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

FAST FIVE for the week of January 27, 2013

Degree explorer: The University of Toronto is preparing to launch its Next Generation Student Information Service's degree planning tool. The administrator functions of the system enable staff to ensure a student meets class prerequisites, or confirm a student has satisfied all requirements needed to graduate. For students, the system notifies them of program completion and tracks exceptions made during  the course of their degree. It serves as a central resource to track student's academic progression and supports academic advising. Please see page 3 of the attached newsletter: Degree explorer at UofT

Digital learning strategy: The University of Alberta has completed its Online Visioning Committee report. The document contains the outline of a proposal for strengthening the University’s current online presence in the e-learning space and creating opportunities for engaging both current and new learners. Exploring Advanced Digital Learning

Responsive web site: Also at the University of Alberta, a new beta web site is being tested for user feedback. The new web site will integrate responsive design techniques which means the layout of the site will adjust to the device you are using to view the site. Visitors using smartphones, tablets or desktops will all see a version of the site that is optimized for whatever device they use. Responsively designed beta site

Improving registration performance and capacity: Dalhousie University's Information Technology Services and the Registrar's Office are looking to students for their help in testing the updated course registration system. On January 30, current Dalhousie students are asked to log on to the registration system and complete a test registration. The testing period, meant to simulate actual registration (which opens for returning students in March), will provide valuable insights to Dalhousie’s ITS team about the performance and capacity of the upgraded systems. Test registration

$72 million of computing resources: Compute Canada announced grants of nearly $72 million worth of computing, storage, and support resources allocated to 212 research projects across the country. These grants will allocate nearly one billion processor hours and 10.4 petabytes of storage to the projects over the next year. High performance computing

FAST FIVE for the week of January 20, 2013

Virtual rooms: Virtual classrooms have been gaining in popularity in various University of Toronto departments over the past few years, including use in professional development and online learning. To support this growth they have purchased a university-wide license of BlackBoard Collaborate to provide a standard institutional webinar and webconferencing solution. The new license allows for university-wide use for both internal activities (e.g. course delivery), as well as external use (e.g. hosting virtual conferences). Collaborate at UofT

New content management system: The University of the Fraser Valley has updated its content management system from Active Content Manager to Terminal Four. Citing the need to support 150+ web content editors across campus, the University decided to make the move in the fall. CMS at UFV

ePrinting services: York University has launched a new web tool to improve convenience for faculty and staff to utilize its campus-wide printing service. Using ePrint software, print job files can be submitted directly from faculty or staff member computers to the print shop. The system is available on and off campus, and is secure. York ePrinting

Unified communication and collaboration: The University of Calgary is currently building the foundation for a scalable IT environment to support the implementation of unified communications and collaborative software for faculty and staff. Referred to as the Microsoft Suite Implementation Program, this initiative was established to create a set of foundational tools that will assist in reaching the goals of the university. They are currently recruiting volunteers to participate in the pilot of the project.  uCalgary Microsoft pilot

IT departmental video: The Camosun College IT department has created a short promotional video to help faculty, staff, and students understand the role IT plays on campus. Camosun video

FAST FIVE for the week of January 13, 2013

Service desk giveaway: To raise awareness of its help desk service, Concordia University's IT department is giving away USB keys to its visitors. They have given away nearly 200 USB keys to date. Free USB keys

Student Life Passport program: Ryerson University launched a OneCard-based incentive system designed to boost student engagement by connecting students with campus events. Once registered with the system, student organizations can promote and manage their events on the Passport website. At events, attendees swipe their OneCard to collect points, which can then be redeemed for prizes. The incentive prizes are intended to increase student involvement. Ryerson Passport

Upgraded mobile app: The University of Mantoba has upgraded its mobile application for iPhones and iPads. The app is designed to enhance the campus experience for current and new students. It allows students to review grades, class schedules, and access their learning management system. The application locates campus points of interest, checks bus schedules, provides news and events feeds, and connects to the to UMFM (the University's radio station). U of M app upgrade

