School finds MERIT in merger of service units

Friday, August 21, 2009 -

Three units of the UW-Madison School of Education have been consolidated into a single entity, pooling resources and expertise to better serve both internal and external users.

The new unit, called Media, Education Resources, and Information Technology (MERIT), combines the Center for Instructional Materials and Computing (CIMC), the Instructional Media Development Center (IMDC) and the School of Education’s Information Technology Office.  While serving different constituencies, these units have developed over the years some overlapping services.

That led to a push for a reorganization, which has been completed over the last year. The new name was unveiled at the beginning of 2009.

“MERIT will continue to provide the library, help desk, learning spaces, media development, technical support, instructional technology consulting, and infrastructure support formerly provided by the CIMC, IMDC, and SoE IT,” says Jo Ann Carr, director of MERIT.

"Information technology services are delivered by campus, school and department providers. It is a complex environment for locating services," says Brenda Spychalla, MERIT’s assistant director of IT services, who points to web hosting and instructional technologies as examples.

“For the School of Education, we’ve tried to simplify points of contact,” Spychalla explains. “We want to make it simpler for users to get help.”

Users can get connected with the appropriate service simply by calling the MERIT Help Desk (608-265-4773).

MERIT will continue to serve external clients who had been served by the CIMC and IMDC, says Barb Smith, media producer and project coordinator.  For instance, instead of looking for the CIMC, teachers will access the MERIT Library. All emails and phone numbers have remained the same as prior to the merger.

Pooling resources into a single service unit will make it easier to offer more services to the School of Education in a time of tight budgets, according to Spychalla and Smith.  The consolidation also has broken down some internal barriers, bringing together a group of familiar faces into one extended team.

MERIT services and staff are housed on the first, third, and fourth floors of the Teacher Education Building, 225 N. Mills St., Madison, WI 53706.  Website: http://merit.education.wisc.edu/

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