testAGAIN.mp3

With all the news about Microsoft’s new operating system, Vista, many of us are wondering when we will get our hands on a copy of the new OS. Mike Lewis outlines the SMC process for major upgrades below. We currently don’t have the new OS media on campus yet, so we are not presently in this process. We can anticipate seeing Vista on campus sometime next year.

Here’s a summary of the 6-to-9-month process we normally use to test and upgraded major applications and operating systems:

As soon as we get the media from district, we allow it to be installed by our SMCC pilot users (usually this includes: CIS instructors, TLC instructors, power users by special request, and a half dozen desktop techs and managers). We get feedback from these users and begin the formal evaluation process:

1. First, we determine what will be the impact if the software cannot be released to the whole campus simultaneously, which is almost always the case due to hardware requirements for OS and Office apps. We look at problems in classrooms, within departments, between departments and between colleges to make sure all major issues are identified.
2. Next, we evaluate all other issues related to: software compatibility with other critical applications, user and tech support training, service pack releases, security, computer hardware limits, and vendor-reported problems.
3. We discuss these issues at CTC meetings and get CTC input on the best release date.
4. Finally, we start planning the release to coincide with the TLC’s training schedule and the next major computer replacement cycle (usually in the late spring and early summer).

If possible, we like to install new Office apps on as many computers across the college as possible but usually hardware and user training issues limit the speed with which we can actually deploy major applications. Operating system installs usually are done only on new hardware but after about 40% of all college desktops have been upgraded, we start a push to get all desktops upgraded for simplicity.

We will automate the installation of the new Office within 60 days after it is released and stable so the installation should be very simple.

Please ask if you have any questions.

Hope this helps,

Mike

101 Things I Would Change at SMC by Tim Frank

Technology:

Okay folks. Here’s your chance to discuss the changes that Tim suggested in his document. Scroll to the bottom to leave a comment and let us hear what you’ve got to say. We’ll try to respond to your comments as best we can. This is not the whole list, just the technology section.

24. Give RFP faculty members administrative privileges over the computers in their own offices. There are a number of free software packages that I could download from the internet onto my computer if I had administrative privileges. I can’t even buy a new printer, connect it to my office computer, and install drives without administrative privileges. I have been told that by not allowing administrative privileges, the IT department is able to set all computers for automatic updates. If that is actually the case, faculty members could still be given a special password to use on those rare occasions when administrative privileges are necessary, and then use their normal passwords when they are not needed.

25. Give RFP faculty members control over their own web space on the SMCC webpage, and allow them to update their schedule, office hours, photograph, etc., every semester. Much of the information about individual faculty members shown on the SMCC webpage is outdate. Faculty should be allowed and responsible for keeping their own information up-to-date. Most colleges and universities allow faculty to update their own pages. Faculty members often include additional information about their hobbies, families, etc. Why can’t we do this at SMCC?

26. Create a technology equipped classroom that is unassigned to any class. When a class scheduled in a room with less technology needs computers, the instructor can reserve the room for that class period. This classroom would be reserved like our conference rooms, by faculty members when needed for special class sessions. There are many courses that don’t need access to computers a majority of the time, and it is not cost effective to put technology into every classroom when it will only be used on a limited basis. By having a special room that can be reserved, it will no longer be necessary to put student computers in every classroom; however, every classroom still should have an instructor computer and projection system.

27. Students should be given individual logins and disk space on a server. A record of when and where students logged in from should be maintained. This would allow students to save their files and access them anywhere on campus, while also providing a deterrent for student misuse of our computer equipment.

28. Eliminate the generic “Instructor Login” from the instructor computers in all classrooms. Too often the login and password are posted on the computer, and when I enter my classroom there is a student working on the instructor computer before class. Only allow instructors to login as themselves on the instructor computers.

29. Allow full-time students to rent old laptop computers on a semester-by-semester basis. This would seem like a better use of our old laptops than just sending them off to the district to be auctioned off. If the computer works, let our students benefit from it.

30. Provide wireless internet access. This will allow students and employees to use their own laptop computers anywhere on our campus.

