Information Technology Five-Year Vision

The IT team is a diverse team of individuals with varied roles and responsibility at the College. It is a team that impacts numerous stakeholders (see attached) and touches nearly every aspect of our institutional success. The visioning process allowed the team to explore and expand the scope of our services to better meet the needs of Kirkwood.

Shared Vision

To become the dominant technology leader in the nation among community colleges while offering superior customer service to Kirkwood stakeholders.

Major Initiatives

Continuous improvement in customer service for all stakeholders

  • Implement a comprehensive IT Help Desk for students.
  • Expand Help Desk capabilities.
    • Increase and customize support for off-campus centers.
    • Offer more self-help tools.
    • Reduce wait time for employees.
  • Support a variety of end-user preferences.
  • Ensure all staff and faculty can effectively use IT to fulfill their job roles in a responsible manner.

Proactive use of communication technologies

  • Ensure www.kirkwood.edu is an effective and easy to use marketing tool, information source and access portal to IT tools for both external and internal stakeholders.
    • Increase multi-media content on web.
    • Expand use of Web CT.
  • Develop ability to push information and data to various stakeholders.
  • Share good news from IT.

Lead the Community College IT Community

  • Employ flexible solutions based on open standards.
    • Use open source software where applicable.
    • Follow industry standards for software and hardware deployment.
  • Develop strong vendor relations to increase IT options and visibility.
    • Identify and promote high profile collaborative projects.
    • Explore grant opportunities.
    • Promote Kirkwood IT initiatives through trade journals.
  • Present innovative and effective programs at DUG conferences.
  • Advance the Eagle Card system to offer smart card features.
  • Create a Virtual Campus.

Effective use of instructional technology in the classroom

  •  Provide additional faculty training.
  •  Ensure classrooms are adequately equipped and serviced to support effective instruction.

Capacity

In order to fulfill the stated vision, the IT team will need to increase capacity on several levels.

  • Staffing
    • Evaluate IT team skills and ensure all skills are utilized.
    • Ensure IT team assignments are aligned with college needs.
    • Hire additional IT staff to support the vision and manage system growth.
    • Reconsider when new computer deployments are scheduled and how it impacts staffing.
    • Increase staff satisfaction.
  • Targeted professional development opportunities for existing and new staff.
    • Provide sufficient time and budget to offer needed opportunities.
    • Explore options via vendor relationships.
    • Develop a system to implement and share new ideas.
  • Central IT office and equipment location with adequate infrastructure.
    • Explore how IT could be structured to meet varied needs (Industrial Technologies, KCCK, etc.).
    • Maintain awareness and budget for the ever-expanding internet connectivity needs.
    • Increase data storage capabilities for staff, faculty and students.

Ownership

The team displayed a strong sense of ownership during the visioning process with the entire IT team (33 employees) actively involved. The comments and suggestions presented by team members displayed a deep understanding of our integral role on campus as well as our commitment to providing support and service to all IT stakeholders. The IT team has demonstrated an ability to effectively respond to difficult times over the past year and has displayed a drive to make a positive impact at Kirkwood; these qualities will facilitate our success over the next five years.

Support

The team is committed to implementing this vision and will share responsibility for its success among team members. A more proactive focus on team member skills and training needs, issues addressed in Capacity, will increase our ability to provide better support to each other as we work to achieve our vision.  

Dashboard Indicators

The IT team identified initial measurable dashboard indicators to track progress and will continue to develop additional indicators as needed. These indicators will be measured and monitored by the team on a monthly basis and shared with stakeholders regularly.

Continuous improvement in customer service for all stakeholders

  • The number of calls diverted to voice mail.
  • The amount of time a ticket is open.
  • The number of tickets created and closed by category.
  • The level of broadband usage.
  • The type of application usage.
  • The percentage of time the network is up.

Proactive use of communication technologies

Effective use of instructional technology in the classroom

  • The number of classes offered through IT.
  • The number of faculty and staff taking classes through IT and Continuing Education.

Dashboard Indicators that will be held and added in later.

Continuous improvement in customer service for all stakeholders

  • Survey customer satisfaction when a ticket is closed. 

Proactive use of communication technologies

  • The amount of www.kirkwood.edu multi-media content.
  • The “size” of data.
  • How often good news is shared with the team and other stakeholders.
  • The number of classes/faculty using Web CT.

Lead the Community College IT Community

  • The number of and dollar value of vendor partnerships.
  • The number of and dollar value of IT grants.

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