Information Technology
Promises, Prospects, and Reality
John Bruno
Vice Provost
Information and Educational Technology
University of California, Davis
Information and Educational
Technology at UC Davis
• Office of the Vice Provost
– Campuswide Information Technology Policy
and Planning
– Operations
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Information Resources
Communications Resources
Mediaworks (new)
Repro Graphics
Campuswide Information Technology
Policy and Planning
• Information Technology Policy Board
• Academic Computing Coordinating Council
• Administrative Computing Coordinating
Council
• Technology Infrastructure Forum
• Network Operations Advisory Committee
Outline
• Historical view of information technology
• Impact on students, faculty, and staff
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Tidal Wave II
Instruction
Research
Services
New Business Architecture
A Survey of Technology Trends
• A theory of technology development
– Introductory/substitution phase
– Infrastructure development phase
– Social and economic consequences emerge
• Automobile is often cited
– Substitute for horse-drawn carriage
– Infrastructure phase: construction of roads and
production and distribution of fuel
– Growth of suburbs and decline of urban centers
Information (Digital) Technology
An Historical Perspective
The Computer Museum (www.tcm.org)
Science Museum, London (www.nmsi.ac.uk)
• 1832, Charles Babbage, The Difference Engine
(2000 parts)
1904, Electronic Amplification
• John Ambrose Flemming, Thermionic valve
Detection and amplification of radio signals
1944, Electronic Computers
• ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
• EDVAC, Stored program computer (John von Neuman)
1947, Solid State Technology
• December 23, 1947 at AT&T Bell Laboratories,
Shockley, Brattain, and Bardeen successfully
tested the point-contact transistor
1955, TRADIC
• In 1955, AT&T Bell Laboratories
announced TRADIC,
the first fully transistorized
computer. It contained
nearly 800 transistors
1958, Integrated Circuits
• 1958 -- Jack Kilby created the first
integrated circuit at Texas Instruments
• 1959 -- Robert Noyce created the first
practical integrated circuit
at Fairchild, allowing the
printing of conducting
channels directly on
silicon
1965, DEC PDP 8
• DEC introduced the first
commercially successful
minicomputer, the PDP 8
1969, UNIX
• AT&T Bell Laboratories: Ken Thompson
and Dennis Richie developed the UNIX
operating system on a spare DEC
minicomputer
1971, First Microprocessor
• Intel announces the Intel 4004
microprocessor
1970, ARPANET
• UCSB, UCLA, SRI International,
University of Utah
• Viewed as resource
sharing network
1973, Ethernet
• Robert Metcalf devised the Ethernet at
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
1990, The World Wide Web
The WWW was born when
Berners-Lee, a researcher at
CERN, the high-energy
physics lab in Geneva,
developed HTML. The
specifications, such as URL
and HTTP protocol enabled
the WWW application to run
over the Internet. It is often
called the Killer App of the
Internet.
Promises, Prospects, and Reality
• Promises: the information technology
revolution will …
• Prospects: free internet access, free internet
storage, free email, free long distance calls
• Reality: most of the dot com business
models are not sustainable
Short-Term Prospects
• Quickening pace of technological developments: deregulation
+ technological innovation + the investment community
• Cheaper and faster computers and networks: speed + memory
+ bandwidth
• Everyone connected: DSL + cable + wireless
• Integrated network services: video + voice + data
• Accelerated growth of online information, services, and
commerce: explosion of information on the Web
Impact of Information Technology
on Students, Faculty, and Staff
• Tidal Wave II
• Instruction
– virtual university
– content, competition, and controversy
• Research
– global communities of scholars
– fosters interdisciplinary research
• Services for students faculty and staff
• New Business Architecture
Tidal Wave II
• More students
• More adept with information technology
• High expectations
– fueled by new web based business models
– faculty and staff workloads
Instruction
• Enhances traditional approach with Webbased online material
• Enhances interactivity and student advising
via e-mail, newsgroups, and chat rooms
• Digital libraries provide online repositories,
available everywhere and any time
Instruction
• 3D graphics and virtual realities
• Sound Synthesis: Music composition
• The wired classroom: The Anderson School
of Management at UCLA
• The wireless classroom
Online Courses
• UCLA Extension advertisement
"All you need is a computer and a modem and we will provide you
with software and simple instructions on how to set-up your virtual
learning environment. You can choose the time and place to 'attend'
class. Whether it is from work or home, you simply collect your
coursework, lectures, and submit your assignments electronically--at
your convenience! Receive the quality of instruction you expect from
UCLA Extension in the comfort of home.
