Committee of Australian University Directors of Information Technology
(CAUDIT)

Submission to West Committee of Review

1.0
The Committee of Australian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT), the committee of the officers with direct responsibility for Information Technology services within the universities of Australia has pleasure in making the following submission to the West Committee of Review of Higher Education. In making its submission CAUDIT wishes to refer the Review Committee to the issues paper of the AVCC entitled "Exploiting Information Technology in Higher Education", which canvasses many of the issues and in this submission simply highlight the key issues and points of that paper.

2.0
Transformation from the Industrial to the Information Age

2.1
CAUDIT considers that society is undergoing a fundamental transformation from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. This transformation is characterised by explosive growth in the generation of information, exponential demand for its use and a continually shrinking life cycle of information and the underpinning technology. It is a global phenomenon with very significant local implications affecting all people, organisations, societies and nations, although not at the same pace or to the same degree. As the world moves into the Information Age access to information and the ability to analyse it and thus "create" knowledge will be the hallmark of successful organisations. The Information Age brings with it new challenges and opportunities for higher education since the creation and dissemination of knowledge are prime purposes of Universities.
2.2
Further change is inevitable. CAUDIT believes that Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems offer enormous opportunities for higher education. Seizing those opportunities and harvesting their benefits will be crucial not only for advances in teaching and learning, but also for improvements in research, university management and administration. Many academic staff at all levels are struggling with IT and its implications in even its mildest form. There will be a need for sustained investment in infrastructure, improved training and retraining and for continued research into the most effective ways of using technology to support learning.

3.0
The Current Environment

3.1
The issues paper discusses aspects of the current environment. Political and economic pressures are leading to considerable efficiency gains and improvements in the quality of processes in institutions. This challenge is being met by new modes of teaching involving the development of flexible learning education "products" exploiting information technology, modularisation and semesterisation and more efficient use of assets, such as: longer teaching days; increased consultancy; exploitation of patents and intellectual property; and conference use of residences. There are growing demands for post experience adult education to meet the increased skills needed by industry, as well as a healthy demand for higher education from school leavers. As students pay more towards the cost of their education they are adopting the role of paying customers and their demands for relevant courses, delivered in a convenient manner, with clearly focused career earning potential is increasing. Institutions are increasingly expected to offer instructional and support services based on the convenience of consumers rather than that of the institution. The expectation is that truly learner centred education will be delivered directly to the individual at a time and in a place determined by the learner.

4.0
A Vision for Education

4.1
The issues paper presents a vision of a richly interconnected and highly leveraged network of computing resources, tools and information resources that provides students and teaching staff with unprecedented access across disciplinary, institutional and national boundaries through the use of the information technologies. The implications for higher education are enormous. Elements of that vision include:
4.1.1
All students will need to become computer and information literate as well as literate and numerate, that is, able to handle current information technology at a level appropriate to their discipline and be equipped to continue their development with it into the future. All students will make use of IT in their courses. The use of IT will not be confined to the more traditional areas of use of computers, namely, the sciences, engineering and business. The Humanities and the Health Sciences will also make significant use of IT. IT will contribute to the methods of assessment as well as entering into the curricula and pedagogy of many subjects.
4.1.2
In order to achieve this objective students and teaching staff will have ready access at home, on campus or at their place of work to workstations and access to the network. There will be an exponential growth in the availability to staff and students of electronic information services such as the electronic provision of the full text of books and journals. Staff and students will have access to information on the local, the national and the international network as though it were on the individual's personal computer. Collections of software for use in teaching including computer based learning and multimedia materials incorporating audio and video as well as computer generated graphics and text will be accessible from anywhere on the network.
4.1.3
The potential benefits include allowing the academic and research community and both on-campus and open learning students to participate in discussions, exchange documents, information and data with their peers throughout the world and to access virtual libraries at minimal cost. It allows academics to incorporate world-wide information sources into courses and in doing so, it has the potential to change the way in which courses are offered and teaching and learning take place.
4.1.4
The appropriate use of technology means that learning can be independent of time and place and available throughout life. Universities do not have to be rooted in time and place. They can be accessible electronically from anywhere and available at all times. Institutions can be a mix of physical campus and remote access points for students whose family or work commitments prevent them from attending a specific place at a specific time. Lifelong learning is facilitated through IT.
4.1.5
Academic research will make increased use of IT techniques such as virtual reality, for research and teaching; especially research involving hazardous environments or utilising scarce or expensive resources.
4.1.6
The emphasis of university libraries will change from collection-based to access-based information services.

