After watching the interview with Ryan Thomas, I learned a variety of things about technology use at the University of Illinois @ U-C. From  my understanding, our IT provider is separate from other programs at the University. There should be a close relationship with the IT provider in terms of who to contact about certain issues, what’s the maintenance window when these problems occur, and when to update program. I absolutely agree with Mr. Thomas in that regards, I think that a good relationship should be maintained with any stakeholder affiliated with the University. Both shareholders should know the details and process for all situations that affect one another dealing with technology. In addition to what Mr. Thomas mentioned. I think that monthly meetings should take place between the CIO and IT provider. Doing this will prevent questions and confusion among both department.

After reviewing the talk, I did not find any link between technology infrastructure and educational goals and purposes but rather the goals and purposes as it relates to team building and departmental relationships. In my opinion, he gave great detail about the infrasture and how to manage it. There was more so the vision he expressed explicitly in opposition to the goals, which are very different. The vision is the overall outcome or a finished product, while a goal is much more confined to deadlines. His examples to manage infrastructure were very specific and detailed in regards to the major things from his perspective. For instance, when he had to identify important things dealing with IT and CIO in one minute, he mentioned very interesting points such as: Relationship, Identify Access, and Firewall issues. Both teams must be prepared to deal with any complication in a timely manner. I absolutely agree with Mr. Thomas in holding these three at the top of the priority list.

If all of this was done effectively, the insitution would be better off. He really expressed simplifying processes and not having too many ways to do things to prevent confusion and keeping departments on the same page. I don’t think that any other topics were necessary to be expanded on because of the time restriction. He explained very well the importance of what he listed and why. The only thing I would have recommended with his talk, is that he knew the differences between on and off campus interaction with technology. He seemed to not know the environmental or external factors in dealing with elearning. Lastly, he din’t know the organizational structure at the institution. He was vague in listing the committee that oversees technology with the CIO. He just knew there was a “group of people” that met regularly about the topic.

If you were Ryan Thomas supervisor and had to establish 2 budget  priorities for next year, based on his conversation, what would those priorities be and why?

I would establish 2 budget priorities on firewalls, and simplifying the process to manage the accounts. Obviously, installing the best firewall would prevent so many technical errors in the future and should be one of the  most highest priorities. Investing money in a solution to synchronize the process to manage accounts as long as its a simple solution will minimize or ellinate choas. These fundamentals should be practice more so than others to create a sufficient technological elearning program.