Informationsinfrastrukturen im Wandel. Changing ... - DINI

Andreas Degkwitz 271
The BMBF project „elearn@btu 2 , which aims to achieve the long-term
integration of e-learning at the BTU Cottbus, will be a decisive catalyst in
the further development of the ICMC. Work packages 2 and 6 will play a
very important role here: Project Work Package 2 covers the development
of service level agreements, which provide the basis for better coordinating
the use of equipment and services available at decentralised and
centralised levels and for eliminating double purchases (quality management).
Project Work Package 6 is aimed at optimising the computer-aided
organisation of courses. The other project work packages not only make
available learning resources for virtual forms of teaching and learning but
also structure a series of model courses as reference solutions aimed at the
long-term integration of e-learning.
8. Opportunities and risks
The ever-greater standardisation of services and the introduction of
„productivity-oriented‟ input and output procedures in an academic environment,
which are carried out within the framework of consolidating
costs, cannot be easily reconciled with Humboldt‟s – still very influential –
ideal. Nor should one underestimate the effect of the way key structural
areas view themselves within the information infrastructure. At German
universities, the work and administrative processes in the libraries as well
as in the media and computing centres are very closely tied to their specific
spheres of responsibility and their particular tasks. Process-oriented activities
and a work-flow-oriented assessment of business processes barely exist,
which hinders the flexibility of structural areas. This state of affairs is
compounded by the relatively high degree of staff specialisation. Moreover,
libraries, media and computing centres frequently regard themselves either
as scientific institutions or as institutions aiming to provide scientific services.
As a result, these structural areas are too involved in operating and
developing their internal systems and do not show sufficient interest in
generally applied standards when it comes to the development of technical
infrastructures.
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See http://www.tu-cottbus.de/eLearn/