FAST FIVE for the week of September 8, 2013

News:

Unsung heroes: As students arrive back on campus this month and systems are straining to meet additional volume and new demands, help desks across the country are working overtime to provide support. The help desk team at the University of Victoria has received some wonderful praise from its clients: Recognition for great service

Social strategy: The British Columbia Institute of Technology has implemented an enterprise social networking system. The attached article describes some of the changes in attitudes needed to make the shift: New system / New culture

Making transfers easier: University of Toronto has released a new transfer credit system. This system is part of its student web service and allows students to check the eligibility of courses taken at other Canadian post-secondary institutions for transfer to the UofT. The tool also includes transfer credits among faculties at any of the Mississauga, downtown or Scarborough campuses. Transfer credit check

Adding bandwidth: Wilfred Laurier University has increased its external network connectivity from 1Gb to 10Gb through its ORION link. http://www.wlu.ca/news_detail.php?grp_id=0&nws_id=11524

Self-serve passwords: Algonquin College has introduced a new system called MyPass to allow faculty, staff, and students to change their own network password. This self-serve system will reduce calls to the help desk. Password changes

Question:

A recently published article from Inside Higher Ed indicates 12% of CIOs are assuming responsibility for campus libraries. What is your opinion of this trend?

The article is here: CIOs Wear Second Hat

Please respond to mprroman@gmail.com and I will post comments next week. Thanks!

FAST FIVE for the week of September 1, 2013

News:

New mobile app: Memorial University has just released a new mobile app. Available for Apple and Android devices, the system includes a campus map, student services, contact information, and latest news at the University. The system uses the Ellucian Go technology to distribute the app. MUN goes mobile

Improving the campus alert system: The University of Windsor has updated its emergency alert system to show the University's main phone line. The original system displayed the phone number of the company that built the system, and some users never responded because they thought the calls were coming from telemarketers. New alert phone display 

Implementing VDI: Sheridan College is implementing a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure project. Their key goals in the first phase include providing a standard desktop environment in labs, in learning commons areas, and in a pilot group of administrative users. They intend to replace end-of-lease PCs with VDI workstations and hope to reduce energy consumption by 40% with these devices. Sheridan's VDI

Computer lab upgrades: Like many educational institutions, the University of New Brunswick has upgraded its student labs over the summer. They have passed on the new information to their students in a simple tweet: UNB lab changes

Upgraded email accounts: The University of Victoria has introduced enhanced role-based email accounts. These new accounts are no longer limited to 8 characters and may take the form of department.name@uvic.ca. These new accounts are useful for departments, shared email accounts, and conference. Role-based email

Responses to last week's question:

Last week, this question was posed: "If you had to teach a course in the management of IT in higher ed to first year students, what is the single most important issue you would tell them?" 

I received several responses and I think the ideas are equally applicable to 1st year students and veteran CIOs: 

To first year students, I would expect them to think that IT was all about technology but I would counter that IT was about people, those who provide it and those who consume it. To me this was not obvious when I entered the profession and I still encounter those who haven't yet learned that tech is easy if you put people first, those who are your clients and those who provide the service(s). Mark Naylor PhD, President, Union Hills Enterprises

Make the effort to understand the business needs of your user community. A lot of what seems like strange behaviour is actually rooted in frustration with IT applications designed in isolation that don’t support how business users work. If you can understand the business you can learn to express the business value of IT initiatives in terms they will understand and buy into. But also recognize that as a role that transcends numerous business silos you have a unique perspective that they don’t have on how data is shared across functions, organizations and processes. Learn how to express the value of a comprehensive approach but know how to trade off tactical choices in a strategic framework. And yes, that’s easier said than done. Alastair McKeating Regional Manager, Adaptive Planning

I would tell them that the single most important issue is in relating IT to the business of Higher Education and vice versa and getting the funding model right.  IT is different than anything else in history and needs new rules.  It's NOT a utility, it's treated like one sometimes, but it develops much more quickly.  It's not a tool, it's treated like one sometimes but it's much more embedded and ubiquitous.  It's not a service, it's treated like one sometimes but also has the ability to lead the business.  It's an enabling force like nothing that has ever come along before, and needs to be valued and treated that way. John Porter, Manager Residence Technology, Queen's University

Honesty and ethics. Ian McLeod, CIO, Douglas College

I think the most important issue we face is considering what the role of corporate IT (and especially the CIO) will be in this changing world where pretty well every business process and customer interaction has a digital footprint. Brian MacKay, AVP IT Services and CIO, Thompson Rivers University

FAST FIVE for the week of August 25, 2013

News:

Hosted course management: The University of Calgary is planning to move from on-premise hosted Blackboard courses to a cloud-hosted instance of Desire2Learn. They will be running 30 to 50 pilot courses this fall and they are planning  for full implementation in the Spring 2014 semester. eLearning @ uCalgary

Mobile learning: Algonquin College continues to expand its mobile learning program. All students entering into the program are expected to have and use a mobile computing device and they will take the majority of their courses in the Colleges newly renovated mobile learning classrooms. Over 6,000 students in 76 programs to participate in the program (2012/2013), and they expect to grow the program to include all students by 2016. Mobile learning @ Algonquin

New data centre: Mohawk College is building a new Dell modular data centre and the best way to describe it is with a picture: Data centre in a box

Migrating to Exchange 2010: The University of Toronto has migrated from Microsoft Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010. This project was a gradual migration that happened over a two year period. Upgrading email

Upgrading Moodle: Carleton University is performing its annual course management system upgrade and moving from Moodle 2.1 to 2.4. The upgrade will happen over the Labour Day weekend. Moodle move

Question:

If you had to teach a course in the management of IT in higher ed to first year students, what is the single most important issue you would tell them? 

