Due to the unsightly weather forecasted for tonight, the Technology and Learning Discussion on MOOCs scheduled for tonight is postponed. Due to spring break and Easter, we’re tentatively rescheduling it for Monday, April 15th at the same time (6:00pm-7:15pmish) and same place (LSC238). I’ll post a reminder or notice if that changes. Thanks so much and please pass on the word to anyone else planning to attend! Safe travels to all tonight.
MOOC Discussion – Postponed
18 03 2013Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: event, moocs, Technology and Learning Discussion Group
Categories : Announcements, Online courses
Technology and Learning Discussion on MOOCs
7 03 2013Reposting from Bboard — all are welcome!
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The Technology and Learning discussion group (open to all University community members) will convene for a third meeting on Monday, March 18, 6:00pm-7:15pm in LSC 238 (the Forum/Faculty Dining Area), unless otherwise stated.
The theme of the evening’s discussion will be “all things MOOC.” Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were initially offered by faculty from Stanford and other prestigious universities as a way for their faculty to offer free courses online to tens of thousands of students at once. Since first offered through Stanford in 2011, faculty from many other institutions have begun offering MOOCs. The increasing popularity of MOOCs has caused a stir in higher education with arguments for and against their usefulness as an educational platform. We’re looking forward to a lively and informative discussion!
If you’d like to attend, please prepare for the discussion by reading/watching/browsing an article/video/website/etc of your choice that relates to MOOCs. Some suggestions if you don’t know where to start:
MOOC Hosting Sites:
https://www.edx.org/
https://www.udacity.com/
https://www.coursera.org/
History and General Articles About the “MOOC Revolution”:
What you Need to Know About MOOCs
The Year of the MOOC
Revolution Hits the Universities
Online Education (MOOCs)
Online Education Giant Gets Bigger
California to Give Web Courses a Big Trial
Big MOOCs on Campus
MOOCs for College Credit?
College Credits Eyed for Online Courses
MOOCs for Credit
MOOCs Take a Step Toward College Credit
Problems with and Arguments Against MOOCs:
MOOC Mess (MOOC course on building MOOC courses cancelled for technical issues)
The Real Digital Divide
Bandwidth Divide Could Bar Some from online Learning
Keeping an Eye on Online Test Takers
A New Era of Unfounded Hyperbole (MOOCs are Like Fancy Textbooks)
The Trouble with Online Education
Professor Leaves MOOC mid-Course in Dispute over Teaching
Misc
Universities Try MOOCs in Bid to Lure Successful Students to Online Programs
Replacing Live Lectures with Videos Increased Test Scores
In Colleges’ Rush to Try MOOCs, Faculty Are Not Always in the Conversation
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Tags: moocs, Technology and Learning Discussion Group
Categories : Announcements, Online courses, Technology Training, Tutorials
My.Scranton Portal – Upgrade to Luminis 5
4 03 2013The major update to the my.scranton portal (run on Luminis software) that we’ve been talking about for a while is now scheduled for spring break (March/April 2013), which is coming up fast. Thanks to IR, TAG has gotten to provide faculty input on the new portal design (and especially on the Faculty tab) over the past few months. Here’s an update on where we are.
Back in November/December, I gathered some informal feedback from a dozen faculty members on the existing my.scranton portal. Joe Casabona (IT) and Ileana Szymanski (Philosophy) helped me sort through the responses, which I’ll roughly summarize here —
Overall faculty responses to existing my.scranton portal:
- I don’t use 3/4 of this stuff
- I don’t even know what 1/2 of this stuff is
- It takes too long to get to the stuff I need
- I usually just search the website
- Oh, I didn’t know that was there!
