Ryerson University 2008 Update

From OUCEL Wiki

Matt Justice

Manager, Digital Media Projects

Computing and Communications Services

Ryerson University

The development and support of non-distance education* e-learning at Ryerson is, above all, in a period of transition. The Digital Media Projects Office, historically charged with the responsibility of supporting faculty in their use of the University’s learning management system (Bb 7.3) and associated (or non-associated) instructional technologies, finds itself with new management at no less than four levels! Line Manager, Assistant Director, Director and even Provost have all changed over the last year, and with new people come new ideas, new energy, new direction – or at least it will, once the direction has been more comprehensively defined. And, where some would see confusion and turmoil, perhaps it is as an IT professional seeing change as inevitable, that I reflect upon the situation as one of great opportunity – the only way is up!

But there is much work to be done before we can grow, and this voyage of self discovery has just begun.

The DMP, as some other instructional technology support units in my experience, has historically been one of a cottage industry, and beyond the facilitation of an LMS (currently Blackboard) for the masses, our best work by far is high-quality, boutique style, low turnover, project based work; taking grass root concepts and sparks from individual or small groups of faculty and making their dreams come true. Our successes have been inspiring in creativity, if not in number.

The eternal question is how can we do more for more? Do we change the model? Do we increase resources? Do we stop doing things we shouldn’t be doing (although very adept at), to make room to do more of what we should be doing? And what should we be doing anyway?

The potential for an answer to that question became clear recently, with the publication of Ryerson’s latest Academic Plan – a blueprint for the next five years of activity from the Provost, and a plan that you only need glance over to realise the importance that the Executive are placing on instructional technology. One email later and the DMP is front and centre, and the days of the cottage industry are likely in the past.

Good things will no doubt come, but so too expectations. We will do more for more without losing out on quality, or at least we need to try, but to balance innovation and support is a difficult one, when the diffusion of innovation leads to higher demand for support. And that makes diffusion of innovation sound like kids play, but what motivates faculty to change their teaching methods, to engage with tried and tested systems that are new to them, let alone be a DMP guinea pig as part of a pilot with a technology that is non-integrated, non-standard, a bit outside the box?

Having engaged only with the tip of the iceberg (beyond the numerous “How to” type Bb questions that are answered, conservative estimates would suggest we work closely with less than 10% of teaching staff) our first job is to capture current practices. What are our faculty doing with instructional technology? And then we can ask, what would they like to be doing with instructional technology, and with some joined-up thinking, we can align our resources to those demands.

So in September it’s likely the case that an e-learning audit of sorts will be announced - a comprehensive review of the current state of instructional technology at Ryerson. Faculty and students will be engaged through surveys and focus groups, and with that data the DMP can make strides toward supporting the universities core mission. Until then, all bets are off.

Oh, and the name, don’t get hung up on it, “DMP” will likely change too. As I said, a period of transition.

• DE @ Ryerson is largely autonomous, with a self-contained development and support team. (This being a topic for a whole other discussion).