IT News

Dick Sacher, associate director of IT-Client Support and Services at the University of Delaware, recently received a prestigious award from his peers.

At the March 30 statewide Delaware GIS 2010 conference, Sacher received the 2010 Vern Svatos Geographic Community Service Award from the Delaware Geographic Data Committee (DGDC).

Sacher received the award, voted on by members of Delaware's geographic data community, for outstanding service and consistent commitment to the state's geographic community.

Faculty, staff, and students are invited to participate in the selection of a new clicker system to be implemented for the fall 2010 semester. Details of the product evaluations, coordinated by IT Academic Technology Services (IT-ATS), are available at its Web site.

In keeping with EDUCAUSE's recommended practice, the University of Delaware standardized its support of clickers to a single product in 2006—InterWrite PRS. The product line was purchased by eInstruction in 2008 and will be discontinued after fall 2010. This situation presents an opportunity to find the best clicker technology to meet our faculty's requirements.

The latest edition of the University of Delaware Information Technologies Activity Report is now available, covering our activities from February 1 to March 31, 2010. Highlights include discussion of WordPress MU, Google Apps @UDel.edu, the timeline for business software upgrades, and a variety of other news of interest to faculty and staff.

The full report is available online in both HTML and PDF formats.

The University of Delaware Library and UD Information Technologies are seeking nominations from instructors for student multimedia projects to include in the Student Multimedia Showcase to be held from 3-4:30 p.m., Monday, May 17, in the Class of 1941 Lecture Room of the Morris Library.

Instructors are encouraged to nominate the best multimedia projects created by students in their classes during the 2009/2010 academic year. The multimedia projects can be on any subject, and should combine two or more of the following: video files, text, audio, still images, or animation.

Microsoft has proactively pushed out updates to Internet Explorer ahead of the scheduled "update Tuesday" (April 13) due to a serious vulnerability in Internet Explorer.

UD users should accept the automatic update when it comes, or do a manual update as soon as practical.

The 14th annual University of Delaware Summer Faculty Institute offers faculty the opportunity to discuss the opportunities, successes, and challenges of teaching and learning in a technology-rich educational environment.

This year, from June 1-4, faculty can attend a weeklong, hands-on curriculum designed by UD faculty for UD faculty.

“This call for proposals is designed to encourage faculty to recommend topics that have helped them the most and hold the most significance for them,†Paul Hyde, IT Academic Technology Services, said.

The conversion from WebCT/MyCourses to Sakai@UD has been so successful that no courses remain on MyCourses (WebCT) for the spring semester. This spring, there are 1,226 Sakai@UD courses, representing 40 percent of all University rosters and 48 percent of University undergraduate enrollment.

UD's WebCT server will be turned off after the spring 2010 semester. Therefore, any WebCT content or data that a faculty member might wish to use later must be copied by June 4, 2010.

The University of Delaware Learning Management System Committee, a 41-member University-wide committee whose members are ambassadors to their departments regarding the use of Sakai@UD, held its spring meeting on Feb. 23 at a luncheon in the Trabant University Center. Deputy Provost Havidán Rodríguez welcomed the committee and announced that no courses remain on MyCourses (WebCT), putting the Sakai@UD project 4 months ahead of schedule.

IT has announced a new student-to-student forum, TechQuest, a technology forum where University students can post technology related questions, answer each other's questions, or just discuss a technology related topic. Students can post questions, answer other students' questions, elaborate on other students' answers, and discuss technology issues with each other. Issues discussed so far have included topics such as switching e-mail to Google Apps @UDel.edu, setting up a smart phone, using a wireless router, logging into Sakai@UD, and upgrading or using Windows 7.

University of Delaware faculty and staff are invited to participate in an interactive Web conference with colleagues on campus and across the nation. The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative 2010 Online Spring Focus Session, "Mobile Learning 2.0: The Next Phase of Innovation in Mobility," will be held from noon to 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 3, and from noon to 5 p.m., Thursday, March 4, in Room 011 of Smith Hall. The event is free, although registration is required. Participants can register for an individual day or both days. Once registered, you can participate as long it as suits your schedule: Drop in for an hour or stay all afternoon. Light refreshments will be provided.