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ITS Newsletter Vol. 5, Issue 2 SPECIALIZING IN FUTURES HISTORICALLY AMERICAN. UNIQUELY CARIBBEAN. GLOBALLY INTERACTIVE. Information & Technology Services PROVIDING THE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS AND THE INFORMATION RESOURCES TO ACHIEVE VISION 2012 U V I niversity of the irgin slands March 2009 Letter from the CIO The spring of 2010 is a very busy time in ITS. The ITS staff is preparing for the roll-out of the myCampus portal. This portal will allow single sign-on to all UVI applications and provide users with the opportunity to de- velop campus communities similar to FaceBook. You will hear much more about this event in April. In addition, fi ve vendors are com- peting in the bidding process to increase the bandwidth available on St. Thomas to 45 mpbs. This will allow faster web browsing and more reli- able connections from off-campus. The biggest project underway is the replacement of the inter-island microwave. This is a $360,000 project funded by EPSCoR and the Founda- tion of the Virgin Islands (FUVI). It is the last step on the technology side of the FUVI Leap Frog Project. This re- placement will allow up to 300 mpbs of service between the campuses and will greatly increase speed, the quality of videoconferencing and the capacity to share data. The project will start May 11, 2010 with the Micro- wave fully operational by summer session. Renovations will also begin soon in the St. Thomas Library. This will include more electrical outlets for student laptops, more group study space and additional seating. This project is funded by Title III CCRAA monies. Work is scheduled to be complete in the fall. Please look for the annual ITS Cus- tomer Service Survey in April. Let us know how we are doing in meeting your needs. Tina M. Koopmans Chief Information Offi cer Tina.Koopmans@uvi.edu (340) 693-1540 Check out our digital display signs all over the campuses! Be informed! Stay up to date with news concerning Infor- mation & Technology Services as well as news about other UVI departments. The display signs are located in the fol- lowing areas: ACC STT Library STT Cafeteria CA Lab STX Library STX Cafeteria STX CATS Center STX Residence Hall If you would like to post your news or event to the digital signage messge board, contact the ITS at either helpdesk@uvi.edu or x1466. IN THIS ISSUE: Are You a Twitter Subscriber, Page 1 Digital Signage is Here, Page 1 New ITS Community Borrowers Program, What is a Smart Classroom, Page 2 Collection Development, Page 3 St. Croix Library Renovation Update, Page 3 UVI Renews Contract with AT&T Mobility, New CETL Director Appointed, Page 4 Spring 2010 Faculty Training, Page 4 Librarian News, Page 5 ITS Service Award Program, Page 5 Results of Faculty & Student Surveys - part 2, Page 5 & 6 Technology Tip, Page 7 Blackboard 8.0 Information, Page 7 Faculty Learning Resource Booklet, Page 7 Technology Fee Report, Page 8 ITS Annual Report, Page 8 Are You a TWITTER Susbscriber? Twitter notifi cations can be read through an RSS Feed and received on your cellphone. Be in the know with UVI tech- nology. Follow UVICIO on Twitter! Not a subscriber? It’s easy to do. Go to http://www.twitter.com to subscribe. Once done, follow UVICIO. In order to receive the ‘tweets’ on your mobile device, text START to 40404 . You will be prompted to provide information to register your device on Twitter. Once that process is completed, text FOLLOW UVICIO to 40404 to receive tweets from UVICIO on your device. Please note, standard texting rates apply. Want to stay abreast of UVI technology changes? You will be informed of imporve- ments, scheduled maintenance and down systems, as they are noticed or planned. Digital Signage is here! A smart classroom is equipped with audiovisual resources, allowing the instructor to teach using a wide variety of multime- dia. These include DVD’s, PowerPoint presentations, music and more displayed through a digital projector. Smart class- rooms are checked on a regular basis to ensure that all the equipment is working properly. For assistance and training on operating the equipment in the smart classroom on both campuses, please contact the UVI Helpdesk at 693-1466 or e-mail helpdesk@uvi.edu. The Smart Classrooms on the St. Thomas campus are located in: •Teachers Education 212 •Teachers Education 216 •Business 206 •Nursing 201 •Nursing 214 •Business 103 •SFC 222 •CAB 213 •Business 204W The Smart Classrooms on the St. Croix Campus are located in: •EVC 716 •EVC 303 •EVC 305 •EVC 207 •EVC 505 •EVC 501 •EVC 405 •EVC 408 •Q 100 Equipment available in rooms include •PC with 2.8 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, 2 front USB ports, and a DVD drive. Every PC is also connected to the UVI network. •Digital Projector. Each Smart Classroom has a PC in the room that is connected to a ceiling mounted digital projector. There is a VGA Hub in each Smart Classroom allowing anyone to connect their personal laptop to the Projector. •Access to a DVD Player that is built into the PC. Below is a list of all the software that has been installed on all Smart Classroom computers on campus. Any additional software can be installed