Computer Lab Hours - Spring 2013

The pie charts below represent a comparison of the number of work orders opened in the Fall 2010 and 2011 semesters. As you can see there was a significant increase in the number of enterprise tickets due to the introduction of Canvas and requests for Blackboard support. We saw a small decrease in Desktop Support tickets in 2012, along with account maintenance, and phone/voice tickets.

 Click image for larger view

Microsoft Lync (formerly Microsoft Office Communicator) and Microsoft Lync for Mac is an instant messaging client with additional voice/video conferencing capabilities. Recently TSS rolled out MS Lync to the Enrollment Services staff as a replacement for WebEx Connect.
The rollout of Lync is currently in a pilot phase and has not yet been distributed to the CGCC user community. We are working towards releasing Lync to the general user community in the near future as it will be a tool that can be used across the college and offers the possibility as a district wide solution.
The TSS Help Desk is currently creating content for a mini workshop for Enrollment Services on how to use Lync on their desktop and mobile devices. The workshops will be available towards the end of January.

Stay tuned for more updates… 

Coyote Center is the design/development phase of planning. This is the time when architectural details are determined that will guide the construction of the building and influence the final cost of the project. Ground breaking for the new building is scheduled for March 22nd. Technology specifications are critical in this phase to determine the type of technology that will support the "One Stop" service model such as enhanced wireless capacity, mobile clients, digital signage, video rich content, and virtual queing system.

Virtual tour of Coyote Center

Blackboard "End-of-Life" is June 30th, 2013. Will you be ready?   This semester is the last semester that any courses will be taught in Blackboard; as of Summer 2013, all courses will be taught in the Canvas Learning Management System.

To help faculty prepare for this transition, a training calendar has been posted on the Instructional Technology page on CGCC’s Inside, along with Canvas documentation and other resources. Nonie Bernard, Course Production Specialist, will be holding regular Open Labs and facilitating workshops throughout the Spring and into the early Summer; topics range from Canvas Basics, for brand-new users, to more advanced topics for those who have some experience. Be sure to check out the calendar and register for your Canvas training!
 
In addition, Dr. Mary McGlasson, Economics faculty, is available Monday-Thursday 8:30am-10:30am (or by appointment) for drop-in/phone/email help at her office, Estrella 235.  Dr. McGlasson is also available this semester to schedule discipline-specific, division-specific, or other group trainings. This semester's "Technology Tuesdays" workshops, co-facilitated by Mary McGlasson and Linda Zehr, will focus on tools that can easily be integrated with Canvas to improve teaching and learning.

SPECIAL NOTE: Because Bb will no longer be available after June 30, faculty will need to be mindful about any Incompletes issued for the Spring semester. You are advised to (1) keep incompletes to a minimum, (2) make the deadline for students to wrap up the course requirements sometime prior to June 30, and/or (3) make arrangements the completion of any such requirements to be done outside of Blackboard.

New projectors were installed in LIB217, CHO202, CHO302.
Web Training is offered on a monthly basis. 
Keep your eye on inside for times and location.

Windows 8 for tablet users works really well and provides nice features for personal use, but is it a good choice for classroom desktops? That is the question currently being evaluated by TSS and does it make sense to upgrade existing computers to Windows 8. With the new gesture based interaction, touch screen monitors are essential for the full experience. Monitor manufacturers are trying to respond to the Windows 8 compliance requirements with a price premium attached to them. The Business Division will be assisting TSS by helping to put together a task force with cross function faculty involvement to evaluate Windows 8 as well as Office 2013/365. The outcome of this group will help guide decisions on deployment time line and classroom locations.

 PC World article on monitor support

TSS continues to encourage faculty/staff to submit requests for IT projects using the online form published on Inside. This option is offered as a convenience and should not replace contacting TSS directly, but if you have any questions or would like to discuss a potential project, contact Victor Navarro @ 732-7020. 

Now available, the Employee Directory in PDF format for saving to your desktop or printing. Go the Employee Directory and look for the "Print-Friendly version for Employees" link. The form for creating your directory will give you the same options that appeared in the old paper versions printed prior to the recent Paper Reduction Campaign.

Classroom Report (Class-r) is an online page for viewing classroom configuration/setup including equipment, installed software, scheduled classes, and space layout. The following is a sample view of C102 software installed in the classroom. Access to Class-r is available in Tech Central in the Classroom Technology section or by clicking here. Kudos to Ron Slamka for creating this web application and recently enhancing its capability.

Worried about losing important documents that are saved on your desktop? Consider making use of your personal network space.