Future Technology Tiger Team
An update for the Trustees
Jeremy Haefner
Provost
November 2011
Charge to Tiger Team
• To develop a set of recommendations for new
approaches in learning methodologies and educational
technologies that will add value to RIT’s position in the
higher education market.
– Investigate the latest scientific research on what motivates
students to learn and how students learn.
– Research how other institutions are using new technologies to
deliver education.
– Explain how social media, mobile, and new interactive
technologies might be tapped for a new learning environment at
RIT? Then recommend scenarios, models, and approaches for
interactive online learning that would be important for RIT to
build and that will distinguish RIT as a leader in a new paradigm
for higher education.
Membership
• Therese Hannigan, Associate Professor, New
Media Design & Imaging, CIAS (co-chair)
• Andrew Phelps, Professor & Director, School of
Interactive Games & Media, GCCIS (co-chair)
• Donna Dickson, Director of Faculty
Development, The Wallace Center, RIT
• Jeanne Casares, CIO, Information Technology
Services, RIT
• Jennifer Hinton, Assistant Director of Student
Experience, School of IGM, GCCIS
Work to date
• Met with BoT members David Koretz and
Kevin Surace (more to come)
• Met with Provost Haefner and President
Destler
• Met with Dr. Mayberry, Dr. Wild and Dr.
Haefner in drafting the charge and activities
for town hall meeting
• Collected data and opinions through these
exercises at the town hall meeting (which we
are now reviewing)
Initial Thoughts…
• Let’s dissect the current practices
surrounding educational technology on a
number of different axis…
A 3-Axis Model of Differentiation
The current ‘state of the art’ ?
• The current ‘mass state’ of educational
technology / distance learning is near
stage 1.
• Most of the campuses that have
offerings are currently seeking to
augment a traditional residential model,
and/or a satellite campus.
• Taking place in “easier” to model
programs that are more typically
dependent on traditional modes of
delivery such as text, image, and video.
A few have discovered scale
• Mass-scale distance education
through asynchronous technology
(i.e. Phoenix Online). We call these
Stage 2.
• No physical campus of comparable
infrastructure.
• Typically these programs are in
similar fields as those found in Stage
1, but at a scale and level of
production that often exceeds the
technological capabilities of more
traditional campuses.
Stage 3: Virtual Labs & Studios
• There has been substantial
movement to recreate or digitally
extend experiential laboratory
environments online through
simulation and visualization,
particularly in the fields of
introductory science and
telemedicine.
• The educational effectiveness of
these methods is as yet unproven
when compared to the ‘traditional
laboratory’ beyond a few specific
fields and/or use cases.
Stage 4: Immersion & Experience
• Characteristics of an RIT education
are:
– a deeply immersive, experiential
education
– characterized by the “making of things”
as a critical form of study
• Q: how can this be extended to online,
digital study in a wide variety of fields? How
can the “brand” of an RIT education hold
specific meaning relative to its competition in
the digital era at a scale and model that is
beneficial to the Institute and affordable to
potential students and families?
Expectations…
• We expect to meet with a large constituency
across campus, and the board, to garner a wide
range of opinions on the issue(s).
• We expect a great deal of diversity in these
views.
• We expect that our final recommendations will
be non-traditional and possibly entrepreneurial
in nature…
• We expect that any implementation will need to
reach beyond traditional entities and/or
processes currently within the Institute.
What if…
• A modern university will take the lead in this
area in the next 20 years. There is no
question of if, there is only a question of
when.
• There are ramifications if this is or isn’t RIT.
See You in the Spring
• Our goal is to have a detailed report as well
as possible implementation strategies and
future plans at the Spring BoT meeting.