by request as long as the software has the proper licenses. To request additional software be installed in the smart classroom’s, please contact the ITS Helpdesk at 693-1466 or e-mail helpdesk@uvi.edu. Microsoft offi ce 2007 F-Secure Client Security 8.00 Real player 11.0.4 Real VNC 4.0 Internet Explorer 8 WinZip 9.0 Windows Media Player 12 Power DVD Mozilla Firefox The University has always allowed FREE on-site access for adult members of the Virgin Islands community to use library gen- eral collections and facilities. Now there is a new option for community users who desire greater access to UVI’s Library and network resources for research and study. The Preferred User Program (PUP) is the new library service for the USVI community. The program is governed by the following guidelines: Privileges: • Personal UVI domain account for on-campus Internet access • Borrowing privileges for library books • On-campus access to library databases for research • Option for printing from on campus computers • Access to UVI wireless network from a personal laptop. Wireless service is avail- able in most campus buildings and meeting rooms. • Access to workstations in the library computer lab Requirements: • For long-term access, non-refundable membership fee of thirty dollars ($30.00) • UVI alumni with proof of current membership in the UVI alumni association pay an annual, non-refundable PUP membership fee of fi fteen dollars ($15.00) • For short-term access to the UVI network pay $10 for a one-day guest account. This includes printing up to 30 black and white copies; it does not include borrowing privileges • Current library community borrowers are grandfathered into PUP with an auto matic two-year membership. After 2 years, they must pay the annual fee. • Printing from the libraries computer lab is available to PUP members by adding value to a printing account at ten cents ($0.10) per page for black and white, and fi fty cents ($0.50) per page for color New ITS Community Borrowers Program What is a Smart Classroom? Collection Development A library is more than just the sum of its books; subtraction also plays a very important role in managing its collec- tions. Collection development comprises identifying and adding new titles [acquisition], and selecting and removing outdated ones [weeding/de-selecting]. Both functions are crucial to ensure that the materials we hold are relevant in scope and suffi cient in number to meet our users’ needs. Librarians decide which books to acquire based on the following factors: the university’s academic curricula, stu- dents’ assignments and research queries, and cost versus use ratios. Interacting with our users and staying abreast of publisher’s offerings give us great insight regarding which books, periodicals and documents to purchase—however, faculty input is often the missing link. As scholars and active researchers, professors are encouraged to submit pur- chase requests to the library for recent, relevant titles to supplement course content (no periodical subscriptions are being accepted at this time). While we love adding new materials to the library, the reality is that we must also subtract those whose utility has expired. Library collections are dynamic and weeding/de-selection is the natural process of deselecting books to maintain relevant items on our [limited] bookshelves. Librarians consider a book’s date and circulation, among other factors, when weeding/de-selecting but we can work far more effi ciently, once again, by partnering with faculty. We are reaching out to instructors via a library “weeding/de-selecting party” each Spring, one-on-one weeding/ de-selection appointments and divisional deselection lists prior to discarding books. Science and Mathematics and Nursing Divisions have already been contacted; the remaining Divisions will receive lists for review this semester. UVI Renews Contract with AT&T Mobility In May 2009, UVI adopted a cellular phone use policy. This policy served as a guideline for University issued cell phones and brought the University in compliance with the IRS Code for cellular phone use. Since the implementation of the policy, there has been an infl ux of requests for University issued cell phones and the average monthly cost of University issued cell phones increased from approximately $1,336 to $2,583. This resulted in the renegotiation of UVI’s current AT&T Mobility contract. With the implementation of the new contract, costs will be reduced to $1,488.69, with a potential savings of $13,128.00 annually. The University’s Cellular Phone Policy can be found at http://infotech.uvi.edu under publications. Banner 8 Upgrade ITS will upgrade Banner, the University’s ERP to version 8 on April 29th – May 2nd. During this time the database, including self service access through BanWeb, will not be available. Though the University is open for business on Thursday April 29th, offi ces will not have access to Banner on that day. The database will again be available Monday May 3rd. St. Croix Library Renovation-Update Progress on the Library renovation continues. Relocation of the library’s computer lab from EVC 902 to NWW 133 is com- pleted. NWW 133 is now available as