Below are the latest opportunities from NITLE, National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education. Please note there is a new call for Instructional Innovation Fund (IIF) proposals with a deadline of May 15th, 2008.

There is a nomination process and it is simply letting me (Mur Muchane) know which opportunity you are interested in.

On Monday, March 24 ITS will be upgrading its Internet service with an approximately 50% boost in speed, from 42 megabits per second to 62 megabits per second. At the same time, we are building in growth potential for speeds as fast as one gigabit.

Please take a moment to review the NITLE opportunities below.There is a nomination process and it is simply letting me (Mur Muchane) know which opportunity you are interested in. These are open to faculty, technologists and librarians.

Faculty and staff email accounts will be moved to an Exchange 2007 email server on Friday, September 21st, at 5:00 p.m. Your email quota will increase from 100MB to 1GB.

Students returning to campus for the new semester will find a world-class campus-wide wireless (Wi-Fi) network. The new high-speed, high-performance Wi-Fi network will provide mobile broadband access to students, faculty and staff throughout most of the buildings and grounds of the campus.

Your colleagues in Information Technology Services are pleased to introduce our new ITS News Blog. For those not conversant with the term, a Blog is simply a web-based journal that is frequently updated with news. We have retired the monthly ITS newsletter and moved to this new format to provide you with campus technology news on an ongoing basis rather than through a monthly publication. Better yet, our new Blog is intended as an interactive exchange allowing you, our clients, to post your comments and reactions to the posted technology news stories.

As we interact with you in this new medium, a large part of our work will be listening to you. We look forward to your comments on what you are looking to accomplish with technology, how you anticipate your IT needs changing over time, what you like about what is currently available and what you need that is not currently offered.

It is our hope that patterns emerging from your responses will guide us as we plan for current and future technology services to better serve you.

A recent survey of higher education institutions by the Campus Computing Project showed that generating reports from enterprise administrative systems, such as Banner, to be among the key challenges faced by many colleges and universities. Administrative systems are primarily intended and designed to manage vital campus resources and functions – admission and financial aid, academic affairs, student life, college relations, human resources, business and finance, and more. The critical nature of the day-to-day transactions, such as tracking grades or recording donor gifts, coupled with the complexity of the thousands of tables found in such integrated databases makes administrative systems ill-suited for reporting purposes.

As Davidson’s liaison to the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE, pronounced as “nightly”), I invite you to participate in the broad range of opportunities offered through this organization. NITLE, a non-profit organization funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, offers a range of programming geared toward creating transformative learning experiences for and with students by applying technology in innovative ways.

Programming is offered in three general categories:
Professional development opportunities for faculty and staff.
Conferences, meetings, and seminars tailored around specific technology topics
Collaborative curricular development such as Sunoikisis and Al-Musharaka. Under Sunoikisis, inter-institutional collaborative team-taught courses in Classics have been developed. A similar collaboration under Al-Musharaka is growing in studies related to the Arab and Islamic worlds.

There is a nomination process and it is simply letting me know which opportunity you are interested in. As you look at the next three months of opportunities below, keep in mind our subscription to NITLE covers expenses for travel, food, and accommodation.

Emerging Technologies and the Liberal Arts Campus. Program Dates: December 8, 2006. Union College. Deadline: Friday, October 27. http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/1215

Copyright and Digital Materials. Program Dates: January 7 – 9, 2007. Honnold/Mudd Library of the Claremont University Consortium. Deadline: Wednesday, November 1. http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/1142

Managing Digital Collections: A Symposium on Technical and Organizational Interoperability. Program Dates: March 11 – 13, 2007. Smith College. Deadline: Wednesday, November 1. http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/1143

Instructional Technology Leaders Conference. Program Dates: March 26 – 28, 2006. DePauw University. Deadline: Wednesday, November 1. http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/1146

New Music and Media. Program Dates: April 12 – 15, 2007. Colorado College. Deadline: Wednesday, November 1. Details forthcoming.

Teaching with Media Resources in Middle Eastern and Asian Studies. Program Dates: April 27 – 29, 2007. Lake Forest College. Deadline: Wednesday, November 1. http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/1148

Introducing GIS (iGIS). Program Dates: December 14 - 16, 2006. Nomination Deadline: Friday, November 3. Location: Beloit College. http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/1217
Multimedia Narrative. Program Dates: December 18 - 20, 2006. Nomination Deadline: Wednesday, November 15. Location: Skidmore College. http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/1127

Mur Muchane

As we settle into a new semester, this seems like an appropriate time to look ahead and share our plans for the coming year. But, first, let's take a quick look back at where we’ve just been. As many of you know, ITS made a special effort this past year to study our organizational structure and revisit everything we do and the services we provide through fresh eyes. Our goal had two components: first, assess how we are doing; and, second, look for ways to improve technology services and support. Your input through our campus surveys and many conversations with faculty and staff have shaped our organization and the delivery of technology services.

