Technology@Wooster

The second (of two) finalists for the position of Director of Instructional Technology will visit the campus on Friday, May 9. He will make a public presentation in Severance 009 at 4:00 on that date. He will speak to the role of technology in teaching and learning in the liberal arts environment. All members of the campus community are encouraged to attend the public presentation and to provide feedback on this candidate for this important position. The candidate’s vitae, the position description and an evaluation form are available online.

The first finalist for the position of Director of Instructional Technology will visit the campus on Tuesday, May 6. He will make a public presentation in Severance 009 at 4:00 on that date. He will speak to the role of technology in teaching and learning in the liberal arts environment. All members of the campus community are encouraged to attend the public presentation and to provide feedback on this candidate for this important position. The candidate’s vitae, the position description and an evaluation form are available online.

Two finalists for the position of Director of Instructional Technology will visit the campus during the week of May 5.  The first will be on-campus throughout the day on Tuesday, May 6.  He will make a public presentation in Severance 009 at 4:00 on that date.  The second will be here on Friday, May 9.  He will make a public presentation in the same location at 4:00 on that date. All members of the campus community are encouraged to attend the public presentation and to provide their feedback on the candidates.  The vitae of the first candidate will be available for download beginning on Monday, May 5. An evaluation form that can be used to submit comments to the search committee will be available at the same location. Questions about the search and the Director of Instructional Technology position should be directed to David Waldron.

The position of Director of Web Services is currently vacant and a search to fill this position is currently underway. In the interim, the Office of Information Technology will provide assistance with essential web content updates. Update requests should be submitted to web-updates@wooster.edu. Requested changes will be processed as quickly as possible. Questions should be directed to Mary Schantz, Manager of User Services.

The Colleague (Datatel) system will be unavailable between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and midnight on Friday, April 18.  During this period important system maintenance will be performed and data will be transferred from the legacy system into Colleague.  ScotWeb will also be unavailable.  We regret any inconvenience this may cause.  Please contact Marlene Brown at x2304 with any questions you may have.

The following podcasts are now available at http://podcast.blogs.wooster.edu:

Evaluation and Species Preservation
Bryan Norton
Bryan Norton is Professor of Philosophy at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Professor Norton’s lecture was delivered at Wooster on March 31 of this year and was the third lecture of the Environmental Analysis and Action Symposium series.

The Earth’s Turmoil of the Last Deglacial Period
James Kennett
James Kennett is Professor of Geological Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This lecture was delivered at Wooster on March 6 and was part of The Consortium for Ocean Leadership Distinguished Lecturer Series.

Indigenous Peoples Creating, Managing and Conserving Biodiversity
Jan Salick
Jan Salick is Curator of Ethnobotany at Missouri Botanical Garden and Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. This lecture was delivered at Wooster on March 5 as part of the Environmental Analysis and Action Symposium series.

Mega Eruptions, Mega Impacts, Mass Extinctions, and the Shape of Life
Paul E. Olsen
Paul Olsen is the Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. His lecture was delivered at Wooster on February 27 and was sponsored by the Department of Geology and the Richard G. Osgood, Jr. Memorial Lecture Endowed Fund.

Tropical Diversity: An Endangered National Treasure
Rodolfo Dirzo
Rodolfo Dirzo is Professor of Biology at Stanford. His lecture was delivered at Wooster on February 20 as part of the Environmental Analysis and Action Symposium series.

---

The production of these podcasts is a joint project of the Media Services group and the Department of Instructional Technology, both within the Office of Information Technology. These podcasts may also be downloaded from iTunes. (Search for “College of Wooster.”)Questions about these podcasts or about podcasting at Wooster should be directed to Jon Breitenbucher.

Over the last few days the College webserver (http://www.wooster.edu/) has been experiencing instability.  We are currently working with the Director of Web Services to identify the source of this problem and to correct it.  This instability does not impact ScotWeb.

