University of California, RiversideInformation Technology Leadership Council

February 2005

ACADEMIC COMPUTING AND Multimedia Technologies Group HIGHLIGHTS

Student Pictures to be Incorporated into Blackboard - C&C has successfully partnered with Computer Science on a pilot program to make student pictures available digitally to faculty. C&C is now creating a production system to allow Blackboard to display student pictures housed in LDAP. The goal is to pilot this new capability in Spring 2005.

Anti-Plagiarism Software Pilot Complete - C&C partnered with several faculty in a Fall 2004 pilot of anti-plagiarism software that integrates with Blackboard. Based on this successful pilot, C&C will be seeking funding to acquire the SafeAssignment software.

Classroom Technology Survey points to Success - In the summer of 2004, C&C deployed wireless technology in all General Assignment classrooms, as well as a “single point of control system” allowing faculty to control all the technology in the room from a central control panel. The panel also has a “help button” that sends a “text message” to C&C’s classroom technologists who can then deliver just-in-time support. In the Fall 2004 survey, C&C asked "Did the available technology (projector, sound system, document camera, etc.) in the classroom meet your pedagogical needs?" This year, 99% of the respondents answered either "Completely" or "Mostly". The entire survey is available at:

http://iclassroom.ucr.edu/index.php?content=survey_results

C&C to Partner with Academic Senate on Three to Five Year Vision for Instructional Technology - In partnership with UCR’s Academic Senate Committee on Information Technology and Academic Computing, C&C has completed a “first draft” of a three to five year vision for campus instructional technology. It is hoped that this effort will be completed by Spring 2005.

Top

 

ENTERPRISE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS

Administrative Transaction Processing Portal (iViews) to be Deployed in March - iViews (Visual Interface to Workplace Systems) will be deployed in March. Initially, 10 systems will utilize the portal for single sign-on. Several additional systems will be added over the summer.

PeopleSoft and Purchasing Systems on the Web to be Deployed in October - Although both the PeopleSoft 8.8 and new web Purchasing systems are ready to be deployed, the campus has decided to wait until October to deploy these new (portal ready) systems. The primary reason is campus training, and a complete suite of web based (digital video) training material will be available to the campus to support the deployment of these systems.

Proposal and Award Management Information System Development Continues - C&C is partnering with the Office of Research on developing and deploying a campus “electronic approval” process for extramurally funded proposals. C&C is seeking ITLC partners to collaborate on data interchange “best practices” to route proposals to federal agencies.

First Phase of Academic Personnel System Nearing Completion - The first phase of UCR’s web based Academic Personnel System is nearing completion. This is a web based “engine” that determines faculty eligibility, tracks sabbatical leave creates, records committee recommendations, etc. C&C is actively seeking college partners for phase II, a electronic dossier system including electronic routing. The potential for server consolidation and reduction of clerical effort is tremendous.

Graduate Student Information System / Paperless Admissions System - UCR’s new Graduate Student Information system is nearing its first major development milestone. The system will have a request for information capability, preliminary application, full application, e-correspondence manager, fellowship / applicant financial aid offer tool, and portal capabilities. The system will consolidate servers across departments and colleges and include paperless routing of applicant files.

Top

 

ADMINISTRATIVE COMPUTING HIGHLIGHTS

Advising System (Web Course Plan Submissions) Underway - In partnership with the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, C&C is developing a new student self service tool to facilitate advising and student / department interactions. Based on rules input by academic departments, students are required to input a course plan, supply text, or visit an advisor PRIOR to registering via the web.

C&C seeking ITLC partners; creating vision for Web Student Advising Tools - C&C believes much more can be done relating to web advising tools and advising processes. UCR would be very open to interacting with other campuses on developing and sharing best practices relating electronic advising tools and processes.

On-Line Comprehensive Hold - C&C is developing a comprehensive hold system that will explain (on the web) what holds have been place on registration, financial aid, etc. and how these holds can be resolved. C&C expects this new systems will greatly reduce face-to-face student / central department interactions.

Web requests for Transcripts / Credit Card Payment Underway - C&C is developing a new student self-service capability that will allow students to request and pay for transcripts via the web.

Top

 

COMMUNICATIONS HIGHLIGHTS

Progress Made on Fiber to the Desert Supporting Palm Desert Campus - CENIC is providing fiber to the Heckmann Palm Desert campus. This fiber connection should come on-line in April and provide 1 gigabit per second connectivity back to campus.

UCR Backbone Update to 10 GB Underway

Two Buildings (College of Engineering and Physical Sciences) 10 GB Project Underway - This project will bring two buildings back to the core at 10 gigabits per second.

rNET in Production - C&C has partnered with the city of Riverside to acquire dark fiber to connect a remote research center to the university. This research center is now connected to the campus backbone at gigabit. C&C will extend this dark fiber to the California Museum of Photography and the new Culver Arts Center.

Top

 

CENTER FOR VISUAL COMPUTING HIGHLIGHTS

iGrade - During the Fall 2004 quarter, C&C piloted a new tool for faculty that enables uploading of grades from the web or from an Excel spreadsheet. The tool was very well received by faculty and the pilot group will be greatly expanded during the Winter quarter.

iEvals - During FY 03/04, C&C developed an on-line system to process Teaching Assistant evaluations. This system is currently under modification to allow for electronic instructor (faculty and lecturer) evaluations. The first version will include the capability to electronically process Scantron forms (into an Oracle database), view the results on-line, and run reports via the web. Version two will include the capability (based on guidance from the Academic Senate and executive management) to gather instructor evaluations via the web.

Top

 

COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY HIGHLIGHTS

Quotas Increased for Webmail Users - C&C has increased e-mail disk quotas for faculty, staff, and students. Faculty now have 1 gigabyte of on-line storage, staff have 250 megabytes, and students have 150 megabytes.

iShare Network Disk Storage piloted to 30 Faculty - During the Fall 2004 quarter, C&C piloted a new service for faculty, making 2 gigabytes of networked storage available via a web interface (this is a vendor supplied system from Xythos). The service will be placed into production during the Winter quarter 2005.

Top
Jump to Department Highlights



Page Created by Center for Visual Computing Center for Visual Computing