dwaldron April 13th, 2009
PRI’s World Technology Podcast #239 was posted on Friday and features an interview with Evgeny Morozov. Originally from Belarus, Morozov is currently a fellow at the Open Society Institute in New York. In the past, he has written for The Economist and, according to his blog, net.effect is currently writing a book on the impact of the internet on global politics, with particular emphasis on authoritarian states. A recent post to net.effect is entitled “Moldova’s Twitter Revolution.” That post, and the Technology Podcast interview, explore the role played by Twitter and other social networking sites in the recent unrest in Moldova.
The World Technology Podcast is hosted by Clark Boyd and is available at http://www.theworld.org/technology or via iTunes.
dwaldron April 11th, 2009
The Datatel Users Group conference (DUG) is an annual event that brings together Datatel corporate employees with representatives of the more than 750 colleges and universities that utilitze Datatel’s software products. The conference offers scores of sessions devoted to a wide range of topics related to Colleague software modules and associated tools. Most of these sessions are conducted by employees of Datatel clients.
DUG 2009 took place between April 5th and 9th at National Harbor in Maryland. Tabby Conwell (Director of Applications Development), Michael Thompson (Analyst/Programmer) and Debbie Kilbane (Analyst/Programmer) attended the event and delivered a presentation entitled “Using DataOrchestrator, ODS and Business Objects for Query and Reporting.” Together, DataOrchestrator and ODS (Operational Data Store) constitute a data warehousing-type system for use with Datatel’s Colleague. Business Objects is a sophisticated reporting tool used to access and report upon data in the warehouse.
The College of Wooster is among the first Datatel clients to implement this data warehousing solution and Tabby, Michael and Debbie played key roles in that implementation. In recognition of this, Datatel asked Tabby, Michael and Debbie to present at DUG on this topic and to share their experiences with other Datatel clients.
The development of this solution incorporating DataOrchestrator, ODS and Business Objects has been a significant initiative for Datatel and is a critical component of the company’s reporting strategy. John Speer, Datatel’s president, and John van Weeren, Reporting and Technology Project Manager were among the many who attended the presentation.
Tabby and her group implemented this reporting solution in conjunction with the implementation of Colleague module for the Development Office. The solution was also implemented in conjunction with the HR and Payroll modules. Her group will now work to make the solution available to users of other Datatel modules.
OIT congratulates Tabby, Michael and Debbie on their successful presentation—and upon their successful implementation of this reporting solution. We all look forward to the successful deployment of this reporting system to additional College offices.
dwaldron April 10th, 2009
Morgan Hall lost electric power at approximately 10:17 p.m. on Thursday, February 9. Battery units provide power to our servers under these circumstances, but they can do so only for a short period of time. (Less than two hours.) The purpose of these battery units is to provide the Digital Infrastructure (DI) group the opportunity to shutdown our servers in an orderly way. Should the servers lose power during normal operation they can be damaged and/or data can be lost. DI staff members arrived on campus shortly after the power failure and were able to shutdown the great majority of servers before the battery units were drained. Power was restored in the early morning hours. By 4:45 a.m. most IT services had been reinitiated, though some problems stemming from the power failure persisted until 10:00 a.m. OIT is grateful to John McCreight and Mike Naylor who worked throughout the early morning to restore IT services to the campus community.
dwaldron April 6th, 2009
Professor John Lindner has made his YouTube debut. In his video, he demonstrates the use of a sympodium. In the course of this, he also explains how Eratosthenes, before 194 BC, determined that the earth was spherical and estimated its circumference with remarkable accuracy. Professor Lindner’s demonstration was conducted in conjunction with the work of Wooster’s learning community studying the pedagogical effectiveness of the sympodium device. The learning community’s work is funded by a grant from the Ohio Learning network.
Follow this link to view the video.
dwaldron April 3rd, 2009
After seven years of service, Purchasing Agent Linda McNeil has left OIT and the College of Wooster. Linda says her future plans involve spending a lot of time with her grandchildren and watching baseball. We’ll miss her and wish her the very, very best.
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| Ken and Linda McNeil |
dwaldron March 28th, 2009
April has been designated Instructional Technology Month at the College of Wooster. Don’t miss these opportunities to see interesting new technologies and the exciting ways in which College faculty are using technology to enhance student learning.
