Sydney Uni expands systems overhaul

The University of Sydney has widened the overhaul of its learning and teaching systems to include brand-new institution-wide content repository and curriculum management platforms.

The project is among a string of IT initiatives designed to support the university’s strategic plan for 2016 to 2020 [pdf], which will also see the institution rationalise its 11 online teaching and learning systems into a single platform.

It recently issued two separate expressions of interest for a university-wide central repository platform and supporting infrastructure for digital content, as well as a curriculum mapping and management system.

The university said an increasing number of journals and granting bodies are insisting on supporting datasets and other evidence being freely available before publication or award, and its current content repository environment is ill-equipped to handle such requests.

At the moment it utilises a range of disparate existing systems built on various versions of RedBox and DSpace, including repositories for rare books, theses, clinical trials and research, as well as the Sydney Research Online portal.

The new system will be used to store materials and records covering published research (journal articles and book chapters), learning materials (videos and lecture notes), research data, and other content such as exhibitions, performances and musical scores.

The university has requested three web-based front ends to the new system, the first providing access for students, academics, and the general public; the second providing library material management services; and the third handling management of research submissions.

The new system is to be implemented in stages over the next three years.

At the same time, the university is hunting for a a new curriculum mapping and management system that can support its new degree structure, which includes the introduction of vertically-integrated bachelors/masters degrees, an increased emphasis on cross-faculty courses, and learning enrichment activities.

It currently lacks a central cross-faculty repository for information about courses and subjects, impeding the implementation of the new course structure.

Instead, information is fragmented between the student management system, learning management systems, timetabling tool, online handbooks, online course finder, and faculty-based bespoke systems, along with Microsoft Word and Excel files.

Sydney Uni anticipates it may issue a request for tender to successful EOI respondents in November.