ITS Meeting Minutes - 2-05-2003
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General Announcements
Presented by Eric Nathan

Today’s meeting will be the final ITS for Spring. Meetings may not resume until the Fall semester.
IT Grants for Fall.
Release time will not be available to grant recipients as an option as it has been in the past. Grants will only be awarded extra pay.

Distance Education
Presented by Gail Evans

Significant effort and attention has been given to dealing with distance education conflicts and coordination between campuses. Board approved a new SCH-based fee structure to go into effect for online courses in the Fall semester. There will be charges consisting $40/sch for fully online and $25/sch for off-campus sites such as ITV instruction.

Additional compensation for instructors teaching DE is also being discussed to address additional time requirements and technology requirements to teach online successfully. Provosts are currently discussing the topic.

1000 and 2000 level courses are not being developed for online because of articulation agreements with community colleges and for resource concerns. Fully online degrees will have to be developed in conjunction with community colleges.

IT Initiatives and Priorities in Institutional Planning
Presented by Erin Mayer

Faculty e-Services portal
It is important that everyone logs in and verifies access soon. Faculty e-services will be the primary way to disseminate roster information for the summer semester. UHD Policies and forms are also available through e services.

IT is very interested in feedback from faculty and staff about the new portal.
There is a plan for Faculty/Staff e-services to accept student grades but this portion of the project is still in development.

Email problems
IT support is currently working on today’s email problem and trying to restore regular services. Gatormail is not affected by today’s events.
Spam has also been an increasing problem. Spam issues are “spiraling out of control”, especially on academic email systems. IT is working on addressing the situation.

Virus Protection
Virus protection policies for non-UHD computers that come in contact with the UHD network are being drafted. Information will be released when it is available. This mainly concerns privately owned home PCs and laptops that may be used to access UHD computer networks. These PC’s may not be secure. Standard policies and software should assist in correcting this threat to the network.

 

W.I. Dykes Library
Presented by Steve Casburn

Off Campus access to eservices library databases are User ID and pin code protected. Contact the library for additional information.

The library will implement printing control systems in the Fall similar to the system the ACL is currently utilizing. This will limit public printing in Fall as well.

ITV / Multimedia Services
Presented by Lloyd Matzner

Requests for media carts for use in the Fall need to be put in immediately. Carts are already almost totally booked for Fall semester.

MM Services is in the final stages of purchasing equipment for 6 more presentation classrooms. Will provide added resources for faculty who require presentation equipment for regular teaching.

 

Academic Computing Lab & User Support Services
Presented by Said Fattouh and Lucy Bowen

 

Lab is in extended hours through reading days. The ACL will be open till Midnight Monday through Thursdays.
Electronic classroom requests are now being accepted.

 

General TTLC / Instructional Technology
Presented by Mark Henderson

WebCT upgrade path

WebCT 3.8 for the Summer. Please note the important dates below.

After grades are due on May 12 and archiving is completed between May 13 and 14, the team will upgrade WebCT to version 3.8. This upgrade will provide some bug fixes and additional functionality that has been identified as beneficial for the online community. During the archiving and upgrade period beginning May 13, the WebCT server will not be accessible. The server will remain down during the upgrade period, starting May 13 and ending May 18. WebCT may be accessible as early as May 16 and will be fully operational no later than May 19.

This upgrade does not have a major impact on current work processes or course operation. It will provide some additional functionality and relieve some minor issues and bugs in the system. For a list of the highlighted updates, please visit http://uhdonline.uhd.edu/WebCT_3_8_demo.htm. We do not anticipate a need for additional training for current users/instructors due to this upgrade.

4.0 Campus Edition

WebCT 4.0 is expected to be released at the end of this month. The TTLC-IT team plans to upgrade in Spring 2004.
The team will evaluateWebCT 4.0 during the summer. If the system is stable enough, the team will begin training during the Fall 2003 semester.
Due to the interface changes and added functioanality in 4.0, somw additional training will be recommended for all current users of WebCT.
Visit http://uhdonline.uhd.edu/WebCT_4_demo.htm for more details on the planned upgrade and highlights of some of the major updates to WebCT.

Video Services Demonstration
Presented by Steve Cachia /Albert Holden

Video used for training applications, guest speakers, class lectures, satellite downlinks, or other live or recorded video feeds.

Video On Demand
Streaming Media. Helix Server (Real Networks 9.0 technology)

Requires RealPlayer install (Free)
Realplayer allows for safeguards so that individuals cannot copy video files from video presentations. Other safeguards and protocols are also available. Not currently designed to stream to desktop computers via the web.

Academic uses for sand-alone video presentation or for supplemental instruction.
This utilizes Surestream technology that verifies connection bandwidth to match the Internet connection distance or remote sites have. Surestream automatically adjusts video size to connection speed achieved. Uses Real-time Streaming Protocol (RSP). Without Surestream multiple files would have to be prepared for various connection speeds. Surestream technology will allow for a single high quality video file to be prepared and the quality will be automatically stepped-down based on the connection speed available to viewers. Designed for video presentations that do not use the web.

100mb for 30 minutes of presentation time.

Web Streaming portal for use with web sites and WebCT. Detailed web site will be available to give specifications to users and allow them to view sample files to test their connections.

IPTV
Requires IPTV application to be installed on computer. Usually installed on most campus computers. Not web-oriented. Not a 2-way or conference video feed.

Allows for broadcasting of video to on-campus computer network. Can be used for live or recorded video streams. Only one channel or video can be streamed to the IPTV network at a time. CNN is currently available via IPTV.

Meetings or presentations could be scheduled with Multimedia and streamed to the local IPTV network.

Desktop IP Video Conferencing
Requires special camera and minor equipment to participate.

Can reach standard distance sites.

Shows side-by-side video signals and incorporates audio signals as well.