31. Eliminate the “Automatic Update” messages on the college’s computers that require the computer to be restarted immediately. This seemed to be much more of a problem last year on the laptop computers I had in my classroom, but it still happened on my office computer at least once this semester. The basic problem is that all of a sudden a popup window appears telling the user that new updates have been installed and the computer needs to be restarted. The window has a button to restart the computer, but it does not give the option of restarting later or minimizing the window. The only two options are to restart the computer or drag the window to a less obtrusive location on the screen. This is a major inconvenience when students are taking an exam on a computer or if I am in a hurry to finish something. Let the user choose to restart latter and then have the window reappear the next.

I just recently heard a rumor that MCCCD is moving forward in its plans with Apple to bring iTunesU to the district. Representatives from the district met last semester with senior manager for iTunes, Eric Bailey, to discuss the logistic. Apparently we will get a similar set up to the Cal State system where each of the 10 Maricopa colleges will get their own iTunes site.

California State U. campuses officially adopts iTunes U - Anthony Leon, The Poly Post

Several California State University campuses, including California Polytechnic State University have decided to adopt iTunes U, a new innovative software that gives students the chance to download pod casts of items such as lectures, class notes, and campus news into their ipods. The new iTunes U Website, which was announced in June, has been operational throughout this quarter. The iTunes U service was developed and hosted by the Apple Computer, Inc., and enables students to download audio, graphic and video images onto their Macintosh or PC computers, then copy them to their iPods to listen or view anywhere. Students may also upload content to share with professors, or the class.

Each college will get 500GB of space to house those creative podcasts. That’s huge for us, especially the smaller colleges. It’s at least a generous place to… Read the rest of this post at the Podcasting & Blogging in Education blog.

On October 30th a new team member started at SMCC: Georgia Jo Appogast.  Jo will be working in the TLC as part of our Title V grant.  Jo comes to us from EFS, an international facilities management business.  She has years of experience in Instructional Design.  She is knowledgeable about developing online and hybrid course materials.  As an added bonus for Amy, Jo is a graduate of ASU’s Learning and Instructional Technology program!  J 

Jo’s work for Title V will include collaborating with faculty to create eight modules in for areas (2 each) science, math, writing and critical thinking.  The purpose of these modules will be to increase students abilities to think critically - which ostensibly will help them to better evaluate their own learning (meta-cognition) and help them to better retain what they learn and transfer it to other subjects.

The TLC is filled to the brim with Jo’s addition and we are thrilled to have her! 

Dr. Veronica Diaz has been hired by the district as the new Instructional Technologist for MCLI, replacing Alan Levine, who held the position for many years. Levine was a valuable asset to the MCLI team and served in many roles including instructional technologist as well as doing the back end programming duties. Diaz was hired to fill Alan’s role as instructional technologist and another position was newly created to fill his other roles, so Diaz sort of replaces Levine.

Dr. Diaz was the Learning Technologies Manager for the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona responsible for the College’s teaching and learning initiatives and Principle Investigator of the HP Technology for Teaching Grant and the Eller Tablet PC Initiative. She also served as Adjunct Professor at the University of Arizona where she taught the Target Market and Distribution Channels, Market Planning, the Organization and Employment Environment at the undergraduate level, and Technology in Teaching at the graduate level.

As a member of the hiring committee responsible for hiring Dr. Diaz, I can say I was very impressed with her enthusiasm and knowledge about technology. Diaz’s job duties will be to provide leadership for faculty and staff in the effective use of new and current technologies for instructional purposes, consult and develop collaborations with external organizations, and implement and promote instructional technologies throughout the District.

By the end of this semester the current SMC website will be laid to rest, and a new more visually appealing and a more easily navigated site will take its place. Web master Donna Barnes demoed the new website today for the Student Services managers. She said the site is set to go live on December 20th, but there is still a need for content for pages. The deadline for faculty to submit their content has come and gone, with not much response. So if you haven’t updated your bio and photo in a while, now would be the time.

Dr. Lujan wrote:

Our website is a dominant marketing and outreach tool. Research shows that most of our students use the web for information seeking activities. And the general community uses it to learn more about the college and its programs. The information on the site has potential to draw people in or turn them off. They want to see and use current and relevant information about our academic programs and courses. And they want to see and know us (including photos of people and places).

To that end, I’m asking each of you to take a look at your personal, department, division, and/or center content on the current SMCC website. (Some of it is rather dated and/or non-existent). Then, I’d like to ask you to work with Donna Barnes to get your content (text, graphics, and pictures) updated for, or added to, the new website.

