Ref. No. 3309
       
NIACC Board Approves Technology Improvements

  The NIACC Board of Trustees approved a comprehensive plan for technology improvements that will provide enhanced access for NIACC students, now and into the future.  “Community colleges are about meeting the students where they are at and helping them reach their goals.  Technology is the avenue that will enable NIACC to assist students in reaching those goals,” Dr. Debra Derr, NIACC president, said.  The comprehensive plan includes a $10 per credit hour fee to fund improvements to NIACC’s technology services.  

  It has been several years since NIACC made their first major technology investment.  Since that time, technology improvements have maintained a level threshold across the NIACC campus.  “However, we are now falling below national benchmarks which is not where we need to be as we prepare students for the future,” Derr said.

  Across Iowa, community colleges are facing similar technology challenges – how to provide enhanced technology access, services and programs while faced with limited budgets.  Faculty and students expect colleges to provide a certain level of technology.  They want the ability to collaborate on learning through the use of technology, open access, and a full menu of services.  Providing faculty and students with these valuable technology resources is a priority for colleges that strive to maintain excellence in teaching.  Finding a solution to this challenge requires new approaches. 

  A review of Iowa community colleges reflects that a student technology fee is a resource that has been used to subsidize funding for technology improvements.  Neighboring institutions, in Iowa and Minnesota, already have a technology fee which ranges from $4 to $9 or is embedded in student fees.  The technology fee for NIACC students will begin with Spring semester.  

  Community colleges take pride in meeting students where they are at and helping them reach their goals.  For students to move into the future, technology resources are a key to their success.  Technology is the path that will provide students the opportunity to be partners in learning and for instructors to facilitate student learning.

  “Improving NIACC’s technology resources will open the technology portal to provide the convenience, flexibility and affordability our students need so they can successfully move into the future,” Derr said.
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