ACAC Meeting April 4, 2012

By on April 9, 2012

1.  Introduction and Approval of Minutes
At 2:05 P.M. Chuck Wigley convened the meeting in the President’s Board Room.  Marianne Djuth moved to accept the minutes of March 7 and they were unanimously approved.  Since the secretary forgot the power cord for his laptop, he had to go to his office to get it and so missed out on the first part of introductions.

2.  Discussion by attendees
Moleski praised the new system for reporting network and software outages to ITS, noting that it worked recently when the mail server was down.  Cohen said ITS isn’t entirely happy with it and is moving to a new system wherein a cell phone will be carried by top ITS personnel during off-hours.  If there is a serious problem, then the person with the cell phone will be notified by a voicemail and will dispatch it appropriately.  Cohen observed that the ITS staff does not work a 24/7 schedule so this extra level of responsiveness is being done purely gratis to accommodate the college’s information needs in case of a truly serious problem.

Meyer asked about the switch from the 2299 phone number for the Help Desk to the less easy to remember number 8340.  Siener said 2299 is being phased out because it is part of the old phone system but acknowledged that 2299 is easier to remember.  Cohen said he will investigate to see if we can keep 2299 in the future as the help desk number once the new phone system is in place.

Update:  Yes, we will be able to keep x2299 as the Help Desk number. Dialing either x2299 and x8340 will reach the Help Desk

3.  Presentation about Online courses
Wigley reported that Dennis Mike asked why students were suddenly dropped from the class roster due to their missing health and vaccination forms.  Because he assigned collaborative projects to teams which were then diminished by the dropped students, this procedure caused a lot of problems.  Thus, he wanted to know the final date when students could submit these forms and would be dropped afterwards so he can schedule his team class activities after that.  MacVie noted that this is a problem with all courses, not just online courses.  Cohen said each semester approximately 75 students are usually dropped but that triggers them to fulfill their forms and get back into the system.  Coward asked about the archaic nature of the laws.  MacVie said students who never come on campus are not required to turn in the forms but some are enrolled in both online and on-campus courses.  MacVie suggested it could be added to the academic calendar and perhaps faculty could get notifications when this date is approaching.

4.  Brief Summary of Online Task Force
Siener reported on the recent activities of the Presidential Task Force on Online Education, chaired by Dean Michael Pardales.  That large committee has been meeting every week since August to draw up guidelines and policies and is very close to being finished.  There was a public forum on March 1 to discuss drafts of these policies.  The documents have been edited since then and every faculty can get access to them through Angel:  https://angel.canisius.edu/section/default.asp?id=GROUP-110825-100209-FES

(Click on Folder:  Drafts: Policy for Conducting Online Education –created 1/9/12; then scroll to bottom and click on TFOE – Complete Report -4/2/12 to access the file)

The reason for the Presidential Task Force was to fill a void in policies, noting that online education ties in with college strategic plan to provide a diversity of course delivery options.  The state of the technology allows us to reach and help more students.

She then reported some basic facts about the state of online education at Canisius.  In 2007, the Masters of Physical Education was launched online and has remained very popular.  Now there are nine degree programs, mostly online except for a two week residency during the summer.  These programs include Anthrozoology, one, International Business, in the Wehle School of Business and the rest in Education and Human Services.

There are also undergrad courses, including many that fulfill core attributes.  We are quickly moving to cover every core attribute by some online course.  From Summer 2011 through Spring 2012, there were 218 sections of online courses offered, 37 of which were undergrad.  In FY 2012, there were 527 students enrolled totalling 13,000 credit hours and over $8 million in gross revenue.  Ninety-three faculty teach online, of which about 40% are full-time.  The US News and World Report ranked Canisius highly for its online graduate education programs in terms student satisfaction of the courses.

MacVie has trained most of the Canisius faculty to teach online by now and continues to offer her course in the summer.  It is now five weeks long. To join the course, which will be offered in early summer, go to http://surveys.canisius.edu/workshops.aspx and register.  All ITS workshops are listed at this site.

Djuth asked about undergraduate online programs, asking whether they should be taught at night.  Cohen said there is a group of the deans, including himself, Pat Mizak and others who are looking at ways to reach veterans via online education.  Djuth noted that most of the students in her online course are undergraduates at Canisius, but she thought that reaching out to others might be a smart direction to head.

5.  ITS announcements
Cohen said there’s an advanced draft available of Library and Information Services Strategic Plan.  It is not too late to read and make comments or express concerns.  The same document is available on ITS’s website under planning at http://www.canisius.edu/its/planning.asp .  Coward praised it as a model of how a strategic plan should look, noting its connection of the ITS goals to those of the whole university.  Cohen said mobile devices are being targeted for much work now.  The library currently has a mobilized website that provides a nice interface for the catalog, he mentioned.

Clark said we are now an iOS developer site and several faculty are going to publish apps soon.  Cohen said a self-guided admissions tour app would be nice.

Siener said ITS is gearing up for summer and asked faculty to submit their software requests for classrooms or labs.  ITS needs to know by May 1 due to the opening of Science Hall.  The first floor of Science Hall will be move-in ready by first of July and we’ll need to complete computer installations in July so that the rest of the campus can have technology refreshed in August.  Think of what software you and your students will need in courses for the entire next year, she elaborated, adding that it would be helpful to say what current software you are using should remain, in order to keep the hard disk images as small as possible.  Scott Clark handles the Mac images and Lisa Mastropaolo handles Windows.  Faculty may contact them or let her know directly.

Siener said she was asked about the computer replacement policy and she explained it again.  The college sets aside a block of money to replace computers every year.  A list of old installations is made by June 1 so we can order faculty computers.  The list is maintained purely by age of computer installation.  She said ITS is still replacing 2006 computers, but intends to do 2007 this year.   What normally happens is if the department paid for the computers then the department owns them.  But computers paid for by the college will be replaced out of the computer replacement budget so ITS expects to get them back once the faculty member no longer needs them or gets a new one. ITS recycles these older computers, making sure that all private documents are transferred to the new one and wiped clean from the old.  Faculty will be contacted if they are on the list for a new computer, she said.  Also, faculty should feel free to contact her or ITS to find out the age of their computer and where it stands in the replacement cycle.

Siener mentioned Blackboard’s big announcement that they will not drop their Angel product in 2014 as previously announced but will support it indefinitely.  However, it probably won’t be actively developed or upgraded.  We will still keep keep our eyes open for new possibilities, she said, noting that we don’t want to stay with an outdated and increasingly old-fashioned piece of software, but we have breathing room.

Coward announced that the Center for Teaching Excellence is funding five faculty to do innovative teaching in Science Hall next year.  The classrooms will be tagged as Level 5 classrooms.

Clark mentioned that next Friday is the next iPad user’s group meeting in the Library Conference Room at 1:30, April 13.

6.  Awards
Wigly reported that he got good feedback regarding the idea of a technology award and even some names were mentioned as potential nominees.  We will talk about some names at the next ACAC meeting.  Wigley wants to form a three-person committee to consider the nominees and make the awards, saying these committee members should be members of ACAC.  Wigley will make a preliminary write-up of the award to be discussed next time.

7.  Adjournment
We adjourned about 3:00.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Meyer

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ACAC Meeting March 7, 2012

By on April 3, 2012

Minutes of Meeting Mar. 7, 2012

 1.  Introduction and Approval of Minutes

At 2:05 P.M. Chuck Wigley convened the meeting in the President’s Board Room.  Since the secretary was so slow in getting the minutes typed up from the previous meeting, they were not yet ready for approval.

