associated supporting projects.

Loyola's curriculum is infused with opportunities for students to use technology and better understand its broader implications. All Loyola faculty, staff, students and administrators have the ability to find, critically evaluate and effectively use new information in their fields and for the service of others. Academic technology services assist the Loyola community in achieving these goals. Training by knowledgeable and effective instructors is available to help faculty, students, staff and administrators become proficient users of technology.

Technological resources and support services are distributed among different providers (Information Services, University Libraries, and the Center for Instructional Design). These groups collaborate to provide the support needed by the students, faculty, staff and administrators, and are resourceful and competent partners with the Loyola community.

Technology planning at Loyola is ongoing. Our dynamic planning process enables us to meet the challenges of higher education in an era of constantly changing technology and to maintain mastery over the technology we use.

GOALS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 00/01

Goal #1: Enhance the technological environment in support of the academic mission.
Goal #2: Enable all Loyolans to develop the skills to effectively apply technology.
Goal #3: Develop a plan for distance education.
Goal #4: Develop a dynamic planning process for academic technology.

DEFINING THE GOALS

Goal #1: Enhance the technological environment in support of the academic mission.

Objective A: Utilize the Internet as a critical component in achieving the academic mission of the University, and as a primary vehicle for internal and external communication.

Action Item: Improve the university's web site for recruiting new students by promoting on-line applications on a secure server, and by improving the user friendliness for new recruits.
Action Item: Acquire a fully Web-enabled, integrated, state-of-the-art student information system.
Action Item: Prepare for Internet II by analyzing the technology infrastructure and identification of applications to be used on the new platform.
Action Item: Provide Internet access to each pillow in the Residence Halls.
Action Item: Provide Internet and server access to on-campus locations according to user needs.
Action Item: Provide off-campus access for all authenticated Loyolans to LUC.
Action Item: Assist faculty and staff in Web page development and publishing via software and training.

Objective B: Implement a comprehensive technology upgrade and replacement cycle.

Action Item: Allocate funds for the PC/software replacement program in the university operating budget.
Action Item: Include faculty, academic staff, libraries, computer labs and electronic classrooms in PC replacement program.
Action Item: Replace PC's on a 3 year cycle, in accordance with user needs.
Action Item: Upgrade audiovisual classroom technology on a 5 year cycle.
Action Item: Allocate a University operating budget for the maintenance of equipment and facilities.
Action Item: Develop a standard Windows 2000 desktop environment and plan the transition to this new desktop.
Action Item: Evaluate alternative applications delivery systems while continiun to improve the current applications delivery of NT Core.

Objective C: Employ appropriate enterprise systems and processes to support university planning and decision making in order to:

Improve access, collection, analysis and reporting of corporate information for authorized users
Secure data against unauthorized breech


Action Item: Centralize corporate data using Oracle databases and create needed data warehouses
Action Item: Utilize the web to improve access to data and data collection
Action Item: Develop priorities for improving existing administrative systems
Action Item: Form planning group focused on integrated Enterprise Requirements Planning (ERP)

Goal #2: Enable all Loyolans to develop the skills to effectively apply technology.

Objective A: Develop a plan for infusing the curriculum with opportunities for students to use technology and understand its broader implications.

Action Item: Each school or college will assess the current state of technology in their curriculum, in consultation with the Dean and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Action Item: Each school or college will determine necessary competencies and develop a plan so that each student graduates as information literate in his or her field.

Objective B: Improve user support to students/faculty especially during those times that classes are in session.

Action Item: Provide high-level user support via the Help Desk, Mon-Fri 8am-5pm.
Action Item: Provide limited staffing for general user support via the Help Desk, Mon-Fri 5-9pm, and Sat 9am-12pm.
Action Item: Provide full support for electronic classrooms during classtime hours, i.e. Mon-Fri 8:30am-9pm, and Sat/Sun 8:30am-5pm.

Objective C: Develop a plan for faculty, staff and students that encourages the use of technology for personal, educational, research and organizational transformation.

