Take a valuable glance inside the creation of “OIT NOW” as it developed into an entertaining podcast that inspires positive organizational culture, encourages collaboration, and promotes campus involvement.
THE REASON BEHIND THE NEW PODCAST
Originally, OIT NOW was called the “IT Education Call” hosted by Stacey Fraser. The concept was to create a communication platform between OIT personnel that presented educational IT content on various subjects, highlighted current technology initiatives, and provided upcoming learning opportunities. During a January 2018 survey about OIT’s strategy, staff provided feedback on the state of the “IT Education Call”. The question was how to incorporate staff feedback and promote education while improving culture, encouraging teamwork, and decrease the information gap within IT and the campus.
THE CREATION OF OIT NOW
After careful consideration, Tom George was selected to lead this initiative with the support of his supervisor, Stacey Fraser. Tom evaluated the feedback from the staff and decided to create an overall structure that engaged the listeners while incorporating personality, energetic announcements, inspiring stories, educational topics for personal and work life, and enticing interviews. With Tom’s over-the-top personality and his ability to engage the audience around him, a variety show emerged with reoccurring segments, music introductions, sound bites from participating IT personal, and monthly trivia games.
Stacey Fraser continues to support the efforts by providing valuable insights into the educational side of the show and co-hosting this dynamic podcast known as “OIT NOW”. With the perfect balance in personality, the show turned into a place where IT personnel and campus representatives could share their perspective on a wide variety of topics and conversations while having a little fun.
THE FUTURE OF OIT NOW
With regularly scheduled live events, “OIT NOW” is a great way to connect to faculty and staff and learn more about the IT organization and the university. Many departments, which includes the Maverick Activity Center, Department of Music, International Recruitment, Human Resources, and Kinesiology, have already joined our IT personnel for an in-depth view into how they support the faculty, staff, and students.
As the show continues to grow, more departments will get an opportunity for on-air discussions on what they do and how the Office of Information Technology can effectively collaborate with their organization. This is just the beginning as “OIT NOW” is changing the perception of IT, improving organizational culture, and inspiring a sense of unity within the University. Take a moment and join the Office of Information Technology on the last Friday of every month for “OIT NOW” to share valuable insights, experience live demos, and enjoy interviews from IT personnel and campus partners across the university.
MORE INFORMATION
OIT NOW’s historical content is currently stored on the OIT SharePoint site in the Helpful Files section. In the future, it will also be available in the News section of the new IT website. To highlight your department on OIT NOW, please email Tom George at oitnow@uta.edu.
