Maximizing Campus Impact

» Case Study 7

California State University Center for Distributed Learning Creates Community of Academic Technology Staff
As a department of the CSU Chancellor's Office, the CSU CDL serves not one campus, but 23. Although many IT staff at any given campus have parallel functions with staff at other campuses, they did not often come into contact with each other. The CATS program, created at the CSU CDL, directly addresses this issue by providing a forum for staff across the 23 CSU campuses to share ideas and information about relevant technologies and practices. Here is the story in their own words. (contact Abbe Altman for more information.)

The Situation
The Community of Academic Technology Staff (CATS) was created in 1998 in response to a need for CSU campuses to provide cost-effective professional development and training for their academic technology personnel. Also, campuses were losing experienced techs during the dot-com boom. Developing CATS programs was seen as one answer to staff retention.

The Action Taken
We began with a conference and sponsored attendance of 4 staff from each campus to participate in a 3-day conference. The event was put on “for and by the staff,” meaning that CSU personnel both developed the conference program and presented the sessions. At the conference, staff had the rare opportunity to network with peers from other campuses to share knowledge and expertise. In subsequent years, additional programs, including a small grants program, listservs, and domain-specific Communities of Practice were launched to continue leveraging the networking that took place at conferences, and CATS became a year- round professional development program. In addition, some campuses have created “local CATS” groups that meet regularly to discuss their particular campus’ issues, network with one another, and share their expertise.

The Effect on Campus
Conference attendees evaluated the conference and declared it a huge success. The staff stayed in touch with the people they’d met from other campuses in order to perpetuate the conference experience. Attendees returned to their campuses with new tools and growing expertise in their fields – not to mention boosted morale – and campus administrators began to see the value of such a program. The conference is now an annual event.

Tips for Other Centers
Identify academic technology leaders on the campus(es) and bring them together for a planning session where they can identify common problems. Based on the information gathered, they can begin to shape a conference. Ask the campuses to support the effort by identifying personnel that can present on the selected topics. Provide lots of opportunity for networking—some CATS members have said that although they learn a great deal from conference sessions, they get more out of connecting with other participants. Get financial backing to sponsor attendees, at least for the first event. Fund and dedicate at least one staff person whose job is to coordinate CATS-like events and programs as well as logistics. Do lots and lots of marketing.