Most important/most frequently used items in the existing portal:
- Angel
- UIS – Faculty Services
- Course schedule
- Directories
Also frequently used, but not as universal as the above items:
- Classroom Reservation Form
- Academic Calendar
- University Calendar
- Course Catalogs
- Royal Drive
- Travel
- OIT Equipment Request
- Check Vouchers
- Personal Announcements
- Faculty Scholarly Achievements
- Compressed Schedule
- Course Evaluations
Things that are helpful, but don’t necessarily need to be on the Faculty Tab:
- Bboard
- Pay stubs
- KBOX notifications
- Events submission
- CTLE events and registration
- Tax forms
- Library
- Strategic Plan
- Aquinas
Joe, Ileana, and I also discussed some overarching questions – most importantly, what is Faculty Tab for? Is it a portal to any faculty-related web content, to password-protected content only, or possibly to a personalized set of web content? Unfortunately, I didn’t get to spend time turning this feedback into a mockup of a Faculty Tab, so with major apologies to Joe and Ileana for dropping that ball… fast forward to March 2013.
The new portal is currently in test mode, with the official launch still planned for spring break. The good news is that there are some new features available – like dynamic integration with Banner. The bad news is that some of the new features we expected to be available – like personal tabs and group tabs – won’t actually be available until the next Luminis release (5.1). The other bad news is that Luminis can interact well with Banner but not with Angel, so it’s not really possible to pull dynamic information from Angel courses. The last bit of bad news is that Luminis and UIS (Self-Service) are two separate things, so although several faculty members reported usability issues with UIS (especially term selection), the Luminis upgrade will not include any updates to the Faculty Services UIS tab.
With all that said, here’s a glimpse of what the current draft of the Faculty Tab looks like in test (my dashboard and schedule are empty since I’m not teaching any courses) –
In this morning’s TAG meeting, we talked a little about some possible changes to improve the Faculty Tab – e.g., adding a “Report a Problem” box with an email form for the Technology Support Center. We’d like to hear any additional faculty feedback — whether it’s something that can be changed quickly before the launch or whether it’s something we’ll need to work on for the future. Please let Joe or me know (or comment below) if you have suggestions – and if you’re willing to volunteer to test out the faculty functions, let us know and we’ll see if we can set up a test account for you.
One area that I think we can improve relatively easily is Academic Links — what content is most useful there, and how should it be organized? Let us know what you’d like to see – I took a stab at assembling and grouping the most-used links from the existing my.scranton Faculty tab to get us started:
Teaching
- Angel
- Class Lists
- Grades
- Course Evaluations
- Classroom Request Form
- OIT Equipment Request
- Software Request
Students
- Student Information
- Writing Center Referral
- Testing Accommodations
- Academic Difficulties
- Math Placement Scores
Advising
- Advisee Listing
- Student Information
- Course Catalog
Schedules and Calendars
- Course Schedule
- Compressed Schedule
- Academic Calendar
- Final Exam Schedule
Research
- Scholarly Achievements
- Research Interests
- Travel Application
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Tags: Feedback, luminis, my.scranton
Categories : Announcements, Upgrades
TAG Meeting 2013-03-04
4 03 2013TAG’s second Spring 2013 meeting was this morning – and we actually finished up 5 minutes early! Here’s what’s going on:
1. My.Scranton/Luminis upgrade
We spent most of the meeting talking about the upcoming upgrade to Luminis 5 (Luminis is the software platform behind the my.scranton portal), which will happen during spring break. Thanks to IR, TAG has had the opportunity to weigh in with faculty feedback on what the new portal page should look like – especially the Faculty Tab. IT staff member Joe Casabona was kind enough to stop by our meeting to answer questions and listen to comments and suggestions about what’s most important to faculty and where it should go.
More details about the Faculty Tab in a following post, but the short version is that TAG and IR will be continuing to work on it both before and after the upgrade goes live. The new version of Luminis is thankfully a lot easier to update than the current version, so we’ll have an easier time making changes.
IR will be sending out a University-wide email later today about the upgrade. The TAG members in attendance agreed to remind their departments about the upgrade at their next department meetings, and Dave Dzurec (History) will give a brief announcement about the upgrade at the next Faculty Senate meeting.