2.  Discussion by attendees

There were some complaints about printer problems affecting Apple computers due to a switch of the printer server by ITS.  Clark said messages went to department chairs and secretaries who were supposed to disseminate info about the change.  People either ignored or didn’t share the information.  ITS didn’t send out a campus-wide blast to avoid spamming.  Some people were really upset.  This highlighted the importance of communication.

Wigley noted some scheduling problems with Digital Day this year.  A number of people who were supposed to go till 4  but some people went to lunch due to food not being available after 3pm.  Some presenters didn’t show up.  Some people thought that since the last session started at 3 it was okay to pull up the iPad cart and leave.A suggestion was made that in the future, the poster session not go an entire afternoon lest people have to sit there all afternoon. Wigley thought Digital Day should be shorter so everyone could be there.   Leah MacVie said they would like to see more Canisius people.  Out of 150 attendees, few were Canisius people.

Moleski said the campus mail server has gone down a couple times, once on the weekend and once on a Monday night, and he contacted Public Safety about it.  Clark reported that it was a hard crash of the server.  There was not a timely response due to key people being out of town.   Moleski said the system status on the ITS website is not often updated but Clark responded that  it might not be an active monitoring page.  Public Safety doesn’t want to field all those off-hours calls, so we need more efficient alternate channels.  Warszawski said they figured out how to make it work and now need to implement it soon, probably in the next month.  The directors of ITS will alternate weekends being on call.  Moleski said Public Safety is not cheerfully doing this, so they need to be taken out of the loop because they are the only ones on campus 24×7.  Moleski suggested buying an answering service, though in these tight-budget days that is unlikely.

3.  Presentation about WordPress

Rob Kaiser and David Shanks of Communication Studies Department, the Multimedia Journalism program, talked about WordPress and how to use it in the classroom.  Canisius has a university version of WordPress on our servers.  security@canisius.edu got set up.  Request an account from them.  The URL is:  http://blogs.canisius.edu.

Kaiser showed a student project, namely the reporting of a simulated hostage situation.  Students created this as an educational project and developed the content in Google docs in order to share.  They also wrote primers on how to write a news story.    In addition, they had to learn how to build a website and navigate a content management system which is today’s model.  The reporter/writer has to be the one knowing how to navigate a website and post it, Kaiser said.  They had trouble with embedded video on our server so they went directly to wordpress.com which gives updated software, more backgrounds, etc.  Shanks said using WordPress like this forces students to make their work public.  If they aren’t comfortable with this, they had better know it now than on the job later.  Also they have to post comments on other students’ work.  Clarks suggested this be incorporated into the portfolio review.  Kaiser said you can make your own blogs, from personal to corporate.

4.  ITS announcements

Clark handled the announcements from ITS since Siener and Cohen are out of town.  Software requests are due May 1.  If you have summer class software, ITS needs this in April because the only time to do any software changes is during senior week.

Science Hall is taking shape, he said, and it will host lots of technology classrooms.  There are scale-up rooms with technology built in for collaborative learning and lot more group learning.  Pat Coward took proposals for use of these classrooms and the proposals are now being reviewed.

Science Hall will be dust free in July, Clark said, so everyone should feel invited to come walk through it early August.  ITS won’t move in until December.  First floor will be ready for fall semester.  Lots of different ITS people will coordinate various moves.  Physical Plant will move faculty books, he said.

There will be another iPad user group this Friday at 1:30 in the conference room.

John Landis from Apple will speak tomorrow in the Regis Room South, 1pm.  He will talk about ebooks.  Make sure and register if you wish to attend.  Announcements about this event were made in Under the Dome.  Apple is a major player in the area of eBooks and is now renting textbooks.  Authors can make changes on the fly.  There is also the ability to regionalize textbooks, such as American History, where a whole chapter can be written by a local author that just interests Western New York.  Canisius High School has gone to entirely electronic textbooks using iPads.  Every single student has an iPad.  Books are available in PDF format.

5.  Sending the letter about security position

Wigley brought up the idea, discussed last month, of sending letter to Joel Cohen, urging him to fill Matt Gracie’s position as security expert.  He read a draft of the proposed letter (see below.)  The ACAC Committee members approved the idea of sending such as letter  9-0-0.  ITS members were excluded to prevent a conflict of interest.

Dr. Wigley moved that the following letter be sent to Vice President Cohen with courtesy copies to Vice President Richey and President Hurley;

The Academic Computing Advisory Committee respectfully requests that the college replace its chief information security officer, Matthew Gracie, with a full time employee.  As Matt has taken a position elsewhere, the committee seeks to maintain optimal levels of security by gaining a dedicated replacement for Matt, esp., with his specialized skill set.

Sincerely,
Charles J. Wigley III, Ph.D., J.D.
Chair, ACAC
Professor, Communication Studies

6.  Other issues

The Canisius Classic Car and Flying plane show hasn’t taken the ground yet, Wigley reported.

Wigley suggested a new Faculty Award for Innovation in Academic Computing.  ACAC could set up a 3-person subcommittee to review nominations, with at least one ITS member on it.  Any faculty would be eligible for the award.  Unfortunately, there is no budget to provide an award.  Wigley suggested that Pat Coward could sponsor it, perhaps naming it after someone who has had a major impact on teaching and technology, such as like Ray Clough.  Another idea might be to mount a plaque in the hallway, as is currently done with some awards.

The committee was in favor of this.

6.  Adjournment

We adjourned about 3:04.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Meyer

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ACAC Meeting February 1, 2012

By on March 6, 2012

1. Introduction and Approval of Minutes

At 2:05 P.M. Chuck Wigley convened the meeting in the President’s Board Room. Marianne Djuth moved to accept the minutes of Dec. 7, 2011, which were written by M. Moleski, and the minutes were approved unanimously. All ACAC minutes and related materials are available through http://www.canisiuscampus.net/acac/.

We went around the room, introducing ourselves and telling what mobile device we are using for QR codes. Many people don’t have one or don’t use it so they don’t know. Many think they have one, usually on their cell phone, but never use it. Some use it on their iPads. Many have an app called Red Laser which can be used with regular bar codes and QR. The website SaveBenjis.com was recommended as a way to find comparative price information of bar code reader apps.

There was concern about code readers downloading malware. When you go to the web address you might get a virus. But the size of QR codes restricts virus payloads. Some have heard rumors that people are pasting other QR codes on top of regular QR codes to send to a competitor’s site. One benefit is that there is QR printer software so you could paste the QR code on your resume for the convenience of your prospective employers.

Along these lines, there was some discussion about 3-D printers which make objects, usually out of a molded plastic.

2. Discussion by attendees

Wigley noted that Matt Gracie’s last day is today. Since security is a big issue, Wigley proposed ACAC passing a resolution, directed to Dr. Joel Cohen of ITS, that the security position be filled as soon as possible. Wigley will draw something up for the March meeting and we will discuss it then. Wigley noted that having something go wrong in the realm of security could be much more expensive than the savings from Matt’s vacant position. Cohen says we are already short-staffed. He said further that Matt has a very specialized skill set. Some of his knowledge and responsibilities overlap with other ITS staff persons. Cohen will cover the critical parts of what Matt is doing. The reality will be very challenging. ACAC voted 10-0-2 to forward this concern to Cohen and ITS.