Call for proposals: CANHEIT 2013 is looking for proposals for this year's conference. The conference theme is "Exceptional Ideas for a Changing World" and the committee is looking for innovative ideas from campuses across Canada. The deadline is January 31, 2013. CANHEIT proposal form

oneCARD implementation: Sheridan College has implemented oneCARD, a multipurpose identification and access card. Over 23,000 cards have been issued for students and staff since September 2012. It provides identification and access to the college's libraries, printers, recreation facilities, labs, parking, and classrooms. In the future it may also be used for meal plans, residence facilities, and campus payments. See page 3 of the attached newsletter: oneCARD to rule them all

FAST FIVE for the week January 6, 2013

Interactive alumni catalogue: Brock University has created an interactive kiosk of its alumni. The digital display is a library of Brock alumni where users can find digital photos of graduates by searching for name, class, year, or department. The platform uses high-definition graphics and a user-friendly touch screen application on two screens. The system currently has alumni from 2010 to 2012 and will eventually go all the way back to 1967. Brock alumni kiosk

Helping understand classroom technology: Concordia University has released a series of instructional videos and PDF documents designed to facilitate the use of classroom technology by Concordia’s professors. The videos methodically take the viewer through the basic steps required to use the different classroom technology set-ups installed in Concordia’s classrooms. Instructional videos for classrooms

Promotion to CIO: Carleton University has announced Denis Levesque as their new Chief Information Officer. Denis was the acting CIO since June 2012 and started in his new role on January 1 of this year. Carleton CIO

Going mobile: Mount Royal University has released its official MRU App on iTunes. The app provides latest course information, final grades, and an up-to-date schedule of courses and events on campus. MRU iTunes App

IT on the right track: A satisfaction survey of Queen's University faculty and staff reveals they feel their central IT group on the right track with the services they provide and the improvements they have planned. The results of the survey will be used to set priorities for the department over the coming months. Queen's central IT survey

FAST FIVE for the week of December 16, 2012

A day in the life of a wireless network: Thompson Rivers University created an infographic of their wireless network. This snapshot of one day's usage gives a quick highlight of the importance of wireless to the campus. TRU wireless

Real-time collaboration: The University of Fredericton now offers real-time collaboration using the Cisco WebEx product. As part of its executive MBA program, the University implemented this collaboration suite to give students the ability to record lectures, hold online meetings, and share their desktops with one another. Online MBA 

New CEO: Compute Canada has hired its first Chief Executive Officer from Australia. Bill Appelbe, an international leader in advanced computing for research and development will start on January 7, 2013. Compute Canada CEO

Dal saves trees!: As part of the institution's sustainability program, Dalhousie University is phasing out the use of telephone books. Removing yellow and white page directory printing will lower costs and reduce carbon footprint at the university. Dalhousie is encouraging use of online resources to replace the printed material. Eliminating phone books

Gaming in residence: Acadia University now supports gaming devices such as Xbox and PS3 consoles on the residence wireless service. Service desk staff will help students configure their devices to access the wireless service. Residence wireless change

FAST FIVE for the week of December 9, 2012

Professor's favourite apps: Since so many students now enter the classroom with a tablet or a smartphone, professors are discovering ways to integrate these tools into their teaching and research. At the University of Ottawa, the Teaching and Learning Support Service’s Centre for e-Learning recently hosted its first ever show-and-tell session, where professors from a variety of faculties presented their favourite teaching and research apps and software. uOttawa show-and-tell apps session

Network renewal: The University of Calgary is planning a complete campus network core upgrade to improve reliability, adopt an improved security model, and enable large increases in network bandwidth. Targeted upgrades to local building networks will enable individual campus users to take advantage of the improved core network. The first outage needed to implement the changes will occur over the holiday break with a follow-up outage next year. uCalgary network upgrade

Mobile phone live hockey: Ryerson University students can now watch their hockey team's games live in a mobile phone format.  For their fourth-year practicum project, a team of students created a mobile-optimized website at ryersonhockeymobile.com featuring stats and info for the Ryerson Rams hockey team, and live broadcasts of three full games that people can watch on their phones. Ryerson mobile phone hockey

