A student in goggles participates in a virtual reality simulation in the Immersive Construction Lab.

EMPOWERING THROUGH DIGITAL INNOVATION

Penn State will prepare students for success in the digital age and use digitally optimized outreach to foster economic prosperity in communities across Pennsylvania and beyond.

Penn State will be a leader among institutions of higher education, extending our impact and responding to the potential of technologies to help us enable learning, facilitate research, and serve communities outside our gates and across the globe. To this end, Penn State must increase its capacity to provide faculty, students, and staff with high-quality, physical and virtual educational environments that combine technologies in new and powerful ways; develop and share digital assets that increase learning outcomes, improve communities, and strengthen the workforce; push the capacity of digital tools and technologies to empower research addressing the world’s most pressing challenges; and expand creative frontiers in the arts and humanities.

The ability to use data and computational tools to solve many of the world’s most significant problems has never been greater, and Penn State is positioned to play a leadership role in mapping a revolutionary global digital future. Penn State will develop interdisciplinary approaches and partnerships to resolve pressing global issues, using technology and teams with the expertise to confront persistent and emerging problems of regional and global significance, and to expand creative frontiers in the arts and humanities. Penn State will meet the needs of small businesses and entrepreneurs by providing innovative solutions in ways that engage students in the problem-solving process. A digitally powerful Penn State will connect students, teachers, and researchers with unprecedented capabilities to extract insights from diverse digital data sets to address critical challenges. Penn State will use technology and its physical presence throughout the Commonwealth to fully realize its unique standing as one University, geographically and virtually distributed and to broaden the impact of its significant research, teaching, and engagement resources.

Create digital solutions to new and emerging challenges.

Penn State will use information technologies and its presence throughout the Commonwealth to fully realize its unique standing as one University, geographically and virtually distributed, and to broaden the impact of its significant research, teaching, and engagement resources. The ability to use data and computation to solve many of the world’s most significant problems has never been greater. Penn State will develop interdisciplinary approaches and partnerships to confront persistent and emerging problems of regional and global significance. We will establish Penn State’s status as a global leader in digital discovery, innovation, and creativity. Penn State will leverage its interdisciplinary strengths, combined with leading-edge information technologies, to create powerful new solutions for existing and emerging challenges while also advancing the state of the art for the underlying technologies.

Living with digital innovation.

The ability to use information technologies to solve many of the world’s most significant problems has never been greater, with the resulting solutions having the potential to both improve and disrupt the workplace and communities. Penn State will go beyond simply developing these solutions. We will play a leadership role in understanding the impact of such solutions on the workforce and communities. By doing so, we can identify and mitigate unintended negative consequences. In this way, Penn State will meet the needs of small businesses, entrepreneurs, and communities by providing innovative and effective solutions.

Develop a more robust digital infrastructure and culture.

Penn State will invest in state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and culture that seamlessly facilitates and enhances collaboration across units. These efforts must meet the needs of students and other stakeholders with strong digital competencies while also supporting those who need to better develop such competencies. With openness to the use of technology, innovation, and an unwavering focus on learning outcomes, quality and rigor will, and must, remain hallmarks of a Penn State education.

Make online education and personalized learning central to our 21st-century land-grant mission.

Penn State has been at the forefront of education and access since the emergence of the land-grant movement. While the strategic and operational means of realizing the land-grant mission will continue to evolve, the University remains committed to that historically powerful ideal. We will develop and leverage digital assets to facilitate personalized learning that optimizes individuals’ educational experiences and enables deeper engagement. We will use learning analytics and adaptive learning in innovative, ethically sound ways to strengthen the teaching and learning experience and outcomes.

Drive economic development.

Penn State will drive economic development in the Commonwealth, as well as in regional, national, and international industry, through facilitated access to and use of the University’s digital assets. A digitally agile and effective Penn State will use its powerful resources to enhance global well-being, while building capacity for transformative discovery, creativity, student learning, and engagement.