Beginning this summer, we transitioned into a new structure comprised of the following five service units:

Application Development - responsible for enterprise systems such as Banner and application integration.

Business Services - responsible for budgeting, contracts, licensing, invoicing, capital projects, and general administrative services.

Instructional Technology and Media Production - responsible for supporting faculty in teaching, learning, and research as well as audiovisual support in and out of the classroom.

Technology Help Services - responsible for the Help Desk, office and residence hall support, and computer labs.

Systems and Networks - responsible for the network, servers, telephones and cable TV.

Now, let's look ahead. This summer members of ITS management spent a productive and enjoyable two days on the campus of Wake Forest doing our strategic planning for the 2006-07 academic year. The goals we emerged with break out into four categories. We will be talking with you about the specific tactical goals in each category as this academic year unfolds.

Client Services and Customer Satisfaction. We plan to introduce new applications including the latest Mac and PC operating systems, Leopard and Vista. We’ve planned information sessions to share all the details of changes coming to your desktop.
Training and User Education. We will partner with the new Human Resource Manager for Learning and Development to institutionalize training on a variety of fronts including Banner, Reporting, Content Management System, etc.
Application Development and Integration. We plan to begin the process of integrating Banner with systems such Blackboard and OneCard.
Enhanced Security/Disaster Recovery/System Resilience. Our goals are to document and perform a full disaster recovery of all mission critical campus systems.

As we did last academic year, we will be out and about on campus in conversation with you, our clients. As we interact with you, a large part of our work will be to listen, learn, and continue to respond.

Mur Muchane

The National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE, pronounced “nightly”) has been around since 2001. It was established as a non-profit organization with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with the stated purpose of promoting liberal education through innovation and collaboration among national liberal arts colleges.

In January 2006, NITLE was restructured under the larger umbrella of Ithaka, another non-profit organization whose mission is to help foster the acceptance of information technologies for the benefit of worldwide higher education. The “new” NITLE now encompasses and merges the formerly separate Mellon-funded regional technology centers: The Associated Colleges of the South Technology Center, based at Southwestern University; the Midwest Instructional Technology Center, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and the Center for Educational Technology, based in Middlebury, Vermont. Under this new NITLE management structure, the three regional technology centers will operate as a cohesive and coordinated entity to deliver the following programming to the 93 member national liberal arts colleges:

Professional development opportunities for faculty and staff.
Conferences, meetings, and seminars tailored around specific technology topics.
Collaborative curricular development such as Sunoikisis and Al-Musharaka. Under Sunoikisis, inter-institutional, collaborative, team-taught courses in Classics have been developed. A similar collaboration under Al_Musharaka is growing in studies related to the Arab and Islamic worlds.
The new NITLE is advised by five regional Advisory Councils. The councils are responsible for long-range strategic planning, advising NITLE on the issues that will face liberal arts colleges. Karen Goldstein, Davidson Vice President for Business and Finance, serves on the regional council for the south.

Each participating campus has a Liaison. My role as Davidson’s Liaison is to publicize, promote, and nominate Davidson faculty, staff, and students for NITLE opportunities. To this end, you will receive regular communication from me urging you to participate in NITLE’s wide array of opportunities. The nomination process is straight-forward; simply let me know which opportunity you are interested in. As you look at the next three months of opportunities by following the link below, keep in mind NITLE covers all expenses for travel, food, and accommodations.

http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/opportunities

Mur Muchane

Barn raising, the act of coming together as a community to achieve a specific goal, is a wonderful metaphor for campus preparations currently underway for the Banner 7 upgrade. Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, barns were the largest and most costly structures built by families and essential for protecting valuable farming resources. Because many hands were required, communities raised barns. Now, fast forward to life at Davidson in the 21st century. Banner is the single largest and most costly campus computing resource. Like the barns of yesteryear, Banner is essential for virtually all functions of Davidson College. In short, Banner is the barn that is raised by the campus community to protect and facilitate our vital campus resources and functions – admission and financial aid, academic affairs, student life, college relations, human resources, business and finance, and more.

As we upgrade from Banner 6 to 7, your involvement and commitment is essential to the success of this endeavor. The Banner 7 upgrade is a significant undertaking for the college and it requires involvement of staff from all areas. We will cutover to the Banner 7 on May 29, 2006. In the weeks ahead, we will be calling on you to be energetically, enthusiastically, and fully involved in testing, training, documentation, data cleanup, data standards development, and revising procedures as necessary.

