Click and mortar learning needs funding

Canada's colleges and universities have a huge role to play in prepare ink us to embrace the knowledge economy. Commentators don't seem to tire of telling us that this is where the future lies. They're a little quieter, however, when it comes to telling us about how we're going to get there.

Our learning institutions now face significant challenges in fulfilling the role expected of us. We need to surpass the traditional boundaries of the brick and mortar learning environment to create a new "click and mortar" model.

Are we making the right kind of investments in our learning institutions? Are our investments supporting the right kind of teaching and doing the most to prepare colleges and universities for the future? Will the IT infrastructure we're building fill our needs and our future needs?

Across Canada, community colleges and universities have started to consider and explore different learning and teaching models. We're being innovative with our use of technology and we're using collaborative networks and partnership practices in our academic delivery strategy.

In some cases it has been limited funds and growing needs to respond to many new and different demands that have forced us to be innovative. In other instances, we deployed technology as our own competitive advantage in the competition for students, donors and partners.

The recent announcement of an investment of $700 million from Ontario's SuperBuild program sent exciting and reassuring messages to the public of the government's commitment to invest for the future of Ontario education. This money is welcome and necessary.

However, as universities and colleges around the world are discovering, the ongoing costs of a solid information technology infrastructure are every bit as significant as the cost of building classrooms and buildings.

While initiatives such as SuperBuild recognize the importance of the capital infrastructure requirements, there are some other factors to consider. Here are a few:

* In 2003, Ontario will have a double crop of high school graduates. That year, students of the five-year high school program graduate from Grade 13 and the first class of the four-year program finish high school at Grade 12. The net result could be up to 180,000 students looking for places in post-secondary institutions or in the workforce -double the usual number.

* In the next five years, with the large number of fine teachers who will soon retire, colleges and universities must find ways to build a new, effecfive and efficient knowledge-based institution model.

* At most universities and colleges, distribution network and computer resources are uneven across departments and faculties. Although many Ontario colleges and universities are doing well in bringing staff up to a minimum equipment level, the root of the problem they are facing with the new building infrastructure renewal seems to be the way post-secondary institutions treat computing expenses.

* The bulk of computer purchases are often made with "budget dust" funds left over at the end of a fiscal year that must be spent or they are lost - or funds are associated with new program development. Why can't we view our IT costs as an important institutional investment in the future?

The new world of the knowledge society is an exciting destination, and our colleges and universities will help our society get there. The expectation is that our learning institutions will become even more adaptable, responsive and innovative. To do this, we need to find a new way to use our resources to build both the traditional "bricks and mortar" infrastructure that we associate with higher education, and to define and build the "clicks and mortar" infrastructure that will typify the knowledge society.

Lan Mguyen is the chief information officeer at Centennial College in Toronto. She has particular interest in applying IT to international development. Lan can be reached at Inguyen@Lmail.cancol.on.ca.

Copyright Plesman Publications Ltd. Aug 2000
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