EDUCAUSE | Support Services

Tune In July 1: Free Web Seminar on Meeting Communications Needs in Campus Dorms

pkurkowski — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:42:13 -0500

For the past decade, campuses in the United States have been offering comprehensive communications services in campus dorms that include high-speed Internet, cable television, and telephone services (local line, long distance, and voice mail in some cases). With students migrating to other forms of personal communications such as cell phones and text messaging, campuses are reevaluating the need for telephone lines in the dorms.

In this free July 1 EDUCAUSE Live! web seminar, Meeting Communications Needs in Campus Dorms, presenters Dewitt Latimer, deputy CIO & chief technology officer, University of Notre Dame, and Walt Magnussen, director of telecommunications, Texas A&M University, will discuss the implementations at both of their institutions. Included in the discussion will be student opinion polls, wireless alternatives, and E911 and other safety considerations.

Those unable to attend may wish to visit the archives after the event or browse related EDUCAUSE resources on Support Services, Telecommunications, and Wireless Technology.

E07 Podcast: In Plain English, Please: Effective IT Communications

kellywalker — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:40:49 -0600

This 45-minute podcast recorded during the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference features Mur Muchane, Executive Director of Information Technology Services, Davidson College and Lisa Trubitt, Assistant to the CIO for Policy & Communications, University at Albany, SUNY. Their session was titled "In Plain English, Please: Effective IT Communications."

The session abstract:

The University at Albany and Davidson College will discuss the strategies they use to convey information about IT services to their respective user communities. Both institutions have developed a protocol for communicating about IT to non-technical audiences in user-friendly ways.

Commoditization of Core Services: An Interview with Brian Voss and Cynthia Hadden

gbayne — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:25:38 -0500

This 13 minute podcast features an interview with CIO Brian Voss and Deputy CIO and Executive Director, UIS, Cynthia Hadden, both from Louisiana State University. They presented a session at the 2007 EDUCAUSE Enterprise Conference entitled, "Commoditization of Core Services".

Given increasing pressures to do more with less, institutions are beginning to look at outsourcing core services to improve quality of service while significantly reducing costs. Louisiana State University has been very successful in outsourcing basic e-mail, one of the most fundamental technology tools in use today.

EDUCAUSE2006 Podcast: Fear Factor and American Idol

Carie417 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:58:22 -0500

In this 32-minute recording from the 2006 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, we'll hear from Kimberly Brookes and Cynthia Rubino in a session entitled Fear Factor and American Idol: Leveraging Popular Culture for Student Support. They share how Simmons College has used interactive educational programs based around popular culture to teach students to care for their own computers.

EDUCAUSE2006 Podcast: Keeping a Personalized Face on Support Centralization

Carie417 — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 14:41:40 -0600

In this 47-minute recording from the 2006 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, we'll hear from Tammy Barr, Bradley Greer, and Sandra McGowan in a session entitled Fiscal Gain Without Political Pain: Keeping a Personalized Face on Support Centralization. They will explain how Oregon State University and the University of Washington have taken fresh approaches to providing centralized desktop support.

What Parents Wanna Know

smiltenb — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:04:42 -0600

Each February MICA hosts Parent Weekend -- a time for parents to visit their children at the school, sit in on classes, participate in workshops and meet faculty and staff. This year, Ted and I represented the department by staffing a Technology Systems and Services table at the resource center. Since I don't get out of the office much, it was a great opportunity to meet parents (and students) and find out what kinds of questions they were asking.

The top question was:

MAC or PC?

I'm not sure if this is a bit unique to MICA (as an art school); but nearly every parent wanted to know if the pc or mac that they just bought their child would be sufficient for their education at MICA. Some lamented that they had purchased one system, but due to a change in major by their son or daughter; they were considering purchasing a new system (the opposite of their initial purchase). I couldn't tell if many of the questions were prompted by the fact that my macbook was the only item on our table. Most parents seemed interested to learn that we have the same number of staff dedicated to PC support that we have for MAC support; and that we've been rigorously testing Vista on both MACs and PCs.