Please respond to mprroman@gmail.com and I will post comments next week. Thanks!

FAST FIVE for the week of August 18, 2013

New grad system: McGill University has launched its new graduate admissions system. The system called uApply is now online and accepting summer 2014 applications. McGill grad admissions

Infrastructure upgrades: Mohawk College has added 250 more wireless access points this summer to expand wi-fi coverage for students. They have also added 18 new smart classrooms to bring their total up to 218. Online learning

Learning management system upgrade: The University of Windsor is upgrading its learning management system. The system known as CLEW (Collaboration and Learning Environment) will have an improved user interface and several new features designed to improve security and fix bugs. CLEW'd in

Netware migration: The University of Winnipeg is migrating from Novell Netware to Windows. The migration is designed to improve campus network services and improve future software updates. The upgrades will happen this fall. Goodbye to Netware

Linking voicemail to email: Carleton University has implemented a voicemail feature putting users' phone messages into their email inbox. Voicemail inbox  

FAST FIVE for the week of August 11, 2013

Responsive web design: The upgraded University of New Brunswick website is using a responsive web design. The new system will adjust dynamically to the user's particular viewing device. UNB upgrade

Upgraded portal: The University of Saskatchewan is upgrading its PAWS portal. The system will have an improved look and feel and new tools are being added to the system. uSask changes

Synchronous learning: The University of Alberta is looking for a new synchronous learning tool to replace Elluminate. Several products are being evaluated and a pilot is underway this summer. New tool

Interim CIO: Brock University has hired David Cullum as its interim Associate Vice-President, Information Technology Services. David started his new role at Brock on July 18. Brock AVP and CIO

New IT Director: Western University has announced the appointment of Jeff Grieve as their new ITS Director. He replaced Debbie Jones, who retired last year. Western Director

FAST FIVE for the week of August 4, 2013

IT efficiency award: The Royal Roads University IT team has won the 2013 Models of Efficiency award. Through a series of software improvements they have made  their application process  much smoother for prospective students. The streamlined system provides automatic daily wait-list alerts to students as space becomes available, eliminating frequent applicant phone calls. Wait-listed applicants can also check their status online. RRU award

Video conferencing improvements: Wilfred Laurier University is planning to double the capacity and improve ease of use of their video conferencing technology. One of the planned changes includes licensing Cisco's Jabber technology to bring remote video conferencing to tablets and laptops. WLU VC upgrades

IT strategic plan: Trent University has published its IT Strategic Plan. Titled "New Beginnings" the plan looks forward to the future of IT at the University. Trent IT strategy
 
Job portal: Centennial College is launching a new job portal this month. The new system will allow students to apply to jobs directly on the portal, access jobs by mobile app, book employment appointments, and register for career events. Centennial's new portal

Information security encryption: The University of British Columbia has published an information security standard for encryption. UBC encryption

FAST FIVE for the week of July 28, 2013

Website re-design and service catalogue: The University of British Columbia IT department will be releasing a new website this summer, and it is designed to improve service to UBC community. New site features include an improved service catalogue, responsive design for mobile-friendly browsing, and integration with social media. UBC IT changes

Identity and access management: Computing and Communications at Memorial University has launched an identity and access management project. They have published a project website articulating the project vision, phases, and key principles. The purpose of the project is to deliver an enterprise-wide identity strategy for the University to ensure improved user satisfaction, operational efficiency, security, and collaboration. IAM project

IT dashboard: The IT team at Memorial has been busy - they have also created an IT dashboard for projects and services. The metrics published include service requests, mail volume, malware & spam stats, wireless usage, and project statuses. Clear measures
  
Office 365 Q & A: As part of Dalhousie's implementation of Office 365, the University is publishing common questions and answers about the new service. Questions answered

BCIT data centre: The British Columbia Institute of Technology is upgrading its data centre. This link has a great tweet from Steven Lamb (CIO) about the process. Data centre overhaul

FAST FIVE for the week of July 21, 2013

Migrating to Microsoft: The University of Manitoba has introduced a new student email system based on Microsoft’s Office 365. The system will provide students with several new features, including a 25GB mailbox. Starting in September, the University will only use UofM email accounts for all communications, including messages from professors, departments, advisors and administrative offices. Office 365 @ UofM

