Council on Academic Computing
November 14, 2002
Meeting Summary
HIGH PERFORMANCE NETWORK ATTACHMENT INITIATIVE
Dr.
S. K. Chang presented the results of his Internet 2 project, entitled
“The Growing Book”. The project is an internet-based text on data
structure algorithms. It is composed of chapters written by a geographically
dispersed set of authors, each of whom can edit his or her chapter
independently of the other authors. The book is dynamic in nature, i.e.,
individuals can draw data from various parts of the text to customize courses
and presentations according to their interests. Future iterations of the
project will add multi-lingual capabilities, multi-media graphics, and
individualized tools to the current, English-based text.
REPORT FROM COMPUTING SERVICES AND
SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT
Jinx
Walton reported on the student portal (my.pitt.edu/portal).Each student’s
page is composed of four sections: my pages, communities, webmail,
and student services. The portal was designed in conjunction with a variety of
student focus groups. It offers quick access to the University services that
are of greatest interest to students, e.g., information from the
Registrar’s Office and the Financial Aid Office; the internet sites that
students most frequently use; and a web-based e-mail system that can be
accessed from anywhere in the world. Faculty and staff portals will be designed
with input from relevant groups. The faculty portal might include access to
course and grade information and departmental and school links; the staff
portal might include access to payroll and retirement information.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
Faculty Portal
Most
members of the subcommittee had not viewed the student portal, so the initial
meeting was primarily informational. Concerns were expressed regarding the role
of this subcommittee as the faculty portal is developed. The Office of
Computing Services and Systems Development (CSSD) will create faculty focus
groups to guide development of the faculty portal. The subcommittee may both
function as one of these focus groups and interface between the Council and
CSSD as the portal is developed.
Future of Academic Computing
Members
of the subcommittee decided to focus upon a two-year time frame. They examined
two deficiencies. First, computer maintenance is organized primarily at the
departmental level, which hampers efforts to coordinate and train system
administrators across the University. Second, computing is moving towards a
network-based system, where shared access to software and information could
benefit users, no matter their location. Finally, computer systems should
incorporate proactive diagnostic tools into their design so that they can
either fix emerging problems or signal system administrators.
Faculty Training
A
survey of the regional campuses indicates that Blackboard is used at all
campuses. However, use of the software is hampered by lack of training. Staff
at the Bradford, Greensburg, and Johnstown campuses provides some
training. Faculty at the Titusville campus must travel to the Oakland campus to be trained. JANUS is
not used at any of the campuses, and Smartboard is
used to a limited extent by the Bradford, Johnstown, and Greensburg campuses.
High Performance Computing
Initiative
The
subcommittee did not meet.