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January 2002
ACADEMIC COMPUTING AND COMPUTING SUPPORT SERVICES HIGHLIGHTS |
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Learning Emporium Discussions Underway
C&C is sponsoring a collaborative C&C, Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), CHASS, and CNAS proposal for a Learning Emporium. The two primary goals of the Emporium are as follows:
- To IMMEDIATELY improve campus retention as well as retention within scientific disciplines. In the Emporium, students will be able to take advantage of diagnostic quizzes, electronic textbooks, interactive self-paced tutorials, and on-line Learning Management Systems. Graduate students and staff will be available to give students personalized help during these self-paced tutorials and quizzes. Traditional lectures by faculty will also be available within the Emporium via streaming digital video.
- To generate T.A. productivity improvements in the short term (very large sections "mentored" by T.A.s involving "peer" learning opportunities). And perhaps more importantly, to ultimately (where appropriate and applicable) remove T.A.s entirely from discussion sections and allow some aspects of the curriculum to be completely "self instructed".
The Emporium will be located in a large, open facility with several small "break out" rooms for "peer" learning and T.A. advising. The space will contain at least 50 multimedia-enabled workstations with high-speed network connections and devices for personalized instructions (headphones, etc.). Via CTE and faculty efforts (in courses that lend themselves to this initiative) faculty led lectures will be optimized to foster "divergent thinking skills" (how to "learn", conceptual backgrounds, reasoning, etc.). Learning Emporium interactions will be optimized to foster success in areas requiring memorization, repetitive practice, etc. -that is, convergent thinking. The learning process will be engaging to students via the utilization of multimedia technology, digital video, creative software, etc.
Mobile Classroom on a Cart Planned
Especially during the past 24 months, many faculty have more formally attempted to integrate the principles of "Research Across the Curriculum" into their instructional efforts. Very often, these efforts involve the use of various software packages, internet based data sets, and other computer based tools. Unfortunately, none of UCR’s 50+ General Assignment classrooms are computer equipped, and this places great pressure on the publicly available microcomputer labs to meet this growing instructional need. C&C is therefore proposing the acquisition of a Mobile Computerized Classroom on a Cart. This unit (a 30+ laptop cart very similar technically to the unit described in the Cyber Café proposal) could be transported to any general assignment classroom to support computer-based instruction.
Cyber Café Planned
C&C is seeking funds to construct a Cyber Café / mobile printing station to increase student access to computers and the network. The Cyber Café -a mobile, wireless cart with 35 laptops- will be made available to students in various locations throughout campus (but for the most part within the general Commons area).
Learning Management System Upgrade Planned (to a Blackboard Level III Implementation)
C&C is proposing a major upgrade to the campus "instructional management system", Blackboard (Blackboard is the application that allows faculty to post notes, syllabi, schedules, etc. to the web and restricts access to enrolled UCR students). This upgrade (to a Level III implementation) will provide the campus many benefits, but during the next academic year, the upgrade will specifically provide two new major features: automated and completely integrated submissions of grades from Blackboard to the Student Information System and a limited (but highly functional) student portal.
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COMMUNICATIONS HIGHLIGHTS |
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New Rate Structure Proposed to Campus (variation of UCSD Communications Worker Model)
C&C has completed a huge budgetary and planning effort relating to campus communications rates. The plan will be submitted shortly to executive management for review. The highlight of the plan is a proposal to recover network costs via a Communications Worker fee. Importantly, unlike the UCSD model, voice rates (lines, instruments) will continue to be used to recover non-data network costs.
Modified Telephone Switch Replacement Proposed
UCR was not able to acquire a new phone switch as a result of the November 2001 RFP. Planning continues for the switch replacement, but with modified (limited) technical objectives (designed to provide UCR with the greatest degree of flexibility relating to future implementations of voice services.
Local ONI Planning Underway
UCR is striving to locate dark fiber from campus to 1 Wilshire and Anaheim. Initial discussions with Williams Communications seem promising.
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CENTER FOR VISUAL COMPUTING HIGHLIGHTS |
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CVC Facilitating Content Management planning for VCA (Vice Chancellor of Administration) and CHASS (College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences)
In anticipation of acquiring a content management system, C&C is partnering with the VCA and CHASS to develop static pages whose content and navigation might be EASILY ported to a content management server. CHASS is further along than the VCA in this process. Please visit the one of the first sites rolled out under this project, the Theatre Facilities Unit Site.
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MEDIA RESOURCES HIGHLIGHTS |
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UNLH 1000 High End Classroom is now "on-line"
The 575 seat University Lecture Hall came on-line in the Winter 2002 quarter. C&C is supporting the room, which features a very broad range of "best of breed" technologies supporting instruction.
This technology includes the following:
- Two Data Projection Systems as well as Rear Projection System (all large scale).
- PCs with Wireless Remotes.
- Slide Projectors (with "on the fly" digital conversion).
- Document Camera.
- Touch Panels (15 inch full room control systems).
- DVD Player, 2 VHS VCRs, CD/Cassette Player.