5.0
Key Issues

5.1
Needed elements of an emerging agenda to fully integrate information technology into higher education have been identified by the issues paper at four levels, namely: national, institutional, staff and students. (Section 5) In the view of CAUDIT, key issues which need to be addressed at the national or system level are:
5.1.1
During the next ten years the network will become far more pervasive and the availability of interactive networked resources and information will radically change the social fabric of Australia. Ensuring adequate bandwidth and equity of access are provided will be of high priority.
5.1.2
The need to provide adequate personal workstations for faculty and student use. (Section 4.1) Many universities are unable to provide adequately for these needs under current funding arrangements. Mechanisms need to be developed to alleviate these difficulties. Possible solutions might include the relaxation of the DEETYA rules regarding the provision of student computing facilities and changes to the taxation arrangements for the purchase of computers by students.
5.1.3
The need to engender the necessary culture change and training in new skills needed for the development of open and flexible teaching and research material. (Section 4.1) Closely related to this is the need for increased inter-university collaboration in the development and evaluation of IT-based learning materials.
5.1.4
The need to provide high quality data banks of research material for effective analysis. (Section 4.2)
5.1.5
The need to provide technology and engender the necessary culture change to improve electronic information delivery and the development of the virtual library. (Section 4.3)
5.1.6
The need to make greater use of information systems to achieve the effective management of higher education institutions. (Section 4.5)
5.2
The Need for a National Coordinating Body
5.2.1
The issues paper highlights that unlike a number of countries, Australia does not have a central coordinating and funding body specifically for IT in higher education such as the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the UK. JISC acts for the funding councils and has the mission "to stimulate and enable the cost effective exploitation of information systems and to provide a high quality national network infrastructure for the UK higher education and Research Councils community." Although some aspects of the remit of JISC are covered by committees such as the AARNet Board of Management, other committees such as the Standing Committee on Information Resources (SCIR) are merely advisory to the AVCC and in no sense are funding or coordinating bodies of activities in the field.
5.2.2
A coordinating and funding body under the joint auspices of DEETYA and the AVCC established to coordinate all national activities and initiatives with regard to the provision and use of Information Technology in the sector could be an effective mechanism and advantageous to the sector and the nation. The issues involved are too important to the future welfare of the nation to be allowed to continue in the rather piecemeal and hit-and-miss present manner. Such a body might include in its remit the responsibility and funding to address needs such as:
5.2.2.1
The development at the national level of policies for the educational application of communications technologies which provide equity of access, common standards and a unified network strategy including all communications services (voice, data, fax, video etc.) together with interconnections between institutions and with the external world (for example, Internet).
5.2.2.2
The expansion of the networks originally set up to serve the academic community into national networks serving not just the universities but also the K-12 schools, technical and further education and adult and continuing education.
5.2.2.3
The need for national approaches to the establishment of software and communications standards, the education and training of staff and students and the collaborative development of critical and innovative curriculum materials.
5.2.2.4
The provision of advice to universities regarding best practice in all aspects of the use of the new technologies to enable them to meet the challenges of the Information Age.
5.2.2.5
The provision of a focus for fostering and developing collaboration between Australian and overseas universities in the development of the use of IT to further the aims of higher education.

6.0
Concluding Remarks

CAUDIT urges the Committee to give the most serious consideration to the Key Issues outlined above, in the context of its Terms of Reference and expresses again its willingness to provide expert advice to the Committee in relation to all aspects of use of IT in higher education.

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