CUNY Master Plan 2012-2016

MISSION PART ONE
Finally, in the context of the University’s concern for evidence-based investment of resources, the OLS
will provide support for the statistical reports libraries complete each year. CUNY will also participate in
national efforts to develop new strategies to measure library effectiveness. 6 Of particular interest will be
the results of the “Values, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries” study funded by
the Institute of Museum and Library Services. This study seeks to define and measure some of the ways
in which a library creates value, and focuses on three main areas: teaching and learning; research; and the
social, professional, and public engagement functions of libraries. Baruch and Brooklyn Colleges are participating
in this initiative, scheduled for completion in 2012.
Academic Technology
Just as technology is integral to the work of the libraries, technology’s impact extends into nearly every
other academic corner of the University as well. Today’s students are digital learners, immersed in the
21st-century media culture. They take in the world (and conduct much of their lives) via the filter of computing
devices: sophisticated cellular phones, gaming devices, laptops, TVs, etc. With so much of their
experience mediated by networks like Facebook and YouTube—vast and vastly popular networks that didn’t
even exist a decade ago—today’s students participate fully in a whirl of change with which the University
is challenged to keep pace. Precisely because technological applications are not ends in themselves,
but rather new ways of accomplishing the University’s missions and goals, the challenge is not merely to
keep pace but to innovate, to be more proactive than reactive in uses of technology for academic purposes.
The Committee on Academic Technology
The last decade has seen the emergence of social networks, the expansion of bandwidth, and the electronic
transformation of whole industries. To help the academic community keep pace and be as prepared
as possible for future changes, the CUNY Committee on Academic Technology (CAT) was formed
in 2008. With two appointees from each campus, the committee and its subcommittees watch over the
use of Blackboard, the development of e-portfolios, the maintenance of software licenses, and the modeling
of standards and practices for online, hybrid, and tech-mediated teaching and learning.
One of the CAT’s subcommittees, Skunkworks, is the research and development unit. Skunkworks tries
out new technologies and establishes protocols for evaluation. Because calls for academic technology
“solutions” frequently do not come from the user community, this group’s evaluation of new products and
practices by faculty and student users in appropriate contexts is significant. Given proper support,
Skunkworks will become CUNY’s Consumer Reports for academic technology in the coming years.
It is important to stress that Skunkworks, and indeed CAT as a whole, must imagine as well as test
innovative academic applications of technology. The acceleration of technological change litters the
landscape with unexpected and often unintended consequences. New ways of consuming information
are not simply new ways of learning, just as textbooks, whatever their format, are not the same as classes.
The University has been innovative in its uses of academic technologies, but these uses are not adequately
defined by established practices, even those academic technology uses that are relatively recently
6
Please see http://libvalue.cci.utk.edu.
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