University Business - July/August 2011 - (Page 68)

Campus leaders at Saint Michael’s College act with the understanding that lecture capture provides better service to students who might need academic support or who have had to miss classes due to illnesss or other reasons. Funding Capture Centralized versus Decentralized Determining whose budget pays for the system depends on campus culture and adoption, says Anthony Rotoli, business development manager for higher education at CDW-G. Initially, individual departments might fund their systems; as usage becomes more widespread, the central IT department gets involved. “When they start small, it moves faster than they expect,” he cautions. Institutions that intend to scale lecture capture across multiple departments or an entire campus can realize economies of scale that may make it beneficial to use centralized funds, says Rosemarie McElwee Console, director of education and strategic partnerships with Panopto. Also, if campus constituents are already dedicated to the idea of lecture capture, then centralized funding allows for rapid deployment of a system to all areas of campus. “I think central funds to get the ball rolling and then distributed funds [thereafter] is a good model,” says Kellen. Upfront money to cover the infrastructure made it possible to rapidly expand their installation from four classrooms to 36. “That allowed us to get leverage because of the scale. It allowed us to adapt more quickly.” Using central dollars makes sense when there is demand across campus, agrees Harwood. It also ensures standardization on one system, which might make it easier for IT to troubleshoot. On the other hand, if people are still feeling their way with the 68 | July/August 2011 technology, a decentralized model has its advantages, because installations can be more targeted and early adopters don’t have to wait for the rest of campus to catch up. “The system works out great for us,” says Eric Coffman, manager of application development at the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center, of the Camtasia Relay system from TechSmith. “I think it would work for the campus as a whole, but getting all the decision makers together hasn’t happened. There isn’t a broad implementation.” When administrators at Ashland University (Ohio) decided to deploy Mediasite, the IT department purchased the streaming server, while individual departments bought the units, explains Thomas Kemp, director of instructional technology and learning ‘There isn’t as much of an economic penalty to going your own way with lecture capture as there would be with buying an ERP. If you wait, you never know what wonderful lectures might be missed.’ —Sean Brown, Sonic Foundry management. “If IT or the library always funds the technology, there might not be buy-in from the academic department to use it,” he says. “We want to make sure we are spending our dollars wisely. If they fund it, they will be more likely to use it.” Although the IT department will always prefer standardization, eager departments shouldn’t be held back. “There isn’t as much of an economic penalty to going your own way with lecture capture as there would be with buying an ERP,” points out Sean Brown, VP of Higher Education with Sonic Foundry. “If you wait, you never know what wonderful lectures might be missed.” universitybusiness.com http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - July/August 2011

University Business - July/August 2011
Contents
Editor's Note
Ad Index
College Index
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Financial Success
Money Matters
Community Colleges
Funding Capture
Models of Efficiency
Thwarting ID Thieves
Embezzlement Epidemic
What's New
End Note

University Business - July/August 2011