The second most popular question had to do with specific technology problems experienced by the students:

These ranged from complaints that a child's internet service in the dorms has "never worked"; to whether we will install software on a student's personal machine. These questions left me wondering what we can do to better publicize our services and better communicate when our systems are not working. It was a bit hard to not walk away from the table feeling disappointed -- after all, we've made an extraordinary effort this year to be more proactive in many areas -- network services in our housing facilities being at the top of the list. I am positive that most of the specific problems raised by parents were never reported by the students.

So where does this leave the Office of Technology Systems and Services? Do we need to be more aggressive about seeking out problems? Do we need to provide more accessible and varied options for students to report problems? Do we need to provide better communications about problems with systems and/or services that we provide? Or are these questions just par for the course in the service (and technology) industry?

We also had a surprising number of parents who asked very pointed questions about the college's commitment to technology and the resources we were planning to provide. These included questions about the nodes on our network and expansion plans; to the number of web services we currently provide to students.

All in all it was an inspiring day.

I'm already looking forward to next year's Parents Weekend as I have big plans and perhaps a big surprise: a few years ago I attended a fantastic presentation at the PeopleSoft Higher Ed User Group conference by Josh Harmon of TCU. The presentation was about how TCU's strategy for giving parents access to student data via the portal -- and the solution that they developed was brilliant and something I've always aspired to steal and deploy to MICA. We're already doing PeopleSoft Enterprise upgrades for Campus Solutions and the Portal for November 2007 -- I can't imagine a more perfect time to provide better services for parents.

Access Technologists Higher Education Network [ATHEN]

DBerkowitz — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 09:23:57 -0600

Greetings from the membership of ATHEN.

ATHEN was formed to meet a critical need for a professional identity and build a collective understanding of what it means to work in the field of Access Technology in Higher Education. While other organizations exist that work on parallel tracks in disability services, the founding membership felt that a targeted organization was needed to fulfill the collective needs of the membership. A secondary driving force is the creation of professional development activities for Access Technologists that mirror similar career tracks in other areas of IT management and service delivery.

For more information about the organization please visit our website at: www.athenpro.org and our blog at http://athenpro.blogspot.com/.

ATHEN was formed in the spring of 2002 at the CSUN conference in Los Angeles, in a collective meeting of 50 of the leaders in the rapidly growing field serving the technology access needs of individuals with disabilities in a variety of adult educational venues. This meeting was the result of several years of discussion of the need for a professional organization, the realization that access technology services and issues are outgrowing their disability support services roots, and the growing need for AT and IT to develop supportive relationships.

The primary goals of ATHEN are:

Acquiring, sharing, and dissemination of best practices in Access Technologies (AT).
Promote the establishment of Degree Programs.
The establishment of a professional identity for those who practice AT in Higher Education.
The development of Professional Standards of Practice for AT in Higher Education.
Present a collective voice for the professional practice of AT service delivery.
The development of a credentialing process AT Professionals in Higher Education.

If your are working in the areas of Access Technology, Information Technology supporting the needs of disability support services programs, or in any other related area of service delivery to postsecondary students and adults with disabilities, it is our sincere hope that you will consider becoming an active member of ATHEN. For more information about the organization please visit our website at: www.athenpro.org and our blog at http://athenpro.blogspot.com/.

E2005 Podcast: Supporting the Mobile User

podcaster — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 17:38:55 -0600

This 45 minute recording provides coverage of the 2005 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference Session entitled Supporting the Mobile User.

E2005 Podcast: Stretch Your Staff with a Departmental Liaison Program

podcaster — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 18:23:34 -0600

This 41 minute recording provides coverage of the 2005 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference Session entitled Stretch Your Staff with a Departmental Liaison Program.

E2005 Podcast: An Enterprise-Grade Model for Classroom Technology Support

podcaster — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 17:34:51 -0600

This 46 minute recording provides coverage of the 2005 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference Session entitled An Enterprise-Grade Model for Classroom Technology Support.