Survey of Academic IT Professionals. Methodology A 10 minute online survey of Information Technology managers at four-year colleges and universities was.

Survey of Academic IT Professionals

Methodology

• A 10 minute online survey of Information Technology managers at four-year colleges and universities was conducted between April 5 and April 13, 2004. A message was posted on a Chief Information Officer/Information Technology listserv managed by Educause inviting members of the list to participate in the survey.

• Inclusion criteria stipulated that a respondent be employed at a four-year college or university within the United States. Of the total 41 respondents, 26 met this criteria. The answers given by these 26 respondents are reported. Out of the 15 that did not meet the inclusion criteria, 6 were 2-year colleges, and 9 were colleges or universities outside the United States.

ObjectivesThe objectives of this study were to:

• Determine what additional responsibilities IT departments were incurring as a result of department websites, digital library projects, learning management environments and electronic resources.

• Determine the additional staffing needs and costs of these responsibilities.

• Determine what problems and issues have arisen as a result of these additional responsibilities.

The SampleEight of the respondents were from Doctoral/Research Universities, 13 were from Master’s Colleges, and 5 were from Baccalaureate Colleges. Thirteen of these colleges were public and the other 13 were private.

Because of the small sample size, raw numbers rather than percentages are reported here.

Responsibilities of the IT DepartmentN=26

0

1

5

13

19

24

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

I'm Not Sure

None of the Above

Electronic Publishing

Digital Library Projects

Department Websites

Learning Management Environments

Is your IT department responsible for supporting any of the following: (Choose all that apply)

Of the 26 total respondents, 24 report that their IT department is responsible for supporting Learning Management Environments (e.g. Blackboard), 19 are responsible for supporting department websites, 13 are responsible for supporting digital library projects, and 5 are responsible for electronic publishing. Only one respondent said their department did not support any of these.

Learning Management Environments

Responsibilities Related to Learning Management Environments

N=24

What responsibilities related to supporting learning management environments does your department now carry out? (Choose all that apply)

2

10

10

19

21

23

0 5 10 15 20 25

Other

Search Function

Web Design

User Support

Preservation of Backups

Access Management

Out of the 24 respondents whose department is responsible for supporting learning management environments most reported that they are responsible for access management, preservation of backups, and user support. Ten respondents reported they were responsible for web design and ten respondents also said they were responsible for search functions. Other responses that were mentioned were systems administration/purchasing and application systems management.

Affects of New Learning Management Environments Responsibilities on the Way the IT Department is Structured

N=24

How have the new responsibilities related to supporting learning management environments affected the way the IT department is structured? (Choose all that apply)

4

1

9

10

16

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

No changes have been made

Other

We reorganized

We added staff

We purchased new equipment

The majority of respondents who said their department was responsible for supporting Learning Management Environments said their department purchased new equipment to help meet those needs. Ten respondents said staff was added to their departments and nine said their department was reorganized to deal with the additional responsibilities. Four respondents said no changes had been made to their department.

New Skills of Additional StaffN=10

What new skills does the added staff have?

New skills that were needed include programming skills, web development skills, instructional design skills, and the ability to work with faculty. Below are the responses from survey participants who answered this question:

• Instructional technology skills

• The new position was dedicated to supporting faculty use of technology to support learning. The person had general IT skills and has gained specific knowledge of Adobe premier, WebCT, instructional design and a few other software packages.

• Course design

• Web development skills Programming skills People skills to enable them to work with faculty

• Experience in teaching, web design, graphics design

• Instructional design, documentation, web services and integration, multimedia production.

• Oracle, Unix, Web design

• Java, XML, Security, Web Services

• Instructional design Web development skills

• Computer programming skills

Percent of Budget Spent/ Number of Full-Time Employees Allocated to Supporting Learning

Management EnvironmentsN=24

Approximately what percentage of the budget or how many full time employees are allocated to supporting learning management environments.