More from Manitoba: With most universities and colleges well into registration season, there are some good examples available on how to use online services. The University of Manitoba has published several online tutorials on YouTube for students explaining how to use their Aurora registration system. Registration videos

Real-time shuttle bus information: Concordia University now publishes real-time maps showing the locations of their shuttle buses. Using GPS data, the service is accessed online by computer, smartphone or tablet by visiting the University web site. Screens displaying the maps have been installed at two of their bus stops. Shuttle bus data

Account management infographic: Carleton University has published an easy-to-follow infographic on how to set up an online account at the University. This single account provides access to the portal, learning management system, wireless, kiosks, and labs. Access infographic

CANHEIT 2013: Videos of presentations from CANHEIT 2013 are now available at: Presentation videos

FAST FIVE for the week of July 14, 2013

Stewardship and a new portal: The University of Calgary's new portal launching on July 15 is a product of their University Systems Enabling Research USER) task force. This stewardship committee is responsible for improving the systems and processes needed to support and improve research at the University. The scope of support for research systems includes such diverse areas as accounting, human resource, IT, supply chain management, legal, ethics, and grant processes. UofC research stewardship

Office365 at Queen's: Queen's University IT Services and Microsoft have released a video describing their implementation of Office 365. The comments from the IT staff are articulate and enlightening. Queen's and Microsoft

Web site refresh: Simon Fraser University launched its new and improved web site today. The new system was built use the University's content management system called CQ5. The site was built using responsive design, so it scales automatically to the screen real estate available to the user's access device. New SFU

Planning at York: York University has published its 2013-14 computing plan for the central information technology services organization. The detailed document provides a recap of the previous year and a plan for the next year (starting on page 15). IT planning

CIO moving on: Phil Wright, the CIO of Brock University, is moving to the University of Toronto to become the Director of Information and Instructional Technology for the Faculty of Arts and Science. New role

FAST FIVE for the week of July 7, 2013

New graduate studies system: The University of Lethbridge has implemented an online graduate studies application system designed to improve its graduate program.  The new process will improve the conversion rate of applicants to registered graduate students by making the application process as clear and seamless as possible. Moreover, the new system will reduce turnaround time in the application process by up to six weeks, thereby improving efficiency of the University. Faster and better grad applications

Celebrating success: The University of New Brunswick IT Services department has posted an infographic to celebrate their accomplishments. Information includes metrics on the success of the portal implementation, the effort to move to cloud services, and the utilization of ongoing help and support services. UNB infographic

Interview with a client: Dalhousie University has published an interview with a client of their new Microsoft Office 365 cloud service. This interview highlights the value of the new service from a user perspective. Dalhousie Office 365

Publishing change: The University of Alberta publishes a calendar identifying planned IT changes. The schedule of changes also includes details describing what is happening, who is affected, and what is the impact of the change. UofA change calendar

Security advice: Interesting blog post from the University of Victoria's IT security manager about the complexity of fixing a security issue on campus after it has happened. UVic security

FAST FIVE for the week of June 30, 2013

Data protection infographic: A great infographic from Carleton University with data and best practices on keeping portable devices safe: Carleton best practices 

Portal re-design: The University of Calgary is re-designing its myUofC portal with a simplified user experience. The new system, launching in July, will  present information and services in an integrated manner to users seamlessly and securely. The University offered live demonstrations of the system to its user community in June. Calgary portal changes

Blackboard upgrade: The University of Saskatchewan has upgraded its Blackboard course tools. Several new features including enhanced navigation, improved discussion boards, new content editor, and a retention alert centre are included in the new release. Saskatchewan Blackboard improvements

Mobile registration: The University of Windsor continues to build on its mobile app services by adding registration services. Windsor mobile registration

Acceptable use and security: The University of British Columbia has formally approved an Acceptable Use and Security policy. This policy articulates the University's policy in a number of key areas and is important because of the province's particularly focused Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Electronic information and systems acceptable use

FAST FIVE for the week of June 23, 2013

Encouraging the move to VoIP: Carleton University has been in the process of moving to VoIP telephones over the past five years. The project is 90% complete and the University would like those remaining users to migrate to the new phones. To encourage the change they will be re-instating a $75 move fee as of September 1. VoIP incentive

Helping with the move to Office365: Dalhousie University has implemented the Microsoft Office 365 email and calendaring cloud service. The help users with the migration, the University has published Q&As on the new system. Office 365 Q&A

Asking the students: The University of Waterloo has issued an online survey about the new co-op system they are developing. Students are asked to select their top 3 preferences for the system. Democracy in system design

Spotting SPAM: Information Technology Services at the University of Toronto has posted a Facebook update on how to spot SPAM messages. The post shows how to hover over links in suspicious messages to identify email addresses that are not authentic. Finding fake links

Security awareness: Memorial University has announced its online information security awareness training course. This course is available directly through their Desire2Learn course management system. InfoSec awareness training

FAST FIVE for the week of June 16, 2013

Personalized addresses: The University of Windsor has launched a new system enabling employees to create personalized email addresses based on their first and last names. Windsor email names