3. How to build your own website from the ground up

Rev. Marty X. Moleski gave an excellent presentation on how to create your own website, using various services, some free, some inexpensive, and others that scale up to match one’s needs. His website is moleski.net (noting that his brother’s website is moleski.com.) Moleski has had it for ten years and pays $10/month at godaddy.com.

Wigley recommended the book “Build a Website for Free” by Mark Bell, Que publishing, c 2011.

Moleski entertained questions about how to construct and host a website.

4. ITS announcements

Along the lines of your own website, Siener said our “H:” drives have a public_html folder that is visible to the outside world. You can get your feet wet there by posting .html files.

Siener reported on the activities of the LMS (learning management system) task force to replace Angel. Their report was tabled for budgetary reasons. She thanked all on this committee who served on that task force. We won’t be changing LMS this year and will continue with Angel, but by 2014, there will be no support. But there are numerous issues with Angel, including some with mobile versions of Safari. ITS submitted a bug ticket to Angel so it might get fixed. We are on Angel 8 (used to be 7.4). Firefox 10 was just announced, but we only officially support Firefox 8. There are slight changes to Angel gradebook and assessments. There will be workshops available.

Siener noted upcoming workshops on Softchalk, Elluminate, and Powerpoint.  Registration can be found at:  http://surveys.canisius.edu/workshops.aspx

Two events are upcoming, Siener noted:
1. Online education task force forum – On March 1; a draft report will be available soon.
2. Digital Day – March 2, starts at 11am. www.canisius.edu/digitalday
Our speaker from Google will not be speaking due to illness in the family.

With regards to software, there are many important issues this semester, due to Science Hall opening in the fall. Course requests due soon, so think about extra software that you will need. ITS wants to have it by May 1 if possible.

Cohen spoke about the Library Plan. The rest of us will have an opportunity soon to see the draft of it via Google Docs.

6. First annual “ACAC Classic Car and Flying Plane Show”

Wigley proposed an ACAC event to bring people together and give publicity to the name ACAC. This could coincide with the Carnival. Class cars could be shown. It would be a social mixer for late the spring semester. The college has tried car shows before but were poorly but were poorly attended. All were in favor of Wigley investigating this further.

7. Scott Clark’s announcements

A workshop on Final Cut Pro will be held soon in the Library Conference room.

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ACAC Meeting December 7, 2011

By on January 26, 2012

I.  Chair’s reports

A. Member introductions

B. Distribution of $1 solar calculators to http://www.eclipsecrossword.com users.

C. November 2, 2011 minutes were unanimously approved on a motion by Marianne Djuth.  November 2, 2011 minutes appear at: http://www.canisiuscampus.net/acac/     (If the URL is not clickable, copy and paste it into into your browser address line and press return)

D. The Treasury is showing a $4 deficit at present.  Several schemes were proposed by the Chair to remedy this situation.  The Committee, like his proposals, seemed strangely unmoved.

II.  Discussion of campus technology.

A. Questions, concerns, comments, gripes,or compliments concerning campus technology are always welcome so that we can discuss them as a group.

B. Discussion of the IBM version of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences:

    •  is licensed for use on campus.
    •  is not browser-based, but must be installed on the computer being used.
    •  is installed on all PCs in labs; available on Macs as needed.
    •  is very expensive.
    •  is powerful and impressive as a demonstration tool in the classroom; students can see how quickly and easily a data set can be interpreted using SPSS.

C. PSPP is a free, open-source program for the statistical analysis of sampled data.  Syntax and data files are compatible with SPSS.  Binary versions of the program should be downloaded directly from links on the development website and checked with a virus scanner before installation:  http://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/get.html

D. SPSS Amos can be licensed, too.  It provides graphical views of SPSS data sets.  Amos is not installed in labs at present.

E. For qualitative studies, NIVO is being used for surveys and statistics.

F. Joe Rizzo noted that there is a known bug in the search function for Outlook Web Access.  If you are having trouble with searching, you may use the desktop Outlook client.  The Outlook server will be patched and tested over the break between semesters.

G. The latest version of Firefox and Chrome 2 will work with Angel, despite the warnings issued by the system.  There may be some problems with popups, moving windows, and inserting pictures using non-standard browsers.  If all else fails, please use Internet Explorer.

H. There is time available in upcoming ACAC meetings for faculty members to share their favorite educational applications.  It is a treat for ACAC and looks good on your resume as well.

III.  Using a PBworks wiki as an effective collaboration tool, Dr. Nancy M. Bailey, Adolescence Education:

  • good support
  • free for educational use
  • sufficient space
  • students must be added as editors by hand
  • enables in-depth discussion–better than Angel discussion groups
  • allows students to display their work
  • students make their own wikis and make Bailey a member on them
  • students can link to voicethread.com, create Glogs, insert widgets
  • cannot control access on a per-page basis with the free wiki
  • do not have full control over the page layout (e.g., white background for the body)

IV.  ITS announcements

A. Joel Cohen thanked members for helping with the development of the ITS/Library long-term planning.  He will circulate a draft of suggestions that have been made before the document is finalized in the spring.

B. Estelle Siener:

  • Four classrooms in Old Main will receive technical upgrades to HD status (104, 214, 310, 408): new Doc cams, new 16:10 screens (110″ x 69″), and a new control system.  The changes should be basically transparent to faculty in the sense that the new equipment will be accessed from a touchscreen as in the past.  The software mix available will remain the same as in the past.
  • Newer Mac computers are being installed in some locations with the same software suite as used in the past.
  • 7th Annual Digital Day, sponsored by CTE and ITS: Friday, March 2, all day.  See http://www.canisiuscampus.net/digitalday/ for the complete program.  Two keynotes will be given: Tamera Rosier will demonstrate advanced technology by giving a talk on metacognition.  Jaime Casap, the Senior Education Evangelist for Google Apps, will explain what Google can do to provide collaborative tools in the classroom.  Faculty or students who wish to share what they are doing may set up a table in the Grupp Fireside Lounge.

C. Chuck Wigley asked that the minutes reflect the gratitude of the Faculty for the generous, thoughtful, and helpful participation by the staff from ITS and FACTS.  We are very fortunate to have this kind of collegial dialogue.

V.  First annual ACAC Christmas Party.  The Christmas tree and train set were erected.  The party lasted approximately 3 minutes and 20 seconds, just long enough for the Chair to recommend more fund-raising techniques.  If any of the schemes bear fruit, next year, the train tracks will be nailed to the table, a car will be added to the train set, and the tree will have more than one branch on it.

Respectfully submitted,

Martin X. Moleski, SJ
Acting Secretary

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ACAC Meeting November 2, 2011

By on November 4, 2011

1.  Introduction and Approval of Minutes
At 2:05 P.M. Chuck Wigley convened the meeting in the President’s Board Room.  Marianne Djuth moved to accept the minutes of Oct. 5, 2011 and the minutes were approved unanimously.   All ACAC minutes and related materials are available through http://www.canisiuscampus.net/acac/.

We went around the room, introducing ourselves and telling what our level of involvement with Facebook (FB) is.  There was a wide range of responses, some very interesting.  While quite a few said they didn’t have a Facebook account, they admitted that someone in their household often does.  One person had to cancel their account because they felt it was becoming too much of a time sink and promoted obsessive use.  A few people admitted they are heavy FB users, and they were often technology or distance education specialists.  Some read FB semi-regularly but never post.  One person uses FB for selective conversations, using FB’s group feature, and has given up his personal email account, using FB’s message system instead.  Several said they used Google+, which is seen as an alternative to FB but which has been slow to gain popularity.  A few amusing comments were made about the number of “friends” that users have, from multiple thousands down to a paltry 55 or fewer.  Filkins noted that the demographics of FB users do not support the common theory that most Facebookers are young;  one of the biggest and growing age groups is over 50!  Love it or hate it, Facebook is here to stay.

