Author Description

Increasingly, university administrations across North America are looking at Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a way to address a variety of institutional problems such as rapidly increasing student enrolments, declining or drastically limited human and financial resources, and increased global competition for higher education services. At the same time Information and Communication Technology is presented in the media, and perceived by the general public, as a means for universities to accommodate the access and learning needs of a growing, diverse and technologically sophisticated learner population. Realizing either of these views of ICT requires continuous research, planning and the development of strategic policy initiatives all of which have tended to lag behind the purchase and implementation of technology at many higher education institutions. This study represents an insider's view of the policy research and planning process for Information and Communication at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. The insider perspective was achieved through semi-structured interviews with a group of faculty and staff working as a Vice Presidential Task Force on Information Technology (TFIT) at the university. The researcher, was a participant-observer on the committee, and as such was well positioned to continent on the nature and meaning of the processes and outcomes of the group's work. This study examined and interpreted the process and implications of one higher education institution's ICT policy research and development efforts from the perspective of those individuals engaged in that process. Their experiences and informed perceptions, insights and recommendations offer a starting point for further examination of how the process of policy development for ICT in higher education can, or should be, managed in an increasingly complex higher education environment.