Login help video: The University of British Columbia has created another helpful video for its user community. This latest video provides hints for solving common problems encountered when logging into their eLearning system: UBC login FAQ

Direct deposit chanhes: The University of Alberta is changing its payroll system and no longer issuing cheques. The changes are intended to reduce the nearly $600,000 in additional processing costs incurred by issuing cheques. uAlberta payroll

Experts Database: The University of Lethbridge launched a new experts database designed to enable users to search for researchers based on research expertise, name, faculty, department, or spoken language. It also allows users to browse for experts by specific topics and provides contact information for the expert. uLethbridge expertise database

Phone spoofing: Several university and college phone numbers have been spoofed by telemarketers recently. The telemarketing company fakes a college or university caller id in the hopes that the recipient is more likely to pick up the phone if they believe it is a trusted caller. UBC has created a site to warn its community of the issue: Spoofing alert

FAST FIVE for the week of June 9, 2013

Information Technology Award: The YMCA-YWCA of Guelph recently honoured Gayleen Gray as the recipient of the  Information Technology Award for her contributions to IT on the University of Guelph campus. Gayleen is the current Associate Director of IT Strategy & Partnership within the University of Guelph’s Computing and Communications Services (CCS).   Gayleen Gray 

Canadian higher education IT conference: CANHEIT 2013 starts today in Ottawa. This year's theme is "Exceptional ideas for a changing world" and the conference continues till June 12. CANHEIT 2013

New portal: The University of Waterloo is investigating student portal opportunities and they are inviting student input. The input sessions will address features students would like to see and how could the portal make their life easier. uWaterloo portal

Email outage: The University of Lethbridge experienced an unusual reason for an email outage this week - a flood. A water main broke causing the flooding that led to the outage. Email outage

Security blog post: A great article by Eric van Wiltenburg (University of Victoria) on password management challenges in an academic environment: Password advice

FAST FIVE for the week of June 2, 2013

Mobile learning roll out: Lambton College is rolling out mobile learning technology to ten of their programs this September and they have plans to implement the technology to another 12 more programs in 2014. Students in these programs are expected to purchase their own tablets and laptops. Lambton learning
 
Portal upgrade: The University of Saskatchewan will launch a new version of their portal with a significantly improved information architecture. The new release will deliver content in a more intuitive manner and is expected to go live in July. PAWS portal progression

Expanded cloud data storage: The University of British Columbia currently provides 20Gb of free private cloud storage for faculty and staff. In a new service offering, they are are providing offering additional storage for a fee of $7 per 10Gb per year. Getting gigs

Additional email storage: Carleton University is also offering more space. The University is increasing email storage limits from 10Gb to 25Gb for all email accounts. Expanding email

Value of MOOCs: The former CIO and now VP Academic of Royal Roads University provides some perspective on MOOCs: Open online opinion

FAST FIVE for the week of May 26, 2013

IT strategic plan: Thompson Rivers University has released its 2013 IT strategic plan. With clear goals and explicit service measures the document sets a new standard for IT planning: TRU IT Plan

Shared EMC software: BCCampus, a provincial shared service provider for higher education, has signed a deal with Osler Systems to deliver Electronic Medical Software (EMC) for teaching medical administration. The software is available to all colleges in the province and is hosted from a central location to simplify installation and usage. Osler systems EMC

More medical IT: The University of British Columbia's medical school deployed videoconferencing technology for distributed medical education across the province. The attached article talks about the history and future of this technology in medical education. Distributed medical IT

Micro fundraising technology: Carleton University has implemented new technology to enable funding pledges through micro-giving to innovative faculty and student projects. Micro-giving @ Carleton
 
Compute Canada Leadership: Jill Kovalchuk has returned to Compute Canada as their interim President. Compute Canada Leadership

FAST FIVE for the week of May 19, 2013

New Coop System: The University of Waterloo has signed an agreement with Orbis to deliver a new co-operative education and career action system. Waterloo coop system

eduroaming on a Sunday: An enlightening blog post from Chris Phillips highlights the continuing worldwide growth of eduroam as a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week service: eduroam usage

Testing the alert system: Douglas College ran its first ever lockdown drill last week. The successful test used their DC Alerts system to send out text, email, and voicemail messages to all faculty, staff, and students at their New Westminister campus. DC Alerts

HPCS conference: The annual High Performance Computing Symposium (HPCS) will be held June 2-6 in Ottawa this year. The symposium brings supercomputing researchers from all disciplines to discuss high performance computational research. HPCS 2013

Interesting stats: IT Systems & Services at the University of PEI now publishes a daily status board that includes email and wireless stats. The email stats show the vast number of emails received vs. blocked and the wireless stats show user and traffic volume. System Status Board

FAST FIVE for the week of May 12, 2013

Strategic partnership: The U4 league of universities, which includes Acadia, Bishop's, Mount Allison, and St. Francis Xavier, has announced a collaboration strategy where the schools will work together on a number of key opportunities. Part of the strategy includes implementing best practices in administration by cooperating in service delivery, technology, and infrastructure, in order to contain cost and increase efficiency. Shared service