an open lab, when there are no classes scheduled. Architect Rene D’Adamo was awarded the contract to prepare engineering drawings and oversee construction. The plans are now completed and DPNR permissions are being sought. Construction on the exterior balconies on the 700 and 900 levels is due to begin April 1st. The renovation project is due to be completed by the end of July 2010. Stay tuned for further updates as we progress. CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING New CETL Director Appointed In the Fall semester 2009, UVI faculty were invited to apply for a new position, Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, CETL. The Offi ce of the Provost and ITS are now pleased to announce that Christy Vineyard is the ap- pointed CETL Director. Dr. Vineyard, formerly Visiting Assistant Professor of Manage- ment, began her new position on January 18, 2010. Her offi ce is located in Room L-104 of the Paiewonsky Library. Christy will provide leadership for faculty curriculum and technology development, provide training and system administration for the Blackboard CMS application, model innovative techniques for teaching with technology, and conduct research to review and promote the scholarship of teaching. Faculty interested in an assign- ment to CETL for course re-design and/or technology training, or faculty who have any course design and technology training needs may contact Christy at x1214. Spring 2010 Faculty Training TLT GROUP CETL was pleased to open the spring semester 2010 with faculty training on January 7 & 8. Among the presenters were Steve Gilbert, President of the TLT Group and Director of the Online Institute, and Sally Gilbert, TLT Group Director of Admin- istration who visited both campuses over the two-day period. The TLT Group is an online training cooperative that pro- motes teaching and learning with technology in higher education. The TLT Group presentation included tips on: a. Using videoconference (VC) facilities appropriately for presentations and substituting other technologies for engaging students in the learning process b. Using Low-Threshold Applications (LTAs) – easy to learn/use technology applications (e.g. blogs, wikis, podcasts) to introduce technology in curricula c. Using bookmarks to capture basic information about an LTA for sharing and encouraging peers to adopt alternate strat- egies for teaching d. Using UVI’s TLT Group membership to connect with faculty around the world for professional development Using Clickers to enhance student participation Professor Stuart Ketcham presented a session on using classroom response systems (clickers) for engaging students in VC courses. Participants in this VC presentation were able to respond to Dr. Ketcham’s queries using clickers and see the results of polls combined in a single graph through the Remote Poll application. Clickers are currently available for faculty use from CETL and Library on each campus. If you are interested in learning to use clickers for your VC or traditional courses, contact Christy Vineyard at CETL. Using Podcasts for lecture capture Professor Alex Randall presented a session on the use of podcasts to provide students with additional opportunities to hear course presentations. He demonstrated the ease of using recorders that output fi les directly to mp3 for integration in to Blackboard or other online delivery. Recorders for faculty use are available on both campuses through CETL and Library, and may be checked out for the semester to facilitate your use. For further information about TLT Group activities or training needs and opportunities, contact Christy Vineyard x1214 or The following is a continuation of faculty and student survey results from ITS Newsletter Vol. 5, Issue 1. The results of the survey are informing a project to encourage blending of videoconferenced (VC) courses at UVI. Blended courses combine traditional or VC face-to-face instruction with online instruction. In response to feedback from faculty and stu- dents, ITS has begun a trial subscription to Adobe Connect Pro, an online classroom application, to be used by selected faculty for enhancing VC courses through a blended format. If you are teaching a VC course and would like to know more about the Adobe Connect virtual classroom product, contact Christy Vineyard at CETL. Student Questions - (143 Surevy responses): Results of Faculty and Student Surveys – Part Two Marilyn M. Brissett, a part-time reference librarian on the St. Thomas campus will present her paper Characters of Color: A Content Analysis of Picture Books in a Virgin Islands Elementary School Library, at the QQML2010 International Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries in Chania, Crete, Greece, May 25 -28, 2010. The purpose of this quali- tative content analysis is to determine if the picture book collection at the Gladys A. Abraham Elementary School Library accurately refl ects and therefore serves the needs of the majority of its students. A disparity exists between the actual ethnicities represented by the school population and those depicted in the picture book collection. Less than ten percent of the books most frequently selected by kindergarten