DELTA’s Academic Technology Reorganization
To many people innovation may mean inventing a new technology, but here at DELTA it is about so much more.
“Innovation is about metamorphosis; it is about being okay with constant change, and looking for breakthroughs and transformations,” said Associate Vice Provost (AVP) for Academic Technology Innovation Donna Petherbridge. While DELTA is always evolving and adapting, high-quality service and support is something users can continue to expect from DELTA.
Academic Technology Innovation (ATI) is a new unit formed July 1 by merging the Media Production Services (MPS) team and the Instructional Technology Support and Development (ITSD) unit as part of a reorganization within DELTA. This organizational transition for DELTA will better position us to serve NC State’s current and future needs in distance education and learning technologies.
The MPS team is a fully functional unit with a focus on supporting faculty in doing their work in a variety of ways. There are Mediasite support staff members who provide technical assistance to instructors doing lecture capture, classroom support staff who keep the nine distance education classrooms functioning at a top-notch level as well as production technicians who create incredible instructional videos for courses.
The ITSD team, which supports faculty as its primary audience, maintains a robust and reliable academic technology infrastructure for both online and blended teaching and learning including enterprise and learning management systems. ITSD develops instructional tools and interactive media to address specific teaching and learning needs and provides pedagogical assistance focused on technology support for NC State faculty and staff. In addition, ITSD includes project coordination, communication and brand management across multifaceted DELTA initiatives.
By strategically joining together MPS and ITSD, the new ATI unit will consist of all staff members who are dedicated to enterprise academic technology support and development. “All of us are very focused on giving our customers the best academic technology support that we possibly can,” said Petherbridge. She noted it is great to have a group of people who are helping faculty with their instructional work together under one umbrella.
“Having all the units that work in the academic technology support and development area together gives us the chance under one AVP to look at our academic technology processes, our governance and how we work with customers to make sure we are all speaking with one voice,” said Petherbridge. She added DELTA already does an excellent job of that but is pleased to have all those functions as a part of her team.
Petherbridge will gain an additional 24 staff members who will report to her, and she is excited for the changes. “I view it as a chance to work for more people,” she said. Petherbridge explained as a leader her job really is to work for her people and ensure they have the resources necessary to do their jobs effectively.
When discussing the name of the new academic technology focused unit, innovation was an important word to Petherbridge to include in the title. “I would argue that every single person who works in this organization is an innovator in some way,” she said. DELTA staff members create innovative solutions to problems every day.