Getting connected: The University of British Columbia is migrating from WebCT Vista to their new Connect Learning Management System. The pilot started a little over one year ago and now over 33,000 students and 1,280 courses are in Connect and courses are no longer being created in Vista. UBC connects

Tips & tricks: Algonquin College has launched a series of help videos available on YouTube designed to help their staff use technology. Here's one example of how to connect to the college's services from home: Help videos

IT web popularity: The central IT web site is one of the top five most popular web sites at Dalhousie University. After such typically popular sites like the library and university news, the  Information Technology Services ranked a very respectable 4th place. ITS site ranking

CIO higher ed panel: Five CIOs were brought together in the attached video to discuss the future impact of information technology on higher education over the next five years. Discussion topics included shared services, cloud technologies, privacy legislation, social media, and bring your own technology. Future of IT panel

FAST FIVE for the week of May 5, 2013

Migrating to SailPoint: The University of Victoria (UVic) has purchased the SailPoint IdentityIQ product. The new system will replace their SUN Identity Manager system and a custom-built password management system. The system was purchased through a BCNET license agreement managed by Long View Systems. Details of the migration strategy are explained in the attached diagram (courtesy of Corey Scholefield): SUN Identity Manager migration
 
More news from Victoria: UVic's University Systems department has just upgraded its web site to reflect overall website style changes at the University. The team is also increasing use of Twitter for help desk support.  New look   Twitter support

Gone mobile: The University of Saskatchewan is strategically emphasizing mobile services. The University's homepage as well as most of the first level pages are now fully functional on mobile devices. The mobile team plans on adding more of the University's sites and providing a mobile website template to ease the transition for other sites on campus. Their portal will become more mobile friendly in July, and the University expects all channel content to be mobile accessible by 2014. Mobile strategy for uSask

Google pilot praised: The University's of Ottawa's Google pilot has been a success with early adopters and the University is planning to move to full production services for all students by the middle of May. The new service will provide email (with 25 Gb of storage), calendaring, chat, Google Docs, and several other tools. Gaga for Google

Cloud SPAM filtering: The University of Calgary is moving its spam control for all email accounts to Microsoft's Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE). This cloud service is based outside of Canada and filters spam and malware from incoming and outgoing email. FOPE PAS

FAST FIVE for the week of April 28, 2013

Improving residence processes: The University of Toronto's NGSIS (Next Generation Student Information Systems) program has implemented its MyRes system. The new system is designed to streamline the residence application steps and was developed as part of a process improvement initiative. See page 5 of: Residence process streamlining

Better security: The University of British Columbia Information Technology team has created a unique video on passwords. Great advice presented in a humorous fashion: Strong password advice

Moodle is a hit: Concordia University is upgrading its current version of Moodle to release 2.3. The new version of the Moodle course management system will make it easier and more effective for faculty to manage course content. The new version was piloted with staff and students who feel the system will transform teaching and learning at the University. New Moodle

Campus Technology Day: The University of Windsor is holding its 7th annual campus technology day. Participants include faculty, staff, and students. They will discuss how technology impacts learning, teaching, research, and building community on campus. Technology on campus

Gesture technology in the classroom: Students at Ryerson University are developing a gesture recognition system that can be used from any podium. The intention of this Kinect-based system is to allow the lecturer to control their slide presentation via scrolling, zooming, and highlighting gestures. The lecturer is free to move anywhere in the classroom and still manage the projector.  Teaching and learning gestures

FAST FIVE for the week of April 21, 2013

New Chair: Clark Ferguson, the CIO at the University of Lethbridge, has been named the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Alberta Association in Higher Education for Information Technology (AAHEIT). AAHEIT website

Digital media growth: The University of British Columbia IT department hired Bruce Marchfelder, an award-winning video director, to their team. Bruce will help UBC IT media development create high-quality communications for groups on and off campus. New media director

Textbook mobile app: Brock University has introduced a mobile app to scan text book bar codes and instantly tell students the trade-in value of an old textbook. Brock's textbook app

ORION Conference: The annual ORION THINK conference is being held this week in Toronto. the theme of this year’s conference is “Extreme Data” – the trends, the issues, and the impact on Ontario’s research, education and innovation communities. Thinking about ORION

Departure: Bill Appelbe, the CEO of Compute Canada, is no longer with the organization. Compute Canada website 

FAST FIVE for the week of April 14, 2013

Customer satisfaction: The Medical IT department at the University of British Columbia resolved 1,191 customer issues in March and 81% of their survey respondents were "very satisfied" with the level of customer service. MedIT @ UBC

One stop portal: Wilfred Laurier University launched their one stop portal for students looking for academic support. The new portal called MyHelpSpace gives information in areas such as time management, study skills, and statistics. It provides online workshops, tutorials, academic planners, and other tools. Students can also book appointments with support staff or connect them through online chat. Some funding for the portal came from the Student Life levy. New student life service

