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Moodle 2.0 Upgrade on the Horizon
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Moodle 2.0 was released last year and, as is our practice, we’ve been waiting for the bugs to be squashed before we make the jump. Jenzabar has also released the new connector product for Moodle 2.0 now so the path is becoming clear for our aims for the future. Many interface upgrades as well as better support for Android & iPad tablets are part of the newest version of Moodle. This is greatly needed here now!
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A bit of good news is that the interface has very few changes so becoming more accustomed to the new 2.0 will be much easier for all. To take a Moodle 2.0 test drive, please visit http://demo.moodle.net to try it out! We are looking into the feasibility of a December-January switchover from our current Moodle 1.9.9 to Moodle 2.2.3. More will be communicated during this semester.
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New UVa-Wise CAVScard System to bring new services to students, faculty and staff ! |
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Over the summer, Information Technology, College Services and several other departments have been working to bring up the new Campus CAVScard system. The new, more colorful card (left) will allow students to eat from their dining plan, as usual, but also add money to their card online to purchase books, snacks and supplies from the bookstore. Students can also use their CAVScard funds do their laundry in the residence halls and purchase food from Coyote Jacks, Mondo Subs, Papa Joe’s and concessions at Carl Smith Studium or the David J. Prior Convocation Center! Check out full information on the new card system at www.uvawise.edu/cavscard!
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TechUpdate Shorts
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CAV-TV & UVA-WISE NEWMEDIA ONLINE! Did you know that CAV-TV is now streaming live to the world? You can take a look at campus CAV-TV programming including Annenburg Media programs, campus speakers, cultural events and more are now online. Go to the main website and click the ‘TV’ icon in the bottom right corner of www.uvawise.edu.
USE YOUR UVA-WISE EMAIL ACCOUNT… to protect yourself and our students! Please note that it is campus policy to use your campus email account for ALL official communications between faculty, staff and students at UVa-Wise. This policy includes administrative and academic communications from and to students. This is to insure that email is secure as possible to protect our campus community from prying eyes. Please make sure all of our students know this policy!
NEED TECHNOLOGY OR POLICY TRAINING?? OIT offers a host of training workshops each term ranging from “stump the tech” to FERPA Policy training. Check out our training web page for a full schedule at www.uvawise.edu/oit/events online today! Need special departmental technology training? Please email Laura Pritchard at lpd2z@uvawise.edu or call her at 7-0195 and request a special session for your department today!
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BE PREPARED! GET YOUR NEW ID CARD MADE TODAY IN THE CAMPUS MAIL OFFICE!! Starting this year, faculty, staff and students will be required to present their CAVScard ID to get into athletic events and exercise facilities! You can pick yours up today in the Slemp Student Center Post Office. Get yours today!
Students, faculty and staff can also add funds to their CAVScard by using the ValuePort terminal on the 4th floor of the Slemp Student Center. Students, faculty and staff can also add funds to their CAVScard online through registering for an account at https://uvawise.managemyid.com/. Facult and staff will need to speak with the Cashier’s office first and ask them to enable an account for you and then register for an account online at https://uvawise.managemyid.com!
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FUZE Webconference Room now available
The Office of Information Technology licenses the FUZE webconferencing service for campus use. This service allows multiple users to meet online, sharing presentations, documents, video and audio. Now, we have outfitted the Information Technology Conference Room (Smiddy 284) with a web video camera (shows group attendees) and conference telephone so that groups can webconference with video with up to 25 others on the Internet. On- and off-campus users can access a FUZE meeting room from their Windows or Macintosh computers or use the free FUZE app on their iPad, Android tablet, iPhone or Android phone.
Our conference room can accomodate up to 12 people and can be reserved by calling the main Information Technology office at 7-4578 or emailing Holly Meade at hpm9s@uvawise.edu.
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VoIP phones for Fall - request phone changes now! |
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If you will have new employees or telephone moves for fall, your friendly OIT VoIP telephone team will prepare for them before their arrival if you can provide the proper information! Just go online to www.uvawise.edu/oit/voipsupportform and enter the information in the online form and submit! It’s that easy. As always, if you have any questions, just call “phone or 7-4663” or email “ phone@uvawise.edu.” There are no charge for phone moves but monthly departmental charges are applied where new phones and phone sets are installed. |
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Also, long distance calls are billed to departments on a monthly basis. You should be receiving a monthly telephone statement that gives you and your department head detailed call costing information by email. Also, if you know someone changing offices, please ask them to contact us as soon as possible for their phone move needs!
NEED A PHONE USERS GUIDE OR CAMPUS PHONE DIRECTORY?
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Phone Conferencing...DID YOU KNOW??
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Did you know that you can conference up to six people on and off-campus through the new campus phone system? While on a call, press the “Conference” button and follow the phone’s on-screen directions.
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SIGN UP FOR ALERTNOW! UVa-Wise has a campus alert system in the event of a campus crisis or emergency situation. The system sends voice & SMS text alerts. This service is free but you must register for this service. Visit online at www.uvawise.edu/emergency for more information about where to register today!
WHERE DO I GO TO GET COMPUTER HELP? As always, please call our helpful group of Helpdesk Support Professionals at x7-4509, email helpdesk@uvawise.edu or stop by Darden Hall Room 110 and get some help!!
CELL SIGNALS GET A BOOST! Cell phone users in Commonwealth Hall will get a boost in
their cellular signal with cell phone boosters being installed
on all floors.
