Value Disciplines and the Choice of a Learning
Management System
Marc Eichen
Director of Academic Technology
Suffolk University Law School
[email protected]
617 573.8479
CALI has several types of presentations &
sessions
Showing & doing new Reflecting on what we do
things
Technical
Administrative
3 Value Disciplines & the
Choice of a Learning
Management System
CALI has several types of presentations &
sessions
Showing & doing new Reflecting on what we do
things
Technical
Administrative
…and then, there’s the boat & the umbrella
3 Value Disciplines & the
Choice of a Learning
Management System
Reflecting on what we do, so we can do it
better
• Aligning the goals & operational philosophy of our institution with
how IT operates; aligning institutional operations with IT operations
Mission Statements – just for example (1)
• Through our scholarship, research and teaching, … seeks to offer
the highest standard of professional legal education. … strives to be
one of the leading law schools in … … aims to be distinctive in its
commitment to both legal research and the importance of teaching.
It seeks to provide its students with academic, extracurricular and
other resources that will permit them to attain the highest possible
level of achievement in legal education and prepare them for
positions of leadership and service across many areas of legal
practice, business, government and community work.
Mission Statements – just for example (2)
• …located in …, is dedicated to welcoming students from all
backgrounds and circumstances and educating them to become
highly skilled and ethical lawyers who are well-prepared to serve in
their local communities, across the nation, and around the world.
Because the lawyer’s role has evolved and expanded since …
founding, the Law School seeks to develop in its students the skills
necessary to serve the profession’s changing needs in an
increasingly diverse, global and technologically-dependent society.
As one of the nation’s largest law schools, … meets that challenge
by providing students with a core foundation in legal education, a
breadth of courses and programs, and excellent training by a
diverse and accessible faculty engaged in scholarship and service
to their profession and communities. … goal is to provide its
students with access to an excellent legal education, inspire a
commitment to justice, and provide its graduates the opportunity to
achieve their career aspirations.
Mission Statements – just for example (3)
•
•
… is a diverse community of learning whose essential mission is to help lawyers and legal
institutions to meet the demands of a rapidly changing legal and professional environment. We
perform this mission through three critical functions:
We prepare a diverse and talented pool of students to meet the challenges of demanding legal
careers whether as advocates, counselors, planners, or policy makers and to meet the leadership
responsibilities lawyers are called upon to perform in their personal and professional lives. Our
central focus in this effort is the preparation of students for the first professional degree in law.
•
We are a center of legal scholarship, whose members work to enlarge society's understanding of
law and its underlying policies, legal institutions, and legal processes.
•
We provide expertise, support and service to governmental units at all levels, to local and national
organizations engaged in law reform and policy analysis, to the legal profession, and to the people
of …, both through the work of our graduates and through efforts to foster improvements in all
aspects of the justice system.
In serving our students, we are committed to an active and inclusive spirit of community and to the
effective, efficient and congenial provision of service. We seek to model a diverse community
characterized by fairness, professionalism, and respect for the dignity and contributions of all
persons. We aspire, with regard to our teaching, research, and public service, to conduct all of our
programs in a manner consistent with the highest standards of professionalism, and at a nationally
prominent level of quality that adds luster to the legal and business communities of …; that makes
us relevant to the key needs of this region's private, public, and nonprofit sectors; and that
distinguishes us as one of the finest public urban law schools in the United States.
•
Mission Statement Mad-libs
• Through our scholarship, research and teaching we are committed
to an active and inclusive spirit of community and to the effective,
efficient and congenial provision of service. … seeks to provide its
students with academic, extracurricular and other resources that will
permit them to be characterized by fairness, professionalism, and
respect for the dignity and contributions of all persons. We seek to
enlarge the legal profession in the United States, the world and
beyond.
3 Value Disciplines
• Operational Excellence
• Customer Intimacy
• Product Leadership
From: M Treach and F Wiersema. 1993. Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines. Harvard
Business Review (January – February). pp. 84-93; expanded in M. Treacy and F. Wiersema.
