Summer Projects
Working in higher education we know that most of our fiscal year ends June 30th which means that we should be in full swing with summer projects by now. The COVID19 pandemic causes many schools to take a closer look at what summer projects they can do with a limited amount of money. I feel that this summer is going to be a real turning point for us in higher education. When the pandemic hit everyone was forced to go online. As the situations change, ups and downs, some places remain fully online while others looked at other options like hyflex, hybrid, synchronous, and asynchronous to find which path fits best for their school. As most of the states are lifting their restrictions more schools are using this summer to plan out their path. It will no longer be a pandemic forcing schools to choose how they want to operate but the force going to come from faculty and students. So what does this change mean for us higher education technology managers and our summer projects?
Fortune Tellers
Agree or disagree, our role is knees deep in technology and IT. We all know that technology equipment moves at the speed of light. We would need to attend webinars, education sessions, trade shows, or read the latest news on technology so we stay ahead of the game. We needed to make sure our classrooms have the latest and greatest tech so our faculty members can continue to do their job. Now not only do we still have to keep up with the speed of technology but we need to keep on top of the latest trends in teaching as well as world events that might change how schools operate. We need to make sure what we are planning now can support any of the teaching modalities that the faculty member might choose to do or be forced to do. This might mean we need to build new relationships with the folks who do instructional design as well as attending events, webinars, education sessions on teaching, and maybe even trade show design for IT or teaching. As I mentioned in my November 2020 article, we need to process to understand. We will have to make sure that we are truly listing to our users as well as higher up and their pain points. We also have to foresee those pain points and address them before they impact classes.
Look Back
Now is the time to look back at the projects that got put on hold. Are these projects still projects that would help our schools? Do we have the budget, the resources, and the green light to do these projects? How many of the planned upgrades, from winter break [see January issue of the Higher Ed AV digital magazine], are moving forward? Looking back at my January 2020 article, I am making sure I am following my plan. As we adjust our classrooms to fit the latest guidelines I am handling the security audit. I have already reviewed all of our audio visual equipment and noted which ones were still running Flash. I then evaluated manufactures’ fixes for their products with flash. Once I was sure the fixes did not have any issues I started rolling them out to our classrooms. Also we are using this time to address any equipment that come up on the report as not meeting our security standards.
Be Agile
As our schools continue to look at what education looks like post-pandemic we need to remain agile. Just like we were able to switch our schools to full online and then to these other modality, we need to be able to switch just as quick, if not quicker, to any new modality. We already showed that we can respond quickly and we gain that seat at the table so lets not lose it. We may not always like the path administration picks but in the end we are here to support the students in their learning environment.
Conclusion
So in conclusion our summer projects might look different this summer but as I mentioned above, I feel this summer is going to be a turning point for us technology managers. As Heraclitus said “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” we can not return to what we used to do as our classrooms, faculty, and students are all different.