TAG asks that all faculty members 1) report any problems you have with the new portal to the Technology Support Center (tsc@scranton.edu or 570-941-HELP) and 2) send any broader questions or comments to TAG so that we can share them with Joe and the rest of the IR staff members working on the project.
2. TAG Leadership for 2013-2014
TAG co-chair and co-founder Jeremy Sepinsky (Physics) will be taking a leave of absence for the 2013-2014 year, which means there are some big shoes to fill for next year. We discussed how TAG leadership should be determined, now and in the future, especially in the context of the formalization of TAG’s status within the Faculty Senate. We didn’t come to any conclusions today, but there was general agreement that:
- Having 2 co-chairs is beneficial due to the time commitment and workload.
- Having (at least) 1 co-chair be a Faculty Senator would be ideal, since TAG needs a Faculty Senator to serve as a liaison between TAG and the Senate’s Academic Support Committee.
- A rotating chair model (each co-chair serves for two years but with staggered terms, so each year there’s one outgoing co-chair and one incoming co-chair) would be helpful so that there’s continuity. This would also make the commitment of chairing more manageable, since it would only be a two-year commitment.
- Rotating membership in general might be beneficial in order to sustain the group and prevent burnout.
Kristen Yarmey (Library) is willing to continue as co-chair in 2013-2014 to smooth the transition for the incoming co-chair. Jeremy will look into existing Faculty Senate committee models for selecting leadership. Kristen will follow up with the Faculty Senate executive committee for an update on TAG’s Senate status.
3. Technology and Learning Discussion Group and Communicating about Technology on Campus
This semester Kristen and Bryan Burnham (Psychology) are hosting an informal Technology and Learning Discussion Group as an extension of a Clavius-like faculty seminar on Technology in the Mind they hosted during Fall 2012. The group’s purpose is to discuss readings and issues relating to technology and learning in a broad sense. All University community members are welcome to attend – meetings are biweekly on Monday nights at 6pm. Kristen is posting topics and meeting announcements to Bboard and here on the TAG site.
We had a brief discussion about how various technology groups on campus (like the Discussion Group and the newly formed Social Media group) can share what they’re doing and talking about with IR, CTLE, TAG, etc. Jim Franceschelli (IT Services) noted that communication about what technologies are being discussed would help IR staff members prepare for and respond to emerging needs. Communication between IR and TAG has been helpful to both groups – can we establish that kind of channel with the Discussion Group and other similar efforts? (IR staff members are welcome to participate in the group, but evening meeting times are difficult for most staff members’ schedules.)
Sandy Pesavento (Education) agreed that more communication about what technology is being tested or implemented around the campus (especially within different colleges/departments) would be useful. She suggested that TAG members share brief updates about technology initiatives in their departments/colleges at the beginning of TAG meetings (or possibly on the TAG WordPress site, since meeting time is short).
Kristen floated the idea of a collaborative blog or website for technology on campus, that could aggregate feeds of posts/events/news from IR, TAG, CTLE, the Library, and any other technology-related groups (formal or informal) on campus.
Kristen will discuss the idea of a shared technology site with CTLE, Library, and IR staff members to see if it might be of interest. She will also work with Jim and Bryan to look for ways in which IT staff can connect with the discussion group, possibly via daytime scheduling in future semesters and/or by integrating discussions into existing events like the Library/CTLE Technology on Your Own Terms workshops or IR’s IT Forums.
4. Ongoing Projects
TAG input is still needed for discussions about faculty course data and FERPA considerations for cloud computing. Faculty members should let Kristen know if they are interested in leading or participating in these discussions.
5. Code of Responsible Computing / Acceptable Use Policy
Dave has posted the latest draft of the revised Code of Responsible Computing, now the Acceptable Use Policy. Faculty should send feedback to either Dave or Jim so that their committee can incorporate comments before the draft goes through the formal policy process next semester.