2.  Faculty Concerns
Following our new policy of inviting items of concern from the floor early in the meeting, Wigley asked for faculty concerns.  Mark Gallimore said that the monitor in Old Main 104 does not properly connect to the iMac that is in the teacher’s station and ITS said it would be investigated.

He also asked for advice on password management.  Gracie said he doesn’t see why writing passwords on pieces of paper that are stored in a secure place is heretical.  ITS has a secure password vault computer.  Clark said there is software on everything that will store passwords as an encrypted file.  iPhone has an encrypted password store.  If such a password vault is on a mobile device, then it can be remotely wiped clean if stolen to prevent anyone seeing the passwords.  However, relying on such a password file or password app presents a single point of failure, either for loss or break-in.

3.  Conversation with Walt Drabek about the new Faculty Portal
Walt Drabek and Russ Calianno joined us about 2:30 to introduce the next wave in the campus portal, which is the staff and faculty version. This will go live next week, unless serious objections are raised.

The portal is 3rd party product that integrates a lot of current systems and databases.  ITS received a $1 million grant for manpower and materials to implement it and connect it to all other systems, such as the library, Banner, iTunesU, etc.

A great feature of the portal is its single sign-on.  It also “knows” who the user is so it can customize according to identity or category, such as student, faculty or staff.  Specific messages can be pushed to targeted groups or even individuals.

Walt and Russ walked us through some of the tools.  He said that faculty and staff email, which currently can be used through Microsoft Outlook desktop client or the web client, only permits web use through the portal.  However, the desktop client can still be used independently.

Walt encouraged everyone to send feedback to ITS in order to customize and improve it after we start to use it.  Options can be moved around for emphasis and some things can be added if requested.

Gracie mentioned the security risk of the portal’s single sign-on and its access to employee compensation records, among other confidential data.  He recommended that we set up a screensaver that requires a password to wake up.

4.  Wigley’s Crossword Puzzle Software
Wigley next introduced Eclipse Crossword Software to create crossword puzzles which can be used for many pedagogical purposes, such as making review sheets.

To install, visit http://eclipsecrossword.com and click on download.  It is a desktop application.

Wigley next passed out entry cards with the URL and other information on them.  If you download the software, create and save a puzzle and then send in the card to Wigley by Nov. 11, he will send you a free calculator.

5.  Announcements
Siener mentioned that if you want software in the labs or ITCs, please submit your list by Dec. 1, 2011 to Scott Clark (for Macintosh) or Lisa Mastropaolo (for PCs) or contact Estelle Siener.

She also reminded us of Digital Day, which will be March 2, 2012.  A CFP has gone out and the deadline is Dec. 2.  Please consider sharing what you know in terms of technology or pedagogy.

Scott Clark announced that the second iPad users group will meet next Friday in the Library Conference room at 1:30 P.M.  This group is for a user of any iOS device (iPad, iPhone, etc.)  Encourage everyone to come who uses such devices to attend.  Clark is working to bring Apple to campus to give a presentation on iPads.  This is part of a study to see if it is feasible to have a cart of mobile devices available for students to use in a class setting.

When asked whether Angel works on an iPad, Clark said it is an issue with Safari.  Though you can get into Angel using Safari, you can’t do everything like discussion forums.  Google’s Chrome browser is essentially Safari underneath, so it doesn’t buy any extra functionality on the iPad.

6.  Adjournment
We adjourned about 3:05.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Meyer

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ACAC Meeting October 5, 2011

By on October 14, 2011

1.  Introduction and Approval of Minutes
At 2:03 P.M. Chuck Wigley convened the meeting in the President’s Board Room.  Marianne Djuth moved to accept the minutes of May 4, 2011; various people seconded and the minutes were approved unanimously.   All ACAC minutes and related materials are available through http://www.canisiuscampus.net/acac/.

We went around the room, introducing ourselves and mentioning which educational software we use, are interested in, wish to acquire to wish to learn more about.  Some of the responses were the following:

wikis, WordPress, Rosetta Stone, electronic textbooks, homework managers, clicker software, iPad software, Camtasia, Google office suite and Google docs, Cloud storage and cloud computing, cloud-based products for teachers LMS, PowerPoint, Linux

2.  ITS and LIS Long-Range Planning
Joel Cohen discussed the ITS/LIS (Information Technology Services/Library Information Services) long-range plans that been issued every five years since 1983.  He also reviewed the college’s new overarching strategic plan and pointed out areas for which he is responsible and where there is significant overlap with ITS/LIS.  For example, one of the goals was to use state of the art technology to enhance student experience, which directly impacts technology delivery coming from ITS.

Cohen passed around a thick notebook with all the plans and reviewed a number with us online, detailing the many successes where those plans have been fully implemented.  The next one is due out in 2012 and Cohen solicited volunteers from this group to serve or assist in making this plan.  The committee will meet every two weeks for about an hour.  Lorgnier suggested that Cohen coordinate with the Presidential Task Force for online education.  Siener mentioned that we could solicit other members of our department to serve, even if we cannot.

Cohen gave a brief report on the many changes that have been recently implemented such as adding cell phone retransmitters in the tunnels so students can use their cell phones while walking between buildings.

Hot topics will include delivery systems for courses and programs, especially online programs.  Also mentioned was the infrastructure in Science Hall, the Library Learning Commons, the new college website and portal, and more tools available for students.

3.  ITS Announcements
Siener mentioned a number of recent changes and activity:

  • There was a change of printers and copiers over the summer.  If there are any troubles, contact ITS.
  • Residence Hall networking (both wired and wireless) was outsourced to Apogee.  Wireless was greatly enhanced in the library using wireless equipment from residence hall;  we went from 10 to 60 wireless access points in Bouwhuis Library and a few other common areas.
  • There were updates in technology classrooms and new classrooms came online.  Every classroom was updated to MS Office 2010.  ITS will update faculty and staff computers if desired.  Just phone to schedule an appointment.  The current Mac version is Office 2011, the PC version is Office 2010.  SPSS was upgraded to version 19.  If you have 15 you are out of luck, but version 17 will still work.  Contact ITS to upgrade
  • A new section of the online course development workshop will run this fall, starting at the  end of October.  Talk to Leah MacVie if interested.  There are over 100 graduates so far!
  • If you teach in a technology classroom, you can get to the new web portal via my.canisius.edu.  It is a role-based portal so the experience will be different depending on status (faculty, student, staff)  The  Faculty / staff portal is still being developed, so what you see is not final.  We hope to finalize it in Nov.  Let ITS know if you have ideas.
  • We are getting closer to an Angel replacement.  The two current contenders are Moodle and Desire to Learn.  There will be 3 upcoming meetings to which everyone is invited.  OM 115  Oct. 6 at  1pm in OM-115, Oct. 14 at 12:30 pm in OM-119.  Then a written proposal will be circulated and a final meeting held on November  4.  All are welcome.
  • The Course Evaluation Task Force is very close to a final selection.  There were originally 6 products but now 2 finalists.

For the future, she mentioned several items:

  • Digital Day will be March 2, 2012.  There will be two speakers, including a specialist from Google who does Google apps for education.  RFP for Digital Day presentations and displays will go out next week.
  • Distant future:  Since we will be moving into Science Hall next fall, those in charge of the OS builds will need to have computers placed in there early next summer so software needs will be extra early this year.  Sometime in April 2012 will be the deadline.

