Engage Faculty in the Technology Selection Process

There is no shortage of new teaching and learning technologies in higher education. But despite facultyfamiliarity with and access to these new tools, a significant percentage of faculty have not begun using—or testing—frequently mentioned instructional technologies.

This report, written for heads of teaching and learning, CIOs, provosts, and faculty, identifies the key barriers that inhibit faculty adoption of instructional technologies. It profiles strategies that innovative institutions use to engage faculty in the technology selection process. These tactics increase the number of faculty with whom teaching and learning staff interact and encourage faculty to clearly articulate use cases for technology prior to procurement.

You can use this research to:

1. Educate campus leaders about barriers that prevent instructional tool adoption
2. Encourage teaching and learning staff to include faculty in the procurement process
3. Align IT with the institution’s teaching and learning mission
4. Ensure that instructional technology demonstrates high ROI
5. Assess faculty technology needs more systematically and accurately

Download the Report

Tool 1: Template for Structuring Faculty Grant Applications to Increase Participation and Experimentation

Low-lift technology grant applications are a tactic to increase faculty engagement with instructional technology. Elon University is a model for this strategy, demonstrating that a simple, streamlined grant application process has encouraged more faculty to apply for and receive funding to experiment with new instructional technologies.

Using Elon’s grant application as an exemplar, this guide walks you through the process of creating a low-lift process for faculty to apply for small-scale technology grants.

This guide has two components:

1. A rubric to determine the criteria that your institution can use to evaluate grant applicants.
2. A three-page technology grant application that can be sent directly to potential applicants.

Tool 2: Rubric to Develop and Evaluate Use Cases for RFPs

Including use cases in an RFP is a strategy that ensures any technology brought to campus meets the needs of campus stakeholders.

The University of Wisconsin System is a model for this tactic. By compiling use cases to include in the RFP, the University of Wisconsin System purchased a new Digital Learning Environment that had all of the capabilities that campus constituents required.

Using University of Wisconsin System’s RFP as a model, this guide:

1. Explains the process to incorporate use cases into your RFP;
2. Provides eight examples of use case scenarios compiled by the University of Wisconsin System to evaluate vendors in real-life contexts relevant to their stakeholders;
3. Includes a rubric for you to evaluate use cases that you might include in an RFP.