1995. The Discipline of Market Leaders. (Cambridge: Perseus Books).
3 Value Disciplines
• Operational Excellence
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provide consumers with products at the lowest total cost
product line offered to consumers is standardized and limited
products are highly reliable
customer service pursues the highest level of convenience
there is a high level of teamwork among employees in these firms
3 Value Disciplines
• Operational Excellence
–
–
–
–
–
provide consumers with products at the lowest total cost
product line offered to consumers is standardized and limited
products are highly reliable
customer service pursues the highest level of convenience
there is a high level of teamwork among employees in these firms
– providing students with educational course material with the maximum
convenience and at the lowest possible cost
– Large institutions that do not tailor offerings to individual student or
faculty needs
3 Value Disciplines
• Operational Excellence
–
–
–
–
–
provide consumers with products at the lowest total cost
product line offered to consumers is standardized and limited
products are highly reliable
customer service pursues the highest level of convenience
there is a high level of teamwork among employees in these firms
–
providing students with educational course material with the maximum convenience and at
the lowest possible cost
Large institutions that do not tailor offerings to individual student or faculty needs
–
– Computing as a utility
– Homogeneous set of services provided at least marginal cost or hassle
– All courses loaded into LMS, all courses look and feel the same
3 Value Disciplines
• Customer Intimacy
– Tailor offerings to meet individual needs of students and faculty
– Success through an increasingly fine understanding of exactly what
each customer needs and the ability to deliver exactly these services
and products
– products are highly diverse and configured
– customer service pursues the highest level of intimacy
– If there is potential for long term growth, each customer representative
has wide latitude to meet individual client needs regardless of short term
costs
3 Value Disciplines
• Customer Intimacy
–
–
–
–
–
Tailor offerings to meet individual needs of students and faculty
Success through an increasingly fine understanding of exactly what each customer needs
and the ability to deliver exactly these services and products
products are highly diverse and configured
customer service pursues the highest level of intimacy
If there is potential for long term growth, each customer representative has wide latitude to
meet individual client needs regardless of short term costs
– providing students and faculty with educational program to meet their
needs, regardless of cost
3 Value Disciplines
• Customer Intimacy
–
–
–
–
–
–
Tailor offerings to meet individual needs of students and faculty
Success through an increasingly fine understanding of exactly what each customer needs
and the ability to deliver exactly these services and products
products are highly diverse and configured
customer service pursues the highest level of intimacy
If there is potential for long term growth, each customer representative has wide latitude to
meet individual client needs regardless of short term costs
providing students and faculty with educational program to meet their needs, regardless of
cost
– Computing as valet service
– Computing staff attempts to anticipate individual need
– Heterogeneous set of services provided regardless of marginal cost or
hassle
– Courses loaded into LMS on request and suggestion of faculty, course
look and fee tailored individually
3 Value Disciplines
• Product Leadership
– Attempts to provide a steady stream of cutting edge products
– Willing to invest in high risk/high reward ventures within narrowly
focused areas of expertise
– products are narrowly focused, but very cutting edge
– These firms reward individuals that can see unique product
opportunities, act independently to develop unique solutions and bring
these solutions to market
3 Value Disciplines
• Product Leadership
–
–
–
–
Attempts to provide a steady stream of cutting edge products
Willing to invest in high risk/high reward ventures within narrowly focused areas of expertise
products are narrowly focused, but very cutting edge
These firms reward individuals that can see unique product opportunities, act independently
to develop unique solutions and bring these solutions to market
– Educational institutions that pursue product leadership hire faculty that
are at the cutting edge of the discipline area and are willing to use
cutting edge technology in their teaching
– These faculty are encouraged to work cross disciplinarily
– And to spin off results of their work as marketable products
3 Value Disciplines
• Product Leadership
–
–
–
–
Attempts to provide a steady stream of cutting edge products
Willing to invest in high risk/high reward ventures within narrowly focused areas of expertise
products are narrowly focused, but very cutting edge
These firms reward individuals that can see unique product opportunities, act independently
to develop unique solutions and bring these solutions to market
–
Educational institutions that pursue product leadership hire faculty that are at the cutting
edge of the discipline area and are willing to use cutting edge technology in their teaching
These faculty are encouraged to work cross disciplinarily
And to spin off results of their work as marketable products
–
–
– IT departments that operate within the rubric of Product Leadership,
offer “bleeding edge” solutions to faculty
– They can offer these with the “buyer beware” caveat that no application
is guaranteed to work and there is no commitment to continue future
support
3 Value Disciplines:
If the mission station won’t help me, how
can I know what value discipline my
institution pursues?