Leah MacVie made a plug for Camtasia, which is screen capture and video/audio recording software.  Think of it as Jing on steroids, she said.  A number of others in the room attested to Camtasia’s excellence and ease of use.  If we can get 25 buys to pitch in $113 each, Canisius can buy it in a bundle at that discounted price.  Normally it is around $170 for academic use.  Contact MacVie if interested.

Scott Clark announced that aggressive academic pricing on Apple hardware and software is being made to entice students and faculty to buy Macs.  There are software vendors who are teaming up on this.  For more information, visit  www.canisius.edu/newcomputer.

Clark also announced that he and Joe Rizzo are planning to start an iPad user’s group to meet on the second Friday of every month to discuss concerns, issues or other topics.  There are currently at least 75 iPad users on campus, Clark said, that he knew about.  The location will be announced.

Matt Gracie noted that October is Cybersecurity month.  He has obtained accounts for us on a website called “Securing the Human” which has a number of short videos, with short assessments afterwards.  For those who complete all the assessments, there will be a drawing for a Tim Horton’s gift card.

4.   Topics for ACAC
Wigley noted that ACAC does not have a good information flow currently and he suggested a change in meeting format to address this.  The first ten minutes of each meeting will be reserved for faculty input and will be totally unscripted.  Currently, leftover minutes at the end are where items from the floor are discussed, or not if we run long.  After the first ten minutes, the next ten minutes will be reserved for software presentations that people want to share with their colleagues.  We voted overwhelmingly in favor of changing to this format.

Wigley also talked about the themes for this year’s ACAC.  Last year was security, and while we can’t ever neglect security entirely, he wanted to move on to teaching software and mobile apps, since there is growing interest and use of this type of material.

5.   Items from the floor
There was no discussion from the floor today.

6.  Adjournment
Wigley briefly recapped some themes that might be investigated next year.

We adjourned at 3:00.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Meyer

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ACAC Meeting May 4, 2011

By on May 9, 2011

Minutes of Meeting May 4, 2011

1.  Introduction and Approval of Minutes
At 2:03 P.M. Chuck Wigley convened the meeting in the President’s Board Room.  Marianne Djuth moved to accept the minutes of April 6, various people seconded and the minutes were approved unanimously.   All ACAC minutes and related materials are available through http://www.canisiuscampus.net/acac/.

Wigley proceeded to tell us of the demise of his plan to purchase a new building for ACAC and has instead settled for purchase of one of the soon-to-be grounded space shuttles.  He then presented a small-scale replica, replete with the ACAC logo painting on its side.  Meyer took possession of the spacecraft for safe keeping.

2.  ITS Announcements
Siener said ITS will update the labs and tech classrooms this summer, which will include a software refresh.  OM 119 and LY 312 will get new computers.  Some ITCs (teaching classrooms) will get new computers as well.

Office 2010 will be installed on PCs and Office 2011 on the Macs.  This is necessary because textbooks are shipping with illustrations and files.  ITS will switch any faculty or staff person’s office computer to the new version of Office this summer.  Simply call the help desk at x2299 to schedule an ITS worker to do this.

Siener reminded us all to get our software requests in for lab and library builds.  Contact Lisa Mastropaolo for the Windows side and Scott Clark for the Mac side.  ITS needs to know what software will be run for class and requests you indicate which software you want to continue to use, even if there is no change, so smaller images could be made.  Please do this by June 1.

Angel will be upgraded on May 19 and will be out of service all that day.

The ComDoc truck has parked in the Bagen lot to install new multifunction machines, so the replacement process has started.  They are working in the administrative offices in Bagen first.  Nothing will be done to academic departments until grades are turned in.  A training person from ComDoc will be on site to train you on the multifunction devices.

Siener reported on the computer replacement process which will start after June 1.  ITS is working through inventory list and replacing by age of computer.  Siener said they hope to get through the 2006 machines, which means many Gateways will be replaced.  Any HPs will probably not be replaced this year.  Those getting new computers need not apply or contact ITS, because the rolling replacement process is now automatic, but you will be asked your preferences before ordering, Mac or PC, a new monitor or keep your current one.  ITS will contact you.

Clark made an announcement about workshops. Apple is doing a series of webinars open to anybody in education relating to iOS (the operating system used on mobile devices such as iPads and iPhones.)  These webinars focus on app creation and run from noon to 1pm every day.  Links are in Under the Dome.  On May 19, Apple will teach an on-site soup to nuts full day workshop for those who want to create their own iOS apps in Lyons 122.  It will be hands on and there are only 15 spots.  Lunch will be provided.  You don’t need to bring your own Mac.  This is open to all Western New York educators and some CSC/DMA students, so register early.  There was a link in Under the Dome.  You register through Apple’s website.

Clark noted that the Mac labs will use Deep Freeze just like the PCs do, which is software that effectively reinstalls the machine image every time a student logs in to prevent any permanent changes.  If you want to see it ahead of time, Lyons 122 has Deep Freeze this semester.  No real problems have been encountered.

Siener talked about two upcoming sessions of online course development workshop.  They are for faculty who will teach or want to teach an online course.  These workshops run six weeks.  The first starts May 20 while the second starts June 24.  If you are thinking of teaching online, you need to attend one.  On July 13 the School of Education and Human Services is sponsoring a summit for online learning for those who have taught online or who are teaching.  This is the next step up from the beginners who teach online.  There will be a keynote speaker and the event will be held at Amherst.  This is primarily for those in the School of Education but anyone who falls into online learning may attend, she said.

Marie Larcara will do the third in the series of brown bag luncheon discussions tomorrow in the Student Center.  It will focus on hybrid course design.

Cohen asked faculty to remind the students that the library is open 24 hours till the end of finals.

He then talked about renovations in the library this summer.  This is the second phase where the new compact shelving will be installed in the lower level.  Many books on the first floor will migrate down to the these shelves.  When asked whether access to books that are currently shelved in the lower level will be permitted, Cohen responded that arrangements could be made.  Contact Barbara Bohenke about what books and materials you’ll need from the basement over the summer.

Online course evaluations are in progress using software and procedures developed on campus.  Burhans solicited faculty who want to help select a commercial package for next year.  She has five volunteers so far but she would like to get more input.  There are many issues which faculty are quite passionate about.  Meetings of this group will be held primarily over the summer.

Wigley thanked Cohen on behalf of the faculty for the great job he has done on these issues and for seeking faculty input.

 

 

 


3.     Backup Presentation
Gracie made a presentation on Backup.  The PowerPoint presentation can be accessed here.

Gracie urged everyone to put your material on your H: drive if you are using Windows, since it is mounted across the campus but physically exists in a secure environment.  ITS backups up the H: drive daily so you don’t have to worry about it.  There are monthly snapshots which are for 5 years.  Users can restore from snapshots themselves.  Users can right click on a folder and select properties to get a tab for previous versions.  You can roll back to any previous week or even just copy to a new folder.

The H: drive uses Webdav so you can access from the web on almost any modern device.  The iPad has webdav support built in, such as the iWork suite, Clark noted.

When asked how to connect to the H: drive from off campus, Warszawski noted that directions are available through http://www.canisius.edu/its.  Just scroll down to the “tic/tac/toe” board and look for “how do I get to my network drive?”

