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International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education
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Information Technology Incident Management: A Case Study of the University of Oviedo and the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

Gestion de incidencias informáticas: el caso de la Universidad de Oviedo y la Facultad de Formación del Profesorado

International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education volume 9, pages 280–295 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Since their introduction into higher education institutions, information technology (IT) resources have become an indispensable, dynamic and controversial component of teaching- and research-related activities. This article explores some of the complex issues surrounding such resources through a study of the most representative IT incidents that occurred at the University of Oviedo and in one of its faculties, specifically the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education. It also aims to provide some guidelines to improve decision making in this particular field, and also to disseminate a number of significant findings in relation to the use of such technologies by higher education centres.

To that end, incidents reported at the University of Oviedo (with 30,000 people across four campuses) over three consecutive academic years are analysed. Incidents occurring in computers (which may include software and peripheral devices) used by students and lecturers in the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education’s classrooms are also analysed. The results obtained show that, while the number of IT devices has increased, the number of incidents has remained constant. This indicates that users are able to use them better. Most of the problems reported by the university and faculty alike were connected with software. This suggests that robust centralised services for program updating and maintenance are required.

Resumen

Las instituciones educativas universitarias incorporan progresivamente los recursos informáticos, que se convierten en instrumentos indispensables, dinámicos y controvertidos en la acción docente e investigadora. Este trabajo ex post facto intenta descubrir algunos rasgos de tal complejidad, a través del estudio de las incidencias informáticas más representativas que tuvieron lugar en la Universidad de Oviedo y en una de sus facultades (Formación del Profesorado y Educación). También pretende aportar pautas para tomar mejores decisiones en este ámbito y difundir las actuaciones significativas de uso de estas tecnologías en los centros de educación superior.

Para ello se analizan las incidencias recogidas durante tres cursos sucesivos en la Universidad de Oviedo, institución que acoge a unas treinta mil personas, repartidas en cuatro campus. También se analizan las actuaciones de los equipos que utilizaron los estudiantes y profesores de las aulas de la Facultad de Formación del Profesorado y Educación. Los resultados obtenidos destacan que, aunque aumenta el número de dispositivos informáticos, la cantidad de incidencias generadas permanece constante. Esto apunta a que los usuarios saben emplearlos mejor. La mayoría de los problemas, tanto en cuanto a la institución universitaria como a la facultad, están relacionados con el software, por lo que se sugiere la implementación de potentes servicios centralizados de actualización y mantenimiento de los programas utilizados.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad de Oviedo, C/ Aniceto Sela, 33005, Oviedo, Spain

    Javier Fombona Cadavieco (Lecturer and Vice-Dean for Information Technology and Mobility Coordination), Celestino Rodríguez Pérez (Vice-Dean for Quality in the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education) & Carolina Barriada Fernández (Technical Engineer in Information Technology)

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  1. Javier Fombona Cadavieco
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  2. Celestino Rodríguez Pérez
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  3. Carolina Barriada Fernández
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Correspondence to Javier Fombona Cadavieco.

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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Fombona Cadavieco, J., Rodríguez Pérez, C. & Barriada Fernández, C. Information Technology Incident Management: A Case Study of the University of Oviedo and the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 9, 280–295 (2012). https://doi.org/10.7238/rusc.v9i2.1399

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