Towards a maturity model for evaluating videoconferencing deployments in higher education
Videoconferencing technology is increasingly being embraced to enhance the range of teaching delivery, foster collaboration between administrators and facilitate joint research. Many higher education institution are responsible for sizable videoconferencing fleets. So how does an organisation know when it’s got videoconferencing ‘right’?
Higher education lacks a maturity model with which to objectively evaluate videoconferencing service delivery within an organisation, and undertake continuous quality improvement. The lack of such a framework impedes the ability of institutions to benchmark against each other, and to set realistic goals for service enhancement in an environment which is increasingly constrained financially.
This paper outlines a suggested maturity model for higher education in Australia to consider. It is anticipated that this would serve as the basis for further development, discussion and collaboration across the higher education videoconferencing community.
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Craig Warren's Biography
Craig Warren has been a staff member within Deakin University's Information Technology Services Division for many years. He currently holds the position of Operational Service Provision Manager where he is responsible for the University's voice/data and video network, all teaching and learning applications, and the University workstation fleet of some 7,500 desktops. Craig was instrumental in connecting the University to the Internet in 1986 and the University has the lowest allocated IP address in Australia (128.184.0.0/16).
The University has regularly been acknowledged as being an early adopter of technology and as an example was the first user of Cisco’s IP telephony solution in Australia. The University's Online Learning Management System is accessed by 21,000 unique students a day. One of many databases at the University, the Learning Management System currently occupies 1.5 Terabytes of disk space.
With a long career watching the development of the Information Technology industry, Craig has seen technology move from being seen as innovative and a differentiator to today being seen as a commodity service (like power and gas) whereby organisations simply expect it to work and be in un-limited supply.
Craig has a Bachelor of Sciences Degree (Honours) from Deakin University. |
