Instructional Technology Services

Instructional Technology

An information technology infrastructure assessment can provide a snapshot of your institution’s current technology environment within the framework of an information systems architecture. The assessment delineates the system components across multiple interrelated layers of systems. These architectural layers are buttressed by the institution’s articulated or presumed information systems philosophy, vision, and guiding IT principles as well as by IT best practices.

An objective, third-party instructional technology review can help you assess what is currently working well at your institution, what is creating inefficiencies and needs to be improved, and how your institution’s IT infrastructure and services need to evolve to better serve your constituents.

focusED analysts can facilitate a rigorous objective instructional technology infrastructure assessment using our instructional tenchnology systems architecture framework, concluding with a set of recommendations that can serve as a prelude to strategic and tactical/operational planning efforts, aligned with your institutional mission and vision.

More Information on Instructional Technology:

Instructional Technology

Higher Education Enrollment Management

An information technology infrastructure assessment can provide a snapshot of your institution’s current technology environment within the framework of an information systems architecture. The assessment delineates the system components across multiple interrelated layers of systems. These architectural layers are buttressed by the institution’s articulated or presumed information systems philosophy, vision, and guiding IT principles as well as by IT best practices.

An objective, third-party information technology review can help you assess what is currently working well at your institution, what is creating inefficiencies and needs to be improved, and how your institution’s IT infrastructure and services need to evolve to better serve your constituents.

focusED analysts can facilitate a rigorous objective information technology infrastructure assessment using our information systems architecture framework, concluding with a set of recommendations that can serve as a prelude to strategic and tactical/operational planning efforts, aligned with your institutional mission and vision.

Instructional Technology Planning/Support

Most higher education institutions support a mix of traditional (face-to-face), online, and hybrid course offerings and consequently must support a range of enabling instructional technologies. focusEDU instructional technology planning consultants can help design systems to support this complex mix.

Online or distance education should be viewed generically as a method of serving students who cannot be in the same room at the same time as the instructor. Online education is enabled by whatever technologies can allow the course developers, instructors, and students to achieve the instructional goals and objectives of the course. The most powerful solutions combine both synchronous and asynchronous technologies.

OnLine Enabling Technologies

Some of the primary enabling technologies for online education include:

  • Enterprise-level Learning Management Systems (LMS), such as Canvas, Blackboard, or Desire2Learn, enable the creation and distribution of course content, secure quiz and gradebook functions, asynchronous and collaborative work tools, etc.
  • Web conferencing systems, such as WebEx, Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate, Microsoft Teams, or Adobe Connect, enable effective synchronous audio and video interactions.
  • Streaming media systems, such as Panopto, Kaltura or Microsoft Stream, enable secure, effective, and efficient multimedia content sharing. The ability to download, store, and remotely replay multimedia content (for example, podcasts) is critical if the student population has limited or no home access to reasonable Internet bandwidth.
  • Courseware authoring systems, such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia, enable the creation of multimedia and interactive learning objects. The ability to download, store, and remotely replay interactive content is critical if the student population has limited or no home access to reasonable Internet bandwidth.

Important considerations to successful, sustainable instructional technology solutions include gaining constituent buy-in and providing formal, ad hoc, and just-in-time training and reference resources to instructors and students on the full range of the institution’s systemic instructional technologies, as well as 24/7 technical support to instructors and students.

Distance/distributed education can be defined as the relationship between the teacher and learner relative to space and/or time. This relationship defines a two-by-two matrix that classifies the range of instructional technologies appropriate for each specific modality of instruction.

Instructional Technology Planning/Support

Most higher education institutions support a mix of traditional (face-to-face), online, and hybrid course offerings and consequently must support a range of enabling instructional technologies. focusEDU instructional technology planning consultants can help design systems to support this complex mix.

Online or distance education should be viewed generically as a method of serving students who cannot be in the same room at the same time as the instructor. Online education is enabled by whatever technologies can allow the course developers, instructors, and students to achieve the instructional goals and objectives of the course. The most powerful solutions combine both synchronous and asynchronous technologies.

OnLine Enabling Technologies

Some of the primary enabling technologies for online education include:

  • Enterprise-level Learning Management Systems (LMS), such as Canvas, Blackboard, or Desire2Learn, enable the creation and distribution of course content, secure quiz and gradebook functions, asynchronous and collaborative work tools, etc.
  • Web conferencing systems, such as WebEx, Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate, Microsoft Teams, or Adobe Connect, enable effective synchronous audio and video interactions.
  • Streaming media systems, such as Panopto, Kaltura or Microsoft Stream, enable secure, effective, and efficient multimedia content sharing. The ability to download, store, and remotely replay multimedia content (for example, podcasts) is critical if the student population has limited or no home access to reasonable Internet bandwidth.
  • Courseware authoring systems, such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia, enable the creation of multimedia and interactive learning objects. The ability to download, store, and remotely replay interactive content is critical if the student population has limited or no home access to reasonable Internet bandwidth.

Important considerations to successful, sustainable instructional technology solutions include gaining constituent buy-in and providing formal, ad hoc, and just-in-time training and reference resources to instructors and students on the full range of the institution’s systemic instructional technologies, as well as 24/7 technical support to instructors and students.

Distance/distributed education can be defined as the relationship between the teacher and learner relative to space and/or time. This relationship defines a two-by-two matrix that classifies the range of instructional technologies appropriate for each specific modality of instruction.