NASPA 2019 Technology has dramatically transformed how students interact and learn, and the pace of these changes make it challenging for student affairs to provide relevant and timely services. There is a significant variation in the delivery of technology services among institutions, which include stakeholders from across the student affairs and information technology professions, and it is important to assess and understand these differences in order to maximize the resources available.

1. “It’s Just Supposed to Work, Right?”
Demystifying Technology Services in Student Affairs
Monday, March 11, 2019 | 10:10 – 11:00 a.m. | LACC, 501 B
David Chao, IT Consultant, University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Leslie Dare, Director, DASA Tech Services, NC State University
Paul Schantz, Director of Web & Technology Services, CSU Northridge

2. About Us
David Chao Dr. Leslie Dare Paul Schantz
@paulschantz@LeslieDareNCSU

3. About You
● A quick show of hands
○ Do you work in a professional IT role?
○ Do you just “wear the tech hat?”
○ Do you have your own IT staff in Student Affairs?
○ Do you rely on your institution’s central IT?

4. Learning Outcomes
● An understanding of the different organizational models for Student Affairs
technology services
● An understanding of the processes used to deliver Student Affairs
technology services
● An overview of instruments used for technology assessment and how they
can apply to Student Affairs
● Open discussion about Student Affairs technology services

5. Organizational Models for IT Services
● IT staff housed within Student Affairs
○ Closer to the customer
○ Focused on Student Affairs and integrated into the culture
○ Student Affairs is responsible for hiring and managing IT staff
○ Student Affairs is responsible for IT staff salaries

6. Organizational Models for IT Services
● IT staff housed within the institution’s central IT
○ Further away from the customer
○ Less focused since central IT staff provide services across the institution
○ Central IT hires and manages IT staff
○ Central IT is responsible for IT staff salaries

7. Organizational Models for IT Services
● Both models can work
○ IT staff housed within Student Affairs is optimal for larger institutions who
offer a wide range of services
○ IT staff housed within central IT is optimal for smaller institutions where it’s
not realistic to have dedicated IT staff within Student Affairs
○ There are also mixed models
○ The model used will vary based on funding
○ The success of the model depends on the relationships and processes that
you build within Student Affairs, and with your central IT

8. Delivering Technology Services for Student Affairs
● Defining stakeholders and understanding their relationships
● The delivery process:
○ Requirements
○ Selection
○ Implementation
○ Maintenance
● Different models, different cultures
● Enterprise IT vs Student Affairs IT

9. Assessing and Understanding
the Use of Technology in Student Affairs
● Technology is important to our work!
● NASPA Professional Competency Area
● The EDUCAUSE Core Data Service (CDS)
● The Texas A&M University software survey
● Developing instruments for technology assessment relevant to student affairs
● Collective value of data to NASPA community
○ Measuring technology service outcomes, benchmarking
○ Vendor negotiation, networking with peers, better APIs, making a strong
case for new product features, etc.

10. Assessing and Understanding
the Use of Technology in Student Affairs
● Version 1.0
● www.saitpros.org/resources
● Qualtrics @ Pittsburgh
● Four sections; simple questions
● Raw data only...we don’t have
fancy visualizations (yet)

11. Assessing and Understanding
the Use of Technology in Student Affairs
What’s In It?
● 42 questions in 4 sections
○ Institution (size, basic demo info)
○ SA organization (services offered)
○ SAIT (staffing level, type of support)
○ Applications & Services
What We Learned
● Some preparation required
● Instrument needs some tweaking
● Overall effort less than expected
● Inherently practical information
● Possibility to use this instrument as a
TKC product for NASPA

12. Short and Long Term Takeaways
● Understand your model for IT services!
○ Where does your support come from?
○ What is the relationship between Student Affairs and your Central IT?
○ What does your technology governance look like?
○ How is your budget allocated and spent?
● Your participation matters!
○ Contribute to a future NASPA Technology Core Data Service assessment;
you’ll add a lot of value by sharing...and you’ll get survey results, too!
○ Get involved with the Technology Knowledge Community! The TKC offers
many networking & learning opportunities.

13. Discussion & Resources
We’d love to
hear what
you think!
● www.saitpros.org
● https://www.naspa.org/constituent-gr
oups/kcs/technology
● @NASPA_TKC
● Blog post: http://bit.ly/NASPA-CDS
ladare@ncsu.edu | @LeslieDareNCSU
david.chao@pitt.edu
paul@csun.edu | @paulschantz

14. “It’s Just Supposed to Work, Right?”
Demystifying Technology Services in Student Affairs
Program ID# 091
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15. Thank you!
See you next year in Austin, Texas!