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To monitor and thus improve customer service, OIT also began surveying users at the start of the Spring 2002 semester. You may have seen the hyperlinks provided in the e-mail sent to you when a ticket is resolved. So far, OIT has collected almost 100 surveys from customers. "OIT plans on using these surveys to find areas where we are doing well and those areas that still need improvement," says Michael Carlin, Director of Infrastructure and Support Services. "Hopefully, these metrics will help us better assess user needs and our support." To encourage campus users
to complete their Remedy surveys, OIT has begun to randomly choose
one survey completed by a customer every three months. The selected
customer will be awarded a Palm Pilot for participating in our survey.
This quarter's winner was Kevin Johns, Coordinator of Guest
Services and Campus Information located in The Commons. He will
receive his new Palm Pilot within the next few days. Congratulations
to Kevin on his new Palm Pilot. Campus Wireless Access (and Use) is Increasing OIT's wireless Ethernet initiative is well underway. While you can't actually see the radio waves you can certainly see people enjoying the benefits of wireless Internet connectivity throughout such campus locations as
Currently all new buildings built on the UMBC campus will have wireless installed. This means that the new ITE building currently under construction will have wireless Ethernet available throughout the entire building. You can even borrow a wireless laptop for up to two hours in The Commons, as long as you have a valid UMBC ID Card, driver's license and provide a $10 refundable deposit. You need to fill out a one-page form at The Commons Information Desk, which also provides the laptops. The Commons has 25 laptops for loan and the program has been very popular, according to Aloma Pandit, a student staff member on The Commons Information Desk. If you want your own wireless connection, all that you will need to have is a laptop or some other portable computing device like Compaq's iPAQ and an OIT supported wireless network card. Once installed you can enjoy the liberty of being able to check your mail and browse the web without being restricted by the length of your Ethernet cable or the nearest available wall jack. For more information on OIT supported wireless cards please visit http://www.umbc.edu/oit/helpdesk/wireless/wireless.html. Security is always a
concern for OIT but this is especially true with wireless because
it is so simple to use. OIT is testing a Virtual Private Network
(VPN) product by Cisco. Once integrated into the wireless infrastructure
you will need to have a small VPN client installed on your machine.
This protects your privacy and security by requiring your UMBC username
and password to begin using the wireless network. OIT will announce
when the VPN is ready for deployment to the campus. However, in
the interim you can begin protecting yourself by using Secure Telnet
and Secure FTP applications. Feel free to contact the Help Desk
at 410-455-3838 to have these installed on your machine. Pilot Testing of Degree Navigation is Underway OIT's Business Systems unit has begun pilot testing of Degree Navigation, a UMBC-developed software package that will provide information and functionalities to help in the academic advisement of students. Currently the application has three major areas that consist of retrieving student transcripts, building student advisor groups, and interacting with different views of the data through the student's "Course Sort" option. Depending on results of the pilot testing, this web-based application will be easily accessed through myUMBC by Fall 2002. "This application
has given the Office of Information Technology and Enrollment Management
the opportunity to work closely together in providing a solution
to the advising community," says OIT Business Systems Director
Joe Kirby, who credits Jay Patnaude for development
of the Degree Navigation application. "Phase one of the application
has proven to be the foundation on which a much larger and robust
set of tools can be built." Scheduling and Event Management Applications Being Refined, Demonstrated Work is currently underway to more fully automate UMBC's classroom scheduling and event management applications, Scheduler 25 and Resource 25, which are developed by CollegeNet, Inc. of Portland, Oregon. Scheduler 25 is currently
utilized by the Registrar's Office to allocate the majority of the
course classrooms and labs at UMBC. The current version utilized
by the Registrar's office requires the execution of a number of
steps and manual entry of the resulting classroom allocations to
the production HP Registration System. Through a process developed
by OIT's Business Systems unit, the Registrar's Office will be able
to automatically allocate classrooms and labs for all courses that
are not pre-assigned. In addition, manual entry of the allocated
classrooms on the production HP system will no longer be required. While not yet implemented
at UMBC, Resource 25 is a scheduling software package that is able
to manage both academic and nonacademic events. It provides a single,
campus-wide event scheduling solution that, when fully implemented,
can be used by anyone who schedules events on campus. A demo of
Version 3.0 of the software occurred just a few weeks ago, and the
3.0 official release became available on the 29th of March. Efforts
are already underway to install the new 3.0 version of the software
on OIT staff computers and eventually to be used by event scheduling
staff in the University Center. In the interim, new documentation
will be made available for review. Also, University Center staff
will work with OIT to identify the optimal configuration and parameters
of the new software, including buildings, rooms, organizations,
contact information, equipment, etc. It is possible that some of
the information might be available through the Facilities Planning
Department. Efforts to identify what information might be available
are underway as well. Every attempt is being made to minimize redundancy
and data entry errors to ensure a quality implementation. Depending on testing
and available resources from the departments using the applications,
both Scheduler 25 and Resource 25 are planned for campus release
by Fall 2002. Also, both products have a supported interface to
the PeopleSoft Product Suite
