This exciting story should be anchored in measures and disciplined by honest assessment. New instructional delivery modes, for example, will render many of our fundamental assumptions about higher education meaningless. Information technologists are uniquely prepared to contribute to a dialogue about the new indicators of quality and performance in the networked environment. At the same time, we have resisted most efforts to measure and assess the impact of information technology on the higher education enterprise. Our reasons for resistance have been thoughtful and well reasoned.
Information technology is messy.
It is embedded in everything . . . The truth is that information technologists have done a remarkable job for our colleges and universities without engaging seriously in campus and national measurement and assessment efforts. Perhaps we can continue to step back when the next call to account is made. Perhaps instead it is time for information technologists to seize the day and commit to the hard and complex work of communicating in credible qualitative and quantitative fashion the nature of our activities and investments. Perhaps, too, it is time to join with our faculty and administrative colleagues in efforts to assess the impact of these activities and investments on teaching, learning, and administrative quality and costs.