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Internet-based technologies have become integral to life within higher education—for students, educators and administrators. With the advent of the Internet and new IP-based communication technologies, innovations such as virtual classrooms and distance learning have replaced the traditional classroom for many, especially those whose home or office makes travel to the actual university prohibitive. Even educators themselves, from near any location, can conduct classes, answer questions, facilitate interactive student groups, accept and grade papers and tests, etc. 

 

While these developments are in fact not new, what is often overlooked is how collaborative technologies can likewise facilitate administrative applications such as grant writing, inter- and intra-campus communications, peer reviews or the hiring of faculty and staff.  It’s truly an ideal environment for collaboration, especially if the organization has the tools with the right mix of capabilities.

 

Some of the most thorough collaboration offerings today include live video, telephone quality audio, instant messaging, joint editing, presentation sharing, whiteboard capabilities, secure file storage and application viewing, to name a few.

 

As we’ve discussed in previous articles, some of the best IP-based collaboration tools today protect every component of the communications with multiple layers of security and end-to-end encryption.  These tools empower universities and colleges to conduct secure meetings over the Internet that mirror natural work styles and business processes by integrating with technologies already in use (i.e. Microsoft (News - Alert) Office), while generating measurable cost-cutting and productivity benefits. 

 

Consequently, any administrator or faculty member can share sensitive financial or research information internally or with geographically dispersed teams, increase productivity, and reduce the need for travel and overhead. The potential for how they use it is nearly immeasurable. Let’s look at several of these applications.

 

 

Grant writing is critical to obtaining funds to start new projects, conducting research, buying equipment for said projects, etc. The process to go from the first draft to the last through typical means of faxing or e-mailing is time consuming and cumbersome, with numerous version control problems often taking place along the way.

 

With documents at the center of discussion, collaborating by telephone is ineffective. With IP-based collaboration, grant writers can work on these documents with team members (i.e. faculty, department heads, graduate assistants) using joint document editing and whiteboard capabilities, as well as audio, video and instant messaging. 

 

With IP-based collaboration software, those tasked with drafting and completing proposals and grants can reduce the time to complete their work tasks by storing the master version of a document in an online workspace with controlled access and permissions. Using the ability to jointly work on documents, all edits and changes are made to one central document, eliminating the problem of version control. Instant messages can provide quick answers to questions. Basically, it streamlines what can be a very frustrating and time consuming process of gathering input from various team members to create one finalized document.

 

 

Evaluating faculty members on tenure track is a highly collaborative and confidential process. The department chair must request input from the tenure candidate’s peers, often 5-6 people, who must evaluate candidates based on their teaching abilities, research conducted, articles and books published, etc. 

 

With IP-based collaboration software, the department chair can instantly communicate with the review committee, establish a schedule for evaluation completion that can be stored within a virtual workspace, review evaluations and store all documents in one file cabinet for access at any time. Changes can then be made to each document by the reviewers who have been granted permission to do so. The department chair can also ask questions instantly of each reviewer by instant message, if he or she sees the reviewer is online. 

 

This information must all remain extremely confidential, making encryption capabilities within the IP-based collaboration software you choose all the more critical. 

 

 

Faculty both on campus and off can communicate instantly with instant messaging capabilities integrated within IP-based collaboration software, and can then turn the informal chat into a full-blown, interactive online meeting. Comparing teaching practices, sharing research and findings, discussing grading processes and procedures, answering curriculum questions and collaborating on the next day’s lessons can all be made easier and less costly using IP-based collaboration software. In fact, being able to see and hear colleagues wherever they might be helps keep the connection current and strong. 

 

 

Finding the next dean of admissions or science department chair is a big job, and the hiring committee has much to do before even beginning the hiring process. They must agree on the job qualifications and responsibilities, draft the announcements (with editing back and forth), get any approvals, and make necessary changes. Then the fun really begins—when they need to review all applications and discuss which candidates should be pre-selected for interviews.

 

Fortunately, IP-based collaboration software enables all of these things to be done efficiently and securely. The committee can meet from their individual desktops to brainstorm about what they all think is required for the candidate and review and edit the announcement in real-time before anyone sees it. The applications, especially those e-mailed to the hiring committee, could even be stored in a file cabinet and pulled into the meeting to discuss the individual candidates.  

 

For candidates not in the area, the interviews could even be held online, saving time and travel costs. With collaborative audio and video capabilities, it’s the closest thing to them actually being in the office, as you can still read facial expressions and hear voice inflexions.  The candidate could even pull writing or research samples into the meeting.

 

The hiring committee could then meet online after all of the interviews to review candidates and make final decisions, with the hiring offer sent by instant message, or more formally through a request for another online meeting.

 

 

Developing curriculum is a collaborative process in itself, as professors, department heads, and other faculty from one or many universities determine what should be taught in their particular subject and develop written documents for each of the curriculum.  The curriculum development working group, especially one comprised of faculty from around the country, would benefit greatly from being able to meet online instead of traveling to various locations.

 

They can brainstorm ideas, share examples of required information, take notes on all discussions to share with others not in attendance, etc.  In between meeting, the faculty can instant message each other to get answers to questions or present other ideas. The curriculum outlines could also be stored in the secure file cabinets for easy access by work group members. 

 

 

Publicizing the successful events of the university can be a monumental task for a communications department. The nationally ranked football team or the scientific research department that just discovered the latest genome each wants the world to hear their story.

 

Each of the university departments with “news” could use IP-based collaboration software to share the pertinent facts with the communications department, who would then write the press release or article and then meet with the particular department to jointly edit the document in real-time. This streamlined process would eliminate inefficient faxing and emailing and the resulting version control problems.

 

 

Telework enables university faculty or staff to work out of their homes or other locations.

IP-based collaboration software provides a valuable tool that enables faculty or staff to attend necessary meetings, briefings and updates directly from their home computer. With audio and video built into the product, the faculty member can better replicate the feel of an in-person meeting. Most importantly, the security included in IP-based collaboration software ensures that any information discussed, or documents transmitted while the faculty member or staff is working at home, is still protected from unwanted intruders.

 

 

The types of applications in academia that could benefit from a secure, online collaboration tool such as IP-based collaboration software are nearly limitless. What they all have in common is the ability to facilitate communications and collaboration with colleagues, staff and/or students, increasing productivity and ensuring private information remains private while eliminating the high costs associated with travel.  

 

 

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