Latest News

The Latest Online Course Components Created by Mediaworks

Developing Online Course Components. Mediaworks continues to produce a number of technology components for undergraduate courses. These include classes in American Studies, Chemistry, and Agriculture and Resource Economics. Details follow. American Studies: an American Studies course on the material culture of the American home is designed to teach students to analyze artifacts as cultural documents. It requires a Mediaworks-created database and a set of interactive templates. The course should culminate with students becoming ?curators? as they apply the skills they've' acquired to their own exhibits. The projects will be submitted in Web form and select projects will be ?exhibited? each quarter through a link to the AMS home page. Chemistry 2C: the Fall 2002 release of Chemistry 2C Laboratory Presentations is a fully-developed online program to support the Chemistry Department's?pre-laboratory requirements and post-laboratory data entry for students. The pre-laboratory section includes nine presentations and quizzes to ensure that students are aware of all safety precautions and lab requirements before they enter the lab. The nine post-laboratory interactive sections validate that each laboratory experiment is conducted correctly, and the results are available for review by the student, the TA, the Lab Coordinator, and the Instructor. ARE Courses: the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics launched'the online course, ARE100A, this past summer to investigate the use of online courses to increase enrollment in impacted lower-level required courses for their college. The goal is to increase course availability and student attendance in courses that are currently limited by room availability. Under consideration are future launches of ARE100B and ARE150.

UC Davis Researches Use of One-Card System for Faculty, Staff

Several months ago, John Bruno (Vice Provost for Information and Educational Technology), Bob Franks (Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs), and Janet Hamilton (Vice Chancellor for Administration) formed a committee to investigate the possibility of developing a one-card system to support the provision of services to faculty and staff. A one-card system already exists that provides students with controlled access to the residence halls, and the ability to pay for meals and bookstore purchases. The project team has identified a high level of interest on our campus for several other potential uses for a one-card system. In particular, the workgroup team recommends creating a new card for faculty and staff that provides photographic identification and developing card-based building access standards to address the need for controlling access to campus building. The one-card system feasibility assessment report was submitted to the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for consideration. An implementation decision is expected this fall.

Successful Educational Technology Partners Program Moves Forward in Second Year

Considered a success in its first year, the program designed to pair faculty with specially trained students is being evaluated for expansion and long-term implementation. The Fall 2002 proposal selection committee has selected ET Faculty Partners for this fall and is securing several partnership positions for faculty already applying for participation in Winter 2003.

Latest Version of UC Davis Internet Software Toolkit CD Now Available

The latest version (v 7.0) of the UC Davis Internet Software Toolkit (called Bovine Online) was made available to students, faculty and staff at the Bookstore Computer Shop on September 16. The software CD provides a Web browser (Mozilla, which works best with MyUCDavis), an email client (Eudora), SSH/Telnet applications, an FTP program for Windows, Norton Anti-Virus, and an easy way to configure a UC Davis connection to the Internet. Users can create a new computing account from home and automatically configure dial-up, DHCP, and ResNet Internet connections. The CD also contains a booklet with installation directions, information about campus services, and links to online manuals and tutorials.

New Workgroup to Develop Curriculum for Specialized Technology Training

John Bruno, Vice Provost for Information and Educational Technology, has announced he is forming a small workgroup to develop a new curriculum for specialized technology training at UC Davis. Through collaboration and input from the campus technology community, the workgroup will investigate training needs and recommend solutions to improve the quality and increase the cost-effectiveness of technology training at UC Davis. The small team, which includes IET and campus individuals, will be asked to produce a high-quality, cost-effective information technology training program that is aligned with and can meet the specialized training needs of campus information technology (IT) professionals. The goal is to develop the new curriculum and resume training in a reasonably short order.

New Web Site To Make Software Ordering Easier for Campus

Software License Coordination, working in conjunction with FastTrack, a group of application developers in IET, has developed a new Web site that will make software ordering easier for the campus. The site offers software organized by category and alphabetical order. The site also features a robust search engine and a clean, appealing interface. It will be possible for some products to be ordered directly from the site with the use of a campus billing ID. Accessable via the MyUCDavis portal, the site combines information from two disparate Web sites, http://software.ucdavis.edu/ and http://slc.ucdavis.edu/. Users trying to access these old sites will be redirected to the MyUCDavis login screen and then directly into the software site within the portal. The site is planned to roll out sometime in the Fall.