To automatically save your desktop’s files, you can use several free programs.  Microsoft makes SyncToy.  Call the help desk for help in setting it up.  Apple recommends TimeMachine for MacOS X.

Gracie noted that there are numerous online backup and file storage systems, such as Dropbox..  Within ITS, there is a difference of opinion about whether college data should be put onto a server with which we don’t have a contract.  We don’t have a policy currently, but there might be legal issues about what sort of data could be backed up on these third party servers.

When asked about the amount of storage a faculty member can have on their H: drive account, Gracie responded that ITS has greatly expanded its server capacity so there’s no hard limit for faculty or staff, though there is a quota for student accounts.  The average user keeps about 8 to 10 gigs on their local machine, he noted.

Gracie warned the group that backups sometimes fail or are stolen.  A biology professor’s computer and backup drives were both stolen, representing three years’ worth of data.  Also, floods, fires and other disasters may take out several pieces of equipment, so backup in several different places.

Coward asked whether we could turn on auto-syncing to the H: drive every time the computer is shut down.  Gracie said Microsoft has a package that ITS is looking at, but almost everyone at Canisius has the same files, like the same build, so don’t want to blindly backup every single file from every single user.


4.   Administrative assistants/associates & faculty calendars: update
In an update to last month’s discussion about uploading faculty schedules into the Outlook calendar to facilitate scheduling meetings, ITS reported that it is feasible to do this as a one-time load at the beginning of the semester.  The Academic Calendar can be uploaded as well.  Coward demonstrated the procedure for setting up a meeting and inviting others to attend via Outlook.   By default, the calendar shows busy and non-busy times for individuals, and not details of entries.  The person creating the meeting can choose times that all attendees appear to be available.  After a short discussion, those in attendance agreed that this would be a useful feature to have and asked ITS to proceed this summer, making the schedules available for the fall semester.

5.     Items from the floor
There was no discussion from the floor today.

 

6.  Adjournment
Wigley briefly recapped some themes that might be investigated next year.

We adjourned at 2:55.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Meyer

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ACAC Meeting April 6, 2011

By on April 11, 2011

1.  Introduction and Approval of Minutes
At 2:03 P.M. Chuck Wigley convened the meeting in the President’s Board Room.  Marianne Djuth moved to accept the minutes of March 2, various people seconded and the minutes were approved unanimously.   All ACAC minutes and related materials are available through http://www.canisiuscampus.net/acac/.

2.  ITS Announcements
Estelle Siener answered two questions that ITS gets this time of year:

  1. Will we have Office 2010 in the labs and the ITCs?  Yes, because textbooks require it.  It is not a lot different from what we use now (Office 2007) and there are no compatibility issues.  Macs have already upgraded to Office 2011, partly because of the need to implement Outlook.  Contact ITS after the end of the semester if you want your private office computer upgraded to Office 2010.
  2. How do computer replacements occur on campus?  There is a special account for replacement at the turn of the budget year.  ITS maintains a list of the oldest computers on campus.  All computers installed in 2005 were replaced last year, so we are working on the 2006 list.  There are still some old Gateways that need to be replaced.  We started HPs in 2007.  If you have had a lot of trouble with your computer, you might get an earlier replacement.  That same fund supplies new faculty (about 14).  ITS is working on a complete inventory list.  Faculty won’t have to call or beg;  ITS will just look you up on the list and approach you about replacing your computer.

Siener urged everyone to contact Lisa Mastropaolo (Windows) or Scott Clark (Macintosh) with requests for software that will be used in the labs, since the images for the lab and library machines will be built early summer.  It is almost impossible to honor requests for software after classes start.  Scott asked faculty to alert ITS of software that will no longer be used in the labs so it can be deleted from the build.  It is much easier to deploy a smaller image, he said.

Siener also congratulated Leah MacVie for winning second place at the annual Softchalk Lesson Challenge.  Her lesson was entitled Mission Softchalk and was cast in the form of a game.  MacVie received a trophy and a cash award.

MacVie using this opportunity to make a plug for Softchalk.  There will be training events this summer and you can find out more at www.canisius.edu/softchalk .  Also, there will be more laptop seminars at noon.  Tomorrow’s will deal with plagiarism and academic integrity.  May 5 will be about how to create and teach hybrid courses.  More information is available at www.canisius.edu/olc.

3.  New portal
Joel Cohen talked about a new web portal that will be deployed this fall, though a beta version (soft rollout) is planned for this summer.  This was funded by a million dollar grant last year.  The portal will be for an internal audience, thereby separating the main Canisius website, which is primarily for visitors and prospective students.

The portal will be customized for you and will allow a single signon.  That is, once you login to the portal, you won’t have to type your username and password again to access Angel or email or other features.  Faculty and students will see a different home page.  Also, there may be special customizations, such as high risk students seeing a request to report to the Tutoring Center, for example.  Cohen demonstrated the user interface and stressed how it was designed in response to much student feedback.

It was reported that Angel will not allow you to use Firefox 4 or IE 9.  If you have installed those, you may have to rollback to an earlier version.

When asked about the student email problem, Cohen said that Student Life is using Collegiate Link to manage club communications, keeping it separate from email.

 

4.     Items from the floor
We discussed the printing issue.  Burhans asked about the letters going to academic dept.  Cohen said the letter will come out soon.  Then he recapped about the printing initiative and said COMDOC signed a contract this morning with Canisius.  Less efficient equipment will be removed, making for a greener campus and lower printing bill.  Many departments will have color capability.  Most will have a backup to the principle copier/printer in form of an HP printer.  The cost will be $0.008 per B&W image on the newer equipment,  $0.22 per page in color.  The HP backup will be $0.035 per page.  Departmental budgets won’t include printer maintenance anymore.  He gave some statistics.  We printed 12 million pieces of paper a year currently, which amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The timetable is for a first wave to occur at the end of this semester when the new equipment will be put in.  The second wave is to remove old printers but Cohen was unsure when that would happen.  Hopefully by that time people will grow to appreciate the new equipment.

Faculty will not be able to have individual printers, he said.  Djuth asked how it will work if a faculty member has her own printer and buys her own supplies.  Cohen said these printers will remain undisturbed but don’t call the help desk.

Burhans asked what happens to old printers and copiers.  He responded that the best ones will be the backups.

The Print shop will still be there.  There is a remote submission and they will deliver through campus mail.

Oigara asked about the student printing quota, what is the limit, and what do they do when they run out?  Cohen responded that students get 300 free pages per semester.  About 90% of them stay under that limit.  After that, it costs $0.05 per image and they can pay online.  Cohen said even for those who go over quota, 300 pages represents only $15, trying to put the cost into perspective and emphasizing that Canisius is not trying to make money off the students.  There will be no charge for scanning and faculty are encouraged to abandon fax technology in favor of scanning to PDF and emailing.

Some reported that students feel faculty are forcing them to print out large documents on their own dime, especially in Honors.  Cohen said students were printing out 2 million pages per year, but are now printing only 1 million.  Students asked for a greener campus, he commented, adding that Canisius is one of the last universities in the world to make students accountable for their printing.  When you establish any kind of limit, usage drops by 50%, he said.  The transition was difficult but newer students do not complain as much.  Coward heard faculty put all their articles on Angel and ask their students to print them out.  Clark said some faculty are discouraging students from bringing a laptop to class to look at it, making it necessary to bring in printouts.  Students would like to have more accommodation on the part of faculty, he noted.  Coward said a Kansas professor was recently charged with assault and battery because he closed a student’s laptop while she was facebooking.

