Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
SWOT analysis of a new ICT service
SWOT Template
Organisation:
Charles Sturt University.
Date: 18/05/2014
Description of current/new ICT service:
A mobile-optimised platform for students, academics and professional staff to access the
university’s services and resources from smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.
To accompany this platform, the university will develop a mobile app version of the
interface. The interface will serve as a convenient and unified entry point to professional
development, training, learning support, collaboration and administrative facilities for
staff and students who will access it both on campus and outside the university.
STRENGTHS
1. Charles Sturt enjoys a strong
WEAKNESSES
1. Online information systems and
reputation as a leader and
gateways are convoluted and aging.
innovator in blended learning and
Because the university has been
distance education programs. Many
operating in this arena for so long,
students combine study with work
there are legacy systems and
and other responsibilities. An
overlaps between services. Many
extension of online services,
students are confused about the
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
especially one which enhances the
differences between different
convenience of studying CSU
portals. Any new interface must be
subjects, will further cement this
interoperable with existing systems
reputation and may improve
but also adjustable to systems CSU
retention or even recruitment of
introduces in the future.
students.
2. The university already possesses
2. CSU does not have sufficient IT
personnel to devote a team
extensive mobile infrastructure (a
exclusively to the development and
LMS, student and staff portals, an
maintenance of a new information
established presence on social
system for the long term.
networking and other digital
3. Mobile devices are accessible to
services) and has been offering
many students but the university
online education programs for a
lacks the internal infrastructure to
considerable time, with third-party
support the modes of learning
applications like WordPress and
available through mobile
YouTube already incorporated into
technologies and for the time being
many teaching and research
is dependent on third-party services
programs. This expertise and
like YouTube and Vimeo for
experience reduce the prospective
uploading content (Klapdor, 2014).
training burden for IT and
4. Greater use of mobile devices on
academic staff alike. A high speed
campus for tasks users might have
wireless network with its own
completed on desktops and laptops
configuration tool covers all
puts pressure on CSU’s wireless
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
campuses of the university and the
network, potentially causing delays
university is also a member of the
and forcing the university to add
Eduroam program, giving staff and
capacity.
students wireless access when they
are on the campuses of other
universities (Charles Sturt
University, 2014a).
3. Staff are actively engaged in
researching mLearning innovations
and best practices. The mLearn
project has been running for a
number of years (Charles Sturt
University, 2012).
4. CSU’s large contingent of distance
education students and its
geographically dispersed students
and researchers are used to seeing
the web as their main channel of
communication with the university
and, as a result, are better primed
to adopt a new application than the
communities of other institutions.
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
5. The CSU library has already
developed its own mobile app,
ahead of the libraries of other
Australian institutions (Charles
Sturt University Division of Library
Services, 2014a; Stone, 2013).
Databases and other resources
subscribed to by the library have
inbuilt mobile apps and
functionality and can be integrated
into the new mobile interface,
along with other products and
third-party services operating
throughout teaching, research and
administrative departments (such
as Yammer, PebblePad and
Microsoft Communicator).
OPPORTUNITIES
1. The computing market is moving
THREATS
1. The rate of innovation in the
increasingly toward mobile
mobile computing market means
computing and the next wave of
that it is difficult to anticipate the
tablets and netbooks are being
devices (or, indeed, browsers and
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
heavily marketed to students as
operating systems) with which staff
providing functionality, portability
and students will be accessing the
and price savings compared to
network in the future and whether
traditional laptops and desktops
any one application will be
(Charles Sturt University, 2012).
interoperable with these devices.
Further, the increase in students
2. If apps and services by vendors
attending university from lower
and outside companies (such as
SES backgrounds is likely to
database aggregators) are
contribute to a decrease in
incorporated into the platform,
ownership of laptops and a
changes vendors make to their
corresponding rise in the
interfaces and apps may impact the
proportion of smaller screen and
functionality of the CSU platform.
mobile devices being used to access
Many of these apps and services
university networks and complete
are important for student study and
assignments (Charles Sturt
staff research and users would
University, 2012). CSU can be
expect to be able to access them.
certain that the majority of students
3. Increasing competition in distance
will be able to access mobile
education from overseas
services without the loan of a
institutions as well as institutions
device provisioned by the
within Australia produces a student
university (although such a
market which is more discerning
program will still be necessary).
