Everyday, the world changes. We are becoming more dependent on technology in our jobs and in our lives. We are Facebookers, Bloggers, Twitterers, E-mailers, compulsive news checkers, sports scores junkies, G-chatters, Fanatasy Ballers, and online shoppers, all while text messaging and taking notes in class.
At the law school, our multitasking lifestyles depend on a conglomerate of networks, programs, servers, and an IT staff that is overstretched and underappreciated. Most of us take for granted the time, money, and expertise involved in making our school’s technological world operate on a daily basis. That said, there are some major problems with the way our technology is managed at this University. Our law school IT staff members are not the problem, they are the solution.
Some of us have probably been frustrated with the lack of integration between all of the different services we use: GroupWise, CourseVU, DataVU, Symplicity, and Valpo.edu. Some of us have had serious problems with the effectiveness of one or more of these services.
What causes an even bigger headache is how little control our school has over the management of our major technological services. The University purchases and administers our major services such as DataVu, CourseVU, GroupWise, etc. Our IT staff has little say in this process and is often denied access to the services should they want to change things for our benefit.
Like most things at our law school, if we want to make any major changes, we have to work through the administrative chain of command. Our connection to the outside world has to go through the main campus. We have very little independent authority regarding major technological purchases or implementations.
The needs of our law school are different from those at the University. We have different users, priorities, and responsibilities than the main university. We have higher tuition than those attending the undergraduate school. Our IT staff has to make the best of what is handed to them from the University and customize it for the needs of the law school.
There are two major problems: bureaucracy and money. Our IT department could very easily move our school from good to great on the technology front, giving our students the best technological services available and while improving our educational experience and chances for employment.
The first problem is that our IT department does not have equal decision making power in comparison to the University’s IT department. We could be saving money by not offering @valpo.edu email addresses and just using Gmail. But, the way everything is set up now, the entire University would have to change, not just the law school. We could also be integrating the majority of our web services into one adjustable program, but that would mean the whole University would have to do the same and approve the same. It is a matter of having the independent authority to make necessary changes for our individual institution that is at issue.
The second major problem is that if our IT department had the go ahead to make all of these changes, they would most likely be very short on cash. This problem could be that a portion of our tuition dollars goes toward paying for things on the main campus that the majority of our students do not use. If we could divert some of this money and other funds toward the IT budget, we might be able to afford to take the necessary action.
In a world where technology changes the way we send, receive, view and interpret information every day, our institution must be lean and ready to quickly adapt to new environments. The way we use technology at our institution could very well be the rocket that launches our school to the top of the ranks or the anvil that sinks us into the mud.
We have no time for lead-footed bureaucracies to slow our progress. We need to put technology at the front of our agenda. It is the necessary infrastructure through which we communicate, with each other and with the world.
Jon is a 2L and can be reached at forum@valpo.edu.
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