through third grade students depict realistic stories and a dispro- portionate percentage (88%) of books have settings in the United States. This study can be used as a model to examine elementary school libraries on each of the three main islands (St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas) in order to identify how well their collections refl ect the ethnicities of their students. Mrs. Brissett works as a full-time school librarian at Gladys A. Abraham Elementary School. Librarian News: ITS Service Award Program The ITS FY09 Annual Report documents the numerous projects completed during the year by this component. The re- markable volume of work achieved could not be done without the invaluable contributions of ITS staff who often put forth extraordinary efforts so that we may meet the objectives of the component. In an effort to recognize our dedicat- ed, hard working, service-oriented ITS employees who show a commitment to a high level of service, the ITS supervisors will be announcing staff awards in future editions of the ITS newsletter. The supervisors will be looking for any number of employees who perform exemplary acts of customer service, accountability, dedication, commitment and teamwork. In each issue we will highlight their actions and announce the presentation. Take a look at our next ITS newsletter for the fi rst employee(s) to be selected, and help us celebrate ITS staff accomplishments! a. For each of the following learning formats, consider your level of engagement in the course. How would you say it compared to a face to face couse with no web components? (ques. 23) Faculty Questions – (53 survey responses) a. For each of the formats below that you have taught, consider the amount of time you spent developing your courses. How did the amount of time you spent in development compare with the time you would have spent developing a face-to-face course with no web or technology components? (ques. 1) b. For each of the following formats, consider your options for learning? How does it compare with a traditional face to face course? (ques.25) b. For each of the following formats below that you have taught, consider the amount of time you spent weekly just deliv- ering instruction. How did the amount of time you spent delivering instruction compare with the time you would have spent in a face-to-face couse with no web or technology components? (ques. 3) Technology Tip PROTECTING YOUR EQUIPMENT Tired of power outages? Worried about the impact of outages on your personal computing equip- ment? ITS recommends you protect your equipment with at least a surge protector. A small UPS is even better! Also, try to use your laptop on battery power and recharge when low, reducing the possibility of it being plugged in when a surge occurs. BlackBoard 8.0 Information Faculty – did you know that YOU can combine sections of the same course, enroll users AND set their privileges (instructor, TA, student), and copy course material from one semester to the next. You have the power to manage your course using the course management tools in Blackboard. While the Blackboard administrators are happy to assist you with any Blackboard request, it is important to know that the Blackboard course management system empowers users by making these and other functions available to you. If you would like instructions on how to complete these or other tasks please contact the Blackboard Administrator at x1214. Faculty Learning Resources The faculty guide to learning resources is now availble. The 16 page booklet will provide basic information on available educational technology, library resources, and Blackboard. Faculty can access the booklet at http://infotech.uvi.edu under publications. A student guide to UVI Learn- ing resources is also available at http://infotech.uvi.edu under publications. For furter information about the technology survey, contact jrogers@uvi.edu, 4132 or cvineya@uvi.edu, 1214. St. Thomas Campus #2 John Brewer’s Bay St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 00802-9990 Admissions - (340) 693-1150 The University of the Virgin Islands is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Phone: 215-662-5606. The Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recog- nized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Commission on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation. St. Croix Campus RR 1, Box 10000 Kingshill St. Croix, Virgin Islands 00850-9781 Admissions - (340) 692-4158 Technology Fee Increase Information & Technology Services invite you to review the FY2009 Annual Report: Improvement, Achievement & Success. Our annual reports, published each year, serve as an update to the “technology plan to achieve VISION 2012”. It both discussed the investments and accomplishments of the past fi scal year as well as providing guidance on the projects and strategies and budgets for the upcoming year. The report is available online at http://www.uvi.edu/sites/uvi/Publications/2009_Annual_Report_12-6-09_FINAL_ compressed.pdf This year we are not distributing print copies as a cost savings measure, however, you may request a print copy from the Offi ce of the CIO. FY09 Annual Report