and demanding about the quality of
the student experience, including
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
2. Mobile devices raise the prospect
the online student experience,
of more innovative learning and
putting additional pressure on
assessment activities for all
universities to develop and
students but particularly for
maintain high quality, engaging and
distance education students and
accessible interfaces. Fourteen
students engaged in workplace
other Australian Universities
learning. Mobile devices can also
already utilise iTunesU to provide
be used for data collection, data
access to mobile materials and
access and other research activities
institutions such as the Universities
by staff while travelling or away
of Sydney and Melbourne boast
from campus, the new interface
mobile apps with LMS integration
expediting the storage and
(Charles Sturt University, 2012).
organisation of information for
CSU has significant numbers of
staff and students alike. The higher
international students in its
quality of new smartphone screens
distance education programs and
makes the experience of content
partner institutions in Asia, Europe
and media more engaging (Turban,
and the Pacific. Overseas
Volonino and Wood, 2013).
competitors offer sophisticated
3. Staff and students across campuses
mobile learning programs, some of
and locations might collaborate
which are being released free of
through video conferencing and
charge on MOOC platforms like
other collaborative apps included in
Coursera and edX. These programs
the platform, sharing expertise
and platforms raise students’
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
across the institution and reducing
expectations of mobile learning
the costs involved in transporting
services further still.
staff to physical meetings.
4. The consumerisation of workplace
4. User privacy cannot be guaranteed
for external apps (such as Vimeo
technology (especially the BYOD)
and twitter) integrated into the
trend means that students and
university’s platform (Klapdor,
many staff members will prefer
2014). CSU must rely upon
their own devices to university
students and staff to create their
supplied equipment, leading to
own accounts and manage their
potential hardware savings for CSU
own privacy settings for these
if these are not overtaken by the
services. Many users will
cost of an increased load on the
nevertheless expect support in
wireless network.
using these apps from the
university and may hold the
university responsible for damage
to their own equipment.
5. Although the ownership of
smartphones is accelerating at an
unprecedented rate, CSU cannot
assume that all students have
access to a device. Even more
pivotally, we cannot assume that
students have access to high-speed
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
wireless networks at all times.
Many phone users rely on 3G or
older networks and have limited
data allowances (Klapdor, 2014).
Summary and Recommendations:
Mobility presents challenges and opportunities for universities across the world,
extending the reach of institutions like CSU and at the same time transforming the
expectations students and staff have of their relationship with education providers and
employers. Over a number of years CSU has been exploring mobility’s impact on
education from multiple angles through its mLearn project (Charles Sturt University,
2012). As the biggest provider of distance education in Australia with a uniquely
dispersed student population studying a wide range of subject areas, CSU would seem
poised to avail itself of the opportunities brought into being by the swift pace of
innovation in the mobile computing market, the accompanying shifts in consumer
preferences and the more flexible and engaging interfaces being developed for mobilebased learning and research. Largely based on Web 1.0 technologies, the existing portal,
intranet and website appear “flat” compared to the dynamic, Web 2.0-enabled sites
students and staff experience outside the university and lack the tools for communication
and collaboration featured by these outside sites in particular.
By establishing a mobile-optimised platform as a single entry point to university
resources and services and by making that platform available as a mobile app, CSU can
achieve its strategic goals of strengthening its position as a leader in flexible and blended
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
learning and teaching with a particular focus on professional education, advancing the
applied research in which the university specialises and improving the student
experience, as well as achieving efficiencies in the collection and maintenance of data and
the coordination of administrative processes (Charles Sturt University, 2010). Moreover,
the opening up of the higher education market with further deregulation from 2012 has
put an even greater emphasis on student experience. In this climate universities will
distinguish themselves by optimising their learning and teaching environments, especially
through educational technology (Charles Sturt University, 2010).
The mobile interface project will be managed in an agile manner that is responsive to the
emergence of new technologies, feedback from users and data analytics, preferring a
simple and sustainable design delivered rapidly. The success of the project hinges upon
users’ access to support mechanisms as much as their access to technology (Charles Sturt
University, 2012).
