CT Briefs
:: NEWS
MORE AND MORE TUNES. Brand-new this fall, Delta College's (MI) iTunes U site is really taking off, with more than 100 podcasts and vodcasts posted within its first few weeks. Delta CIO Jason Stahl comments on some of the tactics used to make it easier for faculty to create the podcasts: "During our core scheduling process, faculty members are asked if they want to use the iTunes U applications. If they choose ‘yes,' their courses are automatically populated onto their iTunesU site by the back-end computer systems, and they become the owner of that site." Delta also has plans to offer public content through the service. iTunes continues to enjoy wide acceptance in education, with colleges and universities not only posting password-protected files for use within their own communities, but also making select content publicly available. In October 2008, Apple reported the number of free education audio and video files posted by colleges and universities to iTunes U or to the iTunes store had reached more than 100,000. Read more here.
HOLLINS U IT staffers discovered that projectors in classrooms across campus were acting as rogue wireless access points.
WIRELESS SURPRISE. When Virginia's Hollins University (which ranked eighth in PC Magazine's "America's Top Wired Colleges" for 2008) put wireless ceiling-mount projectors in classrooms so that faculty could easily beam course content and presentations without cumbersome cables, IT staffers uncovered an unexpected security glitch. Hollins IT Director Greg Henderson explains: "We discovered, through our Bradford Networks Campus Manager NAC solution, that lots of rogue wireless access points were suddenly appearing in classrooms across campus. When we investigated, we learned that each projector also comes with a wireless access point, which was unknown to the Educational Technology department that purchased and installed the units." The lesson here? Check those wireless projectors!
PHONING UP THE ENTERPRISE. With the help of consulting firm MIS, it took less than seven months for George Fox University (OR) to deploy PeopleSoft Enterprise applications including financials, human capital management, recruiting and admissions, plus the enterprise campus community software. Reporting granularity as well as improved data sharing and decision-making were among the goals of the implementation, and the university leveraged the web-based platform for increased efficiencies at regional campuses. But the best may be yet to come: George Fox plans to use the PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal to deliver its administrative applications via the Apple iPhone.
THOUSANDS COLLABORATE IN MS. The Mississippi State Board for Community and Junior Colleges has chosen the Wimba Collaboration Suite to serve its 15 campuses-- that's more than 273,000 students-- with the goal of enhancing interaction among faculty and students, especially in the Board's virtual college online program.
LIVE@UCF. Just before the beginning of this academic year, the University of Central Florida launched Microsoft's Live@edu as the institution's new e-mail platform for students. Now, with more than 27,000 signups, UCF CIO Joel Hartman reviews user reaction: "Early feedback suggests that our students are delighted with the Live@edu features, especially SkyDrive and Office Live Workspace."
:: PEOPLE
NEW EXCELSIOR VP FOR IT. Wayne Brown has moved from Johnson County Community College (KS) to Excelsior College (NY), to become Excelsior's vice president for information technology. Brown serves on the advisory board for Campus Technology magazine.
FORMER GGU CIO LEAVES FOR TOPSCHOOL. With several high-profile professional recognitions under his belt, most recently Computerworld's "Premier 100 IT Leaders" (2008), Anthony Hill was courted away from Golden Gate University (CA) by SaaS administrative technology vendor TopSchool, where he will serve as CTO and lead that company's product development.