...
You will also have the opportunity to visit our online 'student lounge'
where fellow online UCLA Extension students from across the nation
and around the world meet, share online experiences, and socialize."
Stanford University Online
(Advertisement)
• Convenience. Course videos and presentation
materials streamed directly to each student's
desktop
• Access. Stanford Online Servers
• Navigation. VCR controls
• Video and Graphics. All components in sync
Online Master's Degree in Electrical
Engineering Offered by Stanford
University
• 30 courses leading to MS in Electrical Engineering
• "We are going to give people in industry the same
courses as if they were here on campus," John
Hennessy, Dean of School of Engineering,
Stanford University (now president!)
• Offer interactive seminars and chat line discussions
of relevant topics (the virtual campus experience)
Content
• Dennis Tsichritzis, "Universities generate content every
day … Then they throw it away. … Universities operate
like renaissance quartets based on live performances."
• Leonard Bernstein's Norton Lectures at Harvard
University, "The Unanswered Question"
– presented in 1973 at Harvard
– available in book form and on video tape
• Dante Youla, Lectures in Matrix Theory
– presented in 1968 at Brooklyn Poly
– not available!
Content, Packaging, and
Distribution
• Universities are involved in all three
– Content: produced by professors and lecturers
– Packaging: courses
– Distribution: presentations to students
• How is this situation changing?
– Content: Get best material
– Packaging: Flexible
– Distribution: Locally and Globally via the Web (for now)
Competition
• The education marketplace is big business
– Publishers
– Entrepreneurs
– Media companies
• Disruptive Technologies (Clayton Christensen)
– how great companies fail
– Sears, Digital Equipment, IBM, etc
– will public universities be next?
Controversy
• David F. Nobel, author of "Digital Diploma Mills: The
Automation of Higher Education," says:
"Automation -- the distribution of digitized course material
online, without the participation of professors who develop
such material -- is often justified as an inevitable part of
the new knowledge-based society … the trend toward
automation … is a battle between students and professors
on one side, and university administrators and companies
with 'educational products' to sell on the other."
Impact on Research
• Rapid dissemination of research results via Web
– conference papers available prior to meeting
– source of information on current research
• Digital Libraries
– eliminating need for archival journals
– mediated repositories, peer reviewing
• Worldwide communities of scholars
Services for Students, Faculty,
and Staff
• Commercial sector rapidly moving products
and services online
• Our expectation is that all services be online
• At UC Davis we have developed a student
services portal called MyUCDavis
PORTALS
• Authentication; sign on with password
• Authorization: what are you permitted to do?
• Personalization: the web pages you see are
dynamically created and may present personal
information (student portal: grades, financial aid,
bursar’s office, etc)
• Customization: the portal can be customized to
present only selected information “channels”
MyUCDavis--student services
• MyUCDavis portal provides students with:
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personalized and customizable home page
lists classes that the student is taking
course scheduling and catalog information
provides Web-based email
provides Web-based file storage
messaging system
access to financial aid information
more to come!
MyUCDavis--faculty services
• MyUCDavis portal provides faculty with:
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personalized and customizable home page
lists classes that the faculty member is teaching
course scheduling and catalog information
templates to create basic home page for course(s)
provides Web-based email
provides Web-based file storage
messaging system
more to come!
MyUCDavis--staff services
• MyUCDavis portal provides staff with:
• personalized and customizable home page
• provides Web-based email
• provides Web-based file storage
• messaging system
• more to come!
New Business Architecture (NBA)
A new business portal for staff
• Need to re-engineer business processes
• Portal technology can be used to provide
consistent and seamless access to services
• No more legacy systems. Promises,
promises!
Current Situation
Future View (Promises)
Business Portal
Legacy System
Web browser
Web Server
Legacy System
Legacy System
Legacy System
Summary
• Pace of technological advances is not likely to slow
• Expectations of constituents are likely to increase
• Traditional approaches will increase faculty and staff
workloads
• Increasing competition in education marketplace
Summary
• Investment is essential
• Reengineering of business processes
• Business portal technology
(promises, prospects and reality)