Session Details
Agility in a Time of Crisis
Bret Ingerman (Vassar College) and Robert Renaud (Dickinson College)
IT organizations in liberal arts colleges face unprecedented challenges during the current recession as they struggle to maintain high levels of service while budgets and staffing are being cut. This session addresses key challenges facing IT leadership and describes practical responses to them. The session also provides a venue for a wide ranging discussion of how IT professionals at all levels of the organization are responding to uncertain times.
Building a Community of Practice around Digital Storytelling
Eric Behrens (Swarthmore College)
In one year, Swarthmore College has trained 30 faculty and staff in the techniques of digital storytelling. Our academic technologies team is supporting a variety of second-stage digital storytelling activities. This presentation will focus on our attempts to go beyond training to create a self-sustaining community of practice around digital storytelling.
The Devil’s in the Data: Assessing Information Technology
Sondra Smith (St. Lawrence University)
We live in a survey-saturated data-intensive age; the sheer volume of information we collect is overwhelming. However, data is of little value unless we can also effectively analyze and strategically apply what we learn to further our institutional mission and support our organizational vision. This presentation details a phased approach for the comprehensive assessment of IT at St. Lawrence University, a transparent process that has only proven more valuable in a stressful economic climate.
Doing More with Less: The Case for Project Management
David Waldron (College of Wooster)
Many studies have concluded that between 65 and 80 percent of IT projects fail to meet their objectives, run significantly late or cost far more than planned. This session will examine many causes of such failures, will review the elements of formal project management, and discuss the ways in which those elements are designed to address causes of failure.
Google Experiences and Google Apps for Education
Jeff Pestun (Hope College) and Jerry Sanders (Macalester College)
Macalester College and Hope College have each been using Google Apps for Education for more than a year. This gathering will offer some reflective, long-term thoughts from their experiences as well as views on providing email as a commodity service. Various specifics of working with Google will also be shared, with plenty of time and flexibility for group discussion.
Information Risk Assessment and Management
Jonathan Enos (Franklin and Marsall College), Gavin Foster (Getttysburg College), and Rod Tosten (Gettysburg College)
Many institutions of higher education store and maintain important information assets ranging from student and alumni records to faculty research projects to the credit card numbers of bookstore patrons. Should this information be compromised or become unavailable, the institution would not only lose a tangible asset but also suffer a negative impact to its reputation.
To identify and proactively mitigate risks to its information assets, Gettysburg College and Franklin and Marshall College engaged separately in initiatives to perform assessments of the college's information systems and technology infrastructure. This assessment was based on ISO 27002 (17799): Information Technology - Code of Practice for Information Security Management. The goal of the engagements were not only to identify risks but also to assist the colleges in formulating a strategy to address the problems identified.
Our presentation will address our goals, outcomes, next steps, and lessons learned from performing an institutional risk assessment.
Migrating to Moodle
Lee Hisle (Connecticut College) and Chris Penniman (Connecticut College)
Considering moving to Moodle and leaving your proprietary CMS behind? After 12 months of planning, Connecticut College completed a migration in the summer 2008 with minimal disruption to faculty or support staff. Learn the advantages of Moodle as an open-source product, along with the key factors to success in a transition, such as how to gain faculty support and customize the site for your college. Representatives from other schools are invited to share their stories.
Outsourcing Support
Rick Holmgren (Allegheny College), Jason LaMar (Ohio Wesleyan University), Trina Marmarelli (Reed College), and Joseph Vaughan (Harvey Mudd College)
We will discuss specific examples of services that have been (or may soon be) outsourced on our campuses, including email, calendaring, web hosting, and GIS support. In each case, we will extract principles from the example and argue how it might be done differently, considering both the positive and the negative consequences of outsourcing.
The Politics of Customer Service
John Bucher (Oberlin College) and Carl Heideman (Hope College)
Great work rarely stands by itself. Most people understand that great work needs to be delivered with great customer service. But in these days of instant gratification, service level agreements, and sometimes unreasonable expectations, we need more. Politics can be defined as the "methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy." While often thought of as a negative part of working, especially in academia, ethical political methods can greatly improve productivity and morale, effectively making great work better. John Bucher and Carl Heideman will use case studies to lead a discussion about how good politics, good customer service and good work practices leads to a trifecta of measurable improvement.
Remote Security Vulnerability Scanning Project/Update on Status of OBECLAC Project
John O'Keefe (Lafayette College) and Randy Stiles (Colorado College)
As a result of our discussion at last year’s annual conference, CLAC has undertaken two new initiatives during the past year. The first was a consultant-supported Request For Information process that has produced a “consumers’ guide” for remote security vulnerability scanning services. The second was work that followed from last year’s joint meeting of CLAC with the Oberlin Group and is intended to enlist the help of a consultant on copyright and fair use regarding policy guidelines for these issues. The panelists will describe work and results to-date on both initiatives and will then lead a discussion about the merits and challenges of such ventures for CLAC.
VIPEr: Blurring the line between repository and social network for faculty
Ethan Benatan (Reed College) and Adam Johnson (Harvey Mudd College)
VIPEr (Virtual Inorganic Pedagogical Educational resource, http://www.ionicviper.org) is both a repository of teaching materials and the hub of a virtual community of practice for inorganic chemistry. We will describe the project from conception to the present including funding, assessment, lessons learned, and future plans.
VOIP Among Us: Status Reports on VOIP Implementations
Joel Cooper (Carleton College): Moderator
Panelists:
Mark Dumic, Director of Networking and Telecommunications, (Swarthmore College)
Troy Greenup, Director of IT Services, (Whittier College)
Joel Cooper, Director, Information Technology Services, (Carleton College),
Gary Schlickeiser, Director, Technology Infrastructure Services, (Reed College)
As students abandon dorm phones, PBXes and voicemail systems are end-of-lifed, growing numbers of faculty and staff are carrying around iPhones and Blackberrys, and our budgets are crunched, VOIP presents itself as an increasingly compelling alternative.
This panel, representing early adopters to those just beginning the journey, will present and discuss their respective situations with regard to VOIP. Topics will include drivers to implement, process of moving from legacy telephone system, service improvements, cautionary tales, and future directions. Panel: Mark Dumic (Swarthmore), Troy Greenup (Whittier), Joel Cooper (Carleton), tentatively Gary Schlickeiser (Reed)
Rebecca Rossignoli
Executive Assistant to the VP of Information Resources/CIO
Occidental College
rebeccar@oxy.edu
(323) 259-1451