Information and Educational Technology at USMA.
Introduction
Welcome to the external web site of the Information and Educational
Technology Division of the United States Military Academy. We support
the development of leaders of character by providing the information
and educational infrastructure for cadets, staff, and faculty to accomplish
their missions.
Below you will find our mission statement and our strategic plan for
the next five years (2005-2010). Links to the left provide additional
information on the computing infrastructure we maintain to support the
Military Academy.
LTC Ron Dodge
Director, Information
and Educational Technology
Mission Statement.
The Information and Educational Technology Division leads information
and educational technology in support of the Military Academy's mission
to develop leaders of character with a focus on the academic program.
Vision
The Military Academy is the world leader in leveraging information
and education technology to develop leaders of character.
Our Impact on the Military Academy
IETD is fundamental to the success of the Military Academy.
- We specify, procure, and maintain all cadet technology systems.
- We educate and empower cadets to use technology.
- We design, implement and maintain the information and education
systems that cadets, staff, and faculty utilize to complete their
missions.
- We specify, procure, and maintain the servers and associated hardware
to power the information and education infrastructure of the Military
Academy.
- We ensure a safe computing environment by providing patching and
anti-viral solutions.
- We work closely with our sister IT organizations to provide governance
of Military Academy IT systems.
- We are a catalyst for change and innovation.
Scope
This plan covers all academic information and educational technology
including department, center, and library information technologists,
and the Information and Education Technology Division (IETD).
Our principal focus is the development of leaders of character as enumerated
by the academic program goals in Educating Future Army Officers for
a Changing World. IETD also supports and leads efforts to accomplish
other information technology (IT) facets of the Military Academy mission.
IETD influences the adoption of new technologies into the Army through
technical expertise and an understanding of the Army mission and organization.
Educating leaders of character is a reference to both the cadet graduates
that enter, and the rotating military officers that return to the Army.
Competitive Advantages
Focus on Teaching Excellence. The Military Academy is the premier
leader development institution in the world. Our focus on development
extends beyond the classroom and permeates everything we do. This total
commitment to cadet education creates an environment conducive to the
consideration and careful inclusion of information and educational technology
and provides the Military Academy with a competitive advantage.
Faculty and Staff.The faculty and staff are deeply
committed to the development of leaders of character. This commitment
translates to a willingness to adopt new technologies and innovate if
the technology supports enhanced leader development. The Military Academy
has a competitive advantage compared to other universities in adopting
new technologies.
Infrastructure. The computing infrastructure at the
Military Academy compares favorably to other leading universities. This
rich computing infrastructure provides a foundation for the exploitation
of technology to support education.
Decentralized Structure. Decentralized IT support
tailors the delivery of IT services to departmental needs. While not
as efficient as a centralized structure, decentralized support is more
effective, fosters innovation, and increases responsiveness.
Core Competencies.
Education and Leader Development. IT can enhance or
hinder education and leader development. IETD understands the relationship
of IT to education. We understand the learning process and how to enhance
that process through information technology.
Client Support. If our customers could choose any
client support cell in the world, they would choose IETD. We anticipate
user needs and proactively plan to accomplish the mission. Client support
is the cornerstone of the program.
Project Management. USMA technology initiatives are
introduced in the form of projects that must be closely managed to ensure
success. IETD thrives through superior project management.
Reliable Infrastructure. IT support for education
is mission critical and time sensitive. We provide an academic IT infrastructure
that is robust, reliable, and predictable as a necessary condition for
the Military Academy to accomplish its mission.
Balancing Control and Freedom. As an educational institution,
we must foster inquisitiveness and innovation. As a military unit, we
must operate within a Department of Defense infrastructure. This requires
the Military Academy to select the right balance between individual
empowerment and control of the computing environment.
Information Assurance. Our ability to operate is dependent
on our ability to defend our network. In a period of rapidly growing
attacks of increasing complexity, information assurance education and
awareness is a core competency.
Values/Beliefs
Mission-focused. We have a clearly defined mission
focused on the development of educated leaders of character.
Honesty and Ethical Behavior. USMA has core values
of honesty and ethical behavior. We firmly embrace these values.
Professionalism. We are skilled professionals and
conduct ourselves as such. Our workplaces, personal conduct, and issue
staffing exude professionalism.
Refusal to Fail. The Military Academy is critical
to the defense of the nation. IETD is critical to the success of the
Military Academy. We succeed.
Innovation. We are never satisfied with the level
of support or quality of education. We strive to develop better ways
to educate and contribute to the accomplishment of the Academy mission.
We are always learning, always questioning, always innovating.
Cooperation and Collaboration. Because of the Military
Academy structure, not a single person or group is responsible for the
resources that we need to accomplish our mission. We cooperate and collaborate
transparently to reach the best solution for the Military Academy.
