Region & Higher - Norma Vazquez

Critique the existing technology plan in your school/district and answer the following questions:

1. How did the plan meet the existing needs in technology, funding, and
management issues?

Since IT@Sam does not have an existing technology plan there is no plan for me to critique. However, upper management is in the proccess of developing a plan that will be in alignment with the university's strategic plan. My concerns with the plan is that it may not address the current needs in technology, funding, and management since the focus is being placed in alignment with the strategic goals. The only thing that is assessible that identifies any strategic goals is a website that includes 6 Strategic goals and indicators for each one. However, based on the dates listed on the website the content is over 5 years old ("Strategic Goals", 2007).

References:

Strategic Goals. (2007). Retrieved on April 16, 2012 from the Sam Houston State University website at http://www.shsu.edu/~ucs_www/goals.html

2. How did the goals provide the measurable outcomes for future improvement?

• Information Technology will increase the percentage of faculty utilizing the web-based learning management system. During FY07, participation was approximately 71%. We will target a participation of 75% for FY08.
  *This specific goal specifies an increase in participation from faculty utilizing the web-based learning management system. This goal can be measured by checking the learning management system to obtain an actual number of classes being taught.
  
• Information Technology will increase the number of participants in one-on-one, group, or town hall training. During FY06 we had 218 participants. Based on current reservations for FY07, we estimate 229 for the year. We will target an increase of 5% for FY08. Information Technology will conduct an annual survey of teaching faculty regarding satisfaction level with student computer labs. We will target a 90% satisfaction level for the first year survey. *This specific goal addresses the number of participants for our trainings and an increase in satisfaction levels. The number of participants can be measured using a login sheet to track the number of participants attending. The satisfaction level will be measured by assigning a number weight to each question to get an average overall rating. Since there is no present data to which to compare the client satisfaction level to determine if there was improvement.

• Information Technology will continue to attend state, regional, and national
  conferences. During FY06 Information Technology attended approximately 11
  conferences. We will target to increase attendance to 12 conferences for FY08.
  *This goal address the number of professional development conferences attended by IT@Sam staff. This can be measured by gathering the travel and purchasing documentation for each conference.
  
• Information Technology will target a goal of three presentations made by
  Information Technology staff at state, regional, or national conferences during
  FY08.
  *Again this can be measured by gathering the actual presentations presented by our staff; however, there is no past data on the number of presentations on past conferences therefore we are unable to measure if there was an improvement.

• Information Technology will increase the number of visits to the SHSU web
  site. Visits for calendar year 2006 were approximately 17,000,000. We will
  target an increase to 20,000,000 for calendar year 2007.
  *This goal measure the number of visits to the main website. It can be measured using Google analytics to see if there was an improvement.
  

References:
Strategic Goals. (2007). Retrieved on April 16, 2012 from the Sam Houston State University website at http://www.shsu.edu/~ucs_www/goals.html

3. How did the strategies defined to meet the proposed objectives?

Since there is not a technology plan with proposed objectives there is no way to determine whether the strategies meet the proposed objectives. Based on the indicators provided in the website that includes the Strategic Goals I feel that those indicators were appropriate. However, it does need to include what the purpose behind each strategy. For example in the following strategic goal "Assist University departments with web page design to help increase the Internet
search ranking of SHSU" (Strategic Goals, 2007) there should be an objective that is in alignment with the University's strategic plan. For this particular goal I feel that it would fit well under the university goal that states "Place a targeted emphases on marketing and institutional branding" (SHSU Strategic Plan, 2011) because improving the hits should help market our university. Addtionally, it would fit well under the following goal that states "Identify appropriate five-year plans for targets for enrollment growth and mix and it's instructional and service implications" (SHSU Strategic Plan, 2011) because with more hits on our sites we hope that more students will enroll.

References:
SHSU Strategic Plan. (2011). Retrieved on April 16, 2012 from the Sam Houston State University website at http://www.shsu.edu/~pre_www/documents/StrategicPlanFinal8%201%2011%20-%20Aug%202011.pdf