Action Item: Develop reward structure for faculty to encourage incorporation of technology in the classroom.
Action Item: Encourage schools/departments to consider the use of technology in teaching in their tenure and promotion decisions.
Action Item: Assess faculty needs and provide workshops on the pedagogical and technological use of computers and other multimedia equipment in teaching and research.

Goal #3: Develop a plan for distance education.

Objective A: Integrate distance education into the academic technology planning process.

Action Item: Survey schools/departments to determine the current providers of distance education at Loyola.
Action Item: Ensure that the interests of distance education providers are represented in FACIT.
Action Item: Establish the Distance Learning Committee as a sub-committee of FACIT. Membership of the DL subcommittee will include representatives from current providers of distance education and from the individual school/college academic technology committees.
Action Item: Charge the DL Committee with the following responsibilities:

Develop a comprehensive vision for distance education at LUC.
Provide recommendation for the structure and administration of distance education at Loyola.
Consider mixed modes of distance learning delivery.
Work in cooperation with Jesuitnet to enhance DL initiatives at LUC.
Consider a clearing-house for DL information and support.

Goal #4: Develop a dynamic planning process for academic technology.

Objective A: Define criteria whereby usage of technology can be evaluated as "appropriate and effective" in relation to the university's academic mission.

Action Item: FACIT will formulate such criteria considering the following questions:

Is the usage of technology a logical and reasonable means to achieve the desired objective or application?
In what ways does the application of technology allow Loyola to remain competitive?
What are the human and financial costs of the technology?
Do the benefits of the technology justify the cost?
How many Loyolans does the application serve in terms of current and future projection?
What are the ethical and legal implications of this technology?
Evaluate whether the proposed technology duplicates existing functionality


Action Item: Require that applications for internal funding for technology at any level specifically address these criteria.
Action Item: Determine whether existing technological applications meet these criteria.
Action Item: Track the implemented applications which meet these criteria to ensure they result in positive transformation of teaching, learning, research and communication, and to use the information to further refine the criteria.

Objective B: Communicate academic technology vision to the university community and encourage buy-in at all levels.

Action Item: Obtain IT-UPC endorsement of the FACIT academic technology planning documents (vision statement and goals).
Action Item: Solicit comments from the university community.
Action Item: Revise the planning documents in light of comments and submit final copy to the IT-UPC for approval.
Action Item: Submit the approved final planning documents to the President and Senior Vice-Presidents.
Action Item: Ensure dynamism of document by adding action items as needed and by regularly reviewing action items and linking them to associated supporting projects.
Action Item: Establish and/or refine communication paths between technology providers and technology clients so that each remains aware of needs, activities, and long-range plans of others.

Objective C: Assess current state of technology in support of the academic mission.

Action Item: Determine current university status in terms of technological capability and facilities.
Action Item: Determine whether electronic classrooms or portable equipment systems are sufficient to meet user needs.
Action Item: Determine which schools/departments need specialized computer labs due to the instructional needs of their discipline and which schools/departments have technology needs that can be met through general student labs.
Action Item: Develop "gap analysis" of the differences between the current status and desired vision of academic technology.
Action Item: Develop mechanism to identify and acquire necessary teaching and research software.

Objective D: Develop new academic technology committee structure.

Action Item: Each school/college and the Library will form an academic technology committee, and develop a means for communication with the other technology committees.
Action Item: Each of these committees will have representation on FACIT, with specific numbers to be determined, so that FACIT serves as the university-wide body for matters of academic technology. The FACIT membership also will include representatives from Information Services, the Libraries, LUCID, and the student body.
Action Item: Recommend to the Senior Vice-Presidents that the IT-UPC become the decision-making body for all academic and non-academic technology matters. Membership of the IT-UPC will include the Chair of FACIT, Vice President for Information Services, Dean of the University Libraries, Director of LUCID, the Senior Vice-Presidents or their representatives, the Associate Vice-President for Research, the Director of Academic Technology, a representative from the faculty governing body, a representative of the academic Deans, and a member appointed by Staff Council.