Instructional Technology Services (ITS) User Group Meeting

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

1:00pm – 2:30pm

 

Meeting Notes

 

 

·        Introduction - Eric Nathan greeted all meeting attendees. Eric reminded the group that ITS meetings are held throughout the spring and fall semesters at UH-Downtown.   ITS agendas and meeting notes are posted on http://www.uhd.edu/computing/its/index.html.         

 

  • ACL and User Support Updates - Said Fattouh, Director of User Support Services, informed the attendees that new software to manage desktops remotely will be implemented soon.  GoToAssist, made by Citrix, enables user support to rapidly and seamlessly deliver virtual on-site support.  The support technician can gain control of a user’s PC, with permission, and even modify files or settings if needed.  If a user is not comfortable with the technician making virtual modifications, the technician can still provide standard one-on-one help.  The implementation is in the final stages and the new product will be rolled out soon and will be offered to WebCT users to begin with.

 

An upgrade to Microsoft Exchange 2003 will be performed over the October 8-9, 2005 weekend.  With the upgrade, your Outlook Web Access (OWA) will now look like your Microsoft Outlook. 

 

Extended hours have begun at the ACL lab and will continue until December 3, 2005.  Extended hours are M-TH until midnight and Sunday until 9 p.m.  These extended lab hours may continue past December 3rd and into the reading days to accommodate courses who must utilize those days to make up material missed due to the hurricane

 

Dr. Viola Garcia asked about extended lab hours in the Comet lab.  However, Said pointed out that based on hit counts that have been conducted throughout semesters; the usage at the Comet lab isn’t heavy enough to warrant an extension of the hours.  Typically, there may be four or five students at the lab past 8 p.m. or on Fridays – that count is considered to be light usage.

 

  • Discussion Topic- Jim Berry, Manager of IT Training and User Development, discussed a new product called GoToMeeting, made by Citrix, and the training offered for the software.
    • GoToMeeting
      • UH-Downtown has 15 licenses for the product, which enables up to 15 concurrent meetings a maximum of 25 people in each.  Training includes a 30-minute orientation to the software and conducting an actual online meeting.  While in the meeting, attendees are able to view what other attendees have on their PC screens and can also talk with each other. A phone bridge or other long distance phone meeting service can be used to enable voice communication. The experience is like being in the meeting without having to physically be there.

 

Hossein Shahrokhi, Director of Technology Planning and Project Management, discussed the direction of technology planning at UH-Downtown:

 

    • Information Technology Strategic Plans

The goal of the Information Technology Strategic Plan is to identify both short-term initiatives and long-term strategies for the university to meet the needs of faculty, staff, and students.  An informal survey was conducted during the IT Open House that will provide valuable feedback to be used as input for strategic planning.

 

The current strategic plan is three to four years old and needs to be revisited in order to maintain up-to-date systems at UH-Downtown.   

The following four areas of focus will help to identify the requirements of the new strategic plan:

 

·        Distance Education Technology (Dr. Gail Evans and Mr. Eric Nathan) - Efforts to address technology planning requirements to support UHD’s efforts to deliver distance programs.

o       Examples of key topics:  Delivery sites, mode of delivery, areas of coverage, and the size of the program.

 

·        Enterprise Information Systems (Dr. Robert Jarrett, Ms. Erin Mayer) – Planning, development, and implementation of Information Systems that support major institutional functions at UHD.

o       Examples of key topics:  Banner integrated and vendor supported packages for major student record functions such as student self service and Financial Aid, Data Warehouse & Reporting, Enterprise-Wide document management, Work flow (automated information/document routing and authorization), Portal and Web Content management, Business Intelligence (data analysis, forecasting, trend analysis, etc.)

 

·        Technology Infrastructure (Ms. Pat Ensor, Mr. Ted Koubiar) – Creating an environment within the UHD campus and externally that will allow delivery of services to our users in an efficient and effective manner.

o       Examples of key topics:  Mobile and wireless device support, classroom standards, corporate, residential, state, national, or international access for DE programs, personal authentication and security systems, desktop video conferencing, collaboration systems, and application sharing tools, personal electronic note pads, downloadable books, virtual classrooms and offices, etc.

 

·        Technology Training and Support Services (Ms. Ivonne Montalbano, Mr. Said Fattouh) – Efforts to empower our faculty, staff and students to take advantage of available technology at UHD, when appropriate, to achieve their goals and objectives.

o       Examples of key topics: Modes of training and support, New hire orientation, just-in-time and continuous learning; Knowledge based systems, online technical support.

 

Your ideas are welcomed and needed in each area to help determine what technology the university should be working toward. Once we have your input, we will catalog, document, and review the items with university management and set priorities for each.

 

Eric Nathan pointed out that there are some challenges to the strategic planning based on executive decisions such as how long we are staying with the Banner system. These decisions must be accommodated in the strategic plan.  Dr. Viola Garcia discussed some particular needs of the Urban Education department.  Because education students conduct part of their studies offsite in field-based schools that the Urban Education department has a partnership with, those students must rely on the technology that is in place at the school.  Dr. Garcia pointed out the importance of including not only the typical distance education student’s needs, but also the needs of students who must work at a remote school site where technology may not be current.

 

                    

·        Distance Education Updates - Dr. Gail Evans, was not able to attend the meeting.   There was nothing new to report on distance education.

 

  • Library Updates -  Steven Ring was not able to attend the meeting.  There was nothing new to report on library updates.

 

 

      

·        Fall 2005 IT Grant Awards were discussed by Eric Nathan, Administrator – Technology Teaching and Learning Center.  IT Grants that were awarded for the fall 2005 semester. They are as follows:

    • Development of MAT 5320 – Dr. Erin Hodgess and Dr. Anjoo Sikka.
    • Building Online Resources for SAD-ET courses – Dr. Tito-Izquierdo
    • Online Course Development Recipients – Professors Hill and Walsh for CJ 3311; and Dr. Kellar and Wang for CJ 4370

 

·   ITV and Multimedia Updates presented by Lloyd Matzner, Director – Instructional Television and Multimedia Services.

o        Currently reviewing proposals for ITV courses to be offered in the spring schedule. 

o        Review your selection of ITV classrooms for your faculty and make sure classrooms match the teaching style of each faculty member. 

o        You may view the new, more robust ITV website.  The site has been revamped to show more information.