Percent of Budget Number of F/T Employees

1

2

1

0

0

0

1

0

1

0

0

0

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

0%

0-1.0%

1.1-2.0%

2.1-3.0%

3.1-4.0%

4.1-5.0%

5.1%-6.0%

6.1%-7.0%

7.1%-8.0%

8.1%-9.0%

9.1%-10.0%

24.1%-25%

3

3

2

4

0

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

4

0 1 2 3 4 5

0

0.01-0.50

0.51-1.00

1.01-1.50

1.51-2.00

2.01-2.50

2.51-3.00

3.01-3.50

3.51-4.00

4.01-4.50

4.51-5.00

5.01-5.50

5.51-6.00

Respondents were asked to indicate the percent of their department’s budget or the number of full time employees (FTEs) within their department (whichever they knew the answer to—some respondents answered both) that were allocated towards the support of Learning Management Environments. The majority of respondents said 6% or less of their department budget is spent on supporting Learning Management Environments. Eight respondents said 1.5 or fewer full time employees were allocated to supporting learning management environments and ten respondents said that between 2 and 5 full time employees supported Learning Management Environments.

Issues with IT Supporting Learning Management Environments

N=24

What are some issues/problems with IT taking over supporting learning management environments?

Issues that IT departments were having with supporting Learning Management Environments included training faculty in the use of these programs, managing expectations of faculty, integrating the LME with existing systems, and having enough resources to support LME demands. Below are the responses from survey participants regarding the issues their department is facing:

• Managing and coordinating WebCT software upgrades with faculty. Keeping up with demand. Training faculty in software (they are largely unwilling to come to classes and we provide one on one training)

• Managing expectations. Faculty training.• Implementing new releases. Synchronizing the learning management system with LDAP and student records (especially

grade keeping)• Integration with administrative systems. Money to upgrade and maintain the product.• The LMS can overwhelm other tasks also assigned to this small team. Struggling to find more resources--demand

growing rapidly.• This is going very well.• Convenience vs. security. Conflicting requests (e.g.need a dummy student whose grades both do and do not appear in the

grade book) Expectation of instant service for even the most complex tasks• Getting users to participate in any decisions• Need to interface with ERP systems (e.g. Banner) it's a mission critical system• No issues -- broadly seen as a valuable service. Emerging issue is off-hour support (e.g., very late night), which we

expect to handle with outsourcing contract.• Departments have difficulties assuming responsibilities for content management• Who does the development us or the faculty?• Integration with existing Intranet web site

Department Websites

Responsibilities Related to Department WebsitesN=19

What responsibilities related to supporting department websites does your department now carry out? (Choose all that apply)

2

13

13

15

16

18

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Other

Search Function

Web Design

Access Management


User Support

Of the 19 IT departments that support department websites, almost all are responsible for user support, preservation of backups and access management. A majority are responsible for web design and search functions. Other responsibilities that were mentioned were hosting and being responsible for the content management system.

Affects of New Department Website Responsibilities on the Way the IT Department is Structured

N=19

How have the new responsibilities related to supporting department websites affected the way the IT department is structured? (Choose all that apply)

3

5

7

7

10

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Other



We added staff

We reorganized

More than half of the respondents whose IT departments support department websites said their department reorganized as a result of the additional responsibilities. Seven respondents each said their department added staff or purchased new equipment. Five respondents said no changes have been made in their department. Other changes that were mentioned were using existing skills for new efforts, and purchasing a content management system.



When asked to list out the new skills needed by any additional staff that had been added, respondents said staff needed web development skills, web design/interface skills, web database application development, and web systems management. Specific answers given include:

• We added student workers and trained them on web development. We added a Graphics Designer BUT he works for External Relations /PR dept.

• Web development, web-database application development, web systems management

• Web programming and database

• Web development skills. Knowledge about accessibility and usability on the web

• Customer service, content management and web development

• Web design , Interfaces, Web services, Java, XML, Security

• Web Design and management. System administration

Percent of Budget Spent/ Number of Full-Time Employees Allocated to Supporting Department Websites

N=19

Approximately what percentage of the budget or how many full time employees are allocated to supporting department websites.