- Audio Projects
Wednesday, April 1, 12:00 - 1:00
Kauke 143
Matthew Broda and Megan Wereley will present their use of podcasting in the classroom.
- Teaching Matters — Writing with Technology
Friday, April 3, 12:00 - 1:00
Kauke 238
Bill Macauley and Matt Gardzina will present on writing with technology.
- Changing Shape of Education: Roles for Technology
Tuesday, April 7, 11:00 - 12:00
Kauke 243
Steve Ehrman of the Teaching, Learning and Technology Group will present a lecture on this topic.
- Video Projects
Wednesday, April 15, 12:00 - 1:00
Lean Lecture Room
Angela Bos, Karen Taylor, and Amy Jo Stavnezer will present their use of video projects in the classroom.
- Web Mapping
Friday, April 17, 12:00 - 1:00
Lean Lecture Room
Instructional Technology will present web-based mapping tools such as Google Earth and census mapping and how they might be incorporated into the classroom.
- Sympodiums
Wednesday, April 22, 12:00 - 1:00
Mateer 001
Wooster’s OLN learning community will present its findings on the usefulness of the SMART Sympodium for classroom use.
- Horizon Report Panel Discussion
Wednesday, April 29, 12:00 - 1:00
Mateer 001
Join us for an open conversation about the annual New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report which focuses this year on mobile devices, geo-mapping and more.
dwaldron March 24th, 2009
The Office of Information Technology is conducting a survey of College faculty and staff to assess the usage and quality of our services. I very much hope that you will share your thoughts and experiences with us by completing this online survey. We estimate that it will take 10 minutes to complete. We will make the results of the survey available to members of the Wooster community and pledge to make every effort to enhance our services based upon the feedback that you provide.
Follow this link to complete the survey.
dwaldron March 23rd, 2009
OIT congratulates the class of 2009 on I.S. Monday!
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| An Absolutely Unique Academic Procession |
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dwaldron March 20th, 2009
ScotZone, Wooster’s wireless network, has now been extended throughout Wagner residence hall. Wireless network access is now available throughout the following residence halls:
- Andrews
- Armington
- Bissman
- Bornhuetter
- Compton
- Douglas
- Gault Manor
- Holden
- Holden Annex
- Kenarden
- Luce
- Miller Manor
- Stevenson
- Wagner
- Westminster Cottage
Wireless service will be available in Babcock when that residence hall reopens following its renovation. There are no plans to extend the network into small residential houses.
Students can find instructions for connecting to the College’s secure, authenticated wireless network on the OIT website. Assistance with wireless access is available at the IT help desk located behind the circulation desk in Andrews Library.
dwaldron March 19th, 2009
The successful processing of January’s salaried payroll was the last major milestone of the OSCAR project, Wooster’s implementation of Datatel’s Colleague ERP system. The College signed a contract with Datatel in December, 2004, and the implementation was launched in January, 2005. The financial module (general ledger, purchasing and accounts payable) was implemented first and went live on July 1, 2005. This was followed by Admissions (October, 2005), Financial Aid (December, 2005), Academic Records and Registration (April, 2006), Student Housing (April, 2006), Accounts Receivable (July, 2006), Budget Management (October, 2006) and Degree Audit (October, 2006). The College upgraded from Colleague Release 17 to Release 18 in February, 2007. Wooster was among the first to go live with Colleague Advancement, Datatel’s next generation development support application. The first elements of Colleague Advancement entered production in July, 2007 and remaining elements were brought online over the ensuing year. The Human Resources and Payroll modules enter production in January of this year.
The project Implementation Oversight Committee (IOC) recently met to mark the end of its four year odyssey. Chief Information Technology Officer and IOC chair David Waldron acknowledged the very real sacrifices that had been made by members of the committee and by employees in the many offices across campus impacted by the implementation. He spoke of the project’s accomplishments and thanked committee members for their dedication and perseverance.
Director of Applications Development Tabby Conwell was honored for her extraordinary hard work and dedication to OSCAR’s success. The IOC chair spoke at some length about Tabby’s many critical contributions to the project and presented her with an inscribed statuette in appreciation of her herculean efforts.
The Office of Information Technology celebrates the successful conclusion of the long, complex and challenging OSCAR project and looks forward to serving the College and its mission in new and exciting ways.
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| Tabby Conwell |