Call for proposals: The CANHEIT 2013 organizing committee has issued its call for proposals for this year's conference. The theme of the conference is “Exceptional ideas for a changing world.” Proposals must be submitted by January 31, 2013 and they will be selected through crowdvoting and an evaluation committee process. CANHEIT 2013 proposals

Compliments U: Queens University has setup an unusual FaceBook page: Queens U Compliments. The page allows anyone to post a compliment for a Queen's student and have it published anonymously. If you have something nice to say about someone and maybe don't feel comfortable saying it to them in person, you can post it here. Being nice @ Queen's

FAST FIVE for the week of December 2, 2012

EDUROAM hits one million: EDUROAM, the trusted access management environment for Canadian research and higher education communities, has reached the milestone of one million accesses per month. The system originally pioneered at Simon Fraser University & BCNET and now administered by CANARIE, is used by faculty, staff, researchers, and students from across Canada. EDUROAM milestone

Entrepreneurial engineering students: McMaster University engineering students have created a system called Groupnotes that is an online collaboration tool enabling users to leave messages on the web pages they visit, and lets colleagues view those messages in real-time. Faculty members from McMaster and other Canadian universities have already purchased subscriptions to the software. Student collaboration software
 
Building a better student services building: The University of Waterloo is building a pedestrian traffic map using a Smartphone app that is available for students on their iPhones and Android devices (no RIM Blackberry support). The purpose of the pedestrian traffic map is to help the Student Services Building committee understand how students use campus. Once a student runs the app on their smartphone, they just walk around campus as normal and their participation helps create a map of the pedestrian traffic on campus.  Student success office app

Co-op administration systems: In other news from the University of Waterloo, they are replacing their co-op administration systems. As part of the selection process they are inviting stakeholders from across campus to attend the vendor demonstrations. uWaterloo coop vendors

The Next Generation upgrade: The University of Toronto Next Generation Student Information System (NGSIS) project has begun to roll out service improvements based on access to real-time data from the Student Information System. The first service improvement to be released includes two tools: “Textbook Search Engine” and “Varsity Blues Registration System.” NGSIS update

FAST FIVE for the week of November 25, 2012

Award for Gmail migration: Ryerson University's Email and Collaborative Tools team received their University's inaugural President’s Blue & Gold Award of Excellence for their achievements in implementing the new Google Apps for Education system. The email accounts of 23,000 students, faculty and staff were migrated to Gmail. Students and faculty who chose to opt-in were transferred to Gmail from Rmail, while staff was automatically migrated from GroupWise. Ryerson Gmail award

Mobile registration access: Undergraduate students at Concordia can now use their handheld devices (smartphones and tablets) to register for classes, add or drop courses, and view class schedules and grades. Plans are also underway to reach graduate students. Concordia mobile registration

Improving wireless coverage: University of Toronto Mississauga is working to improve its wireless coverage by asking its students to let them know where problems are located. Their Twitter account recently posed this question to their students "Found a dead spot in our wifi network? We want to know!" Student input to wireless coverage

New CIO position: Camosun College in Victoria is looking for a new CIO for its two campuses and 20,000 students. The department has a budget of $6 million and 50 full time staff. Camosun Chief Information Officer

New IT web service centre: The University of Winnipeg has launched its new Technology Solutions Centre website. This revitalized web site makes it easier to stay up to date on information technology and networking matters at the University. UW Technology Solution Centre

FAST FIVE for the week of November 18, 2012

Canadian high performance computing: The Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Consortium (University of Toronto) is the highest ranked Canadian entry in the Top 500 list of super computing sites in the world. With 32,768 cores and a theoretical peak performance of 419.4 tera flops per second, this site is 68th on the list.  HPC Top 500

180,629: With Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) making the news recently, it is interesting to see the data behind the scenes. At the University of Toronto there were 180,629 MOOC enrolments as of mid-November. The University signed it's deal with Coursera in mid-July of this year. Please see page 9 of this link for more information: MOOCs at UofT