Coward said faculty are not putting their schedules into the Outlook calendar so it is hard to schedule meetings.  She noted that Outlook doesn’t show what your calendar looks like, just blocks it out.  Coward said she asked Joe Rizzo about preloading faculty schedules and he said it would be difficult.  So Coward encouraged faculty to put their schedules into Outlook manually.  Outlook syncs with iCal, Clark said.

Wigley made a point of appreciating ITS for its fast response to phone calls for problems.  Numerous others chimed in on this point as well.

Mike Wood asked about students presenting at Ignation Scholarship Day, noting that the deadline was too far in advance.  Dan Drew said presentations need to preload onto laptops to make the transition between speakers easier and obviating the need for bringing in flash drives.  Contact Bob Grabowski, he said, if you need to make a change to your presentation closer to April 15.

Nico Lorgnier asked about transition to Windows 7.  Siener said give ITS a call and may be able to reload the OS, but you will need to schedule.  He also asked about installing Nvivo, a qualitative statistics package, on his PC.  Siener said talk to his dean.   He also asked about getting a bigger screen and Siener said they order a standard screen.  If a faculty member wants a bigger one, they should contact their dean.

Clark said if anyone wants an iPad to spend your leftover budget money, they should order now because of long shipping times.

 

 

5.  Adjournment
Wigley mentioned that this year’s theme was security and might continue on to next year, since it is such an important topic.  He mentioned the possibility for a summer plan and plans for next year, perhaps focusing on app development for mobile devices.

We adjourned at 2:57.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Meyer

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ACAC Meeting March 2, 2011

By on March 4, 2011

1.  Introduction and Approval of Minutes

At 2:01 P.M. Chuck Wigley convened the meeting in the Library Instruction Room.  Marianne Djuth moved to accept, various people seconded and the minutes were approved unanimously.   All ACAC minutes and related materials are available through http://www.canisiuscampus.net/acac/.

2.  ITS Announcements

Estelle Siener made numerous announcements.  First, some faculty have been invited to serve on a committee for furnishing classrooms in Science Hall.  If anyone else is interested in serving on this committee or giving input, please contact Estelle. Because the classrooms, all of which will be on the first floor of the renovated building, except for two lower level computer labs, need to be ready for use in Fall 2012, decisions about the type of furniture, configuration of the rooms and what kinds of  learning spaces are best need to be made. Dave Ewing is forming the committee.

Siener wants to know if anyone is using social media in the classroom.  The Jesuit institutions are conversing among themselves about use of such features:  wikis, blogs or Twitter in classrooms.  Please contact Siener by phone or email so she can get an idea of the scope of use at Canisius.

ITS needs to get the computer labs and technology classrooms ready for Fall 2011, so please submit your software requirements. ITS must get the computers ready very early so as to test the software packages, both Mac and PC.  Lisa Mastropaolo is in charge of the Windows platform and Scott Clark is in charge of the Macs.

3.  Plans for Library Renovations

Joel Cohen talked about plans for Library renovations and presented a PowerPoint presentation, which is available here.

Cohen noted that Bouwhuis Library, renovated in 1988, was ahead of its time with a large number of group study rooms.  With today’s emphasis on group projects, we need even more.  Many significant changes have been made already, such as extended hours and bringing the tutors into the library, as well as the ITS help desk.

He presented an idea of a learning commons, which will incorporate traditional library functions with services of the Tutoring Center, ITS, the FACTS center, and other services.

When Cohen displayed an architect’s floor plan for the first floor, which is a little out of date now, he said that most will note the obvious lack of books.  This is because most of the collection will be collapsed into compact shelving in lower level.  This is the shelving that moves back and forth to allow for a much denser collection.  The upper floor will have relatively few changes in use; it will still be the library’s quiet floor. Archives will have some improvements, and a large part of the library’s book collection will remain on the second floor.

Terry Mangione noted that Academic Support Services is partnering with the library to provide academic mentoring, supplemental instruction and a study center in the space where students congregate, eat, socialize and sometimes do academic work.  Cohen noted that the students have wanted the library to be more than just a coffee shop, citing an editorial from the Griffin in 2006.  He said students have desired the library to be the place to go for everything, including serious work..

Thanks to President John Hurley, one of the group rooms will soon be renovated using MediaScape furniture which incorporates laptops, electronic “talking sticks” and digital projection.  Each student’s place at the table has a “hockey puck” and whoever touches it gets the screen to project what is on their laptop.

Cohen presented some interesting statistics.  Circulation and attendance are way up, but so is wear and tear.  The building is in bad need of new carpet, paint, blinds repair and many other maintenance issues.

Compared to other area institutions, Canisius is a little behind.  Cohen showed us some slides of the new Daemen information commons which was recently dedicated and incorporates many of the same ideas Canisius wants to implement.

The timeline is for the first stage, the installation of compact shelving in the basement, to happen as early as this summer.  Without the room to expand, none of the other changes can reach full flower.  Once this is done, we will bring the architects back in.  Other projects, especially Science Hall, which is now on an accelerated timetable, will impact the library renovations or be affected by it.  For example, some of ITS is going into Science Hall, including Administrative Computing and infrastructure.  Wehle might close ultimately, so ITS would have to move out.  The library renovation is a very expensive project so the pace is determined by contributions.  This summer’s project is not externally funded.  Cohen reminded us that the Koessler Athletic center project took 4 or 5 years.

Garrity asked about budget cuts.  Will these renovations save money in any way?  Cohen said yes, especially if it has impact on retention.  Not only will the new library be cool and comfortable but there will things in the library to help students succeed.

Meyer asked if a walkway over Jefferson Avenue, linking the library to Science Hall was planned.  Cohen said he has seen it in architectural visionary plans, but it is outside the scope of anything planned in the foreseeable future. A bridge would not only be expensive but would require a second entrance to the library as well as involvement with the city.  Cohen speculated that a bridge probably will be built in the long term, but presents many challenges.

More information is available at http://library.canisius.edu/learningcommons.

 

4.  Demonstration of the ENO board

Wigley thanked Joel and Estelle and the ITS people and the FACTS center.

He then introduced Richard Mancuso and Adam Baczynski from Prentice Office Environments to talk about the demonstration ENO board that has been installed in the Library Instruction Room about three weeks ago.  He invited any faculty or staff member to stop by and play with it.

Mancuso is a dealer for SteelCase, the largest maker of office furniture.  He said the current emphasis is on collaboration, the way people learn today, and noted that it happens in private sector, too.

The ENO board, made  by PolyVision, is an interactive whiteboard, Bluetooth enabled, made of ceramic on steel.  It is similar in concept to a SmartBoard.  But it is also a dry erase board and has a number of unique features, such as a moveable magnetic strip as the menu.  It is its own special “board” with a pattern of dots on it. You can highlight on the screen to annotate, and these changes can be saved and printed.   Someone asked about a zoom function, and the answer is no.  Baczynski said most applications such as web browsers have their own zoom function.  There are other features such as the ability to take 6 pages of notes and save them.

The board is manufactured in two sizes and versions:  4×6 and 4×8, frame version mounted on wall, or truncated version that can be tacked to an existing white board.  The price is about $2500 not including the ceiling projector or computer.

Mancuso asked who is using Smartboard now and a handful of hands went up.

He noted numerous advantages over Smartboard.  He also said students are used to this kind of interactive technology and mentioned some ways it can be used as an interactive teaching tool.  The board is basically dumb, Mancuso noted, but the software is very smart.  There are tiny fluorescent dots on the whiteboard that track the pens movement.  The board is almost indestructible.  Future advancements would be in the pen and in the software.

