G. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

NWC relies on adequate investments in technology to ensure the College remains sustainable, which is an increasing challenge. The College’s Information Technology (IT) plan focuses on supporting sustainability, maintaining infrastructure and managing data security and risk to contribute to the strategic directions of High-Performance Organization and College of Choice. Over the course of the next few years, NWC will continue to leverage technology to maintain services during this time of uncertainty. NWC maintains best practices in infrastructure maintenance and replacement stewardship in order to anticipate large costs, mitigate financial risks and ensure service maintenance.

The College introduced the use of chrome books for the 2020/2021 year for our rural based classrooms and a majority of our students. Chrome books provides learners state of the art technology at a relatively less expensive cost than your typical laptop computer. Chrome books allow the College to implement student email accounts and provide the opportunity to better develop and manage alumni relations. Users and administrators manage software and data the same as a laptop, however, encourages the use of google docs and other new innovative ways to manage your workload. NWC is in the process of establishing the “new” standard classroom. With the movement to Chromebooks to ensure all students have the ability to learn from home and staff having the ability to work from home, the College needed to consider the impacts of COVID-19 in the future. What does the future of learning look like? As we continue to move through this pandemic and explore what our future looks like, the classroom is forever changed. The college will continue to see learning in a blended format for the upcoming year, and potentially an alternative method in the years following. Modernizing the classroom to accommodate the blended learning model continues to be a priority for the College. Standardizing equipment has moved from having stationary computers in each classroom, to all students having a Chromebook or laptop device. The College continues to explore interactive televisions versus smart boards. The new interactive televisions allow the instructor to take a more innovative approach to teaching and free additional resources that may otherwise be tied up. Interactive televisions continue to be piloted in a couple of our classes in the Meadow Lake Campus. As smart boards reach their end of life, the College will determine the best replacement equipment and replacements will take place over the next three years. Cyber security is on the radar for NWC. Awareness, training, insurance and established policies will all play a role in mitigating the risk for the College. During the 2021/22 fiscal year, the College will invest in measures, further reducing the risk of cyber attacks. The College is exploring an all-encompassing inventory system to fulfill the needs of the College. Currently the College has multiple inventory systems in place to manage the needs of all areas. Our IT inventory system is at its end of life, so as we explore options to replace the current system, the College is looking to reduce the number of software systems in place. The other two current systems will be due for replacement within the next couple of years. The goal is to have a system that can handle facilities infrastructure, information technology, bookstore, and inventories for all faucets of the College. The system would also have the ability to combine the IT and facilities request systems, so that the college is investing in a one-stop shop to meet the required needs. Work continues to evolve on this project.

Last year the College implemented an Education Technology Coordinator role. The focus of this role last year, was classroom based. Training instructional staff and students on the use of google classrooms and Chromebooks were the focus. While the work in these areas will continue to expand, this next year our Ed Tech Coordinator will have a strategy to enhance and broaden technology knowledge focusing on our Administrative areas. Carlton Trail was allocated 1.6 million dollars towards the Higher Education Enterprise Resource Planning Project. his project will look at the potential of replacing our current student information system but will also explore the potential of an all-encompassing system for student information, financial and human resources. NWC is excited to have been selected as one of the pilot projects for this project. Impacts regarding the pilot project details remain uncertain at this time. Once a product and vendor are selected, we will be able to confirm the need for backfilling positions, managing, and supporting the transition from our current system to the new. Information Technology at the College strives to maximize resources in order to meet the needs of our students. The above-mentioned projects and maintenance are founded on the principles of sustainability while continuing NWC’s tradition of forward-thinking innovation.