Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63913
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • "When you're doing the same thing over and over again, and you finally get an opportunity to do it in a new way, you can light a fire." entrepreneurship program, a new e-business institute, and a new MIS department. Fox also extensively uses Blackboard, an online course management and administrative tool targeted to universities. "Finding a way to continue to support and fund these oper- ations and the personnel that we're dependent on is probably the biggest challenge facing Temple University, and probably the biggest challenge facing most universities today," he says. The level of change has compelled a steep learning curve for "you're fundamentally changing the way you deliver courses and interact with students. Technology is mediating that relation- ship." She notes that Kelley has incorporated an online course delivery system called OnCourse and has added a new MS degree in information systems for the fall of 2001. "Faculty members have been energized by the opportunity to In effect, says Massey of the Kelley School of Business, staff, students, and faculty, who must adapt quickly to new approaches and continuously relearn new systems. Educators also have had to revamp, at the most basic levels, the manner in which they teach. What used to be fodder for classroom lectures is now posted online; with this material already absorbed, stu- dents then come to the classroom ready for interactive team projects, in-depth discussion, and hands-on simulations. L 28 The Three Stages of IT University of Texas at Austin, agrees. He notes that when McCombs deployed a new technological strategy three years ago, which included a laptop requirement, adopting and inte- grating the new systems was a challenge. Now, students would refuse to give up their laptops, but many students initially resis- ted the requirement, he explains. Not only that, but distributing the laptops, setting fees, and working out compatibility prob- lems also were daunting tasks. "Deployment of the laptops was a real issue—getting a ven- and chosen; and students, faculty, and staff first begin using the new tools at their disposal. This stage is often the most chal- lenging for a school, says DeAngelo, for both logistical and ideological reasons. Robert May, dean of McCombs School of Business at the University's Fox School of Business, most business schools gen- erally progress through three levels of technology integration: adoption, enhancement, and transformation. During the adoption phase, the possibilities are researched According to John DeAngelo, assistant dean of IT at Temple ike anyone learning a new skill, business school staffers are realizing that integrating IT into a large institutional system must be a slow-and-steady affair. Moreover, it often requires help from a commercial partner who can help them navigate into often unknown waters. teach new and old material differently," says DeAngelo. "When you're doing the same thing over and over again, and you finally get an opportunity to do it in a new way, you can light a fire." Building New Communities Between laptops and the Internet, and the new wireless technolo- gies now conspiring to make the two tools one and the same, management education is still in a state of technological flux. However, it seems to be headed into an era that not only offers dor who would take orders in advance of orientation, but not charge students' credit cards until they delivered the laptops at orientation. Not all of the costs of maintaining such a homoge- neous environment are embedded in the price of the laptop. We had to charge our students fees to support our 'swap shop,' where students do repairs and maintenance on the machines. We didn't anticipate all of these costs," May says, "but we've built them into our cost structure now." In the laptop initiative's first year at McCombs, another signifi- cant issue was deploying the laptops and training students in their use at the same time as student orientation. "Our goal was to have everybody at 100 percent in terms of using our e-mail and calendaring system, file sharing, and Web-based courses before the first day of class," says May. "It was a formidable objective to have everybody up and running with the shared resources." Schools begin experimenting during the enhancement stage. "Faculty members realize that they can do some pretty great things with this technology," DeAngelo observes. "They can do some simulations, use Web sites, and manipulate X and Y axes. They begin to do less lecturing and more interaction." Finally, in the transformation period, a school's approach becomes permanently altered through what these new tools have to offer. Many schools, including Fox School of Business, "are just beginning the transformation stage," DeAngelo says. "I think it takes about five to seven years to get to that level. That's when people start to change the fundamental way they approach the classroom." BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001