0

1

0

0

3

1

0

0

3

0

0

0

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

0%

0.1%-1.0%

1.1%-2.0%

2.1%-3.0%

3.1%-4.0%

4.1%-5.0%

5.1%-6.0%

6.1%-7.0%

7.1%-8.0%

8.1%-9.0%

9.1%-10.0%

59.1%-60.0%

0

2

2

2

0

0

1

0

0

1

0

0

5

0 1 2 3 4 5

0

0.01-0.50

0.51-1.00

1.01-1.50

1.51-2.00

2.01-2.50

2.51-3.00

3.01-3.50

3.51-4.00

4.01-4.50

4.51-5.00

5.01-5.50

5.51-6.00


Department websites typically accounted for 5-10% of the IT budget, or between .5 and 2 FTEs.

Issues with IT Taking Over Supporting Department Websites

N=19

What are some issues/problems with IT taking over supporting digital library projects?

When asked what some of the issues/problems are that are resulting from taking on responsibilities related to department websites, many respondents mentioned issues surrounding content management. Other comments had to do with managing expectations of departments, and being able to keep up with demand.

• Requests for "advanced services" that we don't currently offer, e.g. PHP• COMMUNICATIONS!!!!! We host almost all web sites for the school. Departments have the choice of developing

their own web sites or providing content to us and we maintain their departmental site for them. About 60% maintain their own sites and we just host them.

• The departments aren't that great at producing content, so mechanisms to make it easier to post content aren't always on the mark. Departmental website management is catch as catch can - and it shows!

• managing expectations• Tension between departmental goals and university wide goals. Issues of content management, and updating stale

content.• We are not able to provide all the tools some departments would like (such as Cold Fusion)• Demand surpasses available resources• We provide infrastructure, consulting, and templates. Development is still done in a variety of ways. This leads to a

variety of problems, especially with accessibility and usability.• IT did not take over any responsibilities. With content management we are, in fact, pushing the maintenance back out

to the users• IT gets calls about incorrect or obsolete content. Content management is easier said than done, IT does not belong in

the content business, distributed content responsibility and buy in needed• Real-time or near-real-time update of new content provided by departments (...the usual content management cycle);

security of applications that utilize executables and database hooks.• Taking control -- departments don't like giving it up even though they can't adequately support it• Departments have difficulties assuming responsibilities for content management and accuracy• Who owns the content• Policy Enforcement Content Management• Soliciting updated content Time and effort of staff

Digital Library Projects

Responsibilities Related to Digital Library ProjectsN=13

What responsibilities related to supporting digital library projects does your department now carry out? (Choose all that apply)

2

6

6

8

9

10

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Other

Search Function

Web Design

User Support

Access Management


Of the 13 respondents who said their department supports digital library projects, 10 reported their department is responsible for preservation of backups, 9 for access management, and 8 for user support. Only 6 respondents said their department was responsible for web design or search function. Other responsibilities that were mentioned were proxy services and installing various SW, and software installation.

Affects of New Digital Library Project Responsibilities on the Way the IT Department is Structured

N=13

How have the new responsibilities related to supporting digital library projects affected the way the IT department is structured? (Choose all that apply)

6

1

1

3

4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7


Other

We added staff


We reorganized

Nearly half of the respondents who said their department is responsible for supporting digital library projects said no changes have been made to the way the department is structured to deal with these new responsibilities. Of the remaining respondents, four said their departments reorganized and three purchased new equipment. Only one respondent said new staff was added to their department to deal with the new responsibilities. The respondent who answered ‘other’ noted that they use their existing skills to work on these new responsibilities.



• Redesign of web site. Implementing on-line web based catalog

Percent of Budget Spent/ Number of Full-Time Employees Allocated to Supporting Digital Library

ProjectsN=13

Approximately what percentage of the budget or how many full time employees are allocated to supporting digital library projects.