In comparison to CSU’s redevelopment of its Interact LMS (analysed in the first
assignment), this project introduces a new IT infrastructure instead of updating or
adapting an existing architecture, however both projects seek to provide a single point of
access to disparate information systems within the university, integrating materials which
have often been created without consistent standards. Both applications also respond to
the boom in ownership of tablets, smartphone and other mobile devices and a
corresponding demand from students and workers for flexibility in study and work
arrangements
The mobile platform presents a unique opportunity to promote greater use of CSU’s
existing mobile applications by making them more accessible and findable with a single
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
entry point. Like the Interact redevelopment, it leverages CSU’s experience and expertise
in blended learning to secure a competitive advantage in the distance education market
through an enhanced user experience and the streamlining of processes. Work by other
universities (most notably Oxford University with its open source mobile app) diffuses
some of the development costs for CSU, as was the case with the Sakai software
implemented in the first version of Interact, however there is no ready-made support
community or documentation for CSU’s final product in this case.
Above all, the mobile interface project demonstrates how integral an enterprise
architecture practice is to IT governance in a large and complex organisation like a
university, especially a university which has distributed its teaching and research
functions across several regions, serving widely dispersed staff and students. The
guidance of the university’s Enterprise Architecture and Liaison office
(http://www.csu.edu.au/division/dit/eal/architectures.htm) in the initial planning,
design and implementation will ensure that the new service is effectively integrated with
existing information systems, especially the university’s learning management and student
records systems, but it is the ongoing involvement of this office that will ultimately
guarantee that each change to and iteration of the service is effectively coordinated with
other university processes and systems at the same time as it responds to information
about user needs garnered from data analytics.
Short Term (Now)
The Enterprise Architecture and Liaison office will have oversight over the initial
research and planning period, owing to the complexity of the task of integrating any new
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
system with the university’s current network and the need to align the development of
the system with long-term goals. An initial investigation and survey will involve staff
from most divisions and sections of the university and particularly the division of student
learning, IT and library and student services in order to ensure that the project will not
be siloed and will support strategic goals as they are realised across the university.
The priorities for the beginning of the project are to identify the functionalities and
generic capabilities for learning and teaching which should be included as priorities in the
mobile app and the interface, to work with IT staff to stabilise rich media delivery
(vodcasts and podcasts) to mobile devices accessing the network and website, to
promote and raise awareness of existing CSU mobile apps such as PebblePad and the
Interact podcasting tool and to research the interoperability of internal and third partypublished content with the mobile interfaces available from LMS vendors like
Blackboard and Moodle. Deciding between an open source or a commercial solution is a
key objective of the initial research and planning phase. Of particular importance will be
the extent of the IT staffing and resources that must be diverted to support an open
source application and how this compares to the extra cost of a commercial product with
vendor support.
Finally, data analytics applications will be applied to measure how many students and
staff are accessing the site with mobile devices at present and whether their behaviour
and interests differ significantly from users accessing the site from more traditional
machines.
Mid Term (next 12 months)
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
Over the medium term, the implementation plan expands into several pilot programs,
tendering and negotiation processes and user experience studies. After the initial study
and survey of staff and students, the enterprise architect responsible for the project will
need to investigate the offerings of various external vendors and the level of support they
are able to extend to the initial implementation and from hence to the maintenance of
the system over its lifetime. Customisation, scalability and flexibility will also be
prominent criteria in the assessment of vendors’ offerings, along with interoperability
with applications the university may add to its network in the future and new
technologies staff and students may adopt to access the network. While there is a risk of
lock-in with a single vendor approach, this approach also simplifies development and
support (Charles Sturt University, 2012). During the configuration and installation phase,
university staff (including enterprise architects) will work closely with representatives
from the vendor to verify that the requirements and specifications determined from the
initial studies are met by the final product.
Alongside the configuration and installation of the software, staff will develop a mobile
hub (mHub) to promote and support the service, addressing issues of technical support,
training and user buy in. Eventually, mHub will become an open and collaborative space
to disseminate and share resources, reviews, guides, tutorials and other information
regarding hardware, software and uses of mobile technologies (Charles Sturt University,
2012). Available to students, staff, researchers and professional staff across the sector
with no internal log-in required, mHub will consolidate CSU’s position as an industry
leader in mobile learning and draw public attention to its work with the new mobile
interface (Charles Sturt University, 2013).
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
Because there is no clear precedent for mobile learning, the leaders of the project will
gain real world experience through small, tightly focused pilot programs enlisting staff
who are willing to incorporate a pilot version of the interface into their teaching, with
training and support for pilot participants provided by the project team (Charles Sturt
University, 2012). The small scale of these pilots will allow team members to quickly
ascertain what does and does not work with minimal risk and to acquire a stronger
understanding of how to support the services when they are rolled out more widely
(Charles Sturt University, 2012). There will also be a pilot of CSU-provisioned devices on
campus to examine how devices are supported by the existing infrastructure.