New email system at Queen's: Students at Queen's University will receive a new email and calendaring system in early 2013. After carefully reviewing privacy compliance, Queen's has announced a deal with Microsoft providing students with Office 365. The externally hosted system is compatible with the faculty and staff email and calendaring system. Office 365 @ Queen's

IT by the numbers: Carleton University has published a lively info-graphic on their performance for the month of October. The info-graphic publishes key metrics in a useful and informative format reflecting detailed data collection processes. Computing and Communications Services in October 

IT wins a health award: Information Technology Services at Dalhousie University won the Healthy Workplace Award this year. The prize recognizes departments, units, or areas that demonstrate a commitment to the health and wellness of their employees. Healthy IT

FAST FIVE for the week of November 11, 2012

Course evaluations go online: Dalhousie University course evaluations will now be completed online for most courses. A secure website will accessible on November 19 for students to submit their evaluations. The new system is intended to improve administration of their universal course evaluation system. The new system replaces approximately 60,000 pieces of paper. It will reduce errors, increase system quality, and reduce processing time. Dal Course Evaluation System

Online stationary system: Western University introduced a new online stationary ordering system. Now faculties and departments can order paper directly online from Western's stationary supplier. Access to the system is enabled directly with Western user credentials. Paperless starts with less paper

iPad training: Carleton University is offering an iPad training course for beginning users. The course covers basics such as managing passwords, setting up email and calendars, and establishing connectivity to wireless services. Carleton iPad training

Technology week: The University of Saskatchewan held its 8th annual technology week.This year's event included a keynote speech from Michael Geist (holder of the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law), a talk from Rick Bunt (the University's CIO), and several other technology sessions held throughout the week. Tech week at uSask

New face on Twitter: Camosun College now has a Twitter account. If you are interesting in following Camosun, the link is here: Tweeting from Camosun

FAST FIVE for the week of November 4, 2012

Crowd-sourcing ideas for the next CANHEIT conference: This year CANHEIT organizers are asking the community to contribute to the conference content by submitting your ideas and suggestions. The conference will take place June 9-12, 2013 and the deadline for participating in the crowd-sourcing event is November 16, 2012. For more information check this link: Crowd-sourcing CANHEIT

Student innovation drives UTSC mobile app: What2Eat@UTSC is the inaugural winner of the University of Toronto Scarborough College's AppStar competition. The competition awards cash prizes for the best student mobile app software development. There were 13 finalists in the competition, and the list of useful apps reflects the imagination and creativity of the students. More information about the competition is here: Appstar competition and the list of finalist apps is here: Appstar finalists
   
UOIT delivers a mobile service: The University of Ontario Institute of Technology has released a new mobile app for iPhones and Android devices. The app provides campus news, events, course information, and location data. BlackBerry access is not yet implemented. UOIT mobility

The space race is on: University of Waterloo students are leading all other Canadian schools in a competition by Dropbox to earn free storage space for their school: Dropbox Canada Leaderboard

StFX's partnership with Apple: St. Francis Xavier is collaborating with Apple Computer to deploy Apple computers in faculty offices, classrooms, and student labs. Users are offered the choice of running Mac or Windows operating systems on the computers. Teaching and learning projects have benefited from the partnership and support costs are minimized because critical repair requests are below 4% on a five year life cycle. Apples at StFX

Bonus fun news: University of Toronto Mississauga had some special help this Halloween. Building blocks to a better help desk

FAST FIVE for the week of October 28, 2012

New Wireless at Kwantlen: A new wireless network will be installed at Kwantlen University this month. With 2.5 times more access points the new system will provide broader coverage, faster speeds, and more concurrent users. The system will deliver encrypted services and they will also be implementing EDUROAM. Kwantlen Wireless

Globe and Mail IT Student Survey: Congratulations to IT staff at McGill University and Queen's University for getting an A grade for student satisfaction with information technology. The latest annual Globe and Mail survey gave these two institutions the top grade. For further information on all the rankings, check this link: Globe and Mail Report Card

App Open Mic: The University of Toronto is sponsoring an application open mic event for their mobile device community. Attendees are encouraged to demonstrate their favourite mobile applications and workflows on a big screen in the Robarts Library. App Open Mic