Cohen noted that the advantage of ENO is that this is a ceramic board upon which you can use a marker. Even permanent markers’ ink will come off.  The disadvantage is that you have to use the pen; you can’t use your bare fingers like on a Smartboard.  This is due to a difference in the basic technology:  the SmartBoard is capacitive and tracks pressure, but the ENO causes remove IR tracking of the pen’s position.

Mancuso said you can use a separate slate to control the board, permitting roaming about the classroom.  You can also remotely control a PowerPoint presentation this way.

First version was the Walk and Talk Board, Mancuso said, but you couldn’t write on it.  Everyone said they wanted a whiteboard.

The current ENO has been on the market 18 months.  Moleski asked if there independent testimonials.  He asked about cleaning, since regular whiteboards accumulate a tarnish, called ghosting.  Mancuso said ceramic on steel minimizes this and cleans much better.

There are Mac and Linux versions of the software that we can use for free.

Baczynski said there are suites of applications, comparable to what Smart markets.  Style comes with a dongle but you can pair your computer with the pen via Bluetooth.  Another is RM EasyTeach.  You could even use SmartSoft with the ENO board, he said.

Comparing prices, a Smartboard is $1200-$2000, plus pens in the tray, without the computer.

Dan Drew noted that the Smartboard has a lot more interactivity, but SteelCase’s board is better for conference rooms where you need a dual board and not a lot of training.  Smartboard  allows interactive apps where students submit a right or wrong answer and get feedback immediately.

Mancuso noted that the ENO is not revolutionary, but is a better mousetrap.

 

5.  Adjournment

We adjourned at 3:00.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Meyer

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ACAC Meeting February 2, 2011

By on February 8, 2011

1.  Introduction and Approval of Minutes

At 2:01 P.M. Chuck Wigley welcomed the group and made introductions, asking everyone to say whether they had ever read a complete EULA (end user license agreement.)  Few people have had the stomach to even try.  A few had their students read and interpret selections.  Some, especially ITS personnel, have scanned EULAs to see how they affect the collect.  After introductions, Marianne Djuth moved to accept, various people seconded and the minutes were approved unanimously.   All ACAC minutes and related materials are available through http://www.canisiuscampus.net/acac/

2.  Scheduling a special ACAC meeting

Dennis Mike, who couldn’t be present today, had sent an email to Chuck, which Chuck read aloud, mentioning a student who was hearing impaired and presented some challenges to Mike with regards to his design of an online course.  Mike wanted to have a discussion about students with special needs.  He recommended the basic principle of universal design which makes it much easier to design from the start than retrofit an existing course.

Though we had guests today dealing with this issue, there was a consensus that more needed to be said, perhaps in a special 2-hour discussion in the future.  No one objected.

3.  Students with Special Needs

Annie Dobies and Jennifer Herrmann from the Disability Support Services made a presentation about what the college is doing to accommodate students with different abilities and how we can adapt for different learners.  They showed a PowerPoint presentation, which is available on this website.

Dobies said online courses have changed how Disability Support Services works.  The goal is to provide equal access for all Canisius students with disabilities.  Her office deals with about 300 students.  DSS has to go with the student’s preference, not what we recommend, she said.  Marie said the trend is toward universal design which helps with compliance.

Deb Burhans asked how psychological problems fit into these services and Dobies responded that her office needs to work with these students individually, which takes a lot of time.  She said a list of  “students of concern” is sent to Public Safety.

Dobies said clickers used in some classes to elicit student responses do not meet ADA approval.  Also, Kindles (e-book readers) used in the classroom are not accessible.  The faculty should ask DSS about such technology issues before we make investments because there are some out there waiting for us to violate the law.

4.  Announcements

Estelle Siener reminded us that Digital Day is next week, Friday Feb. 11.  Events start at 11:30 AM and conclude at 4:30 with a keynote speaker, Joe Malley, in the Grupp Fireside Lounge of the Student Center.  There will be off-campus presenters, too, and about 80 attendees are signed up so far.  It will be big event, she said.  The web site is www.canisius.edu/digitalday.

Siener mentioned Outlook workshops which people can sign up for.  The announcement and more details are in Under the Dome:  http://canweblog.canisiuscampus.net/underthedome/?p=5178

She mentioned Kelly Showard’s new program Digital Mindquest, a brown bag lunch held once a month, starting Feb. 17.  Attendees are asked to read articles ahead of time.  The first one is about social media and its use in the classroom. More can be read about it here: http://canweblog.canisiuscampus.net/underthedome/?p=5171.

Marie Larcara announced a lunchtime laptop seminar about writing strategies and how to get students to produce quality writing, Feb. 2, 3 and 4.

Leah MacVie talked about online course development workshops.  More information at http://canweblog.canisiuscampus.net/underthedome/?p=5228.

Please see the listing of all Instructional Design Initiatives

5.   What should I do if I get a Virus?

Matt Gracie spoke and gave a PowerPoint presentation entitled “What Should you do when you get a virus?”  He talked about the latest trends in malware, such as the move away from viruses that exploit vulnerabilities and the shift to Trojan horses, something that tricks users.  OS firewalls are better than before so criminals are relying more on social engineering, and hence aren’t targeting the OS but application that runs on top, like Adobe reader, Java Virtual Machine, web browsers, etc.  Automatic update of these applications is not usually enabled, unlike automatic OS updates.

We need antivirus software everywhere because everyone is running Windows as Administrator, Gracie said.  Scott Clark can push out Mac antivirus if it is needed, though they are not running antivirus on Macs at the moment.

Gracie told us about the campus’s current choice of AV software, namely Microsoft Forefront, which had the best track record.  Matt showed us the interface to Forefront and elucidated some of its features.  Individuals can get a free similar product at home, namely Microsoft Security Essentials.  It has the same detection engine and is a free download.  The only difference is that Forefront can be customized for a business and provide updates differently.

One of the biggest threats today is Fake AV software, usually found through a social media website.  These sites trick users into click on something to further infect their computer.  Sometimes they are only strictly for making money and not about harming your computer.  Mark Meyer said he read 1 in 90 people seeing these popups will bite on the lure and send their credit cards.  Matt warned us if it doesn’t say Microsoft Forefront on it, then don’t do anything with it.

But some malware may set up a botnet and enable your computer to be hijacked by a remote operator.  This has become an extortion tool for criminals against small and medium sized businesses where security is minimal.  One such business was hit with a keystroke logger program embedded in a PDF file that was sent as a resume to a business recently.  Such a program could capture and transmit passwords to criminals.

Gracie was asked how we can tell if a random popup is from legitimate software or not.  He said you really can’t.  The best defense is not to get infected in the first place.

Melissa Menasco asked how she can get Forefont, since she still has ESET icon on her computer.  Gracie said there is an icon that will uninstall ESET and set up Forefront.  If that doesn’t work, call the ITS helpdesk at x2299.  She asked whether there is an automatic update to check for viruses when we login.  Siener said generally AV software runs in the background all the time, and scans only when a file moves in or out of your computer.  Usually you don’t need a full scan, but you can set a scheduled scan, she said.

Joel Cohen noted that the best defense is not your antivirus software but your behavior; you need to discipline yourself about what you click on.  Don’t click on attachments from unknown sources, he warned, and when you click on a hyperlink, make sure it is going to the right place.

6.  Adjournment

We adjourned at 3:00.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Meyer

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