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Information Technology Services Plan

Mission

We are strategic leaders and collaborators who empower the Macalester community to leverage technology for learning, teaching and college operations.

Values

  • We are forward-thinking, diversity and equity-centered, and innovative, bringing enthusiasm and an open mind to new ideas.
  • We are outcome-oriented, using process mapping and technology selection to help improve the experience at Macalester.
  • We are designers of the Macalester technology environment, focused on stability and security, guided by best practice.
  • We are service-oriented stewards of Macalester’s technology resources.
  • We align with and support the Imagine, Macalester strategic plan.

Major Initiatives for Fiscal Year 2024/25

  • Modernize Macalester’s Wireless Infrastructure, Storage Offerings, and Learning Management Software

    • By July 2024, replace wireless infrastructure across campus with Aruba.
    • By June 2024, transition our Moodle server installation away from Macalester’s Oracle Cloud infrastructure to MoodleUS to provide a vendor hosted service for maintenance and upgrades and 24/7 response support.
    • By June 2024 transition to Ellucian’s ILP to import data into Moodle with the sunsetting of their previous tool. The ILP allows for real time updates to enrollments and course changes and the ability to submit grades from Moodle. 
    • For Fall 2024, integrate tools that promote UDL, accessibility and equity into the classroom:
      • Allow faculty to restore courses themselves. 
      • Integrate Barnes and Noble plugin to provide course materials provided through the Mac Books program. (Complete 6/10/24)
      • Panorama integration with Moodle – All courses will have Panorama activated in the Fall. Panorama rates materials that are uploaded for accessibility and helps guide faculty through remediation steps within Moodle. This tool allows students to download course materials in a variety of formats including PDF, EPub, Audio, and digital Braille. (Complete 6/10/24)
    • By May 2025, modernize storage by replacing on-premise G and H drives with Box.
    • By Spring 2025, complete WordPress theme upgrades and start to lay the groundwork for a visual refresh of www.macalester.edu
  • Improve Data Quality, Access, and Reporting

    • Beginning in the Summer of 2024, in partnership with Institutional Research and Admissions, the Invoke Learning Data Lakehouse and Precision Campus Reporting Platform will be implemented for data decision-making.
    • Review OnBase/Panda to evaluate how it meets the college’s needs and by Fall 2024, recommend whether to stay with Hyland or move to a different product.
    • Set up a portal in Slate to manage the rosters of Club Sports and the Liability Waivers required for them.
    • Create a new process/form in Slate for current students and employees for name change and gender pronouns.
    • Review Ellucian Experience, Workday and Oracle and by May 2025, make a recommendation for the future of Macalester’s ERP.
    • By September 2024, build a tool to give a 360 view of student data in Slate.

  • Digitally Transform the Student Experience

    • A.I.
      • Generative AI is a topic that affects all areas of campus and can potentially impact how we teach, learn, fundraise, and manage our daily responsibilities. Macalester has already seized opportunities across campus to educate our community about the opportunities and pitfalls that come along with such impactful technological advancements. Successful integration on campus requires interdisciplinary collaboration and Macalester is fortunate to have leadership among faculty and staff. We will continue to educate and work with users to provide supportive pathways for exploration.
    • Future of labs
      • ITS will pilot a virtual lab environment in Fall 2025, with the goal of offering the Macalester Community anytime/anyplace access to software via a web portal on their own computers. 
    • LMS Review
      • Taking advantage of our five year contract with MoodleUS, ATS will survey users and partner with the Faculty Advisory Group to determine if Moodle is the best LMS for Macalester, or if another vendor will better fit our needs.
    • Faculty Advisory Group
      • Work with the Dean of Faculty and Faculty Advisory Committee to create a Faculty Advisory Group to gather feedback on our systems and processes, bring greater transparency to our decision making, and increase a sense of community ownership of the technology provided to faculty and students. Our goal is to convene this group of forward-looking faculty and students who can partner with ATS to be part of a community-informed decision-making process.
    • High performance computing 
      • Macalester, Carleton, and St. Olaf were awarded a 2025 FACE grant. We will use these funds to create a collaborative model by taking advantage of existing HPC resources beneficial to current and potential faculty. We will create a five year plan to pilot and sustain a collaborative research model including staffing, queue management, and faculty training and support models. We also intend to broaden the research use of  HPC through outreach to researchers outside of the STEM community to expand how data and high performance computing can be used in Liberal Arts research and education. We intend to organize a community of Midwestern small liberal arts colleges to explore and support HPC efforts. We would hold regular meetings to navigate challenges and create a community of faculty.
    • Digital Resource Center
      • Collaborate with the library to reimagine the library lower level and how the DRC operates/functions/fits within it to provide better support and maximize services.

In the next 5 years we will…

Strengthen Teaching and Learning by:

  • Reimagining computer labs: Through use of Lab Stats and community conversations, reconceptualize the public computer labs to maximize student access. Changes could include anytime/anyplace access to software, collaborative student computing spaces, and transforming the traditional lab space to meet student needs and use. We will also ensure current dedicated teaching labs have the tools and flexibility to increase access for marginalized communities and that all students have access to the tools they need for their coursework.
  • Transforming classroom technology: Integrate Universal Design for Learning guidelines to create inclusive and easy to use technology that enables flexible teaching and accessibility for all.
  • Promoting Digital Liberal Arts (DLA): Highlight student and faculty DLA work in order to recognize its importance as scholarship and amplify opportunities for experiential learning. Streamline processes to build capacity and make DLA more approachable. Engage the full DLA team to foster innovation, access, equity and inclusion, connection across campus, and support for community-based projects.
  • Reviewing Macalester’s Learning Management system and determine a direction and plan for the future. 
  • Maximizing the Digital Resource Center (DRC): Highlight the DRC’s role as a resource for discovery, experimentation, and innovation. Continue to increase access to digital tools and knowledge on campus. Promote the DRC as a hub for experiential learning.

Transform the Student/Faculty/Staff Experience by:

  • Improving manual processes through process mapping, digitization, tool development and automation.
  • Enhancing access to campus services, tools and information through a revamped portal and continued development of the MacNav app so students, faculty, and staff feel confident accessing services and using campus technology.
  • Streamlining and maximizing use of campus software and systems, improving system navigation, processes, and reporting.
  • Evaluating enterprise-level systems and applications, including our ERP, document management system to develop a plan for continued sustainable use.

Enhance Cybersecurity and Protect Macalester’s Data by:

  • Strategically moving services to the cloud and creating resilient, reliable and secure information technology resources for all members of the Macalester community.  
  • Developing policies and safeguards that are constructed in accordance with laws and regulations that govern the Institution to provide definition and instruction for sensitive information and how it should be handled.
  • Educating the Macalester community on information security.

Improve the Institutions Access to Data and Business Intelligence by:

  • Implementing a data lake that aggregates data from diverse systems into a single repository
  • Establishing formal Data Governance at Macalester to further inform the use of our data
  • Redefining data ownership, working with campus partners to understand who maintains data and who is in charge of its accuracy. This includes defining which personal data can be maintained in a self service framework.   
  • Increasing ease of access to data needed for evidence based decision-making
  • Implementing role-based data access, granting access to data based on position without relying on request procedures.  
  • Implementing Business Intelligence software that enables the college to retrieve, analyze, and transform data into actionable insights
  • Breaking down business process silos to increase visibility to data flow across the campus
  • Exposing lists of data based on search criteria made available in a self service framework based on campus role. 
  • Standardizing data integration across disparate systems with a goal towards real-time (or near-real time) synchronization.