2000 Fall Update

Other Updates and Newsletters

As usual, over the summer we have made several improvements in the computing environment in order to better support our ever growing needs. The highlights are listed below.

New Support Initiative
Funding has been allocated to provide a greatly enhanced support program on two levels: an IT-consultant initiative and a professionally staffed Help Desk. Calls about using technology to facilitate teaching and learning should go to the IT consultants. Calls about problems with hardware and software should go to the Help Desk (X6500).

• IT-consultant program. Bob Kistler and Lucie Johnson have agreed to serve as IT consultants. Their mission is to consult with those of you who have a vision or goal for improving teaching in one or more of your courses, to assess whether the use of appropriate technology might help reach the goal. They hope to provide just the right amount of training at just the right time.

• Professionally-staffed Help Desk. Beginning on September 5, your calls (X6500) will be answered 8 hours per day by two professionals, Joe Herter and Mike Johnson. We believe that the concerns you have expressed about a student-staffed Help Desk will be corrected through this more professional environment. In many cases Joe and Mike will be able to help you solve the problem over the phone. If not, they will either dispatch a student to visit your office or assign the problem to one of our electronic-services technicians.

New File Server
We have upgraded to Windows 2000 (NT5.0) our NT servers for both faculty and students. Windows 2000 server will eliminate several problems we experienced last year due to limitations of the old NT 4.0 server environment. For example, you should experience faster, more reliable access to your files stored on Usonia.

Mac users especially can improve the speed of their communication and the performance of our campus network by using the TCP/IP protocol rather than Appletalk. To find out which protocol your system is using, (1) connect to usonia as usual. (2) Then, single click on the usonia volume (FS_HmA-L or FS_HmM-Z) icon on your desktop. (3) Next, while holding down the open-apple key, press the I key. (4) Finally, in the window that opens, check under the Where: option to find the protocol. Call the Help Desk (X6500) for assistance in converting to a TCP/IP connection if yours if currently Appletalk.

File Storage
We have doubled the file storage capacity on Usonia from 36 - -> 72 gigabytes. Faculty data currently consumes about 16.5 gigabytes. We have also instituted mirroring, a protocol that makes possible having on line a second hard drive with a mirrored image of the main drive. The advantage of this technology is that if the main drive fails for any reason, the second mirrored drive is immediately available.

Internet Bandwidth
In July we leased a second T1 circuit, doubling the bandwidth of our Internet connection, from 1.5Mbits/sec to 3.0Mbits/sec. This increased bandwidth should eliminate the slowness due to a clogged circuit that you may have experienced last spring.

However, students in the residence halls who were uploading and downloading MP3 files caused our primary problem with slowness. Recreational activity of this type will fill as much bandwidth as we provide. To address this problem, we will implement a form of bandwidth allocation that will limit Internet traffic to and from the residence halls to 1/4th of our total Internet bandwidth. The remaining 3/4ths of the bandwidth will be reserved for traffic to and from the rest of the campus. These percentages are negotiable, but represent a reasonable starting point.

Email
We are currently upgrading our email system. We hope to complete this task by the end of September. We are installing two servers to share the load, both of which are much faster than the current server. The new environment should provide much more responsive email service.

Furthermore, for all who received upgraded computers this year, we have installed the new email client Outlook Express. This program will be our standard going forward. It has been configured with the IMAP protocol. This implies that all mail is left on the server for convenient, secure access from anywhere in the world. In the past we have used the POP protocol that downloads mail to the desktop computer. Use of the POP protocol often results in storage of mail in a less secure location, and for most users makes stored mail unavailable when they are off campus. Instructions for configuring Outlook Express for IMAP are available from the ACNS web site at http://www.bethel.edu/acc/documnts.html. If you need additional help in converting to the preferred IMAP protocol, call the Help Desk (X6500).

Also, please remember that a web-based approach to email has been provided for our students. Using Webmail, one’s email again remains on the server. Thus, using only a browser, mail can be accessed from anywhere in the world (including your home). No special configuration is necessary. To investigate this resource, simply point your browser to the url (http://webmail.bethel.edu) and follow the directions.

CD Archive Service
If you have a large number of files that you rarely access but that are archived on Usonia for the purpose of convenience, we can copy the files to a CD for you. The CD will satisfy your need for secure, easy access and will make it possible for you to remove the files from Usonia, freeing up considerable space. Contact the Help Desk (X6500) for more information about this service.

Classroom Computer Projection Resources

• AC203 and CC325 are technology teaching classrooms.
• AC305, CC125, CC431, and RC228 have computers and LCD projectors.
• AC228, AC333, CC313, RC417, RC422, and RC424 have projectors only.
• AC328 has a large screen monitor.

A New Web-Course Management System
Last spring, Blackboard, Inc. bought Web Course in a Box (WCB). Blackboard’s system (called Blackboard) ranks in the top two or three in the number of licenses sold. We decided to adopt this tool since it will incorporate some of WCB’s features, the company has provided a conversion tool to convert WCB courses into Blackboard format, and it is a full-featured product. Lucie Johnson has already offered two workshops using Blackboard. Both Bob and Lucie will help you with any Blackboard training issues.

During the 2000-01 academic year, we will support both Blackboard and WCB. However, during the summer of 2001, we intend to remove WCB from our server. Since WCB is no longer a vendor-supported product, all users need to migrate to Blackboard by no later than next summer.

Campus Technology Groups
There are two academic technology groups that meet monthly: the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable (TLTR); and the Academic Computing Services Advisory Committee (ACSAC).

• TLTR
  TLTR, a national program organized by Steve Gilbert, president of the TLT group of the American Association of Higher Education, provides a forum for faculty and administrators to discuss technology issues related to teaching and learning at Bethel. For example, TLTR endorsed and championed the IT-consultant program we are introducing this fall. Members this year include the following persons: B. Fisher, B. Doyle, K. Cragg, T. Essenburg, L. Johnson , A. Jones, B. Kistler, D. Morrow, M. Rhoads, K. Rohly, R. Sherry, and N. L-Smith.
• ACSAC
  This committee advises the Director of Academic Computing and Network Services on policy and budget issues. For example, it provides supervision of the annual budget outlay for Departmental Computing. Members this year include the following persons: B. Doyle, C. Cragg, K. Drake, M. Dreher, B. Holland, L. Johnson, B. Kistler, D. Nguyen, C. Osgood, K. Rohly, G. Wiebe, and a student yet to be appointed.

Questions throughout the year may be directed to me, to any of the ACNS staff, or to any member of the TLTR or ACSAC groups.