Our expectation is that each of us will commit our time, resources, and energy to make the transition to Banner 7 a success. If you have any questions or concerns, we encourage you to contact Ms. Kenitra Smith, Director of Administrative Computing (kdsmith or x2175).

Thank you in advance for your teamwork and efforts in ensuring a smooth transition to Banner 7.

Mur Muchane

In a recent survey by the Campus Computing Project, 30 percent of the respondents identified data and network security as the single most important information technology issue facing their institutions. These survey results come as no big surprise in light of the highly publicized security breaches at dozens of higher educations institutions and companies like LexixNexus and the Choice Point data services.

What is ITS Doing on the Security Front?
Shoring up the defenses against unauthorized access to campus computing resources is a continuous process and high priority for ITS. We recently completed several large projects that target enhanced security. Our approach is multi-pronged, spanning user education, best practices for desktop and centralized computing management, an arsenal of defensive tools on the network, anti-virus and operating patch management procedures among other initiatives.

Last summer we converted campus databases from using social security numbers as identifiers. An audit of Banner user accounts and permission classifications is currently underway. As part of this process, accounts identified as no longer in use have been disabled and will be removed. We have recently implemented strong passwords in Banner, passwords consisting of at least six characters that are a combination of letters, numbers and symbols.

We also recently completed the rollout of three secure options for accessing campus computing resources from off campus. These remote access options provide for secure access to email, network file storage (Louise) and Banner.

On the user education front, clients are reminded on a regular basis to protect confidential data on campus servers. It is the responsibility of every campus computer user to become knowledgeable on who has access to data stored on desktop, departmental or central servers. Reviewing file permissions each semester is a good and recommended practice.

Proposed Policy for Computer and Data Security
Over the course of Spring semester, we plan to begin a series of conversations with the Academic Computing Committee (ACC), the Joint Committee on Information Technology (JCIT), and the Principal Executive Staff (PES) on a Computer and Data Security policy for Davidson. The policy will set forth the mechanism by which data stored on College-owned computing systems and utilized by College employees and students is secured and protected.

Success in this area will ultimately depend on each of us acting in a way that protects the information resources of the College.

Mur Muchane

New collaborations between the students, Residence Life, the College Union, and Information Technology Services (ITS) have resulted in two new computer facilities formally unveiled on Tuesday, January 17. Using various avenues, students have, over the years, expressed the need for easier and more distributed access to computers and printers across campus. To fully understand and respond to student requests for more computers and printers in distributed locations across campus, we entered into discussions with the students, Residence Life, and the Union in autumn of 2005. The discussions were productive and two new locations for computers and printers were identified.

New Facilities
ITS staff worked hard over the Winter break to deploy the new computing facilities on the fourth floor of the Campus Center and in an under-utilized TV lounge on the third floor of Tomlinson Hall. The fourth floor of the Campus Center is now home to 10 computers – eight of them are on desks in the main open area and two are tucked away near the fireplace on the same level. The printer for these computers is located on the third floor near the elevator. We believe this new facility will enable groups of students to collaborate more easily by providing an environment where they can congregate easily and still have access to a rich set of information resources. The Tomlinson location is now home to eight computers and a laser printer. Students have access to the Campus Center computers anytime the building is open and 24/7 CatCard access to the Tomlinson facility.

Improved Access
With the addition of the computers in Union and Tomlinson, ITS provides and maintains 104 computers in public computing facilities. The vast majority of these computers (77 to be precise) are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The other 27 are available based on the hours of the library and Chambers. Another 120 computers are available in the Science instructional labs and Language Resource Center. These computers are available until 1:00AM in the Chambers, Watson, Dana, and Martin buildings.

Ubiquitous Computing
The need for more distributed computing and printing resources has been largely driven by the rapid growth in the use of electronic resources (Blackboard, library databases, the web) in teaching, learning, and research at Davidson. ITS has anticipated and responded to these trends well by making ubiquitous computing a central focus of our technology planning for the campus. Today all major campus buildings are interconnected by a fiber-based Gigabit backbone network that provides high-speed access to the rich set of information resources at Davidson and beyond. While much work remains in the area of wireless networking, important strides have been made. Wireless connectivity now extends to the Campus Center (including patios), Library, Chambers, Sloan (including North and East lawns), Vail, Watson, Dana, Martin, Patterson Court as well as a few others locations scattered across campus. Here is a full list of wireless locations on campus.

Campus technology planning is largely driven by the input we receive from you as our clients. We do like to hear from you and look to you for answers to the following questions:

What do you, our clients, want to accomplish with information technology?
How will your IT needs change over time?
What do you like about what is currently available to you?
What do you need that is not currently offered?