Dalhousie Alert Test: Dalhousie University ran a test of its emergency notification system on Thursday. The system is designed to communicate emergency messages via a variety of channels including email, web, and text messaging. Dal Alert

One Million Downloads: McMaster University has hit the milestone of one million full text downloads from its digital commons service. This service currently stores 16,000 records of completed scholarly work, work-in-progress, and University created material and searchable and accessible worldwide. McMaster Milestone

FAST FIVE for the week of October 21, 2012

Security incident and event management: Thompson Rivers University is implementing a Security Incident and Event Management system. This new system will automate reviews of system log files and help the IT department proactively identify potential systems issues. More details are available on page four of the attached link. (You may also want to note on page three how TRU IT has improved its grades in several of the Globe and Mail technology rankings in the past year.) TRU IT Report

Qualitrics survey software at UNBSJ: The University of New Brunswick at Saint John has purchased a site license for Qualtrics Survey Software. The new tool will be used to create and conduct online surveys. It is available to all faculty, staff, and students. UNBSJ survey software

Carleton becomes a showcase: The new Carleton University online newsroom implementation is being promoted as a showcase site by WordPress. The site was recognized as a showcase because of its navigation, design, and content sharing capabilities. Carleton's Newsroom

U of T acquires new lecture capture and webcasting tools: The University of Toronto acquired Echo360 software as its new lecture capture and live webcasting technology. The software is installed at teaching stations and is also available in a personal capture version to enable staff to produce videos at the office, at home, or in meetings. Higher quality recording and live webcasting and facilities are also available. The University has implemented a variety of distribution channels for these videos. Echo 360 @ UofT

Student course evaluations go online: Also at the University of Toronto, student course evaluations are now online. The new system is being promoted by this entertaining video: Course evaluations go online

Job Posting: OCAD University is looking for a Manager, Functional Implementation (ERP). 

FAST FIVE for the week of October 14, 2012

Google Apps @ UOIT: The University of Ontario institute of Technology has partnered with Google to provide the Google Apps for Education suite of tools to undergrad and graduate students. The system went live on October 9 and includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and other tools. Googling @ UOIT

Algonquin's Connections: Algonquin College has a created an info-graphic summarizing key areas of growth in information technology at the college. With simple and clear graphics the message is clear - user demand is way up. User demand at Algonquin

Also from Ottawa: Carleton University has created a video for changing passwords on their portal. The short video is effective and has an interesting reminder to turn off all wireless connections before changing the password. Portal Password Video

Western's OWL: Western University has implemented Sakai as its new learning management system. The system known as OWL went live in September. OWL replaces WebCT, which will be discontinued on campus in January. Flight of the OWL

Increasing Security @ UVic: The University of Victoria is increasing mandatory security on mobile devices. Mobile devices connecting to Microsoft Exchange will enable four additional security settings on devices that support them. Mobile UVic Security

FAST FIVE for the week of October 7, 2012

SFU Paints a New Canvas: Simon Fraser University announced it will replace WebCT with the Canvas Learning Management System for course delivery and management. Canvas is a newly developed open source system designed to meet standard LMS requirements as well as integrate with new and emerging technologies. The system was chosen through a broad consultative process and the transition from WebCT is expected to be completed in 2014. SFU's new LMS

A Winning Email System: Student are praising the new University of Windsor email service called UWinGmail. The migration to Google Gmail has proven popular with students because of the improved user experience, greater accessibility, and increased storage capacity. The student migration process to the new email system was implemented using a simple three step process. Migration started in July and is expected to complete in October.   Gmail at UWindsor

Concordia is going mobile: Undergrads student at Concordia University can now perform all their key registration activities through mobile devices. Adding, dropping, and changing courses, as well as viewing their timetable and accessing their grades can be done from their new mobile web site, m.myconcordia.ca  Concordia mobile registration system

Systems Event Information: Detailed system status information is available for staff, faculty, and students from Athabasca University at their Systems Status web site. Information about key systems is current and is useful for the many distance learners at the University. The site provides information about all events affecting service and reports on current status. Athabasca's Status