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Tags: Acceptable Use Policy, Code of Responsible Computing, Faculty Senate, luminis, Meetings, my.scranton, Technology and Learning Discussion Group
Categories : Announcements, Minutes, TAG Administrative
Revision of The University of Scranton Acceptable Use Policy
4 03 2013As we continue the revisions to the University’s acceptable use policy (formerly the code of responsible computing) we welcome feedback from members of the University community. Please contact Dave Dzurec (david.dzurec@scranton.edu) with any comments or questions.
University of Scranton Acceptable Use Policy DRAFT 02-21-2013
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Categories : Announcements, Network and Infrastructure, Security
Updates from IT Forum and IT Matters
1 03 2013Just a few updates from recent Planning and Information Resources events and publications – PIR staff, let me know if I missed anything!
February 2013 IT Forum: PIR Tactical Plan
At the February 14th IT Forum, CIO Jerry DeSanto and AVP Robyn Dickinson gave a presentation (slides) on “Information Resources in Transition… Adding Value… Making a Difference” in which they discussed PIR’s progress on their 2010-2013 tactical plan and the thinking behind the 2013-2016 tactical plan. Robyn introduced the four parts of PIR’s vision: 1) Professional expertise, 2) Seamless technology environment, 3) Promote sound business practices, and 4) Enhance the learning experience. Points of particular interest for faculty members:
- PIR will support innovation in teaching & learning by expanding lecture capture use and capabilities, exploring learning management tools, refining long-term plans for classroom technologies, and working with colleges (via deans and TAG) to identify and meet faculty and student needs.
- PIR will be looking at big data and analytics in higher education – e.g., using analytics to attract students but also to measure learning.
- IT will be addressing BYOD (bring your own device) trends as students and faculty access University services using a large variety of consumer devices/products.
- PIR will be working on improving business practices and project management, not only in PIR itself but across the university. On the faculty side, we’ll see more information in the IT Service Catalog about what services are available (and how quickly).
IT Matters: Spring 2013
The Spring 2013 issue of IT Matters is out. Highlights for faculty members:
- OIT staff completed upgrades to Brennan 228, 312, 314, 500, 502, and 509 over intersession (yay!). St. Thomas 207, 212, and 311 also got upgrades (yay!).
- Google Chrome will be installed on University computers through KBOX (Tim has been waiting a long time for this!). There will be an IT Forum on Google Chrome on March 14th.
- Remote Desktop Assistance is now here – using Viewfinity, Technology Support Center staff can share your desktop (with your permission) in order to help you resolve issues over the phone.
- The Mobile Device Support Center has been updated with more documentation for Windows mobile devices.
- IT Services and the Library set up some self-serve book scanners so that students can scan pages from articles or books to a USB drive or Google Docs or email.
- Connie Wisdo has some notes on Footprints that show how you can log your own tickets (p. 1, 12).
- Phil Erb wrote up an explanation of Active Directory and what it means for users (see p.6).
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Tags: active directory, brennan hall, BYOD, chrome, footprints, IT Forum, IT Matters, learning analytics, remote desktop assistance, service catalog, stt, Tactical plan
Categories : Announcements, Classroom Mediation, Upgrades
Technology and Learning Discussion on 3D Printing – March 4
25 02 2013Reposting from Bboard — all are welcome!
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The Technology and Learning discussion group (open to all University community members) will convene for a second meeting *next* Monday, March 4, 6:00pm-7:15pm in LSC 238 (the Forum/Faculty Dining Area).
We’ll tackle 3D printing as our main topic for the evening, beginning with a 3D printing demonstration courtesy of Ben Bishop (Computing Sciences) and his students. After the demonstration, we’ll discuss about 3D printing in general and then focus in on how it might impact teaching and learning. Tim Cannon (Neuroscience), who has also been experimenting with 3D printing, has volunteered to lead the discussion (thanks, Tim!).