acquired by UMBC. HP3000 Online Access Times Expand to Midnight The HP3000 Business System
(aka the Reflections System) will begin expanding the hours of access
from the current 7:30am - 9:30pm to 7:00am - Midnight. This change
will require adjustment to the security profiles maintained for
each user. Departments will be notified when the option is available
for their department and appropriate setup can occur. This will
coincide with the Legislative Audit currently underway in OIT Business
Systems unit. New Media & Desktop Support Units Produce Graduate Admissions CD
To help the Graduate School respond to inquiries from prospective students during a graduate recruitment fair over Spring Break, OIT's New Media & Destop Support units collaborated on an admissions CD. The new CD--which replaces the Grad School's use of the UMBC Internet CD--includes .PDF (portable document format) versions of the graduate catalog, selected program brochures, application forms and web links to academic departments and programs. New Media Designer Aaron Weidele created the interface and assembled the .PDF materials supplied by the Office of Instutional Advancement. Once completed, Desktop Support Manager Chris Milito burned more than 700 copies of the master on OIT's high volume CD replicator. Each CD costs about around $1. The new CD "worked great" at the spring break conference says Graduate School Associate Dean Janet Rutledge. FEATURESBlackboard
"Community" Sites Changing How UMBC Communicates When you hear the word Blackboard you probably think of online courses. In one way or another OIT supports over 200 Blackboard courses and 10,000 distinct student users each semester.
However, Blackboard's "Community" sites are also becoming a very effective method of campus communication. Take for example, the Delta Initiative's use of a Blackboard. At its inception, the purpose of Delta's Blackboard Community was to focus solely on supporting Delta's internal teams while they worked on the beginning phases of the project. During the design and prototype phase, UMBC subject matter experts were enrolled, expanding the Delta Community to include administrative areas such as Financial Services, Human Resources, and other departments. As the Delta program moves forward and the rollout sessions (demonstrations) approach, every UMBC staff and faculty member will be enrolled. "I first became interested in using Blackboard because of the flexibility the community offered in distributing information within and between the four Delta task teams," says Debra Arnold, administrator for the Delta Initiative's Blackboard Community site. "It is the Community's built-in tools that simplified the task of getting meeting schedules, timelines, project outlines and draft documents to those groups that needed them. Whether the Delta team members were working alone or in different groups, on campus or off, in a meeting or at a conference, communication flowed as Delta's internal task force made use of Blackboard's email, file exchange, digital drop box, and virtual discussion tools". Arnold says the Delta task force and the UMBC subject matter experts will use these same communication tools during the design and implementation stage to share information and build consensus on campus. For example, the dates, times and locations for the sessions demonstrating Delta's new automated payroll system will be listed in the Community's Calendar. These sessions will include demonstrations on integration between payroll and timekeeping activities, automated update and submission of hours worked, time records generated for all UMBC faculty and staff, and links to the payroll module to update pay status. Documents describing the new H.R. automated payroll process will be available in the Document area. The Discussion Board will provide discussion forums or threads relating to those H.R. modules being demonstrated. UMBC faculty and staff will be able to check the calendar for specific sessions, browse H.R. session documents in the document area, and/or use the discussion forums or threads to chat about topics, ask questions, and/or share their ideas, comments, and suggestions. Other "communities" using Blackboard include the UMBC Faculty Senate, the English Department, the Academic Integrity Task Force and the Student Government Associaton. "Blackboard provides the functionality of listproc [an email listserve] and more," says Joshua Overmiller, a member of the SGA, which uses Blackboard to discuss agenda items, share documents and post announcements. "It also provides portability for discussing SGA matters since all past postings are available." Overmiller is also considering using Blackboard for the UMBC Crew Club, for which he serves as president. While no one intends Blackboard to replace face-to-face communication, Blackboard's "Community" sites have helped create a new environment where students, faculty and staff can engage in conversations and communicate their perspectives. To learn more about Blackboard, visit the login page at http://www.umbc.edu/blackboard. New
ITE Building to Feature Latest in Instructional Technology
Due to open by spring of 2003, the new IT Engineering building will become the new home to departments such as Computer Science and Information Systems. It will also be the first building to have "complete technology," meaning that the entire building is designed to be equipped with the newest technology and teaching tools. Furthermore, this cutting edge technology will be integrated fully into the building's classrooms, labs, and lecture halls. The new ITE building will have four multimedia classrooms, two computer labs (to be divided between IFSM and Computer Engineering), and two lecture halls. The larger lecture hall, with seats for 250 people, will have the latest technology to help professors with their lecture, including equipment to display media types ranging from VCR to DVD, as well as the latest in projectors. The other lecture hall, holding 125, will be equipped the same as the first. However, the smaller lecture hall will be equipped with a higher definition projector to support the viewing of high definition digital presentation. Both lecture halls will be internet and cable ready, allowing the professor to be set up within 5 minutes. The professor will also have access to a control console, which will allow him or her to control all aspects of multimedia presentations, including sound and images. The lecture halls will also have the ability to support wireless Internet access.