•
•
•
Operational Excellence: standardized products with no hassle
Customer Intimacy: individual solutions regardless of cost
Product Leadership: bleeding edge with no guarantees
3 Value Disciplines:
Maybe it’s Operational Excellence?
•
Operational Excellence: standardized products with no hassle
– Here’s the suite (short list) of products/services we offer
– Professor X wants something we don’t offer
•
•
Customer Intimacy: individual solutions regardless of cost
Product Leadership: bleeding edge with no guarantees
3 Value Disciplines:
How about Customer Intimacy?
•
Operational Excellence: standardized products with no hassle
– Here’s the suite (short list) of products/services we offer
– Professor X wants something we don’t offer
•
Customer Intimacy: individual solutions regardless of cost
– We know exactly what every faculty member (& student) wants
– We’re purchasing the interplanetary transporter that Professor X wants so he can
deliver distance classes from inside the trunk of his car
•
Product Leadership: bleeding edge with no guarantees
3 Value Disciplines:
Or maybe it’s Product Leadership
•
Operational Excellence: standardized products with no hassle
– Here’s the suite (short list) of products/services we offer
– Professor X wants something we don’t offer
•
Customer Intimacy: individual solutions regardless of cost
– We know exactly what every faculty member (& student) wants
– We’re purchasing the interplanetary transporter that Professor X wants so he can
deliver distance classes from inside the trunk of his car
•
Product Leadership: bleeding edge with no guarantees
– We’re going to develop our own a classroom-based facebook, programming it in
C#
– Sorry; I know you put 10,000 hours last semester into that application, but we
took it down last week
3 Value Disciplines
•
•
•
Operational Excellence: standardized products with no hassle
Customer Intimacy: individual solutions regardless of cost
Product Leadership: bleeding edge with no guarantees
• Begin by picking one, which one can you excel
• When you’re good at one – pick another
• But you won’t be able to excel at all three
At Suffolk
•
Operational Excellence: standardized products with no hassle
– We begin with this
• Rolled out infrastructure
– Fully networked (wired)
– MS server backend
• Notebook computing with little hassle for students
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XP Professional based
MS desktop (OneNote to come next year)
Symantec AntiVirus
Edge protection to insure compliance (to come next year)
• All classrooms look and feel the same for students and faculty
•
Customer Intimacy: individual solutions regardless of cost
– And included a modified form of this
• We know every faculty members technology needs
• We train every faculty member individually
• We will purchase software and hardware as requested
At Suffolk
•
Operational Excellence: standardized products with no hassle
•
•
•
•
Rolled out infrastructure
Notebook computing with little hassle for students
All classrooms look and feel the same for students and faculty
Added Blackboard as the Learning Management System
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–
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•
Included every course
Enrolled every student and faculty member
Enrolled every secretary so they could add material to their faculty members’ courses
Designed and implemented a generic course
Customer Intimacy: individual solutions regardless of cost
• We advertised & trained every faculty member individually
• We trained every secretary
• We upgraded Blackboard to meet individual requests
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What’s up?
Glossary
Facebook & class locator (to come)
Portfolios (under consideration)
Student interactions and group experiences
Class recording (MP3)
Full class recording (www.silcon-chalk.com)