Should you be unable to reach ScotWeb via the link on the College homepage, please remember that you can access ScotWeb directly at http://scotweb.wooster.edu.

On February 19, Vassar College president Catharine Bond Hill delivered a lecture at the College of Wooster entitled “Democracy and Access to Higher Education.”  This lecture was part of the College’s Great Decisions series.  An audio file of the lecture is now available at http://podcast.blogs.wooster.edu. The podcast of this event can also be downloaded from iTunes.

The Media Services and Instructional Technology groups within the Office of Information Technology collaborate to create and distribute podcasts of special events that take place on campus. Check Speakers@Wooster and iTunes for the latest productions. Questions should be directed to Jon Breitenbucher.

Members of the User Services staff will be on campus Saturday, March 22nd, and Sunday, March 23rd, between noon and 7 p.m. to provide technology support for students, faculty and staff involved in IS preparation. Staff members will perform hourly printer checks, cover help desk phones and be available for students in need of last minute technology support.

The student help desk in Andrews Library will be open Saturday, March 22nd between noon and 8p.m. and Sunday, March 23rd between noon and 1 a.m. for phone and walk-in support. The help desk can be reached by calling 330-287-3000 extension 4357 from off campus, or extension 4357 from on campus.

The Datatel Users Group conference (DUG) is an annual event that brings together Datatel corporate employees with representatives of the more than 700 colleges and universities that utilitze Datatel’s software products. The conference offers hundreds 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 is also an excellent opportunity to hear Datatel officials discuss the future direction of the company and its products.

DUG 2008 took place between March 9th and 12th in Washington, DC. Despite the challenges posed by the snowstorm that struck Ohio in the days prior to the conference, folks from various offices at Wooster participated in the DUG conference. In addition to the Office of Information Technology, Human Resources, Development, Alumni Affairs, the Registrar’s Office and the Business Office were represented at DUG.

Given the resources and effort that has been and continues to be devoted to the OSCAR project, it is very important that the College fully leverage its investment in administrative software. DUG participation is intended to enable IT and other campus offices to utilize our new ERP system as fully as possible. Our implementation has been aggressive in terms of its compressed timeline, but the implementation has also been aggressive in terms of its scope and the determination to maximize the utilization of the sofware system’s features.

Wooster is among the very first institutions to implement Datatel’s new product to support development operations, Colleague Advancement. Wooster is also among the very first to implement Datatel’s new reporting strategy. This strategy entails the use of data warehouse-style tools for data retrieval and organization, and a complex suite of reporting tools. Chief Information Technology Officer David Waldron, OSCAR Project Manager Monica Crawford and Director of Applications Development Tabby Conwell met at DUG with Datatel Vice President Liz Murphy to discuss our early adoption of these systems, the progress of their implementations and ways to strengthen our collaboration in these arenas. The Wooster group had subsequent conversations with Datatel product managers and developers, and made a number of suggestions for product enhancements. Also at DUG, Tabby Conwell became the newest member of the Reporting Client Advisory Team. This group is charged with identifying and prioritizing reporting-related issues, and with working with the DUG Board Client Advocacy Council to bring these matters to Datatel’s attention.

OSCAR Project Manager Monica Crawford and Director of Development Support Services Pam Stanley participated in a well-attended panel discussion entitled “Implementing Advancement—The Before and After.” As Wooster is among the earliest adopters of Colleague Advancement, the pair were well-positioned to share valuable insights into issues related to implementation. At the conference Pam became a member of the Colleague Advancement Client Advisory Team.

Director of Applications Development Tabby Conwell (left), Datatel Vice President Liz Murphy (center), and OSCAR Project Manager Monica Crawford(right) discuss the progress of Wooster’s OSCAR project.

OSCAR Project Manager Monica Crawford and Director of Development Support Services Pam Stanley serve on a panel discussing issues associated with the implementation of Colleague Advancement.