Dalhousie partners with Microsoft: Dalhousie University will be partnering with Microsoft to provide email, calendar services and other collaboration tools to the university through its Office 365 for Education platform. The business case for the change is explained by Dwight Fischer, Dal's CIO: “It’s about providing the latest and greatest IT tools, shared across the university. A leading university should have leading-edge communications and workplace tools, and that’s what Office 365 offers the Dal community.” Office 365 for Dal

Dedicated research IT team: The University of Saskatchewan central ICT organization has created a new Research Computing team dedicated to supporting the University's research community. The new team will assess the IT needs of researchers, assist them in using existing services, explore new tools that may be of help to them, and inform researchers of service enhancements. The team will draw on the staff and services of the entire ICT portfolio in its mission to support research success. Research computing support

Skydrive help: Trinity Western University (TWU) has published a detailed video on how to use a TWU Skydrive account: TWU Skydrive video

Improved security from the cloud: The University of Calgary will be implementing Microsoft's Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE) to filter spam and malware from incoming and outgoing email. FOPE is a cloud based service and will be implemented for all members of the university community by May 1, 2013.  Cloud based security

Fun news: Algonquin College gets creative with its 404 message for pages that don't exist: 404 message

FAST FIVE for the week of April 7, 2013

Sharing and voting for ideas: Carleton University is implementing a new innovation management tool. The tool enables faculty and staff to post 300-character entries ideas and vote on ideas that are already posted. Users can offer suggestions and comments to improve existing idea in the system. If an idea has received enough support it will be reviewed by decision-makers for a formal response. Innovation management Soapbox

Testing the portal: In other news from Ottawa, the University of Ottawa is asking students to test their redesigned portal. The new mobile-friendly portal, known as uoZone, was upgraded based on consultations with students and other campus stakeholders. Students are being asked to report bugs and are encouraged to fill out a survey on their user experience. Student portal testing

Publishing traditional material on iTunes: The University of Toronto has put their quarterly magazine on iTunes. The paper version is sent to over 300,000 alumni of the Uninversity. The iPad app version of the magazine contains additional multimedia content not available in the traditional verison of the magazine. UofT Magazine app

Promoting social media technology: The University of Manitoba has published an infographic with metrics explaining how well they are achieving their communication goals throughout the stakeholder community. There are many interesting stats, including community growth of over 216% in Instagram. Manitoba media messages

Student IT survey: York University is conducting a student IT survey to assist with technology planning and to assess the quality of technology services on campus. They are using the Higher Education TechQual+ system which provides IT staff with the tools to assess, analyze, and report on the effectiveness of technology services at the University. TechQual+ at York

FAST FIVE for the week of March 31, 2013

Strategic IT Planning: The University of Waterloo held its second IT strategic planning open house last week. Over 100 people attended the session designed to update the campus on progress made in the development of a collaborative IT directions plan. The overall process is extraordinarily well planned and documented. For more details on the University's approach, check out the planning process site: IT strategic plan model

New provincial applications portal: Nova Scotia announced an investment in a study to develop a new online applications portal for students applying to university in the province. The new common application system would allow high school students to submit electronic transcripts of their marks, and mature students to apply for advanced standing, based on the skills and experience they have acquired through jobs or volunteer work. Simplifying the application process

Shared services in Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia also announced a pilot project to create a common email, calendar, and collaboration tool for the universities across the province. This $1.1 million project is expected to create significant saving for the institutions. Shared services savings

... and another innovation from Nova Scotia: Dalhousie University announced a new mobile app designed as an event listing and ticketing service for their Arts Centre. Currently available for Apple, Android and Blackberry phones, the new application lists all the shows coming to the centre, and allows users to buy tickets through the centre’s online ticketing system. Arts Centre mobile app

Mobile device chargers: Camosun College is piloting new mobile charging stations for its students. The inexpensive stations are placed in convenient locations across campus to allow students to re-charge their phones, laptops, and tablets. Mobile chargers

 

FAST FIVE for the week of March 24, 2013

UBC IT reinvents the classroom:  The University of British Columbia's IT division is providing support to the institution's MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) implementation. They are providing technology support, course content, and media resources for the project. Currently, UBC is delivering four MOOC courses through Coursera.  UBC IT MOOCs

New library system: The University of New Brunswick is moving to a new integrated library system know as Worldshare Management Systems (WMS), which is produced by a company called OCLC. Their library system upgrade will occur this summer and replaces a system originally implemented in 1995. UNB library system

Selecting a new LMS: Ryerson University is investigating new learning management systems (LMSs) and they are holding a series of LMS product demonstrations the week of April 2-9. Systems to be shown include Sakai, Moodle, Blackboard, D2L, OpenClass, and Canvas. Demo Week for LMSs

Research computing news: The University of Saskatchewan's ICT group is publishing a blog dedicated to research computing news on their campus: ICT research computing blog

Centralized PeopleSoft support: The University of Calgary has implemented a new Integrated Service Centre bringing together a family of related help desks into a single location. This new service also includes assistance for the University's PeopleSoft systems. Walk-in ERP support

