When you’re travelling down a highway, it only makes sense to glance in the rear view mirror every now and then.
For one thing, it can show you how far you’ve come. And, in 2012, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) at the University of Saskatchewan went a long, long way toward meeting important institutional goals and supporting the university community at every turn with new and evolving technologies and an increasingly robust and reliable digital infrastructure.
Here now is a look back at some highlights of a remarkably busy and productive 12 months.
A new organizational structure…
First of all, last year saw the elimination of the previous Information Technology Services (ITS) division and the launch of an all new Information and Communications Technology (ICT) organizational structure. The newly reorganized ICT portfolio positions us better than ever to improve ICT services overall and to streamline the delivery of those services to all members of the university community.
With so much to be proud of…
Ahead of schedule and under budget. When it comes to project delivery, it just doesn’t get better than that -- especially when the project delivered is crucial for the university’s ability to remain competitive. That’s the story of the Campus Wireless project. In early 2012, the project came in not only under budget, but five full months ahead of schedule. ICT installed approximately 1,000 new wireless access points in some 60 different buildings, bringing the university to a total of nearly 2,000 wireless access points overall. That means ubiquitous wireless coverage is now available in classrooms and libraries, student study spaces and meeting rooms, offices areas, research labs and public areas in more than 40 major campus buildings, with partial wireless coverage available in more than 20 other buildings, including several off-campus locations (such as the Station 20 West Community Centre).
Replacing the university’s telephone system was another of ICT’s major projects in 2012 and it continued on schedule and on budget. This multi-year endeavour is replacing the soon-to-be-obsolete analog telephone system with the new “voice over internet protocol” or VoIP standard. Going VoIP not only means cost-savings for the university but provides much improved services such as the ability to receive voicemail via email. Even better, to avoid the need for new-one time funding when the old technology is obsolete once and for all, this project is being entirely funded by the savings from moving to VoIP technology itself, along with the regular telephone operating budget over a six year period. The telephone system replacement project is expected to be complete in 2015.
Ongoing service improvements: business better than usual…
Upgrading to the Exchange email system in 2012 allowed for calendars to be consolidated across the university within the email program. 2012 also saw ICT make substantial improvements to our teaching and learning services. Our learning management system, U of S Course Tools (Blackboard), was upgraded to provide a simplified tools menu, the ability to view courses by term, easier course-to-course navigation, and new grading and grade history features. We also added management tools for our Lecture Capture system (which uses Matterhorn, an open-source technology developed jointly by a handful of top universities including the U of S) and Rich Media streaming right inside the U of S Course Tools menu, making it easier than ever to add lectures, video and audio material (podcasts) to course content. In addition, we enhanced our videoconferencing services which are now used to reach sites in such locations as Île-à-la-Crosse, La Ronge, Prince Albert and Regina -- an important part of our support for the university’s push for distributed learning.
The high quality of our ICT services -- and our ongoing improvements to them -- are also a big reason the U of S recently earned an ‘A’ for IT on the Globe and Mail’s report card!
Greater support for research…
In 2012, ICT also introduced a major addition to High Performance Computing in the form of a new supercomputer. Called Zeno, the high performance computer cluster offers approximately 100 computing cores so its power is considerable and a major new resource for university researchers.
The WestGrid inter-provincial consortium, part of Compute Canada's national program, is another major area of activity for ICT. As of last April, more than 40 WestGrid/Compute Canada research projects were in operation at the University of Saskatchewan, with approximately 110 researchers, including graduate students, research associates and postdoctoral fellows, participating.
ICT’s continued support of research activity in 2012 also included the systematic gathering of requirements for UnivRS, the forthcoming new research administration system. The new system will provide improved reporting on research activity, support regulatory requirements for ethics and clinical trials, and automate formerly paper-based processes.
Better institutional information…
We also went a long way last year toward improving our university’s overall strategy for gathering and disseminating institutional information. The launch of the University Data Warehouse (UDW) allows for the consolidation and integration of institutional data while the new uView tool allows for self-service access to meaningful information through the UDW. By providing better information about the university’s achievement record, enrolment, student analytics, research metrics and more, these initiatives will enable better decision making and planning for the future.
Improved security and planning for the future…
Last year’s launch of the all new ICT Security unit, headed by director Lawrence Dobranski, was a major new step toward protecting our data, our systems and our university community from those who might wish to do them harm. The new unit is already improving our overall security practices and putting more rigour into our processes for security incident responses. Its further mandates include developing new security policies for the university and educating the university community about individual responsibilities when it comes to security (See: “University community has role in IT security”)
In addition, we formed a new ICT Planning and Priorities Committee to bring together ICT decision makers from throughout the university. The new committee provides advice on ICT priorities to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and to the Provost’s Committee on Integrated Planning (PCIP), looks for possible gaps in ICT services and will be an ongoing source of ideas for future improvements.
Building the Digital University…
In 2012, ICT also hosted two major national gatherings. The first was CANHEIT, Canada’s premier conference for IT professionals working in higher education. Run by a veritable army of local volunteers, the highly successful four-day event drew some 360 participants from across the country and featured an enormous array of informative and entertaining presentations as well as keynote addresses by renowned guest speakers George Siemens and Lev Gonick. The theme of CANHEIT 2012 was “Building the Digital University,” inviting participants to explore global trends in higher education and to examine how advances in information and communications technologies are contributing to the reorganization of education and the transformation of the university itself.
While promoting a national vision…
ICT also played host to a pivotal meeting of 75 key stakeholders from industry, government and educational institutions from across the country. Their mission? To devise a comprehensive strategy for achieving a Canada-wide digital infrastructure for research.
What came out of that first national summit was agreement about the need for a truly national vision and a coordinated approach -- and that is now the focus of the ongoing work of the all new Leadership Council for DI Implementation. The U of S is proud to be a key player in these discussions and looks forward to achieving a national vision for a strong and sustainable digital infrastructure which could greatly support the university’s own strategic objectives throughout the coming years.
Bright light on the horizon…
These and ICT’s many other achievements in 2012 made for an outstanding year -- and those accomplishments will serve us well as we move forward into the year ahead.
There is no question that, given the university’s current financial situation, there will be change on the horizon -- but that horizon holds bright prospects for ICT given the many essential services and resources we offer the university and our proven ability to deliver these cleverly, efficiently and cost-effectively.
ICT is well positioned to ensure the university’s continued success as a proud member of the U15, Canada’s top 15 research universities, and we will continue to work to support its larger goal of becoming one of the most distinguished universities in Canada and the world.