This is a great opportunity for us to promote our programs and classes by providing a brief overview of the purpose, benefits and career opportunities available to students via these programs and classes. So let Donna help you get it done now before we go live. Send your materials to her or call her to discuss any updates needed.

One of the premiere features of the new website is the “One Stop Student Services” page. On each page will be a link to the one stop page where students can get information on advisement, assessment and all other student services. This will save students from having to search around to find the needed services.

Another great feature of the new site is the Class Schedule search feature. The new site allows for students to add classes to a tentative schedule that is saved at the top of the page while they search for more classes. Once a student has built a schedule they can print it out or email it to themselves for later registration. It’s really a nice feature.

At this point in the semester, most of us have pretty much given up on the whole New Student System. Well, everyone except for the 15 or so people on campus diligently working to make the new system a reality on our campus. Angie Montano, project plan manager for South, said that the projected implementation time period is Thursday, October 4th through Tuesday, October 9th, 2007. Legacy, the old SIS system, will be shut down on the 4th, but will still be viewable until the all clear is given with the new system. The District team would like the system to be down for those five days so any bugs in the cut over to the new system can be worked out. This time in the semester was chosen because it falls right after the 45th day, which is an important time in the semester. Waiting until after this period will insure no disruption in that process.
So, why should you care about something just under a year away? The New Student System is going to change the way we do business. Every faculty member and most staff will have to have a SIS account. We didn’t have to in the past. I’ve been here 9 years, and I’ve never once had to use SIS. But now all faculty will be required to submit student grades, among other duties, on the new system. Think of the convenience; no more running down to registration at the last minute to submit your grades.

Okay, I know that no one runs to get their grades in on time. But that brings up a good point. It is going to be critical that all faculty abide by the set deadlines for submitting rosters during this time period before the implementation. If rosters are not submitted before the deadline or changes are to be made after the deadline, this will be a major problem to our registration staff. So we have a year to practice meeting those deadlines.

Training is going to be crucial as well, since most of the campus will be using the new system. Angie stated that we will be using a staggered training plan with the people expected to use the system most being trained first. Since most faculty will not need to use the system until the end of the semester, we will start training after implementation. Amy and Karen in the TLC will be in charge of training faculty.

So with less than 336 days left until the New Student System goes live, we’ve got a lot of time to figure out how we’re all going to get our 45th day rosters in on time come next Fall semester. And if that happens, I think we might have to pick Angie Montano up off the floor after she passes out!

Stay tuned for more updates on the new system right here on the SMC Tech Roundup.

Recently a faculty member on campus expressed this concern:

One concern I have is that faculty computer needs have (over the years) been shifted to a very low position.  The attitude that faculty don’t need up-to-date fast computers worries me.

Manuel Lopez from CTS addresses this concern:

The goals of SMC’s Technology Replacement plan are to ensure that the college’s resources are used in a way that will address the many needs for technology.  The focus of the plan is to provide sufficient technology capacity both in the learning environment and at the employee desktop levels.

In order to do this, under our current budgetary limitations, we need to look at the functional needs of the unit.  The classroom and computer lab computers serve many different software applications for multiple classes in a shared environment – and therefore need to be at a much higher level than the desktop of faculty and staff where, typically, individual applications used are office productivity related (email, Microsoft Office, web browser).  These applications tend not to require high-end technology to be productive.

In some cases, a faculty member may require more resources to run a specific discipline related software application.  For those special cases, there is a process to have that need reviewed and addressed. Contact Manuel if you feel you fall into this need category.

For more information, see the Technolgy plan: http://www.southmountaincc.edu/Employees/Departments/Budget/TechPlan.htm

We had the second in a series of three learning labs on podcasting yesterday at South Mountain Community College. The second in the series, titled: Creating Audio for Podcasts Using Audacity was a hit. We recorded audio from the session for a podcast, but because the session was hands-on, it seemed better fit for a screencast. You can view the screencast on the Dr. Coop presentation wiki at http://drcoop.pbwiki.com.

There is also a podcast of the session. Enjoy.

The next learning lab will be Monday, Oct. 23rd: Making a Podcast - 2-3:30pm in the SMC TLC (RM203). In this third and final learning lab, participants will learn how to create a podcast with their audio file. This steps involves using a blog (Blogger) and a feed burner (Feedburner). Both are free resources on the web.