CAMPUS WIFI NETWORK GROWING We are continuing to grow our campus wireless network in our academic and administrative buildings. If you would like better wireless coverage in your building for classrooms and meeting areas, please let us know where by emailing fowlkes@uvawise.edu! |
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Are Online Learning & E-TextbooksTrends Dangerous to Liberal Arts Education? Keith Fowlkes, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology & CIO The University of Virginia’s College at Wise
It seems that everyone is holding their breath, waiting for the next development in instructional technology. Peter Johnson (2011) of the Seybold Report says that it’s all there. Content with interaction, graphics, video and audio is now available in e-text books. Johnson states, "Pricing is a huge—in fact, decisive—factor in the rapid acceptance of e-textbooks.” Dr. Tom Schildgen, a Professor of Technology Management at Arizona State University says that change is imminent not only with e-textbooks but campus classroom learning. “In five years,” Schildgen says, “you are going to see a lot of colleges and universities where distance learning is the norm, even for local students. Even though they live on campus, a lot of our students prefer to take classes online, because they have a 24/7 ability to work with the course and the instructor” (Johnson, 2011. p.4). UVa-Wise is not immune to this phenomenon.
We are currently conducting fully online and hybrid (both in-class and online) courses. In a time when liberal arts education is a target for those that would say that more vocationally-oriented education is “more valuable” to society, our resistance to e-textbooks and online education in the liberal arts could be viewed by some as our resistance to change and progress.
I do not feel that we (in liberal arts education) are resistant to the changes toward electronic resources and online learning. After all, these things are simply tools for learning. The core issue is a philosophical and, largely, practical argument. Many of the faculty members with whom I discuss online education with have the most conflicts with traditional undergraduate students leaving high school to sit in front of a computer for 2, 3 or 4 years to get their degrees and miss the full spectrum of what an on-campus, liberal arts college experience can bring to them. Experiences in socialization, leadership, networking, public speaking/discussion and faculty interaction/mentoring are all largely omitted from a fully online learning experience for
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students who are just coming out of high school. It is a personal development question. Saying all this, I do believe we should give our students online options since they will inevitably experience online education in their futures. I am also an advocate of online learning for non-traditional students who cannot educate themselves on a normal classroom schedule.
Electronic textbooks are just another learning tool. If students (and faculty) like them, they should use them. The market will decide whether they are truly useful. The real battle that is being waged is on the educational experiences of millions of traditional first year students transitioning from high school teens to young adults. The benefits of four years of intellectual and personal growth are too valuable to dismiss. I believe that we should be concerned with making education in our institutions more affordable for students but there is a serious danger in this process also. There is a looming danger in students, parents and national leaders looking at the value of higher education, especially in the liberal arts, purely in relation to how much money students can make after graduation. Yes, this is an important factor but students, parents and governmental leaders must look at the overall value of students' intellectual, personal and social development in a structured academic environment.
This is the broader picture of what makes liberal arts higher education especially valuable for traditional first-year students. I strongly believe that this view is one that many of our state and national leaders must come to understand if our society is to protect the quality of American education and academic scholarship in the future.
Johnston, P. (2011). E-Texts Come of Age in the United States. Seybold Report: Analyzing Publishing Technologies, 11(4), 2-4.
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UVa-Wise NewMedia & CAV-TV Video available on your iPhone, iPad or Android Mobile devices!
Wasn’t able to catch that speaker, event or special program on Comcast UVa-Wise 55? Well, now you can catch it on-demand on your mobile device by visiting http://uvawiseevents.pegcentral.com. You’ll find some very exciting programming from some of your favorite faculty members and student friends! Check it out today! More mobile device apps coming in 2012-2013 !
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J. Keith Fowlkes Vice Chancellor for Information Technology & CIO fowlkes@uvawise.edu | 7-4578
Grant Baker Senior Systems and Security Administrator gdb6g@uvawise.edu | 7-4640
Chris Boggs Director for Network Operations chb5s@uvawise.edu | 7-1041
Randy Gilmer Director for Media Services rgg8z@uvawise.edu | 7-0312
Pam Potter Director for Administrative Computing psp5a@uvawise.edu | 7-1040
Laura Pritchard Director for Technology Support Services ldp2z@uvawise.edu | 7-0195
Oscar Raile Director for Policy and Planning VoIP Telephone Coordinator | 7-4663 owr3k@uvawise.edu | x1044
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Don Calton Network Engineer dlc2k@uvawise.edu | 7-1047
Timothy Hall
Desktop Support Technician
trh8f@uvawise.edu | 7-4509
Susan Herron Security and Policy Coordinator slh4q@uvawise.edu | 7-4641
Chelsie Lawson Programmer/ Analyst for Administrative Computing cml7u@uvawise.edu | 7-4540
Kristi McKinney Desktop Support Specialist / HelpDesk krr9w@uvawise.edu | 7-4509
Holly Meade Administrative Assistant hpm9s@uvawise.edu | 7-4578
Joseph Meade Systems Administrator / Web Systems Specialist jwm6a@uvawise.edu | 7-1075
Slade Potter Technology Support Manager gsp4e@uvawise.edu | 7-4509
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Need a quick answer to a quick problem? Chat with us!
In an effort to provide you a variety of ways to get help with your computer/software, our Information Technology HelpDesk will be developing an online chat support service in Fall 2012. After this is in place, you will be able to ask quick questions by chat session to the HelpDesk staff and get quick chat answers back without picking up the phone!
Stay tuned… more information will be made public during the Fall 2012 semester!
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This newsletter is a service of the UVa-Wise Office of Information Technology & Media Services and distributed through campus email and the web. More information on the Office of Information Technology at UVa-Wise can be found online at www.uvawise.edu/oit. This Fall 2012 edition was finalized on 7/30/2012 for on-campus distribution. Do you like our new email newsletter format? Let us know! Email us at oitmgrs@uvawise.edu and tell us how you like it! If you have problems viewing this newsletter, please visit www.uvawise.edu/oit to view the web version online.
Copyright 2012 The University of Virginia’s College at Wise
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