Moving on: Sean Moriarty, the interim CIO from the University of Windsor, is leaving Canada to assume a full time Chief Technology Officer role at SUNY Oswego. Send-off for Sean

FAST FIVE for the week of March 17, 2013

New IT security course: Through a collaborative effort by CUCCIO (Canadian University Council of CIOs), the University of New Brunswick, Thompson Rivers University, and Memorial University are offering a new online IT security awareness course for students, faculty and staff. The course is delivered through the schools' learning management systems and several other schools are planning to launch the course. IT security awareness

New service catalog and website: The University of Guelph's central IT Department, Computer and Communications Services (CCS), has a new website that features an integrated service catalogue with over 40 services in 11 categories. The new website makes it easy for campus partners to order services and get IT assistance quickly. Take a tour of the new website: www.uoguelph.ca/ccs

Emergency notification system: The University of Regina has implemented an enhanced Emergency Notification System (ENS) designed to alert students, faculty, staff and other members of their community in an emergency. In the event of a life threatening emergency, students, staff and faculty will receive messaging delivered through a network of communication channels that provides basic information about the type of emergency and safety instructions. ENS in Regina

Support for Blackberry 10: The University of Windsor's Information Technology Services department now offers support for the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones. They have added this service to the existing support of their current community of Android and iOS clients. Blackberry 10 in Windsor

Pre-empting an outage: The UBC IT department has published a short video for students, staff, and faculty about what to do when their wireless service has an outage. What to do when the wireless goes out

FAST FIVE for the week of March 10, 2013

New University Data Centre: The University of British Columbia IT department has built a new and green University Data Centre (UDC) located in the campus' Pharmaceutical Sciences Building. The UDC will house computer infrastructure for researchers and administrative units in a secure and energy efficient environment. UBC data centre

Content management system: Carleton University made the decision to move to WordPress as its enterprise content management system and the attached article explains the reasons for the decision. WordPress at Carleton

Another mobile app competition: Several universities and colleges have encouraged mobile app development through contests. UBC has launched its competition as a trade show styled event with a prize of $5,000 for the winner. Trade show mobile app contest

Wireless upgrades and expansion: AirYork, the York University wireless network is being upgraded. This project requires large-scale deployment of new equipment that will improve convenience and performance of the campus wireless network. As part of multi-year program, every building on York University’s Keele campus will have wireless or enhanced wireless (Wi-Fi). Flying the friendly wireless of AirYork

Tech test drive: Mount Royal University is running its annual Tech Test Drive conference for the innovative use of technology in teaching and learning. The conference includes hands-on experiences and discussions on how technology is shaping the educational environment. Teaching and learning at MRU

FAST FIVE for the week of March 3, 2013

Mobile site replaces portal: The University of British Columbia has replaced its myUBC web portal with a mobile website and native app. With the increased smartphone and tablet use on campus, the new site proveds a more streamlined and accessible tool for accessing exclusive UBC content. A video explaining the new tool is here: UBC mobile website and app

Digital tax receipts: Thompson Rivers University put their student tax receipts online. Students can now download their T2202A directly from their myTRU portal and paper receipts will longer be mailed to their home. Online T2202A's

Recycling IT: Queen's University ITServices and the campus Sustainability Office have teamed up to create the Recycle IT Games. The games are designed to encourage e-waste recycling and include events such as the laptop toss (throw your laptop into a recycling bin from behind a designated line) and the mobile phone accuracy toss (throw your mobile device into a recycling tote). e-waste recycling

New CIO: The University of Windsor has appointed Bala Kathiresan as the Executive Director of Information Technology Services. He was the former Executive VP and COO for a teaching hospital prior to his new position. uWindsor CIO

No CIO: Brian Stewart, the VP IT and Chief Information Officer at Athabasca University, has resigned from the institution. AU CIO

FAST FIVE for the week of February 24, 2013

Updated student web services: The University of Toronto Information Technology Services team has updated its student web services with a new look. The impact of the improvements can be seen in  this comparison photo published on their FaceBook page: UofT landing page

ITIL award: The University of Alberta's AICT (Academic Information and Communication Technologies) team recently won Pink Elelphant's Information Technology Infrastructure Library Project of the Year award for its rapid implementation of ITIL. The signifigance and magnitude of the changes made in IT at the University can be seen in the attached video: United we grow, divided we status quo

Project and portfolio management: IT Services at the University of Lethbridge has selected AtTask Inc. as the vendor of their new project and portfolio management (PPM) tool. This product was selected after requests were sent to 14 different vendors. They expect to go live with the new PPM on April 1 of this year. PPM at Lethbridge

Technology enriched learning environment: The University of Ontario Institute of Technology has published a brochure summarizing the IT support provided to their teaching and learning environment. Topics include help desk, learning management system, laptop purchase program, and technology fees. UOIT brochure

PeopleSoft progress: McMaster University's PeopleSoft ERP implementation is progressing into the fit-gap analysis stage. The project known as Mosaic is using Deloitte as the systems integration consulting firm. Mac's Mosaic