Strategic Objectives
Reliable Infrastructure. Our IT infrastructure is
extensive, powerful and fundamental to the accomplishment of the Military
Academy's mission. It is not always available or reliable. Over the
next five years, our IT infrastructure must become as reliable as a
telephone or an electrical outlet. To provide a reliable infrastructure,
we must implement proactive IT management and self-healing solutions
that gradually degrade instead of catastrophically fail. As part of
reliable infrastructure, we will accredit the Academy Management System.
Customer Service Excellence. Customer service is a
core competency. Customer service excellence is not consistent across
IT support organizations at the Military Academy. If our customers could
choose anyone to meet their needs, they would choose us.
Predictable Budget. Our budget is dependent on leadership
prioritization of limited resources. Large variances in IT budget support
are indicative of a failure to convey the fundamental link between the
accomplishment of the Military Academy mission and adequate funding
for information technology. A predictable budget allows us to plan and
prioritize so as to provide a consistent infrastructure for the accomplishment
of the Academy mission. Over the next five years, our budget must become
more predictable so that the accomplishment of the Academy mission is
likewise predictable. Our budget process must become transparent and
creditable.
Ubiquitous Computing. The Military Academy will employ
a growing number of networked computing devices that must be integrated
to provide common educational picture. The exploitation of these devices
must provide secure access to Military Academy resources from anywhere
at West Point and limited worldwide locations in a format tailored to
the computing device.
Classroom Management. The introduction of wireless
classrooms has significantly increased the ability of the faculty to
exploit technology in the curriculum. Any classroom is a lab. The growth
of ubiquitous computing will increase the capabilities of the faculty
to exploit wireless technologies to educate. We must develop classroom
management technologies that allow our faculty to easily control the
use of technologies in the classroom so as to effectively share information,
support group collaboration and presentation, and assess learning.
Process Transformation. Web-based computing is transforming
Military Academy business processes. While this process has already
begun, it will accelerate over the next five years. We must transform,
not translate, business processes to take advantage of web-based computing.
In addition to process transformation, leaders of character are increasingly
solving problems using this approach. Our infrastructure must support
and foster exploration and development of web-based computing.
Outreach to Army. Outreach to the Army is becoming
increasingly important as we leverage the resources of the Military
Academy to solve real-world problems. Relevancy resonates with leaders
of character and our faculty. Our IT staff support outreach to the Army
and our infrastructure is sufficiently robust and adaptive to support
new initiatives. Outreach projects will grow over the next five years.
Strategic Priority Issues
Consolidation and Space. IETD operates from Bartlett,
Mahan, Taylor, Washington Hall, and Building 606. Our ability to lead,
collaborate and implement change is limited by the friction induced
by the lack of consolidation. We must consolidate and provide the necessary
space so that we operate an office in Talyor Hall supporting Associate
Dean functionality and a second location in Central Area easily accessible
by cadet, staff, and faculty. Additionally, we must consolidate branch
websites into a single IETD site so as to provide a single interface
to access our services.
Staff and Faculty Computers. The staff and faculty
need the computing platform to execute their mission. Each member must
have a reliable computer that is less than four years old and appropriate
for their duties. Each faculty member must have a reliable PDA that
is less than three years old and appropriate for his or her duties.
We cannot create holes in our infrastructure by purchasing less than
25% of the faculty computers each year.
Collaborative Learning Technology. The collaborative
places where learning occurs must have the infrastructure to support
learning. Each collaborative place must have a networked computing device
less than four years old, a projector less than five years old, wireless
network access with adequate bandwidth, and appropriate control and
discipline specific hardware as required.
Proactive Resource Management. Information and educational
technology is necessary but not sufficient to the accomplishment of
the Military Academy mission. These resources (wireless and wired network,
servers, email) must be managed so that failures are resolved before
the failure is visible to our customers. Fundamental to proactive resource
management is an Academy real-time decision support tool that supports
proactive resource management.
Proactive Change Management. The Military Academy
must be able to look ahead at potential information and education technology,
determine those technologies that have educational potential and develop
the appropriate pedagogy and support for the technology.
Academy Knowledge. The Military Academy must move
beyond static data storage to intelligent decision support systems that
empower cadets, staff and faculty. Users must have access to the appropriate
information that they need, when they need it, in the appropriate formats.
Academy knowledge will be accessed from outside the Military Academy.
Personnel. There must be sufficient personnel, with
the appropriate training and education, experience, personal traits,
and knowledge of information and educational technology to meet our
strategic objectives. Training opportunities associated with active
directory, wireless, and information assurance must be offered at regular
intervals so as to maintain our competitive advantages in these areas.
Information Assurance. The number and complexity of
computer-based attacks is increasing rapidly. The Military Academy must
ensure Academy knowledge is confidential, accurate, and available. The
Military Academy must stay above the Army average for Information Assurance
Vulnerability Assessment (IAVA) compliance, and avoid all major security
incidents.
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