If you’d like to attend, please prepare for the discussion by reading/watching/browsing an article/video/website/etc of your choice that relates to 3D printing. Some suggestions if you don’t know where to start:
A few makers of 3D printers – MakerBot, FormLabs, Leapfrog, PrintrBot,…
Thingiverse – place for sharing 3D printing designs
Shapeways – 3D print on demand
3D Doodler – a hot glue gun-style approach to 3D printing
3D Printing a Wrench
A Factory on your Kitchen Counter
The Shape of Things to Come: A Consumer’s Guide to 3D Printers
Why 3D Printing Will Go the Way of Virtual Reality
Why 3D Printing Isn’t Like Virtual Reality
With a 3D Printer, Building a Gun With the Push of a Button
Smithsonian turns to 3D to bring collections to the world
Step into the world of 3D Printed tech couture
Transform your Facebook profile into a 3D printable sculpture
Materializing information: 3D printing and social change
Looking out a little further, we’re thinking about concentrating on MOOCs for our March 18th session. All discussions are open to the University community, so please feel free to join us if you’re interested and available.
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Tags: 3d printing, Technology and Learning Discussion Group
Categories : Announcements, Technology Training, Tutorials
TurnItIn – Updated Faculty Page
18 02 2013Earlier this semester, TAG relayed some faculty concerns to the Library and CTLE about issues with TurnItIn.com, the academic integrity/anti-plagiarism tool that the Library subscribes to. As part of a response, the Library’s web page for faculty on TurnItIn has been updated with clearer instructions and the latest instructor manual and tutorials.
Library Dean Charles Kratz would like additional feedback from faculty members, so please let him know if the updated page is an improvement and/or if you have additional questions, suggestions, or concerns related to TurnItIn.
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Tags: academic integrity, ctle, Feedback, Library, turnitin
Categories : Announcements, Technology Training, Tutorials
Technology and Learning Discussion Group
15 02 2013Reposting from Bboard – all are welcome! :)
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This semester, my colleague Bryan Burnham and I are organizing an open discussion group on Technology and Learning, and we invite all members of the University community to join us.
As a general theme, our discussions will center around these questions: What role does technology (broadly defined) play in student learning and course pedagogy? How does technology affect thinking and learning? In what ways can technology benefit or impede learning? We’ll aim for informal but interdisciplinary and evidence-based conversations.
The first meeting will be Monday, February 18th at 6:00pm-7:15pm in LSC238 (the Science Center’s Forum/Faculty Dining Area). We will have snacks, but feel free to bring additional consumables. Our plan is to meet every other Monday evening (except Easter Monday 4/1) at the same time and in the same location.
At our first meeting, we’d like everyone to come prepared to discuss something they recently read/watched/observed that relates to the theme of technology and learning. This could be a research article, a book, a media article, a TED talk, etc. Feel free to browse (and add to) our list of readings and media.
For future meetings, we’ll ask volunteers to lead group discussions on a more specific topic of their interest (for example- 3D printing, digital portfolios, learning analytics, MOOCs, computer/information literacy, reading/writing in the digital world, geographic information systems and location-based learning…). Discussion leaders may share readings, videos, or other resources in advance for the group to work off of.
Please let us know if you’d like to join us, and if so, if there are particular technology issues or questions that you’re interested in exploring. Hope to see you there!
Kristen Yarmey, Digital Services Librarian
kristen.yarmey@scranton.edu
Bryan R. Burnham, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology
bryan.burnham@scranton.edu
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Tags: clavius, teaching, Technology and Learning Discussion Group
Categories : Announcements
Mac Users – Install Sophos
14 02 2013Correction – this notice only applies to student Mac users, not faculty. Faculty are encouraged but not required to download Sophos. Many apologies and thanks to Don and Cal for the corrections!
As of Monday, February 18, 2013, you will be required to have an updated version of antivirus software on your Macintosh computer in order to access the university network (internet, email, Angel, etc.) Sophos is a FREE antivirus program that you can download from www.sophos.com. Mouse over the Products tab, click Free AntiVirus for Mac, then click Download Now. Follow the process to download and install the software.For assistance, please contact or stop by the Technology Support Center in Alumni Memorial Hall – (570) 941-4357.Do NOT delay. Install antivirus software on your Macintosh NOW!
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Categories : Announcements
