101 BEST PRACTICES >> Connectivity

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101 BEST PRACTICES >> Connectivity

11/23/2006

45 :: REACTING TO SECURITY BREACHES

What can endanger connectivity more than a security breach? The break-in to an administrative database at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas-Austin this past spring may have compromised the personal data of a very large number of individuals (about 197,000 database records, according to media reports). CT asked UT-Austin’s VP of IT Dan Updegrove, What are some of the key steps in the process of reacting to such a breach? “Several processes should be engaged immediately: (1) Contact the institution’s Information Security Office (if they were not the ones who discovered the problem) so their technical expertise and incident response protocols can be engaged immediately. The incident response plan should include not only forensic analysis of data, systems, and networks, but also communication with executive management, law enforcement, legal affairs, and public affairs. (2) Unless advised otherwise by ISO, take the vulnerable/ breached machine off the network. Under certain circumstances it may be advisable to keep the host on the network to enable ongoing investigation of the intrusion’s source, in which case special precautions must be taken to protect data on the machine. One approach: Replace institutional data with a bogus dataset that may serve as a ‘honey pot’ to keep the intruder engaged while the ISO and/or law enforcement track the rogue activities. (3) Take immediate steps to avoid deletion of system and network logs, which can be immensely valuable for determining not only the source of the break-in, but also what damage has been done and what data may have been exposed or tampered with. Since such analysis in a complex case can take weeks, logs cannot be allowed to expire according to a routine schedule measured in days.” More info here.

46 :: MISSION-CRITICAL CONNECTIVITY

At the New York University School of Medicine, high-definition videoconferencing is a necessity, not a luxury. The teaching hospital has built three fully HD-enabled operating rooms, incorporating Sony videoconferencing systems and an IP network. The operating rooms, a guest viewing area, a conference room, and a physician’s office are connected with Sony’s IPELA visual communications technology. The equipment is used not only in the teaching practice at NYU and for distance learning, but also to streamline and improve procedures: “I can even watch the preparations being made for surgery [from my office],” comments Dr. Stephen Colvin, chairman of cardiothoracic surgery at NYU.

47 :: SUPPORT SERVICES TO KEEP STUDENTS CONNECTED

LINDA THOR at Rio Salado

President Linda Thor on what makes Rio Salado College (AZ) successful in serving some 45,000 credit and 15,000 non-credit students each year, as a non-campus college: “While we are seeing a rush of virtually all higher education institutions to get into online learning, simply putting a class online d'es not get the job done. What we believe leads to our success—and we enjoy about an 80 to 85 percent retention of our online learners—is the support services we have in place, and our systems approach in dealing with the online learner. You can’t expect a faculty member to put a course online and then be able to meet all of the students’ needs for tutoring, advising, testing, and logistical questions. You’ve got to have the entire college positioned to support that online learner.”More info here.

48 :: STATEWIDE VIDEO NETWORKING

In the state of Arkansas, higher ed institutions, along with K-12 and other public entities, have a distinct advantage when it comes to video networking. Although Arkansas is not a wealthy state—the 10th poorest in the country, according to the US Census Bureau—the state’s Department of Information Systems has built a statewide video network called VNET that offers high-quality, cost-effective interactive videoconferencing to rival IP video services almost anywhere. The centralized IP network is based on AT&T services and technology. Max Kolstad, manager of video services at DIS, comments, “AT&T has the resources to develop innovations that enable users to get the most from videoconferencing. We get a big R&D benefit that d'esn’t add to the state’s network cost. I think that’s one of the reasons the network works as well as it d'es.”

49 :: ENTERPRISE-WIDE EDUCATION PROGRAMMING

Sonic Foundry’s Mediasite Rich
Media Server software and ML
series recorders.

East Carolina University (NC) is ramping up lecture capture and delivery with Sonic Foundry’s Mediasite Rich Media Server software and ML series recorders. ECU’s Global Classroom Video Producer Emily Jones now uses Mediasite to capture 40 recordings per week within multiple colleges across the campus. With 17 recorders and three servers, ECU webcasts more than 530 hours of classroom content per semester—but that’s expected to double over the next six months. For the next phase of Mediasite deployment, the university plans to start with an installation of 16 new units in its Allied Health Sciences facility—and it is working on plans for additional units to be placed around the campus.

50 :: CELL PHONES BUILD COMMUNITY

At Baruch College in New York City (one of 10 senior colleges of The City University of New York), CIO Arthur Downing is working with Rave Wireless to supply students with cell-phone-accessible applications for academic-oriented uses. Downing explains that although the school’s 15,000 students have good access to computers on campus, and wireless coverage is fairly pervasive, students wanted more. “Rather than [adding more computer] labs and kiosks, we wanted an easier way to get our web-based applications to them.

“We don’t have a wealthy student body,” Downing says, and most students don’t carry a laptop or PDA. And since all Baruch’s students commute, spending less time on campus than conventional students, there’s little time to connect with others or take advantage of university services. “So, right now anyway, our [cell phone] applications are meant to help them use their time between classes most efficiently,” he says. “We’re trying to build a sense of community.”

Rave Wireless’ software allows the school to deliver academic information to virtually any cell phone. The applications also allow students to use cell phones to check on the availability of loaner laptops and study rooms, and students can join cell phone “channels” to correspond with students of similar interests. They can receive text message alerts about class changes or cancellations—crucial news for Baruch’s commuter students. For example, Downing notes, during New York City’s recent transportation strike, the cell phone service would have been an invaluable way to immediately reach all students with schedule changes or other updates. More info here.

51 :: WHEN CONNECTIVITY ISN’T ENOUGH

Just having connectivity to learning resources is not enough to guarantee effective use of those resources. Lorie Roth, assistant vice chancellor for academic programs at the California State University Office of the Chancellor, speaks out about the need for improved information literacy: “For two decades, 51 US newspapers and magazines have featured articles about new technologies; the information explosion, information overload, and information illiterates. They frequently report on students’ (and some professors’) egregious lapses of integrity and judgment in dealing with information. By comparison, the higher education establishment has been relatively feeble in its attempt to raise awareness of and adapt to the shifting demands of the information age. Due to the advance of the dot-coms, dot-orgs, dot-govs, and dotedus, what students learn and how they learn will have to be reconceived.”

So in addition to making an investment in the teaching and learning infrastructure, CSU attempted to find an assessment that would measure students’ information literacy skills, says Roth. “Our most recent [work] has been a collaboration with the Educational Testing Service and several other universities, including UCLA, the University of Washington, Purdue University (IN), Portland State University (OR), and the University of Memphis (TN). This assessment, called the ‘ICT Literacy Assessment’ [ICT stands for information and communications technology], is an online, scenario-based simulation that asks students to perform real-life information tasks. Skills assessed include the ability to use basic tools such as word processing and spreadsheets and, most importantly, higher-order cognitive skills such as retrieving and evaluating information resources and the ethical use of information.” More info here.