Committee on Information Technology (CIT)

Reports to: IT Advisory Board (ITAB)

Charter

The Committee on Information Technology (CIT) advises the Information Technology Executive Committee (ITEC) on policies, strategies and services related to the effective use of technology in teaching, learning, research, and creative works.

Faculty members of the CIT will be elected by their academic units.   The College, each professional school and the Library should have faculty representation on CIT and an effort should be made to provide a membership that is also diverse by discipline.  Ideal representation will include a mix of faculty with an interest in research computing and teaching and learning drawn from the humanities, social sciences, life and physical sciences and professional graduate programs. Faculty will serve staggered, multi-year terms to provide continuity and may be re-elected.  Staff on the committee will be appointed by the Provost and include representation from the Faculty Commons, IS, and representatives from the IT teams of the professional schools  and the ITGs. The chairs of the Learning Management System (LMS) Initiative Team, REPCOM (Initiative team for Research Computing) and Learning Spaces Initiative Team are also ex-officio members of the Committee. The voting members of the committee will select the faculty chair. The staff chair will be a standing position held by the Senior Director of Academic Technology in IS. IS should also provide a staff liaison to the Committee to facilitate its work and support the formulation of analyses, agendas and recommendations. 

The specific charge of the CIT is:

• Recommend annual investment priorities to ITEC to further the effective use of research technologies including high performance computing, research networks, collaboration tools, data capture, transport, analysis, storage and archiving, research application development and research computing support services.
• Recommend annual investment priorities to further the effective use of instructional technologies and learning spaces in support of in-person and online learning environments, including classroom design, learning management systems, and other broadly used academic technologies. Identify data analytics that can be used to enhance the educational experience of students and faculty.
• Sponsor a bi-annual series of faculty demonstrations of uses of educational and research technologies.
• Monitor and recommend strategies to sustain the technology in classroom and non-classroom based learning spaces.
• Request and review the results of analyses of outcomes associated with particular learning technologies (as-needed) and sponsor reviews or particular learning technology strategies at the request of ITEC, the University CIO or the Faculty Senate.
• Advise IS  on changes to policies, technologies or services that impact teaching, learning and research. 
• Collaborate with IS, the Faculty Commons, College, and Professional Schools’ IT support teams on opportunities to improve their collaborative efforts to support promising applications of learning or research technologies.

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Decision Rights

While primarily an advisory committee, the CIT may be delegated responsibility by the ITEC and  the Provost and Executive Vice President to make or approve decisions to fund particular initiatives or to prioritize the use of discretionary funds designated for investment in academic technology. 

CIT will be complemented and supported by the formation of Initiative Teams and informal Communities of Interest. CIT will coordinate the work of Communities of Interest and Initiative Teams that focus on narrow issues or services related to research and educational technologies.  CIT’s responsibilities include recommending the formation or discontinuance of an Initiative Team or Community to ITEC, providing input to its charter and membership and receiving periodic briefings and recommendations as Initiative Teams conduct their work.  At its formation, CIT will coordinate the work of Initiative Teams focused on Learning Spaces, the Learning Management System, and High Performance Computing (REPCOM).

As the CIT matures it may be determined that two sub-committees should be formed, one with a focus on teaching and learning technologies and the other with a focus on research and scholarship technologies.

CIT will meet monthly, with the exception of the summer months, with the option to call special meetings on an as-needed basis. Minutes will be recorded to reflect discussions, decisions and action items.  The members of the committee will determine the mechanisms for approving a recommendation (e.g., consensus, majority vote, etc.).

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Policies

CIT advises the Information Technology Executive Committee (ITEC) on policies related to the effective use of technology in teaching, learning, research, and creative works. Please refer to the Policies and Standards page for more information.