Grateful. Easy to understand. Encouraging. These are the words that describe the process of evaluating Magnolia University (MU) with the Technology Maturity Model. One of the hardest aspects of assessment is knowing what tool would be appropriate to use. I feel that this Model does a thorough, comprehensive analysis of technology. The filters seemed to pinpoint the different audiences that are found in an education system (administrators, faculty, students, staff). While I don’t believe this model was originally intended for higher education institutions, it was quite adaptable.
Overall, MU measured up better than anticipated. While some of the benchmarks were in the Island stage, there were no Emerging stage reports. Most of the marks were in the Integrated stages with a few marked as Intelligent. I typically focus on one aspect of technology in my daily work and was invigorated to take the proverbial “step-back” and look at ICT as a whole on campus. Researching the budgets and reading the Presidential and Provost addresses regarding the future progress of campus were the most interesting to consume. I feel that I have more tools in my toolbox to connect with administrators and faculty in my purpose of assisting my campus to become more accessible-born. I also have a greater perspective about how I fit into the larger technology-picture of the university.
I wished that I had thought to connect more with certain organizations on campus to have a better grasp on metrics. Data about Attendance at the Learning Technology workshops and Professional and Organizational Development courses would have been fascinating to include to test my hypothesis that not as many people on campus are utilizing these trainings.
A works cited page was purposefully not included as the identity of my school would be apparent. Anyone with BoiseState credentials can view and comment on the following links: