Plenary Session II:
8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Dancing with the Devil -
Information Technology and the New Competition in Higher
Education
Mr. Richard N. Katz, Vice President,
Educause
Mr. Katz will present a
synopsis of ideas that were presented in the book of
the same name, which he recently edited and
co-authored.
Parallel Session II - Monday
morning - 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 Noon
Managing Your Boss(es)
Facilitator: A. Jerome York, University of Texas Health
Science Center at San Antonio
It's always been
important to maintain good communication with your
boss. But now, more than ever, you also need to be
proactive in establishing a relationship with your
boss and other IT administrators. Managing the
expectations of our students, faculty, staff and
administration is critical, and you can't do this
without a trusting and thorough line of communication
with your boss. What are some of the methods for
doing this? What have you found that works on your
campus, with your boss? How do you manage the "other
bosses, " those many other administrators who have an
indirect hand in IT issues on campus? When is it time
to look for another boss?
Residential Network
Issues
Facilitators: Kathleen Housman, University of Notre
Dame; Melanie Sisneros, Pomona College
What networking tools
and policies are you using to manage your residential
networks? What are some of the current challenges
that you are facing with your residential networks?
Now that some residential networks have "come of age,"
what sort of plans to you have for the next 5 years?
Do you have any secrets for managing the logistics of
the start of the semester?
User Support Issues
Facilitator: John Bucher, Oberlin College
How are we dealing with
the ongoing "service support crisis"? Are there new
successful models to share? Is distributed support
working? How is the Help Desk model working on our
campuses? What are the challenges that we face in
implementing and running a successful help
desk?
Top
Monday, March 8,
1999 Afternoon Sessions
Parallel Session III: 1:30
p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Managing and Growing Your
Network
Facilitator: Richard Nelson, Furman
University
Our campus network is
arguably the most important part of our technical
infrastructure. Long gone are the days when we could
experiment without network administration. It's
become a critical resource.
What are we doing to make our
campus networks faster and more robust? What new
technologies are being employed? As more institutions
move toward faster connections to their regional
networks, what are they also doing on their campus to
improve their intranets? Is fiber to the desktop
becoming a reality? What's happening with campus
residential networks?
Designing and Supporting
Technology Classrooms
Facilitators: Sue Clabaugh, University of Maryland, and
Beverly Teach, Indiana University
As institutions install
more and more technology in classrooms, a host of
issues arise. This workshop/discussion will explore a
range of topics involved in designing and supporting
Technology Classrooms. Careful design is needed to
insure that the rooms are easy to use and easy to
maintain. This means attention to the size and shape
of the room, location of equipment and connections,
lighting, acoustics, standardization of equipment and
interfaces, furnishings, security, etc. On the
financial side, institutions must address both the
one-time installation costs as well as ongoing
operational costs (maintenance, repair, replacement,
etc.). On the operational side, it is critical to
have user and technical support services available.
This includes assisting faculty in the appropriate use
of these technology-rich learning environments as well
as insuring that the technology in the rooms works
reliably. In addition, institutions must address how
to schedule and manage technology classrooms,
especially when demand exceeds supply.
User Authentication Issues:
Who's Got the Key?
Facilitator: David Henry, University of Maryland,
College Park
There is a lot of talk,
lately, about the importance of establishing a Public
Key Infrastructure or PKI. This session will define
PKI and how it relates to electronic signatures,
trusted transactions, e-commerce, and encryption of
documents. A survey of current efforts of
participants' institution's activities in this area.
Top
Parallel Session IV: 3:30
p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Personnel Issues: Staff
Recruitment and Retention
Facilitator: Phil Isensee, Oregon State
University
How do we cope and
react to the employment situation that we find
ourselves in? What are some of the creative ways that
we have found to recruit IT professionals in this
tough job market? Are there ways that we can compete
with the private sector? What sort of things can we
do, in addition to boosting salaries, that can help
retain our staff? Are there new ways of working with
our HR departments to help with this problem?
Faculty/Staff/Lab Computer
Replacement Cycles: Budget and Logistical Issues
Facilitator: To be announced
Budgeting for computer
replacement is an important issue facing all of us,
regardless of the size of our institution. Along with
the increasing usage from all corners of our campus,
is the need for faster and more powerful desktop
computers; nearly gone are the days when we could find
good homes for 4 to 5 year old desktop
machines.
What are you doing on your
campus to budget for this replacement cycle? Are you
employing any sort of "trickle down" policy to get
more years out of older equipment? How does this work
at your institution? Have you found and employed any
creative methods for reducing costs during this
cycle?
Campus Standards
Facilitator: To be announced
All colleges and
universities face the increasing costs for the support
of information technology. One of the methods for
controlling these costs is the establishment and
adherence to campus standards for hardware, software,
and related services.
Do you have well-defined
campus standards for both software and hardware? How
have they been determined? Are they part of a formal
"service level agreement?" How are they changed? How
do you advertise these standards?
