Information Technology Committee
February
28, 2003 1:00pm RVAC Room 206
Members present: Altieri, Blitz, Burkholder, Day,
Erardi, Krikonis, Lemaire, Pesino, Rajaravivarma, Ricci, Roth, Rutherford,
Todd, Waiveris
Ex-Officio Members present: Evon, Temple
Guests Present: Magno, Rivera, Yanckello
1.
Approval of the minutes of November 22, 2002. (Roth/Day) Passed unanimously.
2.
Reports
Scott Evon, ITS
·
Wireless Computing Update. The following areas will some be equipped
with wireless network access: Henry Barnard, the Vance Quad, Marcus White Lab,
Copernicus 227, Library, Student Ctr Café, 4th Floor Vance.
·
New WebCentral Kiosks. A number of standalone machines where students can access
WebCentral are now available on campus. These are located in Copernicus, James
Hall, Library, DiLoreto, Henry Barnard, Kaiser, Student Center, and Memorial
Hall.
·
Campus Pipeline will be available campus-wide when
registration begins on April 14.
Students will have a choice to use the new system or the old
system. Starting with Summer 2003
classes, all courses will automatically have a WebCT course associated with it.
·
ResNet – Access to the network in the Residence
Halls was shutoff for a few days during the last three weeks due to an massive
amount of network traffic coming out of Resnet. This was causing the entire campus network to slow down to a
crawl. After much research by ITS, it
was determined where the traffic was coming from and two students are being
disciplined for malicious, non-academic use of the Internet.
Roy Temple , Media Services
·
The schedule of Faculty Development Workshops has
been posted. Workshops begin on March
7. Everyone received an email with the
schedule and postcards are being distributed.
The workshop list is available at http://www.ccsu.edu/techtraining. Of note: An SPSS workshop is scheduled for
March 10 and is being taught by Steve Cox.
·
The Planning Committee for Multimedia Classrooms
will be meeting sometime in the next two weeks to decide which rooms should be
equipped with new multimedia stations in the Fall. The Deans are appointing committee members.
Sherry Pesino, Media Services
·
In Spring 2002 a Faculty Development Grant
provided for a GA to assist faculty with multimedia classroom and web-based
instruction. An additional GA was hired
in Fall 2002. Faculty meet with GAs on
a regular basis for 1-2 hrs each session.
Training has been provided on many software applications, as well as
video editing, slide and document scanning, CD burning, and digital camera
usage. To date, more than 64 faculty have participated in the program. Currently there is a waiting list for
participation and the Media Center is working on securing funding for the GAs
for Fall 2003 so that the program can continue. For further information, contact Sherry at X22028.
·
There are currently 25-30 FileMaker Pro Database
software users on campus. The Media
Center has a grant to purchase 50 additional copies and will offer advanced
training in the future. If you need to
set up a database and would like to FileMaker – contact Sherry at X22028.
Amy Magno, ITS
·
The February 2003 ITS Newsletter is available
online at www.ccsu.edu/its. It features articles about the new WebCentral
Kiosks, Wireless Computing, Email Spam and many more. We encourage everyone to read it.
·
Computer upgrades for Faculty and Staff are
progressing. The delays are due to
release of Bond Funds and an asbestos abatement project that took place in the
ITS storage area.
John Rutherford, Library
·
There is some new software available for putting
reserve readings online in electronic format. It allows
users to look at list of resources by name or course. Access to the reserves can be via a link or the files can be
loaded directly on the server.
It can be password protected. If you are interested in putting materials online
this way – contact John.
·
There is also new software being installed to
assist in preparing a digital thesis.
The file is converted to PDF or HTML and becomes part of a digital
archive record that is available to others.
Contact John for further information.
Bob Yanckello, ITS
·
In order to plan for new computer classrooms and
labs on campus, departments must fill out the appropriate Capital Planning Forms. These forms were sent to Deans and VPs. These forms allow Elene Demos and the ITS
Department to get a handle on future technology projects so that proper
planning can be done. The completed
spreadsheets go to Elene Demos for review and prioritization. ITS staff cannot take on any new projects
at this time and must consider how to make use of the existing resources before
creating new classrooms/labs.
·
Bob started a discussion on the idea of moving to
a Listserv to replace the use of email distribution lists to the campus
community. The topic will be discussed
at the next Faculty Senate meeting. A
few years ago the campus community did not have access to the campus-wide
distribution lists (Admin, Academic, and Students). Since they were made public, complaints about abuse have surfaced
on and off. The discussion on the
topic resulted in the following motion:
Motion (Burkholder/Blitz):
That the following recommendation be made to the Faculty Senate:
Create three Listservs: Admin, Academic,
and Students. All existing accounts
will be preloaded into the appropriate list.
Users will be sent an email explaining how to send a message to the list
or remove and/or add themselves from the list.
The lists will be updated annually.
Existing email distribution lists will be limited to official university
business only. These include Campus
Announcements, Facilities Mgmt, ITS, Personnel, Police, and Academic Affairs
and Registration.
Additional Information that came out of the
discussion:
·
Documentation on how to access the listservs will
be available on the ITS web site and new faculty and staff will receive the
info in the account Welcome Kit.
·
It will take some time to put new procedures in
place and they will be adjusted as necessary.
·
Listservs allow users to get individual messages
or get them in a digest form once a day.
Archives will be available.