Technology Selection

Social software includes a variety of tools to develop and share text, image, audio, and video files as well as organize resources others create: blogs, wikis, RSS aggregators, podcasts, vodcasts, and more. While the quantity of options can be overwhelming, this workshop will provide an overview of different tool types along with step-by-step demonstrations and effective examples so participants can learn what these terms mean and fine-tune their understanding of social software. A discussion of practical uses of social software in teaching and learning will follow with examples. Participants will also brainstorm how these tools can enhance communication among IT staff and between IT staff, faculty, and students. Select social software resources will be created for this workshop group both for practice and to continue discussion well after the session ends. Participants will be surveyed in advance for a tailor-made program to benefit them the most.

This meeting will focus on the ways in which information technologies affect specialized operations, including software selection, staff training, standards and best practices, record-keeping and access, and data storage and retrieval. Come share your pitfalls, best practices, and proven solutions with your colleagues.

Any campus planning a wireless network refresh or implementation today is at a crossroads: should it deploy 802.11n? This presentation will describe how Carnegie Mellon approached this challenge from start to finish, including requirements, technology evaluation criteria, vendor selection, deployment plans, and the risks and benefits of transitioning to 802.11n.

The proliferation of Web 2.0 applications and other emerging technologies has made it difficult for academic support staff, instructional designers, and faculty members to select the best tool for their purpose. The challenge lies in understanding instructional style, content needs, student abilities, and pedagogical "fit," as well as figuring out how to capture evidence of successful practices. In this hands-on, faculty-centered seminar, participants will learn how to determine faculty member expertise and comfort level in using various emerging and existing instructional tools and how to devise strategies to document instructional success. Participants will use and become familiar with successful applications of tools within a pedagogical framework aligned with learner progress. Materials and strategies from this seminar are applicable for web-enhanced, hybrid, and online courses. Emerging technologies to be reviewed come from an open directory of Web 2.0 tools including those from ELI's 7 Things You Should Know About briefs.

How do you move a thousand courses and 350 faculty, as well as countless processes and procedures, from one CMS to another? Also, how do you go about managing the yearly upgrades? We'll share our conversion and upgrade experiences: what worked, what didn't, and what we would do differently next time.

The focus of this seminar will be to provide a look at desktop and enterprise solutions for the creation, management, hosting, and delivery of digital media, including podcasting. We will consider tools that allow the average person to create podcasts and coursecasts on their own. We will then look at enterprise-level systems, including commercial and open source, and discuss their ability to integrate and authenticate with course management systems. Hosting options (iTunes U, YouTube, and Screencast.com) will be explored. You will learn about the social, industry, and Internet trends that are defining the standards for digital media. You will leave with a resource guide containing information and links to systems and tools discussed, along with an instrument for determining needs and a guide to evaluating systems.

This meeting will cover the unique licensing needs of higher education and productive vendor relations. The discussion will explore the challenges users of different computers in more than one venue faced, user identities, and ever-changing software needs. Participants will share experiences and formulate a consensus position on vendor issues.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering partners with U.S.-based companies that provide offshore development at reasonable cost. We will discuss our selection process, cost analysis, three stages of application development, division of labor, and ongoing support.

Can sourcing certain IT services to outside vendors be beneficial to the institution? If so, which ones, and how many? What about insourcing? How do institutions select which services to provide in-house versus outside, and what factors should be considered? Hear the pros and cons of outsourcing versus insourcing IT services to help you decide whether to change or keep your system.

After 10 months of discussion and debate and 4,000 hours of development, USC implemented Google Apps for Education for more than 30,000 students. This presentation will review the determining factors and decisions involved in this groundbreaking implementation, as well as the often hidden costs of this "free" service.