FAST FIVE for the week of February 17, 2013

Privacy event at Dal: Dalhousie University hosted a Data Privacy Day event on January 28. The day featured a variety of speakers urging attendees to use resources available for self-education on privacy law and avoiding privacy threats. Dwight Fisher, Dal's CIO, discussed the privacy implications of using personal data to customize student learning. Several other speakers covered a wide breadth of data privacy issues. Data Privacy Day

Crowdvoting for CANHEIT: The CANHEIT organization team has taken an innovative approach to selecting the program for this year's conference. They are asking for potential attendees to vote for the sessions they are interested in attending. Crowdvoting will help the program evaluation committee decide which presentations and topic areas will be featured and program selections will be announced in March. CANHEIT voting

More crowdvoting and more Dal: The Dalhousie Student Union has created a Soapbox website designed for students to submit their suggestions for improving life at Dal and to vote for, or against them. Since the site was launched in the fall, students have submitted 244 ideas to the website and voted almost 10,000 times. To date, 43 of the ideas have been officially responded to, with more than a dozen fully implemented. Soapbox site

Maximizing Moodle: Vancouver Community College instructors have expanded Moodle to improve the classroom experience for instructors and students. The College has seen significant student outcome improvements and plans to continue to improve the program. Moodle @ VCC

The Year in Review: The University of Saskatchewan's Information and Communications Technology department has produced an wonderful summary of its accomplishments in the past year: ICT Summary

FAST FIVE for the week of February 10, 2013

iPad integration project: Olds College in Alberta will be introducing Apple iPads into the classroom to improve teaching and learning and to better prepare students for future employment. The College will be the first in Canada with such a program and expects it to improve student recruitment and retention. Full time faculty will receive $600 towards purchasing 4th generation iPads. The project will require significant infrastructure work with upgraded wifi, Apple TV's, and other changes. See item 5 in the attached link: New mobile at Olds

Mobile virtual campus: The University of Ottawa has implemented the Blackboard Mobile Learn platform for its virtual campus. This new mobile app provides interactive teaching and learning mobile technology for students and instructors. They have access to their courses and content on a variety of devices including iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and webOS smartphones. Features include Dropbox integration, mobile testing, push notifications, and most other learning management systems tools. uOttawa Blackboard Learn

Media streaming service: Queen's University has upgraded its media streaming service for faculty and staff. The new features and improved user interface makes it easier for users to manage their content and embed video and audio in their websites and Moodle courses. Queen's streaming

Mobile safety app: York University has implemented a mobile app designed specifically to improve safety on campus. The system is designed for students, faculty, and staff, and it provides one-stop access to all of the University’s safety resources, including direct calling to campus security. Key student safety services, such as the campus shuttle, and other important safety information are available on the system. It is available on Google, Apple, and Blackberry devices. The video is here: York safety app

More safety news: Carleton University tested its Emergency Notification System last week. The campus-wide test sent emergency messages via email, text messaging, computer lockout. The system is designed to contact a mass volume of Carleton community members in the event of an emergency. Emergency alert system

FAST FIVE for the week of February 3, 2013

Hosted service outage: Desire2Learn hosting services suffered a lengthy outage this week affecting several Canadian universities and colleges.The service failure was severe enough to warrant a letter of apology from the President of Desire2Learn to several customers. Attached is a link to the letter sent to Wilfred Laurier University: D2L apology

OCAD mobility report: OCAD U's President, Sara Diamond, has released “Taking Ontario Mobile,” a comprehensive, cross-sectoral research, policy framework and strategy report about how mobile technologies are part of the financially responsible solution to providing better access to services for Ontarians. The report provides an analysis of challenges, opportunities, barriers and best practices across five priority sectors: learning, health, government services, entertainment and commerce. It also creates a blueprint for establishing Ontario as a mobile leader, both nationally and globally. Taking Ontario Mobile

Donations for literacy: Rebecca Graham, the University of Guelph’s chief information officer and chief librarian was asked for suggestions on how to help with literacy issues in Ghana. She went above and beyond the request and within two days offered 125 computers with power cords, mice and keyboards. The library was in the process of replacing computers used in public workstations, so she was able to arrange for these to be donated. IT staff checked over each one to make sure they were in good working condition and reset them to factory settings, then had them shipped to Ghana. According to Rebecca, “It’s part of our commitment to community. Technology doesn’t solve problems, but it enables people to find solutions.” Commitment to community

Big ideas for mobile: Saint Mary's University is holding a mobile app contest. Students are invited to submit their ideas and SMU staff will help them develop their ideas into reality. Winners receive an iPad Mini and a one-course tuition waver. SMU mobile app contest

Even more mobile news: The University of Windsor is releasing a new version of its myUWindsor mobile app. The new features and technical improvements will be available February 4. mUWindsor upgrade

Community building in Edmonton: The University of Alberta's guest wireless service replaced Edmonton Wireless last fall in the Enterprise Square complex. This picture from Trevor Woods says it all: University of Alberta wireless