Computers Upgraded In Many Campus Computer Rooms

As part of a three-year equipment cycle, Computer Lab Management (CLM) purchased and installed 137 computers for use in various computing facilities used for instruction. The computers were also installed to meet new standards set by the group for on-campus computers. The group installed 59 Dell Optiplex towers and 78 Apple iMacs in four computer classrooms, one open access lab and one media facility. DVD-ROM drives became a standard component on iMac computers to support the campus? effort to move more instructional materials to DVDs. In addition, Dell computers with flat-panel screens were purchased as a new computer classroom standard. This standard was implemented to increase desk space and enhance interaction in the classroom, since the previously used standard monitors have hampered students? sightlines and occupied a large amount of desk space. The new iMac computer comes with a flat-panel screen as part of its all-in-one design.

Results of Recent Technology Support Program Survey Now Available

Each year, the Technology Support Program (TSP) surveys the 400+ Technology Support Coordinators (TSCs--system administrators and other campus technology support personnel). This year, 146 TSCs (approximately 34 percent) responded to the survey. Preliminary results show that TSCs are satisfied with TSP services. Other findings indicate that there has been a decline in Macintosh support over the years (and increase in Windows/UNIX boxes). Most TSCs are system administrators and responsible for Web sites. On average, TSCs spend most of their time supporting students.

Retired Computer Room Equipment Sold, Resources Used Towards Supporting Instruction

As part of an effort to take advantage of the life of computer equipment retired from computer labs, Computer Lab Management transferred or sold 155 computers and 16 peripherals between May and September of 2002. A majority of the equipment was processed for sale through the campus Bargain Barn, which sells items to other UC Davis departments and non-university organizations or individuals. The equipment is between four and five years old and has resided most of its life in highly utilized public computer rooms. In the interest of keeping technology current in its 15 computer classrooms, labs, and media rooms, Computer Lab Management typically retires equipment at the end of its third year. Proceeds from the sale of the equipment will be used towards supplies and/or equipment to support instruction.

CENIC Sacramento Wide Area Networking (SWAN) Project Nearing Completion

The construction of the carrier hotel at 1107 9th Street in Sacramento has been completed and the facility is operational.? Final paths for last mile connections have been selected and contract negotiations are underway.? XO will provide connections directly from Charter Communications at Triangle Court in West Sacramento to the campus medical center.? Surewest will be providing a diverse path to 1107 9th street and will splice into SMUD fibers, which will connect to the UC Davis Medical Center.? XO will also be providing the ONI connections.?

IET Orients Incoming Students at Summer Advising, Fall Welcome Presentations

This summer, for the fourth consecutive year, several Information and Educational Technology (IET) units worked together to provide incoming undergraduate students with the computing information they'll need during their time at UC Davis. Summer Advising, an annual summer orientation program for nearly all incoming students and their parents (approximately 5000 freshmen and transfers), ran from June 26th through August 16th. While at Summer Advising, these students set up their computing accounts, received a series of handouts, and listened to a brief presentation on key UC Davis student computing information. The brief presentation covered a number of student computing topics. These included getting a computer (the Computer Ownership Expectation), getting online (the campus computer rooms, ResNet, and Bovine Online), the benefits of a campus computing account (email, MyUCDavis, and MyPhone), campus computer security, and IET student job opportunities. Following Summer Advising, IET geared up for several other campus events, including the Fall Quarter graduate student and teaching assistant orientations, Fall Welcome, and Campus Preview Day.

UCDNet2 Network Expansion Completed; Outlying Campus Locations Now Connected

The UCDNet2 campus network expansion project was recently completed, on time and within budget. The project managers have closed out all tasks for the UCDNet2 project, which included transmitting the various test results and as-built drawings, and updating the appropriate databases with the UCDNet2 information. The UCDNet 2 project's goal was to extend network infrastructure to a number of campus locations outside the scope of Network 21 and to connect outlying campus areas such as Research Park (southeast of I-80) and west of Highway 113. The infrastructure of the UCDNet2 project is a combination of fiber optic cable, wireless and traditional copper wire.

Student Computing Publications Updated

The 2002-2003 edition of the Student Computing Guide brochure has been distributed on campus. The brochure, called Student Computing 101, references the comprehensive companion Web site, the Student Computing Guide. In addition, a team of IET student writers has developed a series of weekly technology-related columns to be published in the California Aggie, the campus student newspaper.