Abstract:

The inclusion of the not-so-new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) at universities has had varying degrees of success, depending on the strategies used to approach these changes.

In most cases, due to the pressure regarding the times in which a facility should be "in production" - to justify its implementation and economic investment - as well as the short terms of political mandates (one of the problems when facing long term decision), have been a limitation when promoting far-reaching changes in the process of teaching / learning assisted by technology.

In many cases, the focus has been on providing teachers with hardware and software tools based on agreements with suppliers that "generously" make their devices available to education at low cost, thus introducing their products with the purpose of establishing themselves in the market. This avoids the comparison with other tools as well as the broader vision or generalization in the training of professionals who will later recommend what they know, in a clear unfair competition facilitated by the university. In others, the decisions were influenced by referents already trained in some type of tool, who choose to keep recommending what's known to them instead of expanding the offering of alternatives by researching and learning new technologies.

Blindly following a trend, purchases were made of a large number of smartboards that ended up being used as mere white surface to project a slide, as long as nobody had damaged it before by scribbling on it with an indelible marker, thinking it was a usual board.
University spaces deserve to follow the state of the art in terms of technologies with a rhythm that ensures at least two fundamental aspects:
• Acquire the most appropriate implements for each situation, based on an analysis of the possibilities, the requirements and the most stable market offer and with the best cost / benefit.
• Ensure training and the creation of support areas for teachers and students that allow them to have learning spaces, ongoing support and "trial and error permits" for all innovators.

Having a team of technicians and educators collaborating with the authorities in the decision making, by acting as a “technology vantage point”, will help avoid common pitfalls, or errors caused by hasted decisions without a previous and clear evaluation of the alternatives when incorporating technologies and new methods.

This publication seeks to analyze the possibility of forming an institutional technology observatory, the advantages of doing so and the justification for its implementation, listing the risks and costs of not having it.

Keywords:

Innovation, technology, right-sizing, ICT.