Technology Burner Technology Burner

At 4:30 p.m. on Monday, November 10, the College conducted its first full test of the ConnectED emergency notification system. The Office of Information Technology is now working to assess the results of the test by reviewing the information made available to us by the vendor.

If you did not receive our test notification via all of the expected telephone numbers, email addresses and text message addresses, I urge to validate the numbers and addresses you specified via ScotWeb. If this does not resolve the discrepancy, or you have questions or comments about the system or this particular test, please contact the IT Help Desk at 330-287-3000 extension 1111.

Instructional Technology and The College Libraries are excited to be hosting eFest, an event showcasing new technologies for faculty and students to enhance instruction and learning. The event will take place on Wednesday, November 12 in Lowry Center from noon until 3 p.m. All members of the College community are invited to attend.  Information and demonstrations will feature touch-screen monitors, woodle, RSS readers, Artstor, MDID, Endnote, ILLIAD, and many other tools. Attendees may enter a drawing for door prizes, including USB Rocket Launchers, USB flash drives, and an iPod Touch.

For more information, please contact Instructional Technology by email at or call x4722.

In the fall of 2008, the College of Wooster formed a Learning Community (LC) for Assessing the Effective Use of Technology in a Liberal Arts Curriculum. The work of this group is being funded by a grant from the Ohio Learning Network (OLN). Broadly, the LC’s goal is to develop a deeper understanding of the issues that inform the use of technology in learning and teaching. Each OLN LC must have a project that is the focus of its work. The focus of Wooster’s LC is the use of a Sympodium in John Lindner’s astronomy courses and Michelle Solensky’s introductory biology courses.

The three broad goals of the Learning Community are:

Wireless network access is now available throughout Stevenson Residence Hall. Stevenson joins the following residence halls in offering wireless service:

• Armington
• Bissman
• Gault Manor
• Holden
• Holden Annex
• Luce

IT is currently working with Physical Plant and the Dean of Students Office to develop a schedule for extending wireless network access to all remaining Residence Halls. Details will be announced as they become available. While the completion of this plan is pending, IT has made wireless network access available in the following residence hall lounges. Access will be extended throughout the remainder of each of these buildings in accordance with the completed plan.

Wireless network access is now available throughout Bissman Residence Hall.  Students can find instructions for connecting to the College’s secure, authenticated wireless network on the IT website.  Assistance with wireless access is available at the IT help desk located behind the circulation desk in Andrews Library.

Work is currently underway to provide wireless access throughout Stevenson Hall.  We hope to complete that work over the course of the next two weeks. IT is currently working with Physical Plant and the Dean of Students Office to develop a schedule for extending wireless network access to all remaining Residence Halls. Details will be announced as they become available.

At 4:30 p.m. on Monday, November 10, the College will conduct a test of the ConnectED emergency notification system.  This system is designed to allow the College to quickly notify members of our community of the existence of an emergency.  Each student, faculty member and staff member is allowed to designate multiple email addresses, telephone numbers and text message addresses to receive emergency notifications.  During the test, a message will be directed to each designated telephone number, email address and text message address.

Colleague (Datatel) will be unavailable between the hours of 4:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Monday, November 3. The Business Office will be working during this period to close the books for the 2007-2008 fiscal year. They must have exclusive use of the system during this procedure. ScotWeb will also be unavailable during this period.

Questions should be directed to Marlene Brown at extension 2304 or via email at

Over the summer the Media Services group oversaw the installation of new media equipment in Freedlander Theatre. A new projector screen was installed on the theatre stage. Images are projected onto the screen by a new projector installed behind it. A custom-designed technologically-enhanced podium was added for use on the stage. The podium features a courtesy port to accommodate a laptop computer. It also features a built-in Pixie Pro unit used to control the projector and DVD/VCR unit. A new sound system was also installed in the theatre.

The implementation of Datatel’s Human Resources and Payroll modules is currently underway.  These modules, the last to be implemented, will go live on January 1, 2009.  In order to keep the College community apprised of changes in policies and procedures, the Department of Human Resources will release a series of newsletters between now and January when the first payrolls will be conducted using Colleague.  The first of these newsletters is now available on the HR website.  Beginning in January, the College will no longer distribute paper pay advices.  Instead, employees will access pay advices online via ScotWeb.  Please consult HR’s newsletter for further information abo

Highlights of this Post:

The College recently concluded a new three year copier service agreement with MT Business Technologies. Under the terms of the agreement, nearly half of the copiers on campus will be replaced by new machines. The new devices have the same features and provide the same services as those being replaced. In addition, the new devices offer color scan-to-email functionality and provide faster throughput. Duplex printing is available on each of the new devices. All are Energy Star compliant.

High winds resulted in the loss of electricity to the Wooster campus yesterday evening.  The power loss resulted in the loss of IT services.  Power was restored at approximately 3:30 this morning and OIT began work on the restoration of services at approximately 6:00 a.m.  With relatively minor local exceptions, we believe that all IT services have now been restored.  Please report any problems that you experiece to the Help Desk at 330 287-3000 x4357.

The Office of Information Technology has formed a working group to focus on the environmental impact of its operations.  The group includes CITO David Waldron and representatives from each of the four departments within OIT.  These representatives are Marlene Brown (Applications Development), Roger Dills (Digital Infrastructure), Matt Gardzina (Instructional Technology) and Mary Schantz (User Services). Assistant Registrar Wil Burton is also a member of the group.

With the beginning of the new academic year, wireless network service has become available in Armington, Holden and Holden Annex residence halls. The service is also available in Gault Manor which opened its doors for the first time this year. Prior to the current academic year, Luce Hall was the only residence hall in which the wireless network was accessible. IT is committed to extending the service to the Stevenson and Bissman residence halls this academic year. The wireless service will be added to Babcock as part of the renovation of that building that is now underway. IT hopes to be able to extend the wireless network into additional residence halls this year, but is unable to make commitments at this time.

Over the summer the Media Services group oversaw the installation of new presentation equipment in McGaw Chapel. A projector was permanently mounted from the ceiling and a DVD/VCR combo unit was added in the control room. A custom-designed technologically-enhanced podium was added for use on the stage. The podium easily accommodates a computer and monitor, and features a built-in Pixie Pro unit used to control the projector and DVD/VCR unit.

The new equipment provides a more professional environment for presenters and a better experience for the audience. It also greatly reduces the time required to setup for multimedia presentations. This upgrade was part of a broader IT initiative to enhance the presentation capabilities of larger campus venues.