Technology@Wooster

This summer, a number of important responsibilities shifted from Instructional Technology to Networks, Telecommunications and Systems (NTS). These responsibilities include the installation and maintenance of projectors, smartboards, projection screens, speakers, DVD players and similar devices in classrooms and presentation spaces. They also include providing media support for College events. To facilitate these changes, Media Technology Manager Anthony Liccardi has joined NTS and now reports to NTS Director Vince Di Scipio.

These changes will allow us to leverage the NTS group’s considerable experience in equipment installation and support. This will be particularly useful as IT looks to pay increased attention to campus classrooms, meeting rooms and presentation spaces. These changes are also intended to free Instructional Technology of these responsibilities, so that that department can focus more attention on learning space design, the evaluation of new technologies and their pedagogical implications, the provision of new services to faculty and to students, and the provision of more direct support for faculty in the effective use of technology in teaching and learning.

The Office of Information Technology is grateful to Vince and to Anthony for their roles in this transition and is confident that these changes will ultimately enhance the quality of IT services.

When the 07-08 academic year gets underway, a new pool of equipment will be available for student check out. The pool will include:

• 6 digital video cameras
• 6 tripods
• 4 digital still cameras
• 3 digital audio recorders
• 2 lapel microphones
• 2 shotgun microphones

This new equipment is made possible by a successful Hewlett-Mellon grant authored by Janet Russell, Megan Werely, Anthony Liccardi and Jon Breitenbucher. The grant proposal noted that academic departments are “beginning to expand the definition of ‘text’ as they require students to produce films, blogs, web sites, and podcasts in order to demonstrate their learning.” This equipment is intended to facilitate the completion of these assignments, and to afford students greater opportunity to explore new digital media.

This equipment will be available for check out between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday at the new IT student help desk in Andrews Library. (Located just behind the circulation desk.) Use of this equipment is limited to academic assignments and projects. Requests for student use must come from the student’s instructor or I.S. advisor and should be made via email to IT_Loaner_Equipment@wooster.edu. Further information will be available in the Computing Resources section of the IT web site.

Congratulations and thanks to the grant authors!

In an effort to improve visibility and provide efficient and helpful service, IT has moved the student help desk from Taylor 205 to Andrews Library. It is now located just behind the circulation desk. Our student consultants are trained to solve a variety of problems involving the hardware and software that we support. In addition to telephone support, these students are available in Andrews Library to provide walk-in assistance for virus, spyware, email, wireless, and printing issues. If the student consultants are unable to solve the problem, it is immediately escalated to the appropriate IT department. Network issues are submitted as work orders to the Department of Networks, Telecommunications, and Systems. Other issues will be addressed with the appropriate staff and the user will be contacted with a solution.

Over time, we expect to expand the number of services offered by the student help desk. The loaner laptops and projectors available to faculty and staff will now be circulated from the student help desk. (Visit the Computing Resources area of the IT website for further details.) Shortly, the help desk will begin circulating still cameras, video cameras, tripods, digital recorders and microphones for student academic use. Further announcements will be made here on the blog.

Student technicians will continue to be available in Taylor 205, to provide support for the Windows and Macintosh computers and the scanners located in this lab. These student technicians also support the poster printer and provide assistance with the multimedia services provided by the Instructional Technology Department.

Colleague will be unavailable between 5:00 p.m. on Friday, August 3 and 8:00 a.m. on Monday, August 6. (ScotWeb will also be unavailable.) During this period IT will be working to copy large amounts of data from the legacy administrative software system to Colleague. This process is a critical part of the implementation of Colleague Advancement–the Datatel module dedicated to the Development and Alumni Affairs Offices. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.