- Smartboards (projecting to any or all of the front or rear projection systems).
- Various Instructor microphones.
- 25 "Drop Down" Audience microphones.
Initial feedback from faculty and students has been extraordinarily positive.
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ADMINISTRATIVE COMPUTING HIGHLIGHTS |
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C&C Awarded Funds for Student Information System Support
During the 00/01 academic year, demands on the technical infrastructure supporting UCR’s on-line Student Information System (utilized for student registration, financial aid processing, student advising, articulation management, etc.) have increased dramatically. Three factors have contributed to the intensified use of this system:
- UCR’s continuing student population growth (and the commensurate increase in pre-enrollment application processing, financial aid processing, etc.).
- The increase in the complexity of demands made on the Student Information System (examples include the complexity associated with processing community college transfers and the pending intricacies associated with summer term processing).
- The ever-increasing expectations of students, faculty, and administrator for more robust, complete, and "fast" access to Student Information System data and services.
C&C was recently awarded a mid-year budget augmentation to begin upgrading the SIS system.
Funds were made available for the following:
- Converting Student ID from Social Security Number to a Randomly Generated Number
- Upgrading Current Xerox 4050 Printer to a NEW 4850 (or 75) Color Printer
- Creating a "Student Grade" Data Repository
- Outsourcing of Various Student Information System Projects and Tasks
SIS Replacement Planning Group in Place; Recommendation Due within 6 Months
A committee has been formed to facilitate long term planning and visioning for UCR’s SIS, via discussions and evaluations of major software enhancements and other multi-year initiatives. The group has been charged with defining the viability, approximate costs, and potential timeline for a client server SIS implementation (by summer 2002).
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CLIENT SERVER COMPUTING HIGHLIGHTS |
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Planning for PeopleSoft Version 8.4 Upgrade Starting
PeopleSoft has recently made release notes available for the long-awaited public sector, web-enabled version of their financials software. UCR is now engaged in a planning process to upgrade the financial system to that version of the PeopleSoft applications.
New Web System Supporting Campus Mail Room Recently Deployed
A new web-based Mail Services Work Order System has recently been deployed to the campus. The new system is built upon an Oracle database for better administration and compatibility with our other enterprise systems. The system has also been enhanced to include additional reporting capabilities from the MOS mail metering system.
Planning Underway for Upgrade of Campus Printing / Reprographics Web System.
The existing Printing and Reprographics system will be vastly improved and migrated to an Oracle database management system. Numerous new features and enhancements will be made. The new system will provide much better reporting, include a powerful search engine for retrieving orders using multiple criteria, and eliminate separate sub-systems, which currently require redundant key-entry.
Development of Enterprise Access Control System Underway
To ease the burden on departmental SAAs, an Enterprise Access Control System (EACS) is being designed to provide a single destination for maintaining users’ system privileges. As it stands now, SAAs must access SubPO to alter access levels in the Purchasing system and call Physical Plant if a new transactor must be established for the on-line CMMS system. With the EACS in place, the SAA can quickly search and update user profiles from a single, easy-to-use interface. This will save tremendous time and effort for departmental SAAs – not to mention service provider staff.
Plan for HR / AP IS Deployment Submitted to Executive Management
At UCR, under the direction of VCA Webster, UCR’s Task Force on HR/AP IS Deployment has been examining Human Resources (HR) and Academic Personnel (AP) campus needs in light of the NBA document. The Task Force has noted that as UCR grows, there will be unprecedented demand for improvements relating to staff and faculty recruitment, employee retention and merit/promotion processing, HR/AP transaction processing, reduction of non-enterprise databases and "shadow systems", ease of data retrieval, and overall process improvement (including a dramatic increase in employee HR self service). The time to plan and deploy a robust HR/AP IS is NOW, before the campus adds additional faculty and staff during the next 8 to 10 years.
Plan for Extramural Funds Management System Submitted to Executive Management
A contracts and grants system (COEUS) is being implemented to streamline the tracking of extramural funds. The system, developed at MIT, is a very robust Extramural Funds Management System that is widely deployed at research universities across the United States (Notre Dame, Purdue, UCLA, and UCSD were specifically mentioned at a recent conference as "development partners").
Planning and Prototyping of Campus "Transaction Processing" Portal Underway.
A campus web portal will be developed so that admin & staff users can access all of our enterprise transaction processing systems from a single destination. This feature will include the concept of single-signon to increase the efficiency of campus administrative personnel. Our vision is that a user will visit the web portal and login with a single username and password. The login process will determine the access privileges of the user and then "paint" a web page that includes all of the systems to which the user has access. Subsequently, the user will be able to go into each of those applications through the web portal without the need to re-submit username and password information. This project is being designed jointly between Client/Server Computing and the Technology and Computing Infrastructure/Security groups.
Web Based Generic Recharge System moving to Beta Status
A multi-purpose web recharge system is being implemented to handle recharge transactions for service providers that do not have independent, dedicated systems. Numerous campus service providers including the Campus Police Department, Human Resources, Housing, Commons, and the Student Health Center will use the generic recharge system.
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