Technology Managment at UOP

A dedication to constant evaluation and change is one of the ways the University of Phoenix supports and manages technology (Pirani, 2003).

Some areas currently in constant development and change

·         Electronic administrative tools for faculty and staff

·         Continuous development and change of technical training for new students

·         Ecampus upgrades

·         (Pirani, 2003)

 

Identify challenges and produces support

Pirani  (2003), "It addresses these issues by systematizing training for faculty and students and creating a highly robust infrastructure that amasses processing power and redundancy on the back end and keeps things simple on the front end with a user friendly interface” (6).

Provides training to help inexperienced users get the most out of the technology. This training can assist faculty with other challenges such as time management, efficiency, and quality instruction (Pirani, 2003).

 

IT support

Pirani (2003), “Provides a reliable and scalable IT infrastructure” (7).

·         Suitable for high-volume environment

·         Is transparent

·         Supports online and on-campus instructors and students

·         As of 2003 supports

o   3 rEsource® servers that store online course materials

o   3 apply web servers for enrollment applications

o   3 financial aid servers for processing financial aid applications

o   10-12 ecampus servers to handle student and faculty web page

·         Consistently scaling resources to maintain efficiency (Pirani, 2003).

 

IT resources

·         24/7 telephone call center

·         Toll free numbers

·         Uses a predictive model to determine staffing needs to accommodate peak usage

·         Focus on customer service and technical skills for users

·         UOP invests in top job candidates with skills and customer service expertise

·         No time limit used per call which avoids conversations that are not customer centric

·         Escalation system and tiers for specialty in resolving customer concerns

·         Consistent and timely training

·         Online support tools to meet self service needs

·         (Pirani, 2003)

Reference

Pirani, J. A. (2003). Supporting E-learning at the University of Phoenix. Retrieved from http://http//www.educause.edu/ecar/