2021
UCC launches Digital Master Plan
Greater access to communication platforms, more support tools for remote working and studying, and a greater use of analytics to improve teaching services are among the goals contained in University College Cork’s first Digital Master Plan, which has been launched by UCC President Prof. John O’Halloran.
An important milestone in the University’s goal to support society in the digital age, the Digital Master Plan was launched virtually, with John Fitzgerald, Director of Information Services and Dr Gerard Culley, Director of IT Services, joining Prof O’Halloran in launching the ambitious strategy at a virtual event.
Prof. O’Halloran said the plan paves the way for “the digital enrichment of our campus experience”, affording greater online opportunities.
“We are a University that is campus-based but with the complementarity between pedagogy, space and technology is critical to our future,” he said.
John Fitzgerald said:
“This Master Plan is holistic, it embraces all of the services that we provide through the digital domain and into our digital estate. The Master Plan will enable so much more to happen”.
Dr Culley explained how the Digital Master Plan owes its origins to the UCC 2022 Strategic Plan, which saw the establishement of a digital estate to complement our physical estate. Dr Culley explained how the UCC Digital Master Plan will oversee the overall evolution of our digital estate over the coming years.
“The core of this plan is to build digital services which can help people to achieve their goals and ambitions,” he said.
The measures outlined in the plan include:
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The development of world class digital education services, to support staff and student needs for flexibility and accessibility, including further developments on Microsoft Teams, Canvas, Panopto, and classroom technology.
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The development of tools to support remote working and the future of work, to support staff flexibility and accessibility needs, including Office 365, Citrix, and cloud business services.
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Data Solutions to help UCC unleash the power of data to improve teaching services using learning analytics, and improve business services using data-driven continuous improvement.
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Using Artificial Intelligence and 24x7 monitoring to help us protect the University from growing threats from cyber attacks.
The full UCC Digital Master Plan is available to read on is.ucc.ie