The four "smart classrooms" in the new IT building will be round in shape to make classes more interactive. The classrooms will have many of the same features as the lecture halls, such as projectors and total media capability, but will also have some unique equipment, such as the electronic whiteboard. An electronic whiteboard allows a professor to interact with his presentation by projecting the image on his computer screen onto the whiteboard, which is made up of touch-sensitive sensors. These sensors allow the professor to use the whiteboard like a large touch screen, enabling him to draw, click, or do any function normally requiring a mouse. This allows the professor greater control over his presentation, whether it be a text document or PowerPoint. "As professors become
accustomed to and use the new tools in their classes, the concept
of integrating technology fully into buildings is likely to be a
continuing trend at UMBC," says Classroom Technologies Director
Victor Aulestia. "For example, the proposed Public Policy
building, to be constructed next to the Physics building, will be
equipped with the same technology as the ITE building."
FROM THE CIOWhat is Internet2? Internet2 is a consortium being led by over 190 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Recreating the partnership that fostered today´s Internet in its infancy, the primary goals of Internet2 are to:
What does this mean
for UMBC? How has UMBC participated? What benefits will
the campus see from participation in Internet2? For more information on Internet2, visit http://www.internet2.org. FYIOIT and Faculty Development Center Announce TLT Faculty Development Grants
OIT and the the Faculty
Development Center are jointly seeking proposals from UMBC department
chairs and graduate program directors for faculty development in
Teaching, Learning & Technology (TLT). Funding is available
to departments (up to $5,000) for proposals that support UMBC priorities
of improving technological literacy and student engagement. The
faculty development proposals may consist of individual or group
initiatives and should be applied to classes offered in the 2002-2003
academic year. Recipients will be expected to give a presentation
about their projects at an upcocming TLT
Brown Bag Workshop or TLT
Fair. Deadline is May 31, 2002. For more information, including
proposal guidelines and a description of past funded projects, visit
www.umbc.edu/oit/tltgrants.html. 4/17 & 5/1 TLT Brown Bag Workshops Focus on Student Engagement & Learning Objects The Teaching, Learning and Technology (TLT) Brown Bag workshops are sponsored jointly by the Faculty Development Center and Office of Information Technology. Only two more workshops remain for the spring 2002 semester:
Thoughts on Teaching
& Student Engagement UMBC Presidential Teaching Professor and Faculty Senate President John Jeffries will share his reflections on teaching and student engagement. Afterwards, all attendees are invited to continue the discussion during a 1 p.m. lunch in The Commons Skylight Room. Maryland Faculty Online's
"Project Synergy"
For more information, including an archive of past workshops or to register for future ones, visit the TLT Brown Bag site at www.umbc.edu/brownbag. Beginning & Advanced Departmental Web Training Workshops Start April 22 & May 13 Through a partnership with the Division of Professional Education and Training, the Office of Information Technology is providing UMBC employees with training in how to create and maintain departmental web sites. This training provides the basic skills necessary to maintain a department web site at UMBC using HTML, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Macromedia Fireworks. Skills covered will include building web pages, working with graphics, links, tables, forms and the UMBC web templates. Training on how to upload your web pages to your department web site will also be covered. For more information check out http://www.umbc.edu/oit/training/deptweb.html. What's On TV? Tune into UMBC's Campus Cable Channels UMBC has a 14-Channel cable TV system that distributes television to all classrooms, lecture halls, the Commons, AOK Library and a limited number of offices. Three of these channels (Foreign Languages) are inserted in the commercial cable serving the residential buildings. For more information, contact Classroom Technologies Director Victor Aulestia at aulestia@umbc.edu or 410.455.3209.
CONTACTSThe OIT Newsletter is provided as a service to UMBC students, faculty and staff, and to help keep OIT staff updated on the work and interests of their colleagues. For more information or to suggest story ideas, contact John Fritz at 410.455.6596 or fritz@umbc.edu.
Office of Information Technology (www.umbc.edu/oit)
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Office
of Information Technology • Main Office: ECS 125 • Phone:
410-455-3838 • Email: oit@umbc.edu
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