Organizationally Supporting Innovation in Technology-Enhanced Instruction and Research

摘要

Instructional and Research Technology Services (IRTS) is a newrnunit on the campus of Indiana State University (ISU) created tornenvision, explore, design, and evaluate new and emergingrntechnologies to support teaching, research, and student learning.rnOne of the most important tenants of this new group is to addrnvalue to ISU’s information technology investments.rnSiegel (2003) commented, “IT matters to an organization whenrninnovation matters”. [1] Today most information technologyrnservices serve as a utility; people want them and expect them tornwork 100 percent of the time. It is hard to create an environmentrnthat supports innovation when stability has become the mainrnfocus.rnIRTS is designed to act as a catalyst; one that engages internal andrnexternal audiences in collaborative efforts where faculty arernencouraged and supported to experiment and incorporaterntechnology into their teaching and research activities. Anrnadditional goal of this group is to identify and acquire newrnfunding sources for technology intensive teaching, learning, andrnresearch projects. This paper will describe this new unit’srnorganizational structure, interaction with stakeholders, currentrnprojects, and an assessment of operational effectiveness.