High Performance Computing: Compute Canada has announced its 2013 resource allocation Call for Proposals. Researchers from across Canada are asked to submit their requests for high performance computing resources for the next calendar year. Compute Canada Proposal Call

FAST FIVE for the week of September 30, 2012

Anti-Phishing Campaign: In time for Security Awareness month, the University of Guelph recently launched its Anti-Phishing Campaign: They're Smart, You're Smarter. The campaign aims to increase the campus community's awareness about keeping their online accounts safe from phishing attempts, by encouraging U of G users to be smarter in responding to suspicious-looking emails. Learn more about anti-phishing in this article: Protect yourself from online criminals

New CUCCIO Website: The Canadian University Council of CIO's has launched their new website. The project was initiated by Lori MacMullen, the Executive Director of CUCCIO, and developed by staff from the University of Saskatchewan. The new site provides information on the organization, features comments from key leaders, and provides information about key CUCCIO initiatives. CUCCIO gets a makeover

Improving Customer Service: The IT support at the University of Calgary has extended support hours to improve service to its clients. The hours have been extended for the first three weeks of the fall and winter terms: Longer service hours

New HR System: Memorial University will be replacing its 20 year old mainframe human resources system with the Banner Human Resources module. This new system will enable finance, student, and HR systems to share the same database of information. The University expects to reap process improvements and enable the HR department to become more service oriented. Banner HR at MUN

More Banner News: The Canadian Banner User Conference commences this week in Calgary. The conference is being hosted by the several Banner higher education institutions from Alberta and this year's theme is collaboration. CBUC 2012

FAST FIVE for the week of September 23, 2012

iLearn with an iPad: Nipissing University's first year business students each received a free iPad as part of the school's iLearn initiative. iLearn is intended to integrate new technology into the classroom with electronic textbooks, note taking, and online tests. The University will develop apps for the new platform designed to provide measurable benefits for faculty and staff. Nipissing iLearn

Removing Technology for Better Service: The University of Windsor has removed its automated phone tree in the registrar's office to improve service. Because of uWindsor's portal, web site, and mobile app, students have online access to all the information they need. The only reason they call the registrar's office is to talk to a real person, so the menu tree has become redundant. uWindsor gets personal  

Responding to the False Positive: Sophos Anti-Virus released an update last week that generated a false positive for Windows users. Many colleges and universities across Canada issued quick responses, such as the attached notice from Concordia: Sophos oops

Emergency Notification: With large numbers of students returning to campus, schools are issuing reminders to returning students to update their contact information for campus alert systems. SFU has a provides a clear explanation of the need: SFU Alerts 

Student Coaching: Algonquin College is providing coaching assistance to students in the use of teaching and learning technologies such as Blackboard and other college computer resources. The resources are provided in person and through virtual applications. Algonquin assistance technologists

Bonus Weird News: The Google Trike was spotted on campus at Acadia University on September 14. Here's the picture of a Google technician riding the somewhat unusual vehicle: Google goes green

FAST FIVE for the week of September 16, 2012

Full Google Apps Suite: Ryerson University announced it will adopt Google Apps for Education. The complete Google apps platform will be used, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Drive, and other tools. The decision was made after a year-long consultation process and the conversion will occur over the Thanksgiving weekend. Ryerson and Google

New AVP IT at Trent: Trent University has hired Tariq Al-idrissi as its new Associate Vice President of Information Technology. Tariq was previously the Director, Technology & Information Management Support ay Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Trent CIO

Getting Healthy in Athabasca: A new Wellness at Work app has been released by Athabasca University. The application delivers programmable reminders of when to move away from your computer and exercise. The application includes videos demonstrating stretching and breathing exercises. Athabasca Wellness

Network upgrades at Brock: As part of a series of continuous infrastructure improvements at Brock University, major firewall upgrades have been announced. The changes enhance network reliability, security, and performance. Brock's Defense 

Digital Channel Governance: The University of British Columbia has created a Digital Channels Governance Committee to provide stewardship for  UBC's digital presence on the web, development of mobile applications, use of social media, digital signage, and related digital communication channels. UBC Digital Governance