Infrastructure planning will be revised as these devices are trialled in and rolled out to
further sections of the organisation.
In the medium term, a beta version of the interface and app will be created by mobilising
less demanding content (such as subject outlines, campus maps with location-aware
promotions, calendars and the message centre). Launching this simplified version of the
mobile app through iTunes and the Google Play store will help to ascertain the level of
student interest and the services which generate the most user interaction (Charles Sturt
University, 2014c).
Also in the medium term, CSU will establish a presence on prominent and easily
implemented outside educational platforms like iTunesU.
Long Term (next 3 to 5 years)
The university’s Enterprise Architecture and Liaison office has a lifetime commitment to
the service, beyond its inception. Over the long term, staff from the office will review the
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
service periodically to assess how it aligns with strategic goals in the university’s
educational technology plan, with major reviews accompanying the release of each
updated plan every three years. The design process for a service such as this is iterative
and ongoing, reflecting a need to continually innovate, revise the design and information
architecture and add functionality in response to user needs and disruptive
transformations in the mobile computing market.
In the longer term, the success of the project will be decided by the effectiveness of
university-wide IT governance in maintaining consistent data storage and use policies
across departments and divisions so that all systems are interoperable with the mobile
platform. The task of navigating between the viewpoints of different departments and
user groups whilst at the same time maintaining the highest standards of functionality
and user accessibility will draw upon the enterprise architect’s full complement of
interdisciplinary skills in project management, IT and communication.
The most crucial task over the next three to five years will be the integration of Interact
into the mobile platform, with work at other universities (UCT and Oxford) serving as
models (Charles Sturt University, 2012). This integration will have been piloted in a
limited number of subjects in the first year of the project and these pilots will continue.
Among other concerns, the team will consider whether it is prudent for the system to
continue to rely upon third-party apps such as YouTube and Yammer or if it is in fact
feasible for the university to develop or lease apps for common functions like image
sharing and storage and video conferencing. Use of all third-party applications and social
media must conform to the university policy on external educational applications
(Charles Sturt University, 2014c).
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
Finally a learning analytics strategy will be formulated so that staff have actionable data
for evaluating the take up of the application, whether it is used equally by all groups and,
most vitally, users’ interaction with its resources. The resulting aggregated analytic data
will provide prompts to improve performance without breaching students’ privacy by
storing personally identifiable information.
References
Brann, J., Uys, P., Griffin, L., Klapdor, T., Thomson, S., Fell, R., . . . Harris, M. (2011). Mobile
learning initiative investigation report. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website:
http://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/word_doc/0008/202103/2011MobileLearningIn
itiativeInterimReport.docx
Charles Sturt University. (2010). CSU educational technology framework.
http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/resources/documents/CSUEducationalTechnol
ogyFramework.pdf
Charles Sturt University. (2011). CSU educational technology plan, 2011-2013.
Charles Sturt University. (2012). mLearn 2012: Lessons through exploration. Retrieved from
SlideShare website: http://www.slideshare.net/mLearn/mlearn-fullreport
Charles Sturt University. (2013). mHub website. from http://mhub.csu.edu.au/
Charles Sturt University. (2014a). Wireless guide.
http://www.csu.edu.au/division/dit/services/service-catalogue/wireless/
Charles Sturt University. (2014b). Dashboard of CSU educational technologies.
Charles Sturt University. (2014c). mLearn: Mobile learning at CSU.
Karen Daly
ITC540, assignment 2B
Student number: 11437366
http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/resources/mobilelearning
Charles Sturt University Division of Library Services. (2014a). Mobile information.
http://www.csu.edu.au/division/library/how-to/csu-library-mobile
Charles Sturt University Division of Library Services. (2014b). Mobile devices for study and
research.
Google Inc. . (2014). Google Analytics: Official website. from
http://www.google.com.au/analytics/
Klapdor, T. (2014). Smart phone to smart students. Retrieved from mHub website:
http://mhub.csu.edu.au/mlearn/smart-phones-to-smart-students/
Stone, R. (2013). What’s mobile at CSU? Retrieved from mHub website:
http://mhub.csu.edu.au/guides/whats-mobile-at-csu/
Turban, E., Volonino, L., & Wood, G. (2013). Information technology for management: Advancing
sustainable, profitable business growth. . Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.