IT Strategy 2020

UCD IT Strategic Themes

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• Supporting Research

  All research activities in the main rely on some form of information technology solutions and services. IT now pervades research across all the major research themes: Agri-Food; Culture; Economy & Society;
  Health; ICT; Energy and Environment. The majority of this research is done through interdisciplinary teams working with colleagues across institutions globally and relying on advanced networking and other core technologies to pursue discovery.Research teams generate vast amounts of new data from the internet of things, social media, digital content and other technology platforms every second of the day. This is commonly known as “big data” and requires
  information technology solutions and services that integrate activities within UCD as well as national and global domains and partners.

  Our challenge is to identify the infrastructure, services, and support structures that can provide the most value in the areas of greatest need for the UCD research community.The following goals contribute and support the objectives of the UCD Strategy for Research, Innovation and Impact (2015-2020).

  Goals

  • Enabling easy access by researchers in all disciplines to infrastructure,tools, services and support.

  • In partnership with key stakeholders, designing and implementing a Research Data Management policy and plan.

  • Enhancing the UCD High Performance Computing service.

  • In partnership with key stakeholders,implementing a new research information management system.

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• Enhancing Educational Technology Services

  Educational technologies can help to enhance teaching and learning across UCD and leverage UCD’s core strengths as a research and educational institution. Harnessing technology to collaborate and create digital content can provide a bridge between teaching and research, thus enabling the dissemination of research both in the classroom and across the community. The impact of technology and globalisation on higher education is significant. Faculty and students are
  using more and more IT every day, whether we are talking about technology-aided interaction in the classroom, video capture for later consumption, or online assessment/simulations to augment hands on activities. Technology provides the infrastructure to allow new ways of reaching students – in some cases far beyond the campus classroom, such as in “massive open online classes” (MOOCs). These applications of technology in education must be explored so that our faculty have the knowledge and capability to take full advantage of the most appropriate technologies.

  The following goals serve to support the University’s objectives and initiatives in providing an educational experience that defines international best practice. These goals will provide easier access to learning technologies, establish a core baseline of educational technologies, support innovation and most importantly empower faculty, staff and students.

  Goals

  • Facilitating the exploration, development, and adoption of new teaching tools and technologies.Focusing on supporting Colleges, Schools and educational technologists through this process.

  • Establishing a Learning Hub platform that incorporates a virtual learning technology environment with forward-looking learning systems and tools to support educational excellence across the UCD community.

  • Supporting faculty in the development of academic content and use of learning technologies through training, consultancy and guidance. Additionally, offering opportunities to showcase achievements in TEL (technology enhanced learning) through local and national events and conferences.

  • Providing new teaching, learning and advising tools that support the delivery of a personalised learning experience to students who are highly mobile learners.

  • Designing and implementing a set of technology solutions that will support formative and summative assessment methods in UCD.

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• Contributing to the Student Experience

  Providing information technology solutions and services that meet student needs is a key goal for IT Services in UCD. Their needs are diverse and students are generally early adopters of new technologies, which challenges the IT landscape in UCD. They are constantly “on” smartphones and social media software that allows them to be in continuous contact with friends and family regardless of their location. The IT Strategy 2020 acknowledges this lifestyle, and also supports students’ effective use of UCD information technology solutions and services in the pursuit of their educational ambitions. Ensuring positive outcomes from this use of technology solutions and services requires regularinteraction with the UCD student community throughout their relationship with UCD, from prospective to alumni.

  IT Services will set out to enhance the provision of information solutions and services that support the student journey through UCD. This will include all student groups both on and off the main campus in Belfield. The following goals serve to support the objectives and strategic initiatives as outlined in the UCD Strategy 2015-2020.

  Goals

  • Providing the essential information technology solutions and services across the UCD community to achieve best practices for interacting with students.

  • Engaging with our students, prospective students and alumni regularly to understand their needs and identify opportunities for collaboration.

  • Providing new teaching, learning and advising tools that support the delivery of a personalised learning experience to students who are highly mobile learners (linked to same goal under Enhancing Educational Technology Services).

  • Deploying new and enhanced online processes to help drive change and increase efficiency and effectiveness across the UCD community (with a student focus under this goal).

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• Enabling Global Engagement

  Globalisation is one of UCD’s key strategic initiatives. To deliver on this initiative, the Global Engagement Strategy sets out to further enhance our international culture, grow our global reputation and to increase the impact of our excellence in scholarship, research and innovation on key global issues. The realisation of UCD’s global ambitions will be supported by our global centres and our extensive network of partners worldwide. The design and implementation of information technology solutions and services will be a key enabler to delivering on these goals.

  As our vision states we want to Empower People: by transforming University life with new and emerging digital technologies. This best places us and this strategic plan to deliver on Objective 5: Create an enabling environment for UCD’s global activities and more specifically by enhancing the faculty and staff experience. The following goals support the Enabling of Global Engagement activities.

  Goals

  • Enabling easy access to infrastructure, tools, services and support, which will contribute to the successful implementation of the Global Engagement Strategy.

  • Further developing the integrated systems that support the full lifecycle of student recruitment from enquiry through to offer and acceptance. (Linked to same goal under Facilitating Transformation and Strategic Information Delivery)

  • Delivering analytics to support the implementation of the Global Engagement Strategy and enabling data driven decision-making.

  • Designing and implementing a new IT platform to support the Global Partnerships initiative.