0

0

0

1

1

1

1

0

2

0

0

0

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

0%

0.1%-1.0%

1.1%-2.0%

2.1%-3.0%

3.1%-4.0%

4.1%-5.0%

5.1%-6.0%

6.1%-7.0%

7.1%-8.0%

8.1%-9.0%

9.1%-10.0%

39.1%-40.0%

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

0 1 2 3 4 5

0

0.01-0.50

0.51-1.00

1.01-1.50

1.51-2.00

2.01-2.50

2.51-3.00

3.01-3.50

3.51-4.00

4.01-4.50

4.51-5.00

5.01-5.50

5.51-6.00

One respondent said that 40% of their department’s budget was spent on supporting digital library projects, and another reported 10%. The remaining 4 respondents reported 5% or less of their total department budget being spent on supporting digital libraries. In terms of number of employees, 4 respondents reported reported that less than one full time employee was allocated to supporting departmental websites. Only one respondent said that more than one full time employee was designated for this.

Issues with IT Taking Over Supporting Digital Library Projects

N=13

What are some issues/problems with IT taking over supporting digital library projects?

Below are some of the comments from respondents regarding issues their department has faced as a result of taking on responsibilities related to digital library projects:

• We're mostly working on image database projects. Our instructional technologist has shifted his attention from web development to DAM projects, but still his energy is mostly focused on supporting faculty directly.

• managing expectations

• Meta-data is a huge difficulty. Getting the various silos (art, architecture, music, library science) to agree on meta-data schemes is an immense challenge. Goals based on vertical (university) schematics vs. horizontal (field specific) schematics are especially troublesome... for example: "this is how it's done here" vs. "This is how all semitics departments nationwide have agreed to do it“

• The collaboration is positive. Problems simply involved in technical support but offset by increased cooperation and sharing of library vision.

• The Library has their own staff who perform most of this work. We advise, support, and provide infrastructure.

• We are just getting started in this and expect to assign additional staff as our work advances.

Electronic Publishing

Responsibilities Related to Electronic PublishingN=5

What responsibilities related to supporting electronic publishing does your department now carry out? (Choose all that apply)

1

3

4

4

4

4

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5

Other

User Support

Access Management

Search Function

Web Design


Of the 5 respondents whose departments are responsible for supporting electronic publishing 4 said their department is responsible for preservation of backups, web design, search function, and access management. The respondent who answered ‘other’ said their department was responsible for software selection.

Effects of New Electronic Publishing Responsibilities on the Way the IT Department is Structured

N=5

How have the new responsibilities related to supporting learning management environments affected the way the IT department is structured? (Choose all that apply)

3

1

1

1

0

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5


Other

We added staff

We reorganized


The majority of respondents whose department supports electronic publishing said no changes had been made to the structure of their department to deal with these new responsibilities.

Percent of Budget Spent/ Number of Full-Time Employees Allocated to Supporting Electronic

PublishingN=5

Approximately what percentage of the budget or how many full time employees are allocated to supporting electronic publishing.


1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

0%

0.1%-1.0%

1.1%-2.0%

2.1%-3.0%

3.1%-4.0%

4.1%-5.0%

5.1%-6.0%

6.1%-7.0%

7.1%-8.0%

8.1%-9.0%

9.1%-10.0%

0

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0 1 2 3 4 5

0

0.01-0.50

0.51-1.00

1.01-1.50

1.51-2.00

2.01-2.50

2.51-3.00

3.01-3.50

3.51-4.00

4.01-4.50

4.51-5.00

5.01-5.50

5.51-6.00

The majority of respondents said between .5 and 1.5 full time employees were allocated to supporting electronic publishing.

Issues with IT Taking Over Supporting Electronic PublishingN=1

What are some issues/problems with IT taking over supporting electronic publishing?

• One respondent mentioned that managing expectations was an issue.

Conclusions

• The majority of respondents said their department was responsible for supporting learning management environments and department websites. Very few are responsible for electronic publishing.

• Preservation of backups, access management, and user support are the most common responsibilities of the IT department with regards to supporting department websites, digital library projects, learning management systems, and electronic publishing.

• The majority of departments that support electronic publishing and digital library projects said their department made no changes to deal with these additional responsibilities. Those that support department websites and Learning Management Environments are more likely to have added new staff, purchased new equipment, or reorganized.

• The majority of respondents said their department used less than ten percent of its budget or used two or fewer full time employees to support these additional responsibilities.

• Some of the issues that have arisen with these new responsibilities pertain to communicating and working with other departments, demands for resources and time, and managing others’ expectations.