|
Welcome back to Campus! Here are ITS' Back to School Initiatives for Fall Semester, 2009:
Kindle DX pilot project - Case Western Reserve University will participate in the Amazon Kindle DX pilot
project this fall. The Kindle DX is an electronic reading device (E-reader) that can provide students wireless
delivery of books. Kindle has the ability to carry thousands of books in a small device (saving the cost and
environmental expense of printing paper) take notes, highlight, make annotations, and search. Forty incoming
freshman have been selected to participate in the pilot project. At Case, the aim is to determine how the Kindle
affects teaching and learning. Specifically, the process of student study habits and how the Kindle DX can add
value to that process will be investigated. Contact Mace Mentch, ITS’ Education Assessment Specialist, for more
information at mace.mentch@case.edu
ePortfolio will be launched as a beta for Fall, 2009. This electronic folio platform is envisioned to support
evidence and demonstration of authentic learning, faculty activity reports, and department and school-based evaluation
and assessment efforts. Beta participants are working on developing templates, screens, and reports. These participants
include MSASS and Master of Public Health faculty and students, Weatherhead MBA students, as well as SAGES, who is
developing an eportfolio system to promote the effective and efficient collection and evaluation of student writing.
Full implementation of the beta eportfolios is expected by the Spring 2010 semester. Contact
Mace Mentch for more information at mace.mentch@case.edu.
A Campus Intranet Launchpad environment, complete with Mobile Device Support for the growing number of
"smartphone" users on campus, will be introduced this semester. As demand for mobile access to University
information grows, ITS is responding to customer needs with this new service open beta. Feedback during the
fall semester will be solicited to steadily improve the service and align its capabilities with need. Go to
http://www.case.edu/launchpad , or the mobile version at http://m.case.edu.
Adobe Connect offers interactive and collaborative web meetings and virtual classroom experiences with the simple
click of your mouse. These experiences, available to anyone, anywhere, are engaging, multimedia rich, and easy to use.
To get started, simply login to http://connect.case.edu with your Case network id and password.
For more information, see http://teach.case.edu/connect/.
Case Google Apps is a collaboration suite of services that include a 7.3gb case.edu email account, calendar, a customizable start page, shared documents (word processing, spreadsheet, presentations,) and shared sites (a web authoring tool.) For more information, or to sign up, go to
http://www.case.edu/its/services/GoogleApps.htm.
The Software Center continues to offer current software titles (Microsoft
Office, Symantec End Point Solution, Adobe Acrobat Professional 9, etc.) to
all faculty, staff and students, with most at no charge. In addition, the
Software Center has entered into a “Student Licensing Enrollment” agreement
with Adobe, providing Case Western Reserve University students the ability
to purchase Adobe software at deep discounts, amounting to as much as 85%
below retail price. Details are online at http://softwarecenter.case.edu.
The High Performance Computing Cluster operated by Advanced Research Computing has grown to
836 processors and over 40 TB of central storage, and we’ve added a 960-core NVIDIA Tesla
GPU unit to accelerate execution of jobs that take advantage of that technology. The HPC
user community has grown to 230 individuals, sponsored by 79 faculty members – 22 of whom have
invested research funds in the resource. The Research Database Service is currently supporting
two large research projects, a few smaller ones, with funding for other projects pending.
More information is available online at http://www.case.edu/its/researchcomputing/.
MediaVision Courseware 3.0 includes a number of changes, including a new interface with friendlier navigation.
Course materials and video assets are now linked by the learning topics/content, and a web conferencing feature (Adobe Connect)
is available to enhance virtual class collaboration. Additionally, an internal quality assurance reporting system has been developed,
which not only enhances effective communication between the MediaVision Courseware team but also facilitates the quality control
function more precisely and accurately. Login to http://courseware.case.edu.
Blackboard, a learning management system available for use by all university classes, has been updated to
version 8.0. Instructors can use Blackboard to post documents, assignments, tests and grades for their students;
students can use it to submit assignments, work in groups and have 24x7 access to uploaded course content. Visit
http://blackboard.case.edu to access your own course sites and to learn more!
Pachyderm is an easy-to-use multimedia authoring tool designed for people with little multimedia experience.
Accessed through a web browser, it is as easy to use as filling out a form. Authors upload their own media (images,
audio clips, short video segments) into pre-designed templates. Once published, the presentation can then be downloaded
and placed on the author’s website or on a CD or DVD. The result is an attractive, interactive Flash-based multimedia
presentation. For training details, contact pachyderm@case.edu
Technology Enhanced Classrooms (TECs) provide the equipment and tools to make multimedia teaching and presentations possible.
From faculty lectures to student presentations, displaying multimedia and Web-enabled information helps to enhance the classroom experience.
We currently support 193 TEC’s on Case’s campus, including new facilities in the School of Nursing and the Glennan building,
as well as upgrades and new equipment in several of our existing TECs.
Case’s YouTube offers news, events, lectures and special interest videos with something of interest for everyone
in the campus community. There are now 16 playlists offering opportunities to subscribe to feeds as well as upload
your own video collections. Check out the hundreds of videos, including research, classes, sports and more at http://www.youtube.com/case
Case’s iTunes U makes mobile learning a reality, with hundreds of free, downloadable albums available in iTunes!
From the iTunes store, choose iTunes U; click on Universities and Colleges to find Case Western Reserve University.
From here, you can download course lectures, campus events, and even a Spartan game.
ITS recommends Carbonite http://case.carbonite.com for Case desktop and laptop backup services. Carbonite provides
unlimited storage capacity and the secure, automatic backup of files on your desktop or laptop computer whenever the computer
is connected to the internet.
Second Life (SL) is a fast-growing, 3D Virtual world filled with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity.
Join us and explore the Case Campus on the ClevelandPlus Island in Second Life. For more information, go to
http://teach.case.edu/secondlife.
Docshare, a document sharing application, allows users to share documents between multiple users and multiple computers.
Files can be manipulated using a simple web interface, or by mounting your docshare folders as remote folders on your computer.
See http://wiki.case.edu/Docshare for more information.
Wireless@Case: A leader in campus wireless deployment, Case’s wireless network covers more than five square miles
in and around our campus, encompassing most of the surrounding University Circle area. With more than 1,500 access points,
you are never out of touch. For